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

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH ST. LOUISWEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1993 3A Area Ford Dealers Pull Ads, Chastise KMOV McCLELLAN ON MY OWN The vote by the Ford dealers continues the public debate oyer the incident Last Wednesday, Bishop Edward J. O'Donnell, administrator, of the Archdiocese of St Louis, called the station's actions "scandalous and disreputable." St Louis Circuit Attorney Dee Joyce-Hayes announced that a grand jury would investigate whether the statjon had violated state laws against promoting prostitution. i Joyce-Hayes said Monday that it would be a while before ter office presents evidence to the grand jury.

"We have to start from scratch in making our investigation," Joyce-Hayes said. "It's going to be a matter of weeks, probably, before we present it" Joyce-Hayes said an assistant prosecutor, an investigator in her office and the St Louis Police Department were investigating (he case. i Francis Patrick Brady, president of Viacom Broadcasting Group, read an apology that the station broadcast Thursday. Brady said the station "clearly made a number of judgment errors in pursuing this investigation." Viacom, which owns KMOV, is in New York. Viacom offictals could not be reached Tuesday.

i Tim O'Neil of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed information By Stephen Kirkland Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Ford dealers in the St Louis area voted Tuesday to pull their advertising from KMOV because the station had arranged a meeting between a male prostitute and a priest at a hotel. At a monthly planning session to allocate hundreds of thousands of advertising dollars, representatives of 18 Ford dealers voted to sanction KMOV (Channel 4). The sanction will begin Thursday and will probably last through July, dealers said. The amount of money that the station would lose could not be determined Tuesday. Dealers said they were concerned about the station making the news, rather than reporting it "It's absolutely awful that anybody should go to those lengths to get a story," said Jerry Koetting, owner of Koetting Ford in Granite City and president of the Metropolitan Ford Dealers of Greater St.

Louis. "Just the fact they would attempt to do it with the possibility to air it is totally incredible." James Sinclair, general manager for Dave Sinclair Ford in south St. Louis County, added: "Nobody said anything specific except that we didn't want to be associated with KMOV if that's the way they are handling their news reports." "I wish they would just report the news rather than make the news or make the story," he said. "We're pulling money up from their bottom line; maybe they'll take notice and change." Sinclair estimated that total weekly media spending by the dealers' association ranged from $50,000 to 100,000. The amount spent on KMOV was unavailable.

The Metropolitan Ford Dealers of Greater St Louis represents 19 dealers in Missouri and Illinois; one was absent from Tuesday's meeting. Allan Cohen, KMOV's general manager, could not be reached Tuesday. He previously had confirmed a Post-Dispatch report that the station had arranged the meeting March 26 at the Adam's Mark Hotel downtown. The story never aired. Cohen said last week that KMOV had paid the prostitute's expenses and secretly filmed and recorded part of the meeting between the prostitute and the priest from the Belleville Diocese.

He also said the station had not recorded or witnessed any sexual activity. Tuesday, Ford dealers said they were disappointed and upset with how KMOV had pursued the story. Koetting said if that type of reporting is allowed, people will be "vulnerable to gosh who knows what." The vote Tuesday was unanimous, Koetting said. The intent was "to get their attention that we feel the way we do," he said. for this story.

Olympia Apartments UNIVERSITY spatch Map Wes PazPost-Dispatch West Pine Boulevard making a last stand Tuesday against a will replace the building with a pedestrian mall. er, was unsure why the listing wasn't discovered earlier. "We learned about it two days after the meeting," she said, and by the time I told the commissioners, it was too late." Carolyn Toft, executive director of the landmarks association, said lists and even maps of National Register buildings were easily available to Shea and her staff. And had the Olympia been properly listed on the agenda before it was mailed, Toft said, "everyone would have had time to do background work before the meeting." Drinking Law Burns Bridges WITH A STROKE of the gubernatorial pen, Mel Carna-han has destroyed a subculture. No longer will Missouri drinkers gather on Sundays at the liquor stores just across the bridge in Illinois.

