St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 18

JUL 7 ttl AJ ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH ILLINOISTUESDAY TUESDAY, JULY 7, 1992 3A Little Damage, Snarled Traffic, Crime At Fair he only thing we could have hoped for was better weather. We wanted and we got a safe fair, with no one getting hurt. If LOUIS T. MAULL IV, chairman of the fair By Joe Holleman and Edward H.

Kohn Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Exhausted VP Fair organizers spent Monday resting and watching the cleanup of the Arch grounds, where crews began breaking apart stages and concession stands in the predawn hours. The main stage was gone by mid-morning. Although the final financial figures won't be tallied before week's end, the fair appears to have been a success, reducing the fair group's $500,000 deficit by from $375,000 to $400,000. Given that some deficit is expected to remain, fair officials are unlikely to give St. Louis a gift, as the group has done in the past.

Attendance figures at the three-day event weren't kept, and authorities said they had yet to tally the number of $5 books of scrip that were sold at hundreds of outlets in Missouri and Illinois. The scrip was used to buy food and drink at the fair and admission to we expected it." In addition to police, St. Louis assigned firefighters, ambulance workers, street sweepers and trash haulers to the fairgrounds and vicinity. William Kuehling, the city's public safety director, estimated that the operation had cost about $40,000 in overtime and landfill fees, excluding police salaries. Kuehling said overtime bills were $10,000 to $15,000 for street and refuse workers, $13,000 for the Emergency Medical Service ambulance crews and $10,600 for firefighters.

Streets director James W. Suelmann said the city's cost for landfill fees was $5,000. The city refuse division provided 135 alley-size Dumpsters and five industrial Dumpsters for the fairgrounds, Suelmann said. He said trash haulers had worked from midnight until noon each day. Tim O'Neil of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed information for this story.

we've ever had," Hydar said. "I think a lot of It had to do with the fact that there were more families at the fair than ever before. It gave it a tone of a family picnic, which is much better for us." Sgt. Thomas Magnan of the city police's Traffic Safety Division said the traffic at the close of each evening's festivities "was moving like fish through a stream." "We had the downtown area flushed in about one hour," Magnan said. "And that's no small feat, when you think of the amount of vehicles involved." Magnan credited Market Street's having been made one-way to the west at the close of the fair and the prohibition of parking on Market.

"The only problem area we had was around Laclede's Landing, in the area of Third Street and the Martin Luther King Bridge and that was because of Metro Link construction at Fourth Street and Washington," Magnan said. "It was a problem area, but many of the rides. Damage to the Arch grounds was minimal officials said. Gary W. Easton is superintendent of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, as the Arch grounds are formally known.

He said, "We won't know for sure about any damage until all of the equipment is removed, and the deadline for that is Friday." "In some areas, the grass looks pretty downtrodden," he said. "But it could all come back. We'll probably need some reseeding and resodding." He described the damage as "a normal cost of doing business." Easton noted that the grounds got 2.25 inches of rain Thursday night, before the fair began, and .4 of an inch Friday, after the event had begun. "There were some muddy areas initially, but things dried out remarkably well," Easton said. Louis T.

Maull IV, chairman of the fair, said the interactive activities including the sports challenges and the bungee jump had proven more p.m.-to-midnight security, said no shootings, knifings, abductions, rapes or larcenies had been reported. "There very well may have been some larcenies such as stolen purses or jewelry that people who live in, let's say Chesterfield or Ferguson, in the county will wait and report when they get home," he said. "We won't get that information for a while." Hydar said the evening shift usually was the busiest for police during the fair; he added that day-watch commanders did not pass on any reports of major incidents during the shift change. "It was easily one of the best fairs successful than anticipated. More than 800 people paid $80 each to bungee jump, and more than 10,000 children and their parents went through the maze.

