St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 27

IT ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH TUESDAY-L APRIL 4 2000 SECTIOfc Ml A isms una mi to mm mm no Registration begins for transfer program Their pastoral letter targets the subtle, forms of prejudice Special prayers will be said in Lent Gebhardt with a Ballot scheme using similar names has a history here As supporters of Rep. Richard A. Gephardt worry about the filing of Richard A. Gebhardt with a for Congress, they shouldn't look to former St.

Louis Circuit Clerk Joseph P. Roddy for any consolation. Roddy was the victim of the Same ballot scheme 18 years ago. I hold the "distinction" of being the only reporter in this city whoever spoke with Clara Jo Roddy, once she had filed. 2 Actually, I was never really jure that was her name.

She was listed in the telephone directory as Claira Jo Rodis. But she filed for circuit clerk at the last minute as C. Jo Roddy. At the time, Joe Roddy had Been the longtime circuit clerk. He was seeking his fourth full term, having been appointed to the post in -Alt.

irtuvH? I if iii mi -mt "--i J.B. FORBES POST-DISPATCH Benerie Wheeler, 5, fidgets next to his grandmother, Gertrude Like, on Monday as registration began for the city-county volunteer school transfer program. The pair waited at Metro Academic and Classical High School, 4015 McPherson Avenue, as Benerte's mother, Regina Tate, filled out paperwork. Tate, a 1996 graduate of Marquette High School in west St. Louis County, said she wanted Benerie to attend a county school.

"I want him to have a chance like I had. My son has a speech problem, and I know they'll help him." Registration for the program will continue from 3-7 p.m. Wednesday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at Metro.

Official opposes plan for nuns to live in home He says city would be open to "questionable groups" By Norm Parish Of the Post-Dispatch The city's zoning administrator is opposing a plan that would allow six Catholic nuns to live in a house north of Tower Grove Park. The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul already have By Patricia Rice Post-Dispatch Religion Writer The Catholic bishops of Illinois are asking people of good will to recommit themselves to end racism beginning today, the 32nd anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "The new millennium is a time for us to say with one voice: 'We will not live with the sin of racism any longer.

Racism must end now," the 14 Illinois bishops say in a seven-page pastoral letter to be released today. The booklet is called "Moving Beyond Racism: Learning to See with the Eyes of Christ," and is mainly directed at the 3.8 million Illinois Catholics. "The pastoral (letter) is a continuation of the hishnns' LJgLV. long tradition of calling our people to address the sin of racism," said Bishop Wilton Gregory of the Dio-c of Belleville. "We know that racism is a sin that is not easily set aside.

Bishop Wilton Gregory "A conversion of hearts" We need to continue to call for a conversion of hearts. That's a call for all our kids to have a brighter future, to live and work in a world that is multiracial, multicultural, ecumenical and interfaith." The bishops challenge each of Illinois' six Catholic dioceses to become models of a future without racism so that "one day, all may be free." The document acknowledges that there has been growth in the sense of fairness toward African-Americans in society since 1979, when the U.S. Catholic bishops issued a pastoral document called "Brothers and Sisters to Us ALT that declared racism a sin. The Illinois document puts the spotlight on more subtle forms of racism. Among the examples it' cites: real estate agents who steer clients along racial lines, police officers who stop black motorists because of their race, retail-store security officers who focus on young black men, parents who pass up good schools with large numbers of blacks to enroll their children in predominately white schools, and groups who avoid contact with racially diverse or culturally different communities.

Gregory said that the sin of racism can be overcome when people "see with the eyes of Christ." Gregory said he may add a prayer for victims of racism to the service for Good Friday, April 21. He expects parishes in his diocese to use it during Lenten sessions on social justice and in their schools. Parishioners may use the letter in prayerful meditation, small group discussions or parish workshops, said Gregory, who helped write the document. In Madison County, home to the largest concentration of. Catholics in the Diocese of Springfield, parishes will receive copies of the document and background material to encourage discussion and action, said Bishop George Lucas of Springfield.

Lucas has devoted his diocesan newspaper column this week to the topic. He said he hoped that parishes would add special prayers at Lenten Masses for See Bishops, D6 postnet.com i 7 0 3 a i permit such groups as the Branch Davidians and the Jim Joneses." About 80 members of the Davidians died when their compound near Waco, Texas, was destroyed by fire during a siege by federal agents in 1993. The Rev. Jim Jones and 912 of his followers committed suicide by drinking poison at their temple in South America in 1978. Sister Rosemary DeDentro, who lives in the house on Flora, said she was upset with Koch's comparisons.

See Nuns, D6 rt TEAK PHILLIPS POST-DISPATCH statement in July, he was transferred elsewhere.) Now, Capkovic is in the running with about a dozen others for the departmentwide St. Louis Police Officer of the Year. That winner will be chosen in about a month by a panel of three retired police officers and three businesspeople, selected See Officer, D6 to review the plan on Wednesday. But zoning administrator John Koch, a former alderman for the Shaw neighborhood, believes that Roth's idea is "contrary to established city policies that seek to reduce density in residential neighborhoods." He said the proposal would leave the city wide open to "questionable groups." In his written recommendation to the commission, Koch said that the plan, "while focused on permitting the residency of religious orders and seemingly tightly crafted, could well ft 1968 by Gov. Warren E.

Hearnes. The position of circuit clerk was a much more powerful one in those days, and Roddy ran herd over about 200 patronage workers, more than rreeman The Front Porch any other city-forumat wide elected ffrwfflanpostnet.coni official. He had the backing of such ponti le cians as then- Mayor Vincent C. Schoemehl Jr. and U.S.