Looking back on those happy days, It is the camaraderie that I will miss most. It was the sort of camaraderie one usually finds at traffic court, the camaraderie of imperfect people who have admitted their imperfections. In fact, sometimes I would see the same people at the liquor store in Illinois whom I had seen earlier in the week at traffic court. "Excuse me. Weren't you in court Wednesday for expired plates?" "Yes, I was.

How did you know? Say, you're the fellow with the expired driver's license!" "Right, right! Good to see you again." A it is in traffic court, so was it at the liquor stores in Illinois. People related to each other. Simply by being there, you were making a statement of solidarity with every other person in attendance. Actually, by being at an Illinois liquor store on Sunday, you were making two statements. Statement One: I don't intend to wait until Monday for my next drink.

Statement Two: I did not plan ahead. Of course, there was always a third possibility. Perhaps you did plan ahead, and on Saturday afternoon you bought what seemed like a sufficient supply to carry you through the weekend, but Saturday night reality overtook you. Those Victims of Saturday night reality were usually easy to spot. They were the ones with the bloodshot eyes, and they tended not to participate in the easy chitchat of the other friendly strangers.

"Beautiful view from the bridge today, wasn't it? No fog like last Sunday." "Uh, I didn't really notice." With that, the rest of us would exchange knowing glances. Not that we looked down on those people who had overindulged. We were, after all, a company of sinners and there were few among us who had not drained a liquor cabinet on one Saturday night or another. Besides, how could we judge another? Were we not, by our mere presence, admitting our own imperfections? Of course, we were. And cheerfully, too.

Being a regular visitor to the Illinois liquor stores on Sunday was not seen at least by fellow travelers as an indication of some great moral lapse. Instead, it was, to a working person, akin to a rich person not paying Social Security taxes on the household help. In other words, it wasn't a totally immoral act, but it could disqualify you from the Supreme Court. "We have information, Mr. McClel-lan, that you used to go to Illinois every Sunday to buy beer." "Not every Sunday, senator, but some Sundays, yes." "Were you desperate for a drink, Mr.

McClellan, or did you not plan ahead?" "Usually the latter, senator." "Couldn't wait for Monday, could you, Mr. McClellan?" "Didn't see the need to, senator." Oh yes, the confirmation hearings would have gone badly for any of us. That knowledge only strengthened our bond. We all knew the consequences of what we were doing. "You know, if I had me a maid, I'd pay her Social Security taxes," one of the Sunday morning regulars said wistfully one day shortly after the Zoe Baird hearings.

"Doesn't matter," I said. "The feds would find out where you spent your Sunday mornings." "Yeah, I know. You're right," the person said. "Say, I recognize you! Aren't you the guy with the expired driver's license?" "Sure, I am. Hey, you're the guy with the invalid safety inspection sticker, right? Saw you in court Tuesday!" Now, all that is gone.

Ironically, most of us were in favor of Sunday sales in Missouri. In our last weeks of companionship, we talked cheerfully about the reports that the governor intended to sign the bill. "If it's the only thing Carnahan accomplishes, he's earned my vote!" Then it happened. The governor signed the Sunday-sales bill. I went to a Missouri liquor store last Sunday.

As I pulled into the lot, I was happy. But the ambience wasn't the same. There was nobody hanging around in the parking lot, nobody just chatting. Although the people definitely wanted some booze otherwise, they wouldn't have been at the liquor store most of them acted nonchalant about the whole thing. My efforts to strike up the old camaraderie fell short.

"Say, haven't I seen you in traffic court?" I asked a stranger. He looked at me like I was some kind of a low-life. It came up later and was added after the agendas were mailed, said commissioner Kathleen Shea. The commission reviews all pending demolitions in the city and must decide whether to approve them. When the Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation learned of the impending demolition, it asked state preservation officials to send letters to university officials, commission members in St.