By mid-day Sunday the latest figures available 57 golfing holes in one had been counted. "The only thing we could have hoped for was better weather," Maull said. "We wanted and we got a safe fair, with no one getting hurt." Meanwhile, city police reported relatively few incidents, given the size of the crowds. The fair "wasn't 100 percent crime-free but just about," said Police Major George Hydar. Hydar, commander for the fair's 4 7l IT IV.

I 1 A 4 i A ft i i iirimiu. -xwJ f--J- WllMtmi Man's Body Found In Belleville Victim's Girlfriend Missing For Months By Robert Goodrich Of the Post-Dispatch Staff The mystery of a young pregnant woman's disappearance from Belleville more than four months ago has taken another twist with the death of her boyfriend the father of her unborn child in what may have been a suicide. A note indicating suicide was beside the body of Jeffrie T. Mezo, 20, who was found Sunday shot once in the chest in Belleville's South Side Park. But police were baffled because no gun was with the body.

Investigators recovered a pistol Monday from a lake near the body, but there was no indication yet whether it was used to fire the fatal shot and, if so, how it got into the take. Lt. James Rokita, chief detective for the Belleville police, refused to reveal the contents of the note. But he said it did not shed any new light on the disappearance of Mezo's girlfriend, Donna Jean Mezo, 16, who despite her last name was not related to him. Jeffrie Mezo, who lived in the first block of West Monroe Street in Belleville, not far from the park, was discovered lying by a picnic table in a secluded area about 12:40 p.m.

Sunday. A handgun was found more than 24 hours later in the lake a few feet away. Donna Jean Mezo was last seen about 1:30 a.m. on Feb. 18 near the Jack in the Box restaurant on South Illinois Street in Belleville.

She lived in Crocker, but had been staying for several weeks with an uncle in the State Park Place area, near Collinsville. Relatives filed a police report several days after her disappearance. They said they believed she had been abducted, because she had left her purse and makeup behind. A brother, Wiley Mezo of Belleville, said that he had planned to drive her back to Crocker on Feb. 19 but that she had wanted to see her boyfriend before leaving.

Jeffrie Mezo was questioned by police and took a lie-detector test, which he said he passed. Police refused to comment on the results. Jeffrie Mezo said at the time that Donna Mezo was pregnant with his child and that he was extremely worried ahout her. Rokita said, "We haven't had one confirmed sighting of her since she was reported missing." A description distributed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said Donna Mezo is 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs 125 pounds. She has brown hair and blue eyes, and she has a scar on her nose, a birthmark on her right ear and tattoos on her right ankle and right wrist.

Sam LeonePost-Dispatch but as Officer Milberg approached to arrest him, the suspect fled. Police finally tackled him on the street. He was charged with destruction of property, resisting arrest and, because he was found with a knife, a weapons offense. Apprehended St. Louis officers (from left) Byron Harrington, Robert Christian and Burton Milberg trying to handcuff Jon Dilliard Monday at Washington and Euclid avenues.

Dilliard, wanted on a destruction of property gomplaint, was seen on a bus, Shortage Of Rain Threatening Beans, Corn Riot Victim Was Native Of Illinois He Botched Robbery In Mulberry Grove By Charles Bosworth Jr. Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Winford Earl Brown, whose inept-ness in robbing the Mulberry Grove, 111., bank prompted a judge to advise him to find a new line of work, died Sunday in a riot at the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas. His death marked the end of the apparently sad and misdirected life of a young man whose attorney had told the court that he only robbed the bank because he needed a place to stay jail. Brown, 23, had lived in Mulberry Grove, about 55 miles northeast of St. Louis.

He was fatally stabbed Sunday when about 300 inmates rioted under circumstances that remained under FBI investigation Monday. Brown was the only fatality. No guards were hurt. He drew wide attention in January 1989 when he walked into the First National Bank of Mulberry Grove with a gun and demanded money but was forced to flee by the unarmed 79-year-old bank chairman. Brown's attorney, assistant federal public defender Renee Schooley, said her client had wanted to go to jail to have a home.