Rep. William L. Clay. Few thought Roddy could be toppled. Running against him were Thomas A.

Connelly, who had been city counselor under former Mayor Jim Conway; and a young, little-known attorney whose father was a St. Louis alderman. That attorney was Freeman Bosley Jr. The evening that she filed, I reached Clara Jo Roddy by phone. I can still recall the meaningful conversation: Freeman: Hello, may I speak to Clara Jo Roddy? Roddy: This is she speaking.

Freeman: This is Greg Freeman from the Post-Dispatch and I'm calling because (Click!) Before I could get my sentence out, she'd hung up on me. She refused to take any more calls from me or other reporters who tried in vain to reach her for comment. She was never seen in public again. Her first and last bit of campaigning was to put her name on the ballot. Not one flier, not one ad, not one campaign appearance.

Joe Roddy assumed dirty tricks by one of the other candidates. He sought to have Clara Jo Roddy's name removed from the ballot but had no success. He was able to get the St. Louis Election Board to list her as Clara Jo Roddy instead of as C. Jo Roddy, as she had originally filed.

While he expected the other Roddy on the ballot to draw some votes from him, he didn't think it would matter that much. "Naturally, you're concerned about this kind of thing," Joe Roddy said at the time. "But I think that the voters dont like this kind of thing at all. It would make sense that one of my challengers would do something like this. But I think it might actually boomerang, and mat some voters might vote for me simply because they dont like mis kind of thing mat cheapens the electioneering process." But on election night, Roddy was in for a surprise.

When the tally was in, he'd lost, and the city's political landscape Changed forever. Bosley won that election and later used the office of circuit clerk to propel him to the city's highest office. In the circuit clerk's race, 946 votes made a difference. That's what separated Bosley, with 31,121 votes, from Joe Roddy with 30,175. Clara Jo Roddy Without campaigning at all had won 2,245 votes.

(Connelly came in third with 23,227 votes.) Z. For a while, "name's the same" and ringer candidates were common in city races. But stalking horse candidacies in city politics have all but vanished since 1993, when that year's three-person comptroller race touched off a federal investigation that led to the conviction of four people. That race involved putting a candidate into the race to pull votes from another candidate. Still, considering what happened to Roddy, it's no wonder that the Gephardt people are worried about the Gebhardt candidacy.

If history is any indica tion, it's easy to fool some of the 4 Patrolman once accused of murder is now up for top city police honors three members living in a stately seven-bedrcom house on Flora Place in the Shaw neighborhood. The order would like an exemption from the city housing code, which allows only three unrelated persons to live in one house. Last month, Edward Roth, a neighbor and lawyer, proposed a zoning change that would allow six unrelated people of a religious order to share a house. Roth also is a member of the St. Louis Police Board.

The city's Planning and Urban Design Commission is expected they encountered on a rooftop. Capkovic, 36, a husband and the father of three, was suspended without pay. He saw his life coming apart. Then, two months later, the charge was dropped against Capkovic when a key witness cleared him. The suspension was lifted and Capkovic returned to the only job he had ever wanted, being a police officer.

Now, to top the year off, Capkovic has been selected the First District Police Officer of the Year for 1999, and is in the running for honors as the full department's top cop of that year. The district honor, bestowed by a volunteer committee of five officers, came from achievements in February and had St. Louis police Officer Stephen Capkovic and his wife, Angela, at a news conference in July announcing that murder charges were dropped against the officer. A witness in the case cleared Capkovic. Stephen Capkovic calls 1999 an "overwhelming'' year By Bill Bryan Of the Post-Dispatch Officer Stephen Capkovic is not likely to forget 1999.

"Overwhelming," the St. Louis police patrolman said Monday. "That's the only way to describe it." In May, he and another officer were charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of a burglary suspect nothing to do with the death of the suspect April 24. Capkovic was first selected the district's Officer of the Month for February by the committee. After the end of the year, he was named district Officer of the Year over the other 11 monthly winners, even though he had worked there fewer than four full months.

(After his rein Readers go online to vent spleen over census questionnaire Did you turn in your census form by Saturday's deadline? Judging by the recent debate in the postnet.com Current Affairs forum, some people are unhappy with the questions posed by the government. One visitor Publication offers information on loans, grants and work-study for college Students who want to go to college but are unsure how to pay for it can check out "The Student Guide" from the US. Depart- ment of Education. It gives information on grants, loans and work-study available through the federal government, then shows students how to apply for them. The guide is updated yearly.

The latest version covers financial aid awards from July 1, 2000, to June 30, 2001. Students can read the guide online at http:www.ed.govproginfoSFAStudentGuide or order a free copy from the Federal Student Aid Information Center by calling 800-4-FED-AID (800-433-3243). To apply for federal financial aid and many state aid programs, students must fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. It is online at http:www.fafsa.ed.gov Other News Temporarily rolling back the federal gas tax by 4.3 cents would cost Missouri $127 million a year in highway funds and another $42 million for transit, state transportation officials say. Sen.

Christopher "Kit" Bond, says a vote on the tax roll-back is scheduled for later this week. Bond opposes the measure, which was introduced in response to skyrocketing gasoline prices. D2 An official at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point has been named president of Westminster College in Fulton, Mo. Brig.

Gen. Fletcher M. Lamkin will trade his uniform for a business suit when he takes over July 1. D2 coined the term "censopho-bic" for people who resent all the information the government is seeking; another noted emphatically that "NO ONE has the right to know how much my family makes, what colors we are, when we leave for work or what languages we speak." What are you, censophobe or censophile? There's still time to submit your answer at postnet.comcurrent oters some of the time..