St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 69

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH WEST POST MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 2002 no Maryland Heights will consider changes in trash costs today 1 1 i i V- mi property tax. Last January, the City Council established a committee of four residents and three council members to study trash service after residents had raised concerns about rising costs. In February, Midwest Waste became the residential trash hauler instead of Waste Management The cost for basic service increased nearly 30 percent. Midwest Waste has a one-year contract with two option years.

It collects trash from about 7,600 single-family houses and condominiums. Paul Thompson, communications administrator, said some residents wanted the municipality to use taxes from riverboat gambling casinos to pay for trash service. But officials have earmarked that money for public works rather than depend on gambling money to pay for operations. In a statement, Mark Shatto, assistant to the city administrator, said establishing a city-run trash service was too expensive. The statement also noted that eliminating billing of Maryland Heights customers would reduce Midwest Waste's administrative and mailing costs.

The committee did not consult with business executives while preparing the proposal. Kim Braddy, executive director of the Maryland Heights Chamber of Commerce, said she would attend today's council meeting. She did not take a position on the tax proposals. "We want to educate ourselves on the issue before we educate the membership," she said. Council members called the meeting so they could complete all procedures for putting the taxes on the November ballot before the deadline of Aug.

27. Reporter Phil Sutin: E-mail: Phone: 314-863-2812 Fee would shift to property tax Meeting starts at 6 p.m. By Phil Sutin Of the Post-Dispatch The Maryland Heights City Council will have a special meeting today to consider a trash-collection plan that would both raise taxes and save most residents money. The session will start at 6 p.m. in the main auditorium of the Maryland Heights Community Center, 2344 McKelvey Road.

Currently, residents pay Midwest Waste $94.80 a year for basic trash service, $89.64 for yard-waste pickup and $33.48 for recycling. A committee recommended that the municipality levy two property taxes instead. The change would reduce the trash-collection costs of residents by shifting much of it to businesses that would pay the tax but still must arrange for and finance their own trash collection. The council will consider placing two property-tax proposals on the ballot Nov. 5.

They are: A tax of 13 cents for each $100 of assessed value for basic trash service and recycling. A 9-cent tax rate for yard-waste collection. Maryland Heights does not levy a property tax. The two taxes would apply to both real or personal property. Most residents pay personal-property tax on their vehicles.

If both proposals are approved, the owner of a house worth $125,000 and vehicles worth $25,000 would pay a total of $70.58 a year in property taxes to Maryland Heights: $52.25 in real-estate tax and $18.33 in personal- Edward Poos, 85, of Concord Village, has had his pet box turtle, Myrtle, for just short of SO years. He and his wife, the late Alice Poos, found the turtle in a Fenton subdivision. The two took it with them on 10 trips to Hawaii. Myrtle the affectionate turtle who comes when called isn't a tall tale thought of Myrtle in the hold of a plane. Alice Poos bought a special coat with a big pocket She would slip Myrtle in the pocket and pass through security.

Once through, she put Myrtle in her purse and flew over much of the continent and part of the Pacific Ocean. Edward Poos was a song and dance man on Broadway in his youth, and in middle age he was a real-estate developer. Still dapper, he is a bit bowed by his wife's death and his own small stroke. He says Myrtle is all he has left and is like a child to him. He says that most turtles hibernate from September to May.

Not Myrtle. Edward Poos says that in Hawaii Myrtle stayed up to enjoy the fragrant breezes and tropical sunshine. She also ate mangoes and papaya. At home she gets Strongheart dog food, strawberries and cantaloupe. Edward Poos thinks turtles are the perfect pets.

They don't bark and they don't shed. Myrtle is at least 70 years old. With the care she is getting she may live to be a hundred. Edward Poos, who is 85, worries about this. He has no children or nieces or nephews to pass Myrtle on to.

Reporter Theresa Tighe: E-mail: Phone: 314-340-8129 "28 YEARS OF SERVICE EXCELLENCE' HOSPITAL NOTES Tlie reptile has lived with Edward Poos since Poos' wife, Alice, saved it 50 years ago; it likes to be hand-fed and scratches to be picked up to sleep with Poos. By Theresa Tighe Of the Post-Dispatch When Edward Poos calls his turtle, Myrtle, Myrtle comes slowly. Poos, who lives in St. Louis County, has a list of amazing things Myrtle can do. She is somewhat housebroken.

She goes on paper. That Poos isn't afraid to have beige rugs in his condominium attests to her control. She scratches at the foot of the bed to be lifted up to sleep at her owner's feet. The turtle wants to be hand fed and holds out for that method of eating. When Poos lies on the floor, Myrtle crawls over and gives him a kiss.

Myrtle has surreptitiously flown more than 100,000 miles and sunned herself on a lanai in Hawaii. In Florida, she has walked the beach. How much of this is true? "Ed isn't making anything up," said Ron Goellner, the director of the animal collections at The St. Louis Zoo, and a friend of Poos. Goellner has met Myrtle.

