St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 30

Carondelet Carondelet Park, bounded by 1-55, Holly Hills Boulevard, Loughborough Avenue and Leona Street is the third largest park in the city park system. It was established in 1876. Business news begins onPageClO. -Jfev aess TO' Friday, February 6, 1998 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Section 'ill 1 1 1 1 1 iil trol of the district.

Clay told fellow members of the Senate Education Committee on On lawsuits, luck and karma Sweepstakes do offer something-a dream-for nothing Fj 'm not saying we have too many II lawyers, but I see that I'm suing somebody again. Not long ago, I sued Mercantile Bank. I was part of a class-action suit against the bank because some lawyer from Chicago was alleging that the bank was doing something tricky with escrow accounts. We ended up settling out of court. The lawyer got $175,000, and the bank continued to do whatever it had He proposes a new, smaller board in '99 Thursday about his new proposal for reform of city schools.

He now wants the current Schqpl Board to run the schools until April 1999, when a new, seven-member board would assume control. That board would bers elected at large who serve six-year terms. Clay said his plan changed after he formed an advisory committee last month that helped him decide how St Louis could best improve its public schools. After studying the school district, Clay said, the committee realized that a takeover was unnecessary but that school officials needed more direction. The new plan still ensures accountability and equal spending among city schools, he said.

"This addresses the heart of the problem," Clay said. He cited the three-tiered funding system that operates in city schools, by which magnet schools get the most desegregation money and integrated neighborhood schools get he least. Clay also said guidelines in his amendment would encourage the new School Board to drastically change most city schools: "They need the majority of the schools reconstituted." Clay's reform ideas have sparked controversy in St. Louis since he first proposed in November that Mayor Clarence Harmon take control of the schools. That proposal by Clay and state Rep.

Charles Quincy Troupe, D-St. Louis won favor among other members of a joint interim House-Senate desegregation committee that drafted a bill in December based partly on Clay's ideas. But the takeover plan also produced problems for Clay, who altered his proposal after he was crit- icized by St. Louis voters loyal to the School Board and by school officials who accused him of seeking more political influence in the city schools. Since then, Clay convened his committee of about 20 St.

Louis politicians, former School Board members, teachers and parents who persuaded him to change the plan. After several meetings last month, the group decided on the proposal Clay submitted'Thursday. Everette E. Nance, dean of the Evening College at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, served on Clay's committee.

Nance said Thursday that he did not support a takeover of the schools and that Clay's advisory committee focused See Clay, Page C7 i William Lacy Clay He also seeks to equalize spending by Colleen Carroll Of the Posf-Dispatch JEFFERSON CITY State Sen. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, who has pushed for a state takeover of the St Louis Public Schools, now says he wants the St Louis School Board to retain con- Bill McOellan be elected at large, but candidates would file in seven subdistricts throughout the city and serve four-year terms. The current board has 12 mem- been doing with the escrow accounts. This time, I'm suing Publishers Clearing House.

A St. Louis lawyer, Steven Stolze, is alleging that Publishers Clearing House dupes people into buying hi Chase-Park Plaza is getting new look 4 a Budget plan is good news for WU and metro area More money is earmarked for new medical research v. jsl or-. "1, Karen Elshout POST-DISPATCH Spirtas Wrecking Co. Inc.

employees Jim Bush (left) and Gary Watkins enjoy one of the best views in St. Louis on Wednesday as they tear the roof off part of the Chase Hotel's old Rainbow Room. The Chase-Park Plaza, at Kingshighway and Lindell Boulevard in the Central West End, once was one of the city's premier hotels. Developers are converting ft into 200 luxury apartments, a five-screen cinema, restaurants and specialty shops. Business incubator nurtures first 2 tenants Don Roth's resume 1977-80: General manager of the Austin Symphony 1980-83: Managing director of by Susan Thomson Of the Post-Dispatch President Bill Clinton's proposal for more federal money for scientific research bodes well for Washington University and the St.

Louis region, says Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Clinton's budget draft includes an 8.4 percent increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health, the single largest supporter of research at the university. Last year, the university got $190 million 69 percent of all of its outside money for research and 20 percent of its total income from the institutes. Clinton's call for increased spending for the institutes as well as other federal agencies that support research is "important not only for the university, its students and faculty but also for the community," Wrighton said Thursday in a meeting with Post-Dispatch editor-' ial writers.

Already, he said, the university is working with the BJC Health System on plans for a cancer treatment center. And last fall, the university launched undergraduate and graduate degree programs in biomedical engineering, a new field that applies engineering principles to medical diagnosis. Of the university's most recent $100 million grant from the Dan-' forth Foundation, $5 million is ear-i marked for the biomedical engineering department. The largest piece of the gift $30 million will go to the university's nationally renowned medical school. The social work school, which U.S.

News World Report has rated first in the nation, will share $10 million with other social science departments. Wrighton said that while building "strength on strength," the university is "striving to become a five-star university" tops in all of its disciplines. So, for instance, $10 million of the Danforth money will support the university's program in American cultural studies. The university See Money, PageCS Symphony gets new executive director magazines by rzzzzrzzr: falsely leading them to believe that a subscription or two will increase their chances of winning the company's annual sweepstakes. You mean it doesn't? At any rate, I'm sure I'm part of this class-action lawsuit.

I always buy a couple of subscriptions when I get my letter from Publishers Clearing House, which informs me, if my memory is correct, that I have never been closer to winning. In fact, I am a semifinalist. I'm delighted to say that I seem to make that cut every year. Admittedly, the person who signs the letter always urges me to buy a magazine or two. The language goes something like this: "I'm rooting for you, William McClellan.