Louis and the Landmarks Association of St. Louis Inc. The letters were to say that the Olympia was, indeed, on the register. Jack Richard Luer, an advisory council member, said lie learned just this week that the letters were never sent. i innrmrrr.

More Police To Patrol Streets On Weekends Building Never Had A Chance Structure's History Fell Through Cracks By Charlene Prost Of the Post-Dispatch Staff As the beige bricks and fancy terra cotta of the Olympia Apartments fade into dust, preservationists here and in Jefferson City are wondering what went awry. The Olympia, built in 1927 at 3863 West Pine Boulevard, is among 100 or so St. Louis buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Listing gives national recognition to buildings of historical and architectural worth but doesn't prohibit demolition when private money is used. Nearly everyone with reason to care knows about the Olympia listing now.

But when St. Louis University officials decided months ago to raze the vacant seven-story structure, a richly ornamented creation of architect and builder David R. Harrison, no one at the university knew it was on the register. When the city's Heritage and Urban Design Commission met and approved razing the Olympia last month, the commissioners didn't know either. "That fact was not presented to us," said commissioner David Ashby.

"Had we known, it could have made a difference." The commission's advance agenda for its May 6 meeting sent to commission members, preservationists and others didn't list the Olympia. Tickling Ivories, Audiences With 'Lighter' Fare By Victor Volland Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Like the St. Louis beers he enjoys, Hungarian-born concert pianist Mik-los Ivanich has gone light. The one-time pupil of noted Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly, Ivanich these days tickles the ivories in the plush lobby of the Adam's Mark Hotel downtown. He has been principal permanent pianist there since 1986.

After two exhausting decades on the international concert circuit, Ivanich played round-the-world cruises in 1984, 1986 and last February aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2. Last month Ivanich got the "For Homeland and Liberty" medal, Hungary's highest civilian award, for his contributions to Hungarian culture. Ivanich, 61, fled Hungary in 1956, when Soviet tanks crushed the revolution in Budapest. He was just starting his concert career, having won the Franz Liszt National Piano Competition. He emigrated to Paris, where he lived for a decade while concertizing around Europe.

He came to St. Louis in 1966 and was head of the piano department at the old St. Louis Institute of Music. He has been soloist with the St. Louis Symphony and other leading orchestras and gave recitals until 1980.

Ivanich, of Chesterfield, began a second career as an "entertainer" in the mid-1970s after an impromptu run of light classics and popular standards at a friend's party. He started at the old Coal Hole in Clayton and has played dinner concerts at the St. Louis Club and numerous hotels, including the Ritz-Carlton, Marriott Pavilion and the old Chase-Park Plaza. He said his Adam's Mark job "now represents roughly half or more of my income. It is secure money.

With only 10 to 15 concert bookings a year now, I can't make a living as a concert pia- FBI Investigates The Olympia Apartments on bulldozer. St. Louis University Claire Blackwell, deputy state historic preservation officer, said the letters were written. "But before we put them in the mail, we learned the building was being demolished," she said. Razing of the building began recently.

"This was a fairly fast-moving project," Blackwell added. I think it is unfortunate the city did not have its information updated so it could at least have informed the commission and the university of the listing." Shea, the city heritage commission "And no candelabra," he joked. With his formal attire and dark continental looks, he has sometimes been taken for the late Liberace. As part of winning the medal, Ivanich will play a concert later this year at the Hungarian embassy in Washington. He said he would play some Liszt and Kodaly, fellow Hungarians, and top it off with a little Gershwin, a fellow American.

1 i i The university plans to replace the Olympia with a brick archway, parking and landscaping as. part of a new pedestrian mall on West Pine between Spring and Vandeventer avenues. I Luer, a St. Louis architect keeping tabs over the years, said the Olympia was solid structurally and that two developers had been interested! in renovating it. Betsy Martin, a university spokeswoman, said the university only recently acquired the Olympia and that it was "in pretty terrible condition and beyond renovation." James F.