Brown pleaded guilty to charges of armed bank robbery and use of a firearm in a violent crime. He was sentenced to eight years and 10 months. His father, Charles Brown of Royal Lakes in Macoupin County, said Monday that Winford Brown had not been in any serious trouble before the bank incident. Winford Brown was 13 when he, a brother and a sister were adopted by Charles Brown. "He was a good kid when we first got him," Charles Brown said.

"He had been through some hardships He said he was doing pretty well in prison." Ed McManus, director of communications for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, said Winford Brown's natural family was from East St. Louis. State's Attorney John Knight of Bond County said Winford Brown had been involved in a series of minor problems since he was a juvenile. "He impressed me as being not too malicious of spirit," Knight said. "But he had a problem conforming to the law." Brown's life ended when about 300 prisoners took over an auditorium, a food-service area and a recreation yard at the prison.

He was one of four prisoners stabbed with crude, handmade knives during fights that some officials speculated were the result of growing friction between rival gangs. One of the injured prisoners remained in serious condition Monday. Prison spokesman Chuck Strickland said the episode had been put down after several hours by guards who moved in with tear gas and batons. Strickland said no cause for the riot had been discovered. But he said Leavenworth housed "the traditional gangs associated with high-security prisons." The FBI was investigating Brown's murder Monday as the prison remained in lockdown.

It houses 1,650 federal prisoners, including those convicted of white-collar crimes and violent crimes such as murder. Brown was just 20 when he tried to rob the bank. He was foiled by the chairman, Eugene Eberhardt, who ignored Brown's loaded pistol and his threats and forced him empty-handed out the bank's front door. Police responding to the bank's alarm arrested Brown at a nearby service station, where he had stopped to fuel his car. The pistol and a satchel he had ordered Eberhardt to fill were found inside.

At Brown's sentencing, U.S. District Judge William D. Stiehl suggested "that you go into a different line of work, because you clearly have no talent for this line of work." He added, "Your future in the criminal world is not rosy." This story 'contains information from Associated Press and Reuters wire reports. tion, 65 percent in fair condition and 8 percent in poor condition. He said at the same time in 1988, during drought conditions, 22 percent of the corn was in poor condition.

Clampet said the average height of corn was now 40 inches, compared with 63 inches at this time last year. Soybeans were 26 percent good, 65 percent fair and 9 percent poor. Gary Pepper, an agronomist from the University of Illinois, said cooler temperatures had slowed the growth of crops in the northern two-thirds of the state. "Tasseling of corn will be much later than last year. That could prove unfavorable," he said.

"The prognosis for corn and soybeans depends on the weather. August and September precipitation will be critical for the success of these crops," Pepper said. supply is for wells in central and northern Illinois," Wendland said. "Those levels will decline over the next three months." Gerald "Jerry" Clampet, statistician for the Illinois Department of Agriculture, said "both corn and soybeans were continuing to hold their own and do not show much sign of deterioration." Corn was 27 percent in good condi- Work On Poplar Street Bridge Is Postponed Until Thursday A shortage of precipitation has slowed the growth of corn and soybeans, leading officials at the Illinois Department of Agriculture to report Monday that rainfall between now and September will be critical for the success of those crops. Corn already is entering its crucial tasseling stage, and farmers in the lower two-thirds of the state are hoping for more moisture to protect against poor crop yields, officials said in a telephone conference call with reporters Monday.

Wayne Wendland, state climatolo-gist, said that rainfall in June was 50 percent of normal and that in May it was only 30 percent of normal. He said that the precipitation deficit since the beginning of the year was five to eight inches and that the northern half of the state was dryer than the southern. Surface water levels were below normal for the last two months, Wendland said. Rain last weekend was a benefit, "but we're going to need frequent precipitation from now on out," he said. "The greatest concern for water the district engineer.

But because of the delay, work has been rescheduled to start Thursday, Yarnell said. The problem had to do with a test of equipment and material that contractors will use to resurface the bridge. That test is taking place on the Missouri Highway 67 bridge across the Missouri River near West Alton. Because of a combination of rain over the weekend and slower-than-expect-ed deliveries, the test has been de- layed, Yarnell said. Because the test wasn't done, the real work couldn't start, Yarnell said.

