St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 10

3FEB 0 1 2001 postnet.coninews ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH METRO THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2001 B3 Tests on Carnahan plane are inconclusive, agency reports By Ken Leiser Of the Post-Dispatch Tests on vacuum pumps powering flight instruments in Gov. Mel Carnahan's ill-fated campaign plane so far have proved inconclusive, the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday. Carnahan, his son Roger "Randy" Carnahan and campaign adviser Chris Sifford died when their plane crashed Oct. 16 on a wooded hillside near Hillsboro.

The elder Carnahan was running for U.S. Senate. The Carnahan and Sifford families have filed separate lawsuits against Cessna Aircraft Co. and several other companies. The Carnahan suit alleges that the flight-instrument system on the Cessna 335 was "unreasonably dangerous" and that the steps to correct it were inadequate.

In October, the Safety Board said that none of the instruments was found intact and that the right engine vacuum pump and pieces of the left engine pump were sent to a lab for further testing. But Wednesday's safety board advisory said, "Initial examinations of the right engine vacuum pump and pieces of the left engine did not produce any conclusive information." Two weeks before the crash, Cessna issued a service bulletin urging owners of several aircraft types to inspect "check valves" on the vacuum systems responsible for flight instruments. Randy Carnahan reported problems with his artificial horizon just 10 minutes before the crash. Other findings include: Randy Carnahan had recorded a total of 1,797 flight hours, including 487 in the Cessna 33S. Of his total hours as a pilot, he had logged 87.6 hours of instrument flying.

National Weather Service data showed that there was moderate rainfall in the area the night of the crash but that precipitation would have been lightest just before the crash. Two new investigative groups have been assigned to the case to study human performance and the aircraft performance. A final report is due this sum mer. Mel Burkart, associate professor of aviation science at Parks College of Engineering and Aviation, said the weather data and pilot experience data shed little light on how the accident happened. "My sense is that if everything had gone right, the weather wouldn't have been a problem," said Burkart, who flew into St Louis Downtown-Parks Airport about 90 minutes before the Carna-hans' plane left that night The nearly 1,800 hours Randy Carnahan logged as a pilot "would indicate a reasonably competent and reasonably experienced he added.

Tony Saxton, a Cessna expert rj-who is president of TAS Aviation in Defiance, Ohio, added: "I don't- think that they have a clue. There is no overriding single thing that caused the accident or they would have been looking harder at that single point." Reporter Ken Lefter: E-mail: Phone: 314-340-8119 1 i'A postnet.comlinks Read the NTSB accident report online. riJ nt' City Estimate Board OKs heating aid, wets Laclede's help 'IrT .0 marked the latest shift in the mayor's position. On Jan. 18, an aide to Harmon told an aldermanic committee that Harmon supported the allocation and would sign ordinances to carry it out Last week, the mayor said he supported some city aid but wasn't sure the city could afford as much as Slay wanted, because the city, too, had higher-than-expected costs this winter.

As recently as Tuesday, the mayor in a letter to Green and Slay urged them to support reducing the heating aid total to $575,000. Slay called the heating cost situation "a crisis" for many residents. He has said all along that the city could afford the aid because the gas bill increases also have result 1 lit NANCY PASTORPOST-DISPATCH Second-grader Samanta Alimanovic, 9, originally from Bosnia, participates In an English tutoring program at Resurrection of Our Lord School, 3880 Meramec Street. dent body is increasingly poor and from immigrant families. About 20 percent of children need language instruction.

i- Schmid said a third of her par-vv ents cannot afford tuition and pull their children out before school year is complete. Without more donations from outside the parish, the school could face diffi-V; culty, she said. As they look to the future, Catho-1-'" lie officials here and across the na- c2 tion say they don't think private donations will suffice. At point, they hope, Americans support wide-scale public vouch- ers, giving parents tax dollars to- -(: ward tuitioa On Wednesday, Catholic educat- ors gathered in Washington to commemorate Catholic Education, Week and remind Congress that their schools teach 2.6 million chil-; dren with virtually no government-, dollars. Often, tie conversation switched to vouchers.

Robert Kealy, of the Nationals-Catholic Education Association, said vouchers offer the best long-. term fix for many struggling paro- chial schools. "It's going to take money from somewhere," he said during a' break from lobbying in Washing- Green's proposal to ask Laclede Gas Co. to effectively pay for the heating aid by giving the city an identical amount "It would allow the company to participate in the city's effort to lend a hand to some of our most vulnerable citizens," Green said. A Laclede spokeswoman declined to comment on the request, saying company officials needed to study it.