You deserve to win. I hope to meet you in person when I present you with the check! "I'm sure you understand that the only way we can afford to give away these large cash prizes is because we sell magazines. As a friend, and a potential millionaire, I hope you'll help us." How could I not help? She's rooting for me. Why would I sue her? Actually, I think that Stolze is infringing upon my religious freedom. You see, I believe in karma.

The good that you do comes back to you. So, of course, I subscribe to a couple of magazines. It's important to put good vibes out there with your entry. As far as I'm concerned, I nearly won this year. Had I subscribed to a third magazine, I probably would have won.

My karma was just a little bit light. From now on, though, I'll have no chance. I can imagine the letter that will come with my entry form next year. "I used to root for you, William McClellan. I used to think you deserved to win.

But then you sued me." Truth is, I don't expect to be a semifinalist ever again. My lawsuit against Mercantile taught me a lesson. When that Chicago lawyer first sent me a letter informing me that I had not only sued Mercantile but had brought that beast to its knees, I was giddy. I was, of course, a little disappointed that I wasn't getting anything, but that's the way these class-action lawsuits are. Actually, it turns out I did get something.

I got sold. Mercantile sold my mortgage to a company that now charges me a fee for sending me my monthly statement. I'm not complaining. What's a small monthly fee matter to a fellow who every year gets closer and closer to winning the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes? In fact, a guy can put up with a lot of little indignities when he believes that he is soon going to come into a fortune. And that's the beauty of these contests.

They allow you to dream. They allow you to shrug off the little roadblocks that life puts in your way. It's also important to believe that you're not depending on blind luck. If blind luck is your thing, you can play the lottery. But a person like me, a person who likes to control his own fate, can help himself in the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes.

It's easy. All you have to do is buy a couple of subscriptions. That increases your chances. At least, I like to think it does. After all, I want to win, but I wasn't raised to expect to get something for nothing.

If I were that kind of person, I'd have gone to law school, and I'd be --filing class-action suits myself. the Hartford Symphony 1983-86: Executive director of the Syracuse Symphony 1987-90: General manager of the San Francisco Symphony 1990-98: Executive director (from 1990) and president (from 1992) of the Oregon Symphony A renovated warehouse between two universities will help young high-tech companies stay in this area. By Mark Schlinkmann Regional Political Correspondent A long-awaited, government-funded incubator for high-tech business in St. Louis is getting its first two tenants. MinMax Technologies which is developing high-speed telecommunications technology, has moved its 15 employees into the facility a rehabbed warehouse at 4041 Forest Park Parkway.

They will be followed next month by MetaPhore Pharmaceuticals made up of chemists working to develop metal-binding compounds for therapy. There is space for several more companies as well. "These are start-up companies," said Marcia Mellitz, who heads the state-funded concern overseeing the incubator. "What we're building is a center of activity for technology commercialization." Over time, she said, the companies should spur new jobs "that might otherwise not exist" in the area. The incubator provides office and lab space at lower costs to new companies.

The companies cut costs by sharing office equipment and services and a conference room. They also get assistance in developing markets for their products. The project is part of efforts to develop a research park centered around the Washington University and St. Louis University medical schools and their See Incubator, Page C6 BYPAULHAMPEL Of the Post-Dispatch The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra has a new executive director known for his ability to generate revenue.

He is Don Roth, 53, who most recently has been president of the Oregon Symphony. Roth will replace Bruce Cop-pock, who resigned last year to become deputy director of Carnegie Hall in New York. In Oregon, Roth established a legacy as a formidable fund-raiser, a trailblazer who took classical music to the hinterlands and a tough labor negotiator. "Don Roth strikes a balance be- tween broad experience and a very high energy level," said John W. Bachmann, St.

Louis Symphony chairman. "He can do a number of things simultaneously and do them well." As president, Roth was CEO of the Oregon Symphony, an $11.6 See Symphony, Page C6 'Scientist celebrates 81st birthday In Other News Lessons in big art will be taught Lincoln Diuguid, one of the St. Louis region's most dedicated chemistry teachers and chemical innovators, turns 81 today. He is president of at garden Robert Ketchens, a muralist and art teacher here, will Du-Good Chemical Laboratories and Manufacturers, founded here in 1947. Di- tI 1 uguid pronounced DO-iSIClt S00 earned a master's de V- Summer activities in downtown St.

Louis will start with an arts event on Memorial Day weekend in the Washington Avenue loft district and end with a Labor Day blues festival at Laclede's Landing. Downtown promoters touted the events at a news conference Thursday. C3 Cartoonist Dan Martin comments on Civic Progress and the Kiel Opera House agreement, Mayor Clarence Harmon's strained relations with the Board of Aldermen, and County Executive George R. "Buzz" Westfall and the new county jail. C19 gree at Lorneu university and headed the chemistry department at Arkansas State University.

After earning his doctorate at Cornell, he became the first African- History Month show you the ins, outs and all about of mural painting at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in Shoen-berg Auditorium at the Missouri Botanical Garden. He will demonstrate techniques on canvas and will talk about composition, scale, color, mixing, spatial consideration, drawing and painting. Ketchens' style has come through time spent in New Orleans, Biloxi, Fort Worth, Texas, and Europe, and through his African-American heritage. His presentation, "Mural Magic," is included in your admission to the garden.

For more information, call the Garden Line at 577-9400. American research staff File Pmoto Lincoln Diuguid has spent years developing anti-cancer compounds. ventions: a wax-reclaiming process, gas and sulfur detectors, an anti-corrosive substance for baseboard heaters, and several cleaning and cosmetic products. He has spent years developing anti-cancer compounds, two of which are undergoing tests at the National Cancer Institute. JuS Am t.

iiiil member there. He developed a method of converting aviation fuel into a plasticizing agent. The method is still used. Diuguid taught for 33 years at Harris-Stowe State College. Among his other in- mum.