St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 41

Alt mm iMLj Sunday, March 14,1999 ST. LOUIS PDST-DISPATCH D3 What, me worry? if) kJ i 0 I 0 Sons European trip is sure to bring out parenting instinrts They say billboards touting concealed-carry plan mislead is Irish today" It's hard to say goodbye to a child, even if that goodbye is really a "see you later." My wife and I had to do that a couple of days ago, as our 18-year-old took off for a few weeks' stint to London and Paris. If you know me, you know that a trip to places like London and Paris isn't common. No, that's putting it mildly. Neither my wife nor I has ever been to London or Paris.

I'm the type of guy who squeezes a penny so tightly Lincoln screams. We aren't the kind of couple who jets off to Paris on a whim, or goes skiing at Vail for the weekend. A trip to Ramon's El Dorado restaurant in Collinsville for K'i Mexican food is as good as a trip out of the country for us. While we're not exactly a family that considers a can of Cheez Whiz and crackers a buffet meal, we aren't the most sophisticated, either. While Greg Fmeman TV fW c' MijWimiailllllWiliaffT illill wiiMiMtfllM) ilumtililiiHiii-Hifi nr 1 filMMiMi 1 i-.

iiwihtfs- i iVmrtiiBMMi fjk I "Everybody r.c V-, H1 Photos Laurie Skhivan POST-DISPATCH Bagpipe player Aaron St. John of Florissant and his brother, drummer Ian St. John of St. Louis, practice Saturday before marching in the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

The brothers are part of the 42nd Highland Regiment Black Watch. Luck of the Irish holds out as expected snow stays away for 30th St. Patrick's Day Parade Board voted 12-1 to back measure By Terry Ganey And Bill Bryan Of the Post-Dispatch Some members of the St. Louis Police Officers Associa-tion are opposing Proposition the concealed weapons sure, even though they are counted on the billboards in the St. Louis area that say the orga- nization's 1,325 members have 2 endorsed the proposal.

Four members of the associa- tion have complained to Sgt. John Johnson, the group's pres- 2 ident, that the billboards are misleading. Johnson said the association's executive board voted 12-1 in December to en- dorse Proposition B. He said the board was speaking for all of the membership in that vote, While there hasn't been a membership vote on the issue, Johnson believes an over- whelming majority of the asso- ciation supports Proposition B. "The reason we are for it is I because for years we have trying to get bills passed for re- tired police officers to carry a -weapon," Johnson said.

going to happen until Missouri is no longer a non right-to-carry state. It cannot -be passed for one group of pri- vate citizens without opening it 2 up to all law-abiding citizens." JJ Missouri voters will consider Proposition on April 6. If the binding referendum gets a sim- pie majority, citizens who qual- ify would be authorized to get permits to carry concealed handguns. Proponents say it will give average citizens a chance to protect themselves from crime. Sam Zouglas, the police association's vice president, says he is against the concealed weapons measure because not enough training is involved.

"I don't believe 12 hours is enough, and I think the person should have to qualify like we do, twice a year," said Zouglas, a narcotics detective. Homicide Detective Roy Douglas, a 30-year veteran, said: "I'm against anything that puts more guns on the street. An argument over a beer can turn deadly." The billboards supporting Proposition were paid for by "Missourians Against Crime," the National Rifle Association-financed organization pushing r-for passage of the concealed weapons issue. The NRA has made passage of Proposition a high priority. While the police association has endorsed the NRA priority, the NRA has returned the favor by supporting collective bar- gaining for public employees, -including police officers.

The po- lice association made collective bargaining a priority this year. Last month, James Jay Bak- er, an NRA executive, wrote Johnson a letter saying the NRA supported a bill in the Missouri House that would give government employees, including police officers, more I power in contract negotiations. On Tuesday, when the collec- tive bargaining bill came up for consideration in the House, the NRA endorsement letter was circulated to some House members. Johnson said he had given the letter to the bill's sponsors hop- ing it could help influence rural members of the House who op- posed the collective bargaining bill. The bill failed, 88-73.

"The NRA is pretty strong in rural Missouri," Johnson said. Some House members com-plained about the letter to Fred Myers, the campaign manager for "Missourians Against Crime." Myers said he did not know the NRA leader had writ- ten the letter until House mem- bers showed it to him. pi wmiwi i I've been to mmnznzzn Mexico and Canada several times and my wife went to Japan with an aunt once when she was a child, places like Paris seem a bit too sophisticated for our tastes. So when our son came to us last year and he wanted to go to Europe, I told him tough luck. He's a senior in high school now.

Every available dollar goes into trying to send him to college. Anyone who's checked the cost of colleges these days knows that most of them are asking for an arm, a leg and several other body parts. I'm ready to hold up a tin cup and a sign that reads: "Will write for tuition." If he wanted Europe, I suggested, try New Madrid, Mo. Or if he really wanted to travel, Paris, Texas. But Will had other ideas.

Between then and now, he laid money aside. He got a part-time job as a busboy oh, sorry, busperson at a local restaurant. He scrimped and saved. He begged and cajoled. And he came up with the money for the trip, with spending money to boot.

So off he went, with another friend from school. Yes, it was a good lesson for him, I suppose. If you really want something, you have to work for it. Nothing is impossible if you work hard. Or, to use the phrase my father used to say to me, nothing good comes easy.

Still, I never really thought that he would go. I mean, teen-agers make all sorts qf plans, but when it comes down to carrying them through, few ever see the light of day. When I was a kid, I promised my mother a new house when I grew up. She's lived now in the same house for 35 years. Every so often, she reminds me of that promise.

