St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 3

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH ST. LOUIS SATURDAY SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29. 1990 3A Fire At Olivette Condo Injures Smoking Cited By Ann Scales Cobbs Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Smoking in bed may have caused a fire that injured five people and displaced seven families Friday morning at a condominium complex in Olivette, authorities said. About 30 firefighters from eight departments fought the two-alarm fire, which broke out about 10 a.m.

in a condominium unit at 1116 Olive Village Court. The unit is owned by Mary and Souk Hamiel. Mary Hamiel, 67, suffered smoke inhalation; her husband, 61, suffered burns. Both were reported in serious condition at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur.

Also injured were the occupants of an adjacent condo minium: Eve Ukman, 75, and her husband, Irwin Ukman, 74. Eve Ukman was being treated for burns at St. John's; her husband was treated there and released. And Gary Wagner, a firefighter with the Community Fire Protection District, suffered minor burns on his face. He was treated at DePaul Health Center in Bridgeton and released.

The fire destroyed two units and caused heavy smoke damage in three others. Electricity was shut off to two more, bringing to seven the number of families displaced by the fire, said Olivette Fire Chief Vern Peters. A couple who lived in the unit where the fire started told paramedics that they had been smoking in bed, Peters said. But firefighters have yet to pin down the cause of the fire. he added.

When Peters arrived on the scene, the Hamiels were semi-conscious in the front yard. A neighbor, Teri McCoy, said she had seen firefighters "pull the elderly couple out into the snow, and they were unconscious at the time. The firefighters were working rather quickly." Paramedics lifted the Hamiels out of the snow and brought them inside McCoy's apartment to revive them. Friday's messy weather hampered firefighters as they fought the blaze. "It's cold and it's slippery," said Peters, as the fire still raged.

"It's hard to pull the hose up from the street to the units, and response is The second floor of the unit that burned gave way; Wagner, the firefighter, fell through to the first floor. Soon afterward, the second-floor ceiling collapsed on several firefighters. They were uninjured. "I landed on my better end," Wagner said before he went to the hospital. "I saw a little light and crawled out through the back way, and one of the officers from Olivette pulled me out." The American Red Cross was also on the scene, offering food and hot beverages to firefighters and temporary; shelter to residents.

Red Cross spokeswoman Susan Whelan said that all the displaced residents had somewhere to stay. Sale Of Kiel Bonds Awaits Final Word iJlilU. Kit 3- I Man Pleads Guilty Of Embezzling $160,000 Taken In Phony Accounts By Tim Bryant Of the Post-Dispatch Staff A former loan officer at Nalco Credit Union in south St. Louis County pleaded guilty Friday of embezzling more than $160,000 by setting up two dozen phony loan accounts. Authorities said that the former officer, Wayne A.

Keasling, had used some of the money on gambling trips to Las Vegas, Nev. In addition, Keasling spent about $30,000 to buy the now-closed Moonlighting Comedy Club in Ballwin, said Assistant U.S. Attorney John Hall. Keasling, 27, of Fenton, pleaded guilty to charges of embezzling funds from a federally insured financial institution and filing a false income tax return for 1987. U.S.

District Judge Jean C. Hamilton said she would sentence Keasling on March 8. He could be sentenced to 23 years in prison and fined $1.25 million. Court documents said that Keasling, while working for Nalco from 1986 to last year, had used his authority as a loan officer to set up the fictitious loan accounts and take the money for himself. The total amount embezzled was $160,345.

Hall said the scheme began unraveling in April 1989 after another credit union official noticed that $2,000 in cash was missing from the credit union's vault the same day a $2,000 payment was made on what was later determined to be a fictitious account. IB s'" tint i t.i, ill I liltt It v-1 jftmmf sm A 1 1 "-it I i 1 I iti'xiii'itx lit i p.lMtl..'iMI' i Mifjf "''f By Tim O'Neil Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Bonds that were sold Thursday for a new arena at Kiel will not hit the market until the developer formally declares that the project will be built, St. Louis Comptroller Virvus Jones said Friday. Meanwhile, Jones said, the brokerage that agreed to buy the $62.4 million in bonds before a deadline of Dec. 31 will sell them in short-term deals.

He said Prudential-Bache Securities the broker, would invest the proceeds to meet bond interest payments. The deadline is a function of a 1986 federal law that granted tax-exempt status through Dec. 31, 1990, for bonds to renovate or redevelop Kiel. City Hall and Civic Progress, the area's premier business organization, hustled the last-minute plan to adoption so that the bonds could be sold in time. Jones The financial holding pattern will allow the developer, Kiel Center Redevelopment to order fullblown engineering and architectural studies on the project.

An ordinance adopted by the Board of Aldermen Dec. 17 gives Kiel Center until early 1992 to declare formally whether it actually would build the project. When Kiel Center makes that declaration, Jones said, Prudential-Bache and the other brokers that Jones had picked for the job will sell the bonds in standard long-term issues. The plan is to demolish Kiel Auditorium and the adjoining garage, build a new arena on that site and renovate Kiel Opera House and the main entrance on Market Street. Kiel Center is supposed to build and operate the project, which will cost about $85 million.

Of that amount, Kiel Center Is responsible for paying off $75 million the $62.4 million tax-exempt issue and $12.6 million that would be sold in 1992. The city will pay off the remaining $10 million, which also was sold Thursday. Kiel Center will meet its he deadline is a function of a 1986 federal law that granted tax-exempt status through Dec. 31, 1990, for bonds to renovate or redevelop Kiel. payments with operating revenue, including leases of luxury boxes; the city will pay $1.1 million annually from its general treasury.

