St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 51

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH VST. CHARLES POST TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 1988 1988 St. Louis Post-Dispatch PROFILES ST. CHARLES A Neighborhood Portrait Buechner Aims To End Inequity Of Road Fund -v WARNING ,1 gency needs, the 14 states requested the return of their remaining basic allocation, plus additional amounts from the discretionary fund, Buechner said.

"By surrendering some of their funds, these states are getting more in the long run. If we do not change the formula, they will do it again and again," Buechner said. He said his bill sets out that if a state turns a portion of its share in, it would be unable later to take out more than its original allocation. Not to receive an entire 100 percent return is understandable, because the federal government keeps about 5.5 percent to run the program, Buechner said. "But Missouri only got 88 cents on its dollar," he said.

Chief Engineer Wayne Muri of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department and William Schierholz, former chairman of the highway and transportation commission, appeared with Buechner at the City Hall news conference. Muri said the low return to the state was a "very solemn issue with us." He said the problem was that the last federal highway bill emphasized new construction on the nation's interstate system. "That was not good for Missouri, because we have corn-See BUECHNER, Page 3 By Bob Wehling Of the St. Charles Post Double-dipping of federal highway funds by a handful of states has cost Missouri almost $60 million in the past three years almost enough to pay for the new Highway 115 Bridge across the Missouri River, U.S. Rep.

Jack Buechner, R-Kirkwood, said in announcing introduction of a bill in Congress that would end the practice. At a news conference Monday in St. Charles, Buechner said his legislation would provide a more equitable way for states to receive federal highway funds. Buechner said that Missourians had paid about $20 million more in gasoline taxes than the state received in the past fiscal year. It actually is the third consecutive year in which Missouri has experienced similar losses through the ploy used by some states.

There were 14 that received more funds than they had paid in, Buechner said. For example, each state receives an allocation of federal highway funds, and 36 states, including Missouri, used their entire amounts last year, Buechner said. But 14 states initially surrendered some of their highway allocations to a federal discretionary fund, a pool used for emergencies. Later in the year, pleading emer 'V If we do not change the formula, they will do it again and again. U.S.

REP. JACK BUECHNER ST. PETERS Maureen Bouxsein: Eyes On The Neighborhood Photo by Karen Elshout Whiteley of the St. Charles Post Work Set To Begin To Alter Mexico Mid Rivers Dr. aureen Bouxsein of St.

Charles doesn't I mind if the neighbors peek from behind advocate for the residents because "a complaint that comes from an organized group gets more credence," she said. Through informal Neighborhood Watch meetings, Bouxsein tells the neighbors about city programs that could benefit them. She has brought other city-sponsored programs into her area as well, such as Operation Safestreet, a program that assists limited-income residents in getting smoke detectors, peepholes and other security devices for their homes. Bouxsein once alerted neighbors to an insurance salesman who badgered elderly residents into quick buys. Another time, she smelled a strong sulfurous odor in the area.

She persuaded local environmental authorities to call in the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Within days the odor dissipated. Bouxsein said that about 30 residents attend the Neighborhood Watch meetings. "The meetings bring out a sense of community," she said, "more of a license to be friendly." their blinds to watch one another. "The neighbors know everything," Bouxsein said.

"It's a blessing." Bouxsein pioneered the Neighborhood Watch program in the three-block area near her home in Frenchtown in January and remains a leader. Neighborhood Watch typically is recognized as a program in which citizens help to prevent crime. But Bouxsein said the program also has brought the neighborhood together and has strengthened its voice in the community. "I think we have good people here. I like to see them get what they're entitled to," she said.

Bouxsein is from New York City. She has lived at 1409 North Third Street with her husband and three children for seven years. "I've always been the neighborhood pain in the neck," said Bouxsein. Even before organizing Neighborhood Watch, she had been a keen In the 1989 construction season, DeVault said, work is also scheduled to begin on the four-lane paving and straightening of Friedens between the South River Road and Highway 94 in southern St. Charles; on the four-lane improvement of Muegge Road from old Highway 94 to Cave Springs, and on Caulks Hill Road from Highway 94 to Towers Road.

Some Rotarians appeared more interested in the progress on the building of the Page Avenue Bridge connecting St. Louis County with St. Charles County near Caulks Hill. DeVault said the Road Board was not involved directly in the bridge's planning, but said he did not expect it to be completed until the year 2000 because of the many built-in time delays for hearings, environmental impact studies, and actual construction of about eight years. Two other projects are expected to get into construction this year, De-Vault told the Rotarians.

They include Prospect Road in Lake Saint Louis, running from the western sector of the community to U.S. Highways 40-61 (Interstate 64); and the Wentzville Outer Belt. The latter is a part of that city's comprehensive plan, and will be constructed from Pearce Boulevard to Meyer Road, then eastward on Meyer. Beginning in late summer of early fall, right of way acquisition is expected to begin for the South Fifth street extension in St. Charles, a step toward the start of construction next spring.

The $3 million extension southward to Friedens Road will be done in phases, and is expected to ease the traffic problems in that part of St. Charles. By Bob Wehling Of the St. Charles Post Construction on two of the biggest projects planned by the St. Charles County Road Board since its inception two years ago are about to begin, says Executive Director Keith De-Vault.

The projects, costing about $7.6 million each, involve Mexico Road and Mid Rivers Drive. Building bridges and culverts will occur in the first phase of work on each project, DeVault told the St. Peters Rotary Club at its meeting Monday at the Holiday Inn. Mexico Road will become a four-lane highway from Muegge Road in St. Peters on the east to Highway in O'Fallon.

