St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 13

i pi MetroUnk plans and downiown Laclede's Landing 11 A jr it i 1 1 With its granite-block streets e-ttnn A rutin kr ttia mitr Laclede's Landing is the last survivor of St. Louis' original 18th-century grid street pattern Monday, April 26, 1999 ST. LOUIS 1 Countdown To College Vir-'-i fl ill 1 l' i VU i Gregory Bowman sought testing to prove innocence Test wasn't available 20 years ago By Carolyn Tuft Of the Post-Dispatch Evidence that might have proven Gregory Bowman's guilt or innocence in the murders of a Belleville woman and teen-age girl 21 years ago has been destroyed by St. Clair County authorities. State's Attorney Robert Haida said he believes the evidence was destroyed probably more than a decade ago because the case was closed and to make space in the office.

"I would not know the exact time that it happened, but there is a routine clearing out of our files on cases that are closed and final," Haida said. The news didn't please Bowman's brother, Nate, who lives in Belleville. "If someone's in prison for life, I would think that the right thing to do is to keep the evidence," Nate Bowman said. "It just makes me wonder what is going on." Gregory Bowman was convicted in a nonjury trial in 1979 of killing Elizabeth West and Ruth Ann Jany and was sentenced to life without parole. Bowman, 47, is in the Joliet Correctional Center near Chicago.

Included in the destroyed evidence was seminal fluid found on a white T-shirt near Elizabeth West's body and a small amount of what was believed to be semen. Bowman said he had hoped to have the semen tested for his DNA to prove his innocence. DNA tests were not available 20 years ago when he was convicted by a St. Clair County judge. See Evidence, Page D4 KAREN ELSHOUT POST-DISPATCH Meghana Patel (center) says goodbye to Kerstin Tebbe as Kerstin gets ready to leave a picnic last week in Forest Park.

The girls, seniors at Parkway North High School, were observing senior skip day. Meghana recently decided to attend Truman State University this fall. St. Louisan Joan Roach, who does transportation and real estate planning, says expanding MetroLink won't hurt downtown and in fact it will provide easy access for county residents to jobs, spi other events in the heart of the city. D15 Section Gregory Bowman is serving life without pa- role for the 1978 mur- ders of a teen and woman.

Box of articles could back up convict's claim By Carolyn Tuft; l' Of the Post-Dispatch When Gregory Bowman confessed more than a decade ago to killing a Belleville woman and a teen-age girl, he mentioned details of the crimes that only the killer could have known, police said. Bowman has long maintained that he lifted those details from newspaper stories and police reports before he confessed to the murders. He immediately recanted his statements. A The recently discovered con-tpnts nf a rtnstv hrnwn hnv would appear to support Bowman's statements thai he had access to newspaper stories and police reports describing the crimes while he was being held in jail as a suspect. Bowman's father, Ed Bowman, said he found the brown box two weeks ago in a storage room in his home.

He started looking for the box when his son mentioned it after deciding to appeal his conviction. Ed Bowman lives in Bell-mont, 111., about 150 miles east of St. Louis. He said his son See Bowman, Page D4 run to Lansdowne Avenue near the River des Peres at the Shrewsbury-St. Louis city limits.

They spoke at the site of the proposed station, now mainly an unpaved parking lot for trucks of the Empire Co. at 7227 Lansdowne Avenue. The station platform would be in but a park-and-ride lot, passenger drop-off lane and other facilities would be in St. Louis. 1 The leaders signed a large mockup of a letter to St.

Louis Mayor Clarence Harmon and to St. Louis County Executive; George "Buzz" Westfall that ex plains their views. Directors of the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, which is planning an expansion from Forest Park to Shrewsbury, are ex--pected to make a decision about its general design June 30. 4 Among those worried that plan- ners might yield to the demands for the underground extension St. Louis County Councilman Kurt Odenwald, R-Shrewsbury.

"Our community will not be well-served if the extension of MetroLink is derailed by overly: See MetroLink, Page D5 Teen-agers shop for bargains, take time picking universities POST-DISPATCH Some of the factors in picking a college Tuition costs: Melissa "Missy" McGraw's parents are asking DePauw University for additional financial help, but they said they'll find a way for her to attend the college of her choice. Personal communication: Senior Meghana Patel said personal notes from recruiters at Truman State University tell her she won't be just a number at the school. Career choice: Anne Kratzer chose the University of Missouri at Kansas City because she has wanted to be a doctor for years. like 80 percent of the nation's undergraduates. It pays to bargain Among the six, only Melissa "Missy" McGraw of Bethalto Memorial High School in Bethalto is headed to a private school DePauw University in Indiana, her odds-on favorite since last fall when she discovered its media studies program.

Like many private schools, it comes with a budget-busting sticker price $17,650 in tuition alone next year. Missy got scholarships, but so far they've come up about $2,000 short of what her parents, Joe and Sharon, were hoping for. So, while assuring Missy that they'll make DePauw work for her, they're asking the See Seniors, Page D3 state has 45 days to review the charter. If the state takes no action, the state will sponsor the school. Charter school sponsors don't run such schools but review their operations every two years and could close them for violations.