"There is recognition going on," he said. Goellner says turtles have quite a bit of recognition and ability to learn. Many animals when treated right can become conditioned to certain stimuli like the voice. 'i. The Tuesday meetings, titled The ABCs of Addiction: Alcohol, Drugs and Gambling What Every Family Should Know, are aimed at people who are closely associated with addicts, especially family members.

Topics covered in the meetings include the effects of addictions on families, medical complications, family behaviors and the recovery process. The meetings are scheduled from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays in the dining room of Anthony House, 10016 Kennedy Road, the building directly behind the main hospital building of St. Anthony's Medical Center. All meetings are free and open to the public.

For more information call 314-525-4400. Addiction meetings are held each week Free meetings about alcohol, drug and gambling addictions are offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays by the National Council on Alcoholism Drug Abuse-St. Louis area and St. Anthony's Hy-land Behavioral Health. The Thursday meetings, titled The ABCs of Addiction: Alcohol, Drugs and Gambling What Every Individual Should Know, are tailored to addicts.

Topics covered include alcohol, drug and gambling addictions, cross addictions or dual diagnosis, early symptoms and middle-stage symptoms, the recovery process and relapse prevention. NICK KRUG Turtle Facts: Perhaps the biggest favor you can do a turtle is not to take it home and make it a pet. If you pick up a turtle while it is crossing the road, put it on the shoulder of the road in the direction it was going. If you put it on the side it is coming from, it will start to cross the road again. Don't put a turtle in the basement and think it can survive on bugs.

Turtles must be fed and watered. They love earthworms and crickets. They also eat vegetables: kale, romaine lettuce, chopped carrot. They like red fruits and vegetables and can eat them occasionally. Strawberries are a good supplement.

Keep the daytime temperature at 75 or 80 degrees. They need to bask in the sun or under a spot lamp. At night the temperature can be in the low 70s. They need a shallow clean dish of water. After you handle a turtle, wash your hands well.

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is ill information. ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Your experience really does begin with ours. So here are our recommended 'Best Buys' from Funjet Vacations: W'The turtle was used to Alice picking her up every night. That stimulus had disappeared.

Ron Goellner, director of animal collections, The St. Louis Zoo, explaining the turtle's withdrawal after the death of Alice Poos "Myrtle," Goellner said, "is the most pampered and spoiled of any turtle in captivity." Myrtle is an Eastern box turtle, brown with yellow highlights, about the size of a softball. Almost 50 years ago Poos' late wife, Alice, saved Myrtle. A dog was bouncing Myrtle like a ball. When Alice Poos was alive, the turtle preferred her.

It was Alice Poos, after all, who sat with Myrtle on her lap nearly every night stroking the turtle's shell as she watched television. After Alice Poos died about three years ago, Myrtle stayed for a week in her nest, a box covered with patterned pink wallpaper and filled with two pillows under which she can hide. Turtles like to be under something, Edward Poos says. Edward Poos isn't sure why Myrtle withdrew. But he supposes it may have been grief.

Goellner said the reaction was at least loss. "The turtle was used to Alice picking her up every night. That stimulus had disappeared." When Alice Poos was alive, the couple took 10 hiatuses in Hawaii in the winter. Sometimes they stayed as long as five months. They couldn't find anyone they thought would take proper care of Myrtle for that length of time.

So they took the turtle with them. They also couldn't bear the KIND v. GABRIEL B. TAIT CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE BUG '599'sm ALL-INCLUSIVE Includes ill meals, beverages tr me! f0l( Riu Jalisco Prices valid for 7nt Fri 823-92702. 4NT Treasure Island at The Mirage Prices valid for 4nt Sun 825-92902.

Add $30 for 3nt Thu 822-91202. i For explanation of hotel ratings and full description ol vacation inclusions, terms and conditions, see Funjet Vacations' Ad in this section of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Prices are per person, based on dbl. occupancy, including roundtrip airfare from St.

Louis: restrictions apply CarlsonWagonlitS To book your Funjet vacation, call the office nearest you Westport (314) 434-8866 Kirkwood (314)965-1005 St. Peters (636) 379-4444 O'Fallon (636) 240-4431 South County (314) 487-8887 Your experience begins with ours. Going bill We will gladly donate your papers to Newspapers in Education (NIE), a program that uses newspapers in the classroom to encourage students to read and to learn about current events. If you would rather receive the newspapers you missed, we will deliver them to you when you return. Cat (800) 365-O820, exL 8888 for more Kelly Mueller, a first-grade teacher at Jackson Park Elementary in University City, is intrigued by the insects captured during the Voyage of Learning Teachers Academy at Forest Park this summer.

Approximately 30 teachers from the St. Louis region have participated in the academy, which teaches the teachers about the outdoors and science..