The plan also calls for a new $20 million parking garage just to the west that would hold as many as 2,100 cars. The city and Kiel Center are working on details for that part of the deal, and none of the bonds sold Thursday would help pay for it. Jones said Prudential-Bache had bought the bonds from the city's Industrial Development Authority, the issuing agency. He said the money had passed through a trustee bank back to Prudential-Bache, which is supposed to invest the money to meet bond interest payments. Craig Walker, a Prudential-Bache vice president, said the firm had sold about $12 million of the bonds and hoped to sell the rest soon.

Jones said Prudential-Bache bought the $62.4 million issue at an Interest rate of 7.5 percent and the $10 million issue at 6.78 percent. The city's $10 million are tax-free bonds not subject to the Dec. 31 deadline; Jones said that money was invested in U.S. Treasury bills. Jones said Prudential-Bache earned about $70,000 on the sale Thursday.

He said that firm and the others chosen to sell the bonds later would make their major commissions with the final sales. Mayor Vincent C. Schoemehl Jr. and members of Civic Progress announced their plans on Oct. 30.

On Nov. 13, Jones declared his choices for the lucrative job of selling the bonds. Civic Progress eventually accepted his choices after having negotiated a reduction in their proposed fees. Walker formerly was a consultant to Jones' office and has contributed to his campaign committee. Just A Trim St.

Louis firefighter Phil Jackson clearing icicles Friday from an overhang on the Famous-Barr Co. garage on Olive Street. Colder temperatures are expected back tonight. Man Fatally Shot On Way Home From Work; Motive Unknown Ted DarganPost-Dispatch I told him to be careful: 'You should not walk Ruby Collins said. "I always told him to call if he needed a ride." Relatives said that Collins almost had stayed home from work Thursday because of the bad weather.

He changed his mind when he heard an announcement on television urging hospital workers to try to make it in. "Everybody at Barnes his former employer loved my son," his mother said. "They said he was so joyful and Lillian is a drug-infested area, and I told him to be careful, 'You should not walk home' ff "He had his Walkman tape in his ear, so when they shot him, I don't think he heard a thing," said his mother, Ruby Collins. Lt. Steve Jacobsmeyer said Collins "could have been a victim in a street robbery." Collins had worked for about a week as a film librarian at Mallin-ckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University Medical Center.

He previously was a dispatcher at Barnes Hospital. RUBY COLLINS, victim's mother "He was a good kid," Jacobsmeyer said. Relatives believe Collins had taken a bus from work to Lillian and Kings- Ashcroft Picks Associate Judge For St. Louis County Circuit Credit union officials investigated further and began finding other phony accounts, Hall said. The federal case was put together by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service.

Keasling had kept the ruse going by using some of the embezzled money to make payments on other phony accounts. Hall said. The tax charge said that Keasling had failed to repdrt about $25,000 in embezzled money on his 1987 federal tax return. Keasling is to be free on bond unlil the time he is sentenced. kept a smile on his face." The funeral for Collins will be at 7 p.m.

Sunday at New Jerusalem Temple Church of God, 8204 Page Avenue in Vinita Park. Col- lins was a volun- teer minister at the church. Collins Ashcroft chose Kendrick from a three-member panel. The other candidates were lawyers James M. Smith and Ronald G.

Sherod of the county. The nominees were selected by a panel headed by William H. Crandall Kendrick chief judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals at St. Louis. officers, Milton Jones and Sgt.

Gregory Cox, found the man in a vacant building at 216 North 10th Street after' being alerted by students on their way; home from school. The man carried no identification and was never able to give any substantial information about who he was or where he was from. He died Saturday at St. Mary's Hos; pital in East St. Louis.

1 The man was black, probably 60 to 65 years old, about 6 feet 1 inch talt, and he weighed about 170 pounds. His left big toe had been surgically removed. I i ll'' ft 1 il Post-Dispatch Jefferson City Bureau JEFFERSON CITY Gov. John Ashcroft has appointed Larry Ken-drick to the circuit court bench of St. Louis County, succeeding the late Judge Milton A.

Saitz. Kendrick, 45, has been an associate circuit judge in St. Louis County since July 1985, when he was appointed to that position by Ashcroft. He had been deputy director and general counsel of the Missouri Department of Social Services. Kendrick, who was appointed Thursday, is married, has two children and lives in Florissant.

By Kim Bell and Margaret Gillerman Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Police had no suspects or motive Friday in the fatal shooting of a man walking home from work Thursday night. Brian Collins, who would have been 23 years old Friday, was shot in the back of the head and in the neck about 9 p.m. His body was found in a vacant lot on Lillian Avenue about six blocks from his home. Overturned A car lying upside-down Friday said the driver had lost control flipped. The driver and her two i' flrfcv KT 4 -f-f! highway, then decided to walk the rest of the way instead of waiting in the snow for another bus.

"Lillian is a drug-infested area, and Renyold FergusonPost-Dispatch A Wife-, it Unidentified Beating Victim May Have Ties To Kansas City By Robert Goodrich Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Police said Friday that an unidentified man who died a week ago after a savage beating Sept. 6 in East St. Louis may have been from Kansas City. "I think we have a tentative identification on him," Detective Sandra Muckensturm said. Among the many leads Muckensturm has gotten was one from some people in Kansas City who thought they knew him.

Muckensturm said she hoped to get more information next week. Muckensturm and two other police afternoon on Missouri Highway 141 south of Clayton Road. Town and Country police officers on a patch of ice as she was turning off of Clayton Road. The car hit a mound of snow and children were all wearing seat belts and were uninjured..