Charter schools receive money from the state but operate free of many state rules and regulations. So far, 34 states allow charter See Schools, Page D3 Jackie Out of a group of six students, three already are thinking of transferring after freshman year. By Susan C. Thomson Of the Post-Dispatch 1 oney talked. So did dad, small classes and a warm campus i welcome.

Meghana Mel, surprising even herself, has decided to go to Truman State University. i Last fall, this same senior at tarkway North High School was Imagining herself at a big, private jmiversity in New York or Boston. AW M. her father, Saurabh, around campus did a good selling job. She got a financial package that made the school affordable plus the promise of more money if she retook the ACT and got a higher score.

All that also added up for her father, who came away as pleased she. "I love it when my dad is happy," she said. "That helped me a lot." Meghana is one of six St. Louis area high school seniors the Post-Dispatch has tracked this school year as they and their families considered and, in most cases, kept reconsidering their college choices. As a group, they ap plied to more than 30 schools public and private, big and small mostly in the Midwest but also in the South and West, and scored about 90 percent acceptances.

Now they're committing themselves, at least for now, overwhelmingly to state schools, Shrewsbury fears losing MetroLink expansion Truman, in Kirksville, wasn't figuring in her college picture. She didn't even visit the school until a few weeks ago, on a sparkling spring day when the campus shone. "I liked the size," Meghana said. Classes with no more than 70 students plus the personal notes she already had received from the admissions office told her she wouldn't be just a number at Truman. The student guide who showed her and College unanimously voted down the first charter school proposal in St.

Louis. That school would have been sponsored by the college's Forest Park campus. The board said the plan lacked pre-kindergarten programs, a plan for measuring student progress and a way to pay for special education. Charter Schools Information Center director Laura Friedman I ft I Li 1 Warren Nathan Anne Dustin Melissa Cage Havican Kratzer Lichty McGraw Leaningto- University of University of Still waiting DePauw vvaiu LiiiOuiii iviioouuif al inuouuu ul Univcioiiy University St. Louis Kansas City Line under Clayton could deplete money, leaders say By Phil Sutin Of the Post-Dispatch Don't forget us.

That was the message that proponents of a MetroLink extension to the Shrewsbury area had Sunday for planners and the public. At a news conference, they said that if planners bowed to demands from residents and business people in St. Louis, University City and Clayton that MetroLink be placed underground in their area, there might not be enough money to bring a line to Shrewsbury. The news conference was held by government and community leaders frcm Affton, Brentwood, Maplewood, Richmond Heights, Shrewsbury, southwest St. Louis and Webster Groves.

Those leaders want MetroLink to Proposed charter schools face uncertain approval process By Valerie Schremp Qf the Post-Dispatch i for charter school supporters, last year's challenge revolved around passing charter school legislation in Missouri. In May, lawmakers helped them jump that hurdle. This year's challenge is getting individual schools approved. Last week, the Board of Trustees of St. Louis Community maintains the rejected charter proposal did address these issues and was one of the most detailed she's seen in the state.

The information center has been helping the group that wants to open the St. Louis Charter School this fall for up to 400 pupils in kindergarten through third grade. The group plans to appeal to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The In Other News Jackie Joyner-Kersee mil be part of AIDS walk, which hopes to attract 10,000 on Sunday Olympic Gold Medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee will be at the fore-1 front of thousands of walkers Sunday for the 10th annual AIDS' Walk St. Louis.

The three-mile walk will start at 1 p.m. on Markef Street at Kiener Plaza. Entertainment will start at 10:30 a.m. The activities will include a showing of the AIDS quilt, a memorial of primarily local quilt panels that will cover a block and a half of the Gateway Mall, just west of Kiener Plaza. To register as a pledge walker or to be a donor, call the AIDS Foundation of St.

Louis at (314) 367-7273. Or register at Kiener Plaza at 10 a.m. the Barbecue fund-raiser this week will benefit Annie Malone Children and Service Center That enticing scent from Schnucks City Plaza at Union Boulevard and Natural Bridge Avenue later this week will be from Schnuck Markets three-day barbecue blitz. Proceeds from the event Thursday through Saturday will benefit the Annie Malone Children and Service Center for -orphaned and disturbed children. Schnucks has volunteered to provide the meat, cooks and servers.

To order, call (314) 531-1907 or fax the order to (314) 381-3690. The menu in- eludes ribs, pork steaks, chicken and pplish sausage dinners or sandwiches. Prices are $6 for dinners and $5 for sandwiches. Hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Thursday and Friday and 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday. Delivery is available for those who order 10 or more sandwiches or dinners. '7 1 i Bill McCleDan has the day off The Major Case Squad was investigating the death early Sunday of Frederick Hacke, a 20-year-old Granite City man.

Hacke was shot in Madison, possibly while trying to enter a party where he and his friends were not welcome, police said. D2 Sheryl Crow delighted crowds at the Fox Theatre Saturday night, going out of her way to acknowledge the city that nurtured her in the years between college and Hollywood. D2 Joyner-Kersee day of the event. For $5 extra, you can also register your dog as a walker. The foundation hopes to have 10,000 walkers this year.

The pledge walk is the area's largest fund-raising event for AIDS and HIV service organizations. Distributions from the walk have totaled more than $1.4 million..