The three Estimate Board members said the city would carry out the spending even if Laclede didn't agree to the request. The Board of Aldermen voted 16-4 last week to give its preliminary endorsement to the allocation. Final approval is expected Friday. Harmon's vote for Slay's plan Panel votes 8-0 to lower blood-alcohol standard JEFFERSON CITY A Senate panel approved a bill Wednesday that would lower the drunken-driving blood-alcohol level to 0.08 from 0.10, bit it stripped out a more controversial provision that would ban open containers of alcohol in most vehicles. The bill, which the Transportation Committee approved 8-0, now heads to the full Senate.

Similar efforts to strengthen Missouri's drunken-driving laws faltered in recent years, but legislators are feeling more pressure to adopt the new standard because Congress has tied federal road money to it Some legislators said that keeping the open-container ban out of the bill would give 0.08 a better chance of success. Pay raise State Senate endorses pay hikes for officials Continued from Bl The Senate earlier approved a conditional pay, raise, but the House rejected any potential raise and sent the bill back to the Senate for final approval Wednesday morning. Some senators were outraged that the House rejected the commission's recommendation in the morning and then adjourned for the day, leaving no wiggle room for the Senate to negotiate with House members later in the day. "They're shoving it down our Schools Catholic schools hold their own as costs rise Continued from Bl An additional $17 million has been raised by the Today and Tomorrow Educational Foundation, an organization that provides scholarships to Catholic schools here. Also, $5 million is supporting two programs that are sending 1,200 children to Catholic and non-Catholic private schools.

Corporate and church donors have pitched in more than $22 million for the relocation of Cardinal Ritter College Prep in St which has sent hundreds of African-American students to college. Still, Henry said, all that money produces only about 8 percent of what's needed to support Catholic schools in the region each year. To survive, schools must seek more and more outside donations, he said. Sister Kathleen Koenen, of the Belleville Diocesan Education Office, said the situation is the same in Illinois. "We are trying hard to not have our schools be only for those that can afford it," she said.

Sister Louise Schmid, principal of the Resurrection of Our Lord School in St. Louis, said outside financial support has been critical. She said the school struggles to meet payroll most months. The stu CAPITAL BRIEFS The committee chairman, Sen. Morris Westfall, R-Halfway, said he would introduce a separate open-container bill, which also is tied to federal highway money.

ThebillisSB36. Committee backs bill on abandoning newborns The Senate Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee unanimously endorsed a measure Wednesday to let parents leave newborn children at hospitals without fear of prosecution. The measure was spurred last year when a frozen baby was found in an Affton home. Supporters say they want to protect newborns whose parents don't want to care for them. Under the bill, a person could throats," said Sen.

Ken Jacob, D-Columbia. Sen. John Schneider, D-Floris-sant, called the House plan a "piece of trash," and he crumpled the resolution into a wad. The pay raises could cost taxpayers $2.6 million next year and $5.3 million in 2003, with more than 86 percent of the money going to judges. The governor's salary could increase to $133,543 from $119,982.

Wednesday morning, Rep. Wayne Crump, D-Potosi, emphasized that even if the salary schedule went into effect, legislators would still have to fund the raise. Crump said he would support a constitutional amendment to do away with the commission entirely. Other legislators echoed the ed in a big jump in city revenue from a 4 percent city tax on the bills. Harmon said he wasn't convinced until Budget Director Frank Jackson told the board that data through the end of January showed general fund revenues to be $2 million higher than this time a year ago.

An aide to Green said the proposed contribution by Laclede would be regarded as a "rebate" of some of the amount paid by the city to the company to heat city buildings. Reporter Mark Schlinkmann: E-mail: mschlinkmann post-dispatch. com Phone: 622-3580 drop off a baby of no more than 5 days old at a hospital and not face prosecution for endangering the welfare of the child or for child abandonment. ThebUlisSB66. Repeal of motorcycle helmet law advances The Senate Transportation Committee voted 5-3 to repeal the motorcycle helmet law for people 21 and older.

The bill heads to the full Senate. Motorcyclists have been lobbying legislators for years trying to undo the 1967 law. However, the divisive issue still is expected to have difficulty clearing both legislative chambers. In 1999, Gov. Mel Carnahan vetoed a similar effort.