Mid Rivers Drive also will consist of four lanes from Interstate 70 in St. Peters southward to Highway 94, DeVault said. Survey Finds Indian Signs At Park Site tig lii if -s i 9 Of 10 Tapes May Be Porn, Judge Rules By Marianna Riley Of the St. Charles Post The state's case against a videotape dealer in St. Charles County has advanced after a ruling Monday by a circuit court judge that several randomly-chosen tapes could be considered obscene.

Judge Lester W. Duggan Jr. said in his order that nine of the 10 tapes that were submitted for his review "constitute obscene matter" and that probable cause exists to believe the tapes are obscene according to Missouri law. Duggan's ruling is the latest development in the case of Kenneth H. Tipton owner of six video stores in St.

Louis and St. Charles counties. Tipton's entire stock of 194 adult video tapes from his St. Peters store at 318 Mid Rivers Drive had been subpoenaed by the St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney's office last March.

But given the impracticality of reviewing all 194 tapes, the prosecutor's office and Tipton's lawyer, Richard Sindel of Clayton, agreed to choosing 10 tapes at random. Now that Duggan has found proba-See TAPES, Page 3 Zimmerman Won't Return Part Of Pay By Virgil Tipton Of the St. Charles Post St. Charles County Assessor Eugene C. Zimmerman says he won't return part of his salary to the county, despite a challenge Monday from Treasurer Theodore M.

Peterson to do so. Zimmerman had called last Friday for a meeting of the county salary commission, saying he thought newly enacted salaries for elected county officials were excessive. The bid failed. Of 10 officials who voted, Zimmerman was the only one in favor of a meeting. On Monday, Peterson said in an interview that officials were not required to accept their salaries.

Most officials, including Zimmerman and Peterson, will be paid $42,500 a year. "The treasurer stands ready to receipt money from any county official who feels he's getting more than he deserves," Peterson said. Peterson avoided mentioning See SALARY, Page 3 By Virgil Tipton Of the St. Charles Post Land targeted for a park in St. Charles County contains four sites of ancient Indian activity, but the findings should not preclude development, a University of Missouri survey says.

The county should preserve, however, a log cabin on the property that probably was built in the 1860s, said the director of the survey, Joseph M. Nixon of the archaeological survey office at the university's St. Louis campus. Nixon made the recommendations in a report to the county last week. The report is to be reviewed by the state Department of Natural Resources.

That marks the last formal step before the department decides whether to approve development of the land, said Joseph Jaeger, the county's parks consultant. The archaeological survey was required by the state. Nixon said he would recommend that the state approve plans for development. Presiding County Commissioner Gerald E. Oh lms has proposed that the county sell 68.5 acres it owns near Defiance.

The county then would use the proceeds to develop 105 acres at O'Fallon Road and Missouri Highway K. The 105-acre site is owned by El-berth R. Grant, a resident of west St. Louis County who has said he may donate the property. Three members of Nixon's staff surveyed that property on April 20.

The surveyors found debris and a See PARK, Page 3 Karen Elshout WhiteleySt. Charles Post Members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post pqlity for Flag Day this morning. The men 5077 in O'Fallon inspecting and furling flags are (from left) Jay Weaver, John Hofbauer that were to be set out around the munici- and Ray Opland. Flag Day Hearing Set Tonight On Study Of Hazardous Waste Disposal Early Risers Answer Call To Colors bor Day and Veterans Day. O'Fallon Mayor Edward J.

Grie-senauer said the flags are paid for by local businesses. But Hofbauer said it had been a long time since the group had ask businesses for more money to buy flags. Hofbauer volunteers for the project simply because he thinks it is important to honor the flag. As a bonus, he said, "We get write-ups in the Post's monthly newsletter. And then when we get up early in the morning and start putting up the flags, people pass us and wave and See FLAG, Page 3 On the west side of the street will be 21 flags.

Then, about 6 p.m., the men will take down the flags and put them back in storage until the next patriotic holiday, July 4. "We used to put out more flags," Hofbauer said, "but they took out a lot of poles when they widened Main Street and didn't put up new flag holders on the new poles." The flags are put on display by volunteers who are members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5077 in O'Fallon. Besides Flag Day and the Fourth of July, the volunteers post the flags on Memorial Day, La By Ralph Dummit Of the St. Charles Post Flag Day may not be a legal holiday, but it's a special day for John Hofbauer and five other veterans who were planning to get up early this morning to deck out O'Fallon's Main Street with American flags. "We start out at 6 in the morning," Hofbauer said.

Using two pickup trucks, he said, "three of us go down one side of the street and three of us go down the other side." He said 29 flags are placed in holders attached to utility poles along the east side of Main Street. A study being conducted on how to dispose of toxic and hazardous wastes at the Weldon Spring Ordnance Works will be discussed at a public meeting in Wentzville tonight. The meeting, sponsored ly the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will begin at 7 p.m. at the Ramada Inn, 900 Corporate Parkway at the South Service Road of Interstate 70.

The study is called the Defense Environmental Restoration Program. Personnel from the corps will explain the study and seek information from the public about past Defense Department activities at the site. During World War II, DNT, or dini- trotoluene, and TNT, trinitrotoluene, were produced at the site. Both are toxic and hazardous materials. The corps is taking samples and analyzing materials from the site to identify any contamination.

Corps personnel also will be selecting the most cost-effective method of cleaning the site. People who are unable to attend the hearing but who have information to offer may call the corps' Kansas City office collect at (816) 426-5241 or may write to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attention Ed-T, 601 East 12th Street, Kansas City, Mo. 64106-2896. 4 INSIDE Business 2SC Cable TV 8SC Classified 7SC Movies BSC Night And Day BSC Obituaries 3SC Sports 5-6SC -4".