Every so often, I lower my head in shame. That new house doesn't appear close on the horizon. Who knew he'd actually come up with the money? So he's flown the coop now for a couple of weeks. Will he be missed? You bet. We miss him already.

To be perfectly honest, he's often away from home these days during the hours that he's awake. There's always something to do, some place to be. Rare are the evenings these days that we all eat dinner together. In that sense, we shouldn't really miss him at all. Still, who will my wife and I yell at when it's time to get up in the morning? Who will we have to tell to take out the trash? Whose curfew will we monitor? Who will we have to tell to get off the phone? Friends have told us how lucky we are to have the young one away for a while.

Just right for an old-time romantic interlude or two, they tell us. Perfect for kissing and cuddling, like when we were newlyweds, we hear. But when we were newlyweds, we didn't have a child to worry about. We didn't have to wonder whether he was eating right, getting the rest he needed or just staying out of trouble. You can't miss what you don't have.

Since that time, though, we've had a son, and no matter where he is and I suspect no matter how old he is, we'll worry about him, whether he's in St. Louis or around the world. So while he goes off on what will probably be his biggest adventure yet, we'll wait here, confident in his maturity yet worried nonetheless. And after all, the right to worry -f is one right that all parents have. A Green could be seen everywhere as about 150,000 people lined Market Street for the traditional event.

By Heather Ratcliffe Of the Post-Dispatch They called it a "bit of Irish luck. The 3 to 8 inches of expected snow failed to fall Saturday on the 30th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. "You've got to give it to the Irish," said Norma King of St. Louis, who has missed only two past parades both times because of the weather.

"They wouldn't have let it snow." About 150,000 people packed sidewalks along Market Street to celebrate the saint best known throughout the world for driving the snakes from Ireland. But parade organizers weren't pleased with the public's turnout; they had expected twice as many. "It was a beautiful day," said Joseph B. McGlynn co-founder of the parade. "But headlines about blizzard conditions scared away the crowds." The parade kicked off at noon with booms from cannons and roars from the crowd.

The entourage included some 5,000 marchers, 20 bands, 38 floats and five balloons. Dick Ford, anchor for KTVI (Channel 2), was the parade marshal. Ned O'Keeffe, Ireland's secretary of agriculture, was an honored guest. "The Irish government thinks enough of our parade to send a dignitary to it each year," McGlynn said. Green was the flavor for the day, and parade-goers donned it from head to toe.

Green hats, green hair, green beads, green blankets and green balloons. "We would have come even if it did snow," said Susan Wagner of Bellefontaine Neighbors. Wagner (left) and her mother, Mary Ann Hoven of Florissant, were among the spectators who lined Market Street on Saturday for the St. Patrick's Day Parade. 'A i 5 gaters hours before the parade began.

"This is tradition," she said. "We have done it for eight years." Schlotman prefers this parade to the one in her hometown of Chicago; she had driven down to visit relatives and take in the celebration. "St. Louis is better because you can get closer to the parade," she said. "It's a lot more crowd-friendly." Vendors with shopping carts overflowing with green head gear, toys and souvenirs scoured the crowds before and during the parade.

Pamela Merkle and Lorri Honarmand, with the Association on Aging with Developmental Disabilities, sold green clown noses for $2 apiece. 1 The hot item for most vendors was Silly String. Children and adults bought multiple cans to spray at floats and wage wars with other parade-goers. Crowd favorites included the unusual drill team of the Lawn-Chair Brigade, the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales and the many Irish dancing performances. Dan Green or rather, his portable heater was also particularly popular.

Fellow parade-watchers were seeking some warmth in the 39-degree air. "They haven't been overbearing," said Green, 42, of Fenton. "They are just looking for a little heat. I was hoping that it would have snowed. Then I would have been even more popular." Ron Bockhorst, 38, and his family tout their ancestral Irish blood.

"We came to celebrate the green," said Bockhorst, of Sunset Hills. He topped his red hair with an Irish flag hat. But lack of Irish ties didn't keep others away. "Everybody is Irish today," said onlooker Toni Gray of St. Louis, sporting a green derby.

An hour before the first float appeared, people began lining the streets toting their portable grills and ice chests. Smells of barbecued burgers and beer saturated the crisp air. Joan Schlotman served sandwiches to her family out of the back of her minivan. Schlotman had driven past police and cut through barricades to join tail- Where are they now? 1 9" Yi Sr. Lous TRIVIA Most popular dishes at some local landmark restaurants Tony's Restaurant Veal (downtown) Bevo Mill Sauerbraten Romine's Half-chicken, fried Kirkwood Grill Scrapple (Sausage, grits, onions, etc.) "Fatha" Thimes and the current radio personality known as Gabriel will discuss memories on the "Blursday" show on KDIIX-FM radio 88.1 from 4-7 p.m.

Hayes said black radio of a generation ago was notable because unlike today many of the stations were owned by African-Americans. Black people today have comparatively little real voice in radio, he said. That's a far cry from the old days, said Hayes. "In the '60s, KATZ was the institution in the city of St. Louis," he said.

More than a generation ago, when cars had tailfins and AM-only radios, hits were largely heard in St. Louis on KATZ radio and its competitor KXLW, which specialized in programming of interest to African-Americans. Over time, radio like the popular music it airs has changed a lot. Veteran on-air personalities from both KATZ and the old KXLW will meet at the microphone again on Thursday to recall the glory days of black radio stations. Bernie Hayes, Grace Lowry, Lou "Being a black disc jockey in the early '50s was like being king," longtime St.

Louis radio personality Bernie Hayes in an 1972 interview if 1.