The bill is SB18. Jefferson City Bureau The Senate initially tried to tie legislators' raises to state employees' raises, but Rep. Catherine Ha-naway, R-Warson Woods, said she worried that unless the Legislature made a "clean and clear rejection" of the recommendations, the matter could end up in court The announced House vote on the resolution was 132-5. One of those voting against the resolution which means in support of the pay raise recommendation was Rep. Joe Treadway, D-Lemay.

"All they have said is, this is where the salaries should be," Treadway said of the salary commission. Reporter Eric Stern: E-mail: Phone: 314-862-2186 rzrt postnet.com1inks Follow the pro-Lp gress of the Missouri legislature's pay raise bill. HURRY Schnucks Richardson Crossing 3918 Voget Rd Arnold MO OToHon Pointe 1315 Highway OTallon. MO 636-978-2544 9300 636-287-1155 to ton. "Otherwise, the people who By Mark Schlinkmann Regional Political Correspondent With Mayor Clarence Harmon dropping his opposition, the city Estimate Board voted Wednesday to spend nearly $1.13 million in city money to help lower-income residents pay soaring natural gas bills.

Harmon said the latest budget data convinced him that the city could afford the aid, which had been pushed the past few weeks by Aldermanic President Francis Slay. Harmon and Slay are among the candidates in the Democratic mayoral primary March 6. The Estimate Board made up of Harmon, Slay and Comptroller Darlene Green also approved Chancellor says SIUE has plans for pharmacy school Also, board gives proposed science building a boost By Susan C. Thomson Of the Post-Dispatch As early as next summer, Southern Illinois University may file plans with the Illinois Board of Higher Education for a pharmacy school at the university's Edward-sville campus, SIUE Chancellor David Wemer said in an interview Wednesday. Werner called a pharmacy school "the next logical professional school to add to the campus and the SIU system." He said that SIUE has been developing the plans for about a year and a half and that the school was justified by "a very large need for pharmacists nationwide" and the lack of a pharmacy school in Illinois outside Chicago.

The school is a long-range goal, requiring first the higher education board's approval and then state funding. More immediately, SIUE is hoping for a new science building. The higher education board has approved the university's request for $1.5 million to plan the building and moved it up its list of capital priorities to 14th this year. Last year it was 48th, and the Legislature failed to fund it In an appearance on the Ed-wardsville campus Wednesday, SIU system President James E. Walker said he was doing everything possible to advance the science building request Walker appeared at an open forum, fielding questions and comments from students, faculty members and other SIUE employees.

About 250 attended. The format followed that of previous meetings at the university's Carbondale campus and its medical college in Springfield. Walker, who became SIlTs president Oct. 1, said Wednesday that he came more to listen than to talk. He heard complaints about deferred maintenance on campus, lack of support for nontraditional students, short library and computer lab hours, students unprepared for college work and red tape for transfer students.

But he also heard compliments about dedicated faculty members, some strong academic programs and research opportunities for undergraduates at SIUE. He returned the compliments, calling SIUE "a place of opportunity for many students." I Vacations In the Funjet Vacations ad in Die Travel Section of the 12801 paper, the 7 night Thursday price listed lor the Swept ay property in Jamaica was incorrectly listed as S1219 95 In tact, the price should have been listed as $179995 (Add $50 tor 7 night Sunday depts). We apologize tor any inconvenience this may cause. COMMUNITY Exhibit programs Craft Affiance and the St Louis Science Center will present exhibits and programs highlighting the scientific aspects of fine crafts. Scientific Perspective of Art: Sci- I I TIME $29 per month This free gizmo turns any of our Ericsson and Nokia phones into a portable handsfreeFfA radio.

Okay, so we like gizmos. Is that a crime? will suffer will be from urban areas." Reporter Matt Franck: E-mail: Phone: 314-209-1247 rpn postnet.comlinks Look up the Lps schools and the policies of the St. Louis Archdiocese education system. ence Art of Clay is a teacher's workshop from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the St.

Louis Center, 5050 Oakland Avenue. -Cost of the workshop is $35. For information or to register, call 314-533-8973. Xcingular at a time 4444 OFFER UNLIMITED CALLING and from all angular customers FREE Ericsson 1228 digital phone when you sign up for service FREE Long Distance anywhere in the Continental U.S. FREE unlimited text messaging FREE Gizmo Lots of other plans available The only thing better than a gizmo is a free gizmo.

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