Conway Police Board chairman period over the Memorial Day weekend. I Four men were killed and four wounded June 2-3. 1 The police department plans to increase its patrol force by having detectives from such specialized units! as the bomb and arson squad and auto theft detail ride the streets. i Members of the planning unit and staff aids also will be used, the Post-Dispatch has learned. Only homicide detectives would be exempt.

Boyfriend Charged ganford Road. i O'Hara was found by police a short time later hiding at a relative's home in the 4000 block of California Avenue. O'Hara, of the 1300 block of Childress Avenue, led police to a trash and a Magnum pistol. 1 By Bill Bryan Ot the Post-Dispatch Staff The St. Louis Police Department plans to assign dozens of additional officers to patrol duty during the violence-prone summer weekends, the Post-Dispatch has learned.

"People are terrorized in the city, and we're not going to put up with all these shootings," said Police Board President James F. Conway. Conway said Tuesday that a proposal to strengthen the patrol force has been approved. Chief Clarence Harmon and Conway are expected to announce details of the plan at a news conference today. "The incidents of shootings, whether they be over drugs or turf or whatever, are totally out of hand," said Conway.

"What we're hoping to do by adding more officers to the street is to go after these people with guns who are creating the mayhem in our city." Conway added: "All of this violence we're seeing is unreal. I've never seen anything like it before, and the people are fed up." Five shootings were reported Monday night and early Tuesday, but none was fatal. The city has experienced several severe outbreaks of violence in recent weeks: Ten people were shot three fatally in six incidents in a five-hour period June 6-7. Two people were murdered and nine others wounded in a five-hour Woman Fatally Shot; An 18-year-old man was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of his girlfriend in the forehead early Tuesday after several hours of drinking, St. Louis police said.

Timothy O'Hara is accused of killing Jennifer Noel, 17, of Festus, in an apartment in the 4500 block of Mor- Renyold FergusonPost-Dispatch Miklos Ivanich showing off the "For Homeland and Liberty" medal, Hungary's highest civilian award. A concert pianist, he now plays piano at the Adam's Mark Hotel downtown. nist any longer. And I no longer teach." He plays what he calls Chopin waltzes, Rachmaninoff preludes, Debussy's "Clair de Lune," melodies from Viennese operettas, the better Broadway show tunes. "It's uncomplicated and easy to enjoy," Ivanich said.

He usually declines requests because he will not play rock, pop or other "rough stuff." Inmate's Allegations That Jefferson County Sheriff Beat Him see. i Wibbenmeyer pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to two charges of burglary and one count of stealing. Judge John L. Anderson accepted a plea agreement that called for three years in each count with the terms to run concurrently. The Sheriff's Department had said Monday that charges wre pending against Wibbenmeyer over the jailbreak.

But the prosecutor's office said no further charges would be filed. Prosecutor George B. McElroy said he had heard of the allegations against Boyer but said his office was not involved. Hahn, 20. Hahn was being held on a variety of charges, including robbery.

He was recaptured Sunday while hiding under a bed in a house trailer near Festus. Wibbenmeyer was angry after being brought back from questioning and told other inmates and jail personnel that Boyer had hit him, Sheriff's Department sources said. Boyer said that because the matter was under investigation, he would not comment. "They the FBI will make a finding," he said. "We'll wait and By Roy Malone Of the Post-Dispatch Staff The FBI is investigating allegations that Jefferson County Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer beat a jail inmate because the man would not divulge information about his cellmate's escape Friday night.

The FBI interviewed the inmate, Jeffrey R. Wibbenmeyer, 23, of Fenton, Tuesday at the jail. Wibbenmeyer is said to have made a written complaint to jail authorities that he was beaten on the face and shoulders Saturday afternoon as he was being interrogated about the escape of Kevin.