"We wanted to make sure that the equipment we're going to use and the material we're going to use work, before we shut down traffic on the Poplar Street Bridge," he said. The Poplar Street Bridge work the third resurfacing in nine years will shut down one or two lanes in each direction until early September. At ease drivers until Thursday, that is. A delay in bridge work 15 miles away has prompted Missouri highway officials to postpone resurfacing on the Poplar Street Bridge, the district engineer for the Missouri Highways and Transportation Department said Monday. The department had planned for work to start Monday, just after the morning rush hour, said J.T.

Yarnell, Man Sentenced To 18 Years In Daughter's Beating Death Minority Contractors Sought For Fountain In East St. Louis By Roy Malone Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Minority contractors are being invited today to participate in the building of a spectacular set of fountains, including a 600-foot geyser, on the East St. Louis riverfront. The contractors will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the East St.

Louis City Hall with representatives of the Sverdrup the architects and engineers on the project. The fountains will be built by Gateway Center of Metropolitan St. Louis, a civic group that will use its own money and land to spur the extension of the national park at the Gateway Arch to the East St. Louis riverfront. Groundbreaking for a pond, four 100-foot fountains, and the giant geyser, may occur later this month, said Malcolm W.

Martin, who heads Gateway Center. "We hope to use as many minority contractors and employees as possible," Martin said. The group had said previously that it hoped that 50 percent of the workers and 25 percent of the contractors would be from East St. Louis. By Victor Volland Of the Post-Dispatch Staff A man from Wellston was sentenced Monday to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty of second-degree murder in the beating death last year of his 5-year-old daughter.

The man, Henry Horton III, 28, also received concurrent sentences of 18 years for armed criminal action and seven years each for possession of cocaine and for child abuse in the beating of another child. The sentences were imposed by St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Steven H. Goldman at Clayton just before a jury trial was to have started. Horton, a hospital laborer, was described by relatives and neighbors as a loving father but a stern disciplinarian.

He was accused of beating his daughter, Shalonda, repeatedly with a hair brush, homemade paddle, tree branches and speaker wires for disobedience and for crying on April 16 last year at the family home, in the 1200 block of Delaware Avenue. As his wife, Sharon, wept audibly in a front-row bench, Horton apologized to her family and to his for "all the pain I have caused." He said he suffered pain and guilt every day and would continue to do so. Sheilda Robinson, a sister of his wife, said in a pre-sentencing statement that she thought the 18-year sentence was too lenient. Sharon Horton supported her husband throughout the case. The armed criminal action charge arose from the variety and types of beating instruments used.

An amount of cocaine was found In the home and traces of the drug were found in Horton's blood, said Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Douglas Sidel, who was to have tried the case. The child abuse charge stemmed from a severe beating Horton administered to a son from another marriage after Horton was released on bond in his daughter's beating. Horton, who has two other children at the Wellston home, had been held at the County Jail in lieu of bond since the second arrest. He had no previous police record or record of child abuse. Horton could have been sentenced to as much as 30 years on the second-degree murder charge.

Mayor Gordon D. Bush has endorsed the project, although he demanded hearings be held to discuss minority participation. Martin said the Gateway Center board decided last month to take bids on the work. An excavation permit has been requested. The group hopes to get the pond and four smaller fountains built this year and to install special pumps and nozzle for the large geyser next spring.

It's possible for the fountains to be operating by next July 4, Martin said. Gateway Center, which owns a 52-acre tract surrounding the Continental Grain Elevator, has raised $2.4 million in private donations for the fountains. Martin said $1 million more may be needed to complete the project and to operate the fountains until the tract is turned over to the National Park Service. The U.S. Senate is believed to be close to passing a bill to designate the extension of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial to the Illinois riverfront between the Eads and Poplar Street bridges.

The House already has passed a similar bill..