St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 15

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH INSID OBITUARIES 4B WEATHER 8B COMMENTARY: MSD must be made accountable to the people it serves EDITORIAL: The death penalty is a failed experiment 6B NEWS ANALYSIS: Woman goes to court to try to force theaters to accommodate obesity 5B 7B To LOUIS1EGION SECTION FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1994 2 Radio Stations' Licenses In Jeopardy BILL McCLELLAN ON MY OWN Judge To Rule On Blacks' Hiring Complaint What's Up? Insiders Becoming Outsiders PERHAPS IT'S A SIGN of progress -rather than a sign of weirdness but in two important political contests this year, the legitimate "outsiders" are white, male, middle-aged attorneys. The first contest is the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Illinois. The so-called major candidates that is, the old-fashioned pols are Roland Burris, the state attorney general; Dawn Clark Netsch, the state comptroller; and Richard Phelan, the president of By Mark Schlinkmann Regional Political Correspondent KFUO-FM and KFUO-AM, two of the Sf. Louis area's oldest radio stations, are in danger of losing their operating licenses.

Spurred by an NAACP complaint, the Federal Communications Commission on Feb. 1 said the two stations did not "maintain an equal opportunity policy" of recruiting black employees. The FCC said the stations had hired only few blacks for 32 vacancies filled between Oct. 1, 1986, and Jan. 31, 1990.

The exact number of blacks hired was unclear Thursday, and the station refused to elaborate. The FCC has sent the issue to an administrative law judge, who will determine whether the stations' employment practices actually discriminate against blacks and whether the licenses should be renewed or forfeited. Another option is to fine the stations as much as $250,000. The judge is expected to take testimony at a hearing here June 6. KFUO-AM (850) has been on the air since time that the agency has ruled that "the use of offensive racial stereotypes in making hiring decisions" are enough to put a license renewal at stake.

Charles Mischeaux, president of the NAACP's St. Louis branch, said his organization "looks forward to a full and fair trial of this case." The FCC described as unacceptable the explanations given by KFUO. According to the FCC, KFUO management contended that: Many jobs at KFUO-FM, including those in commercial sales, require an 'expertise in classical music that, the stations say, relatively few blacks have. The station cited a recent ratings audit of KFUO-FM listeners showing that only about 3.7 percent, or 2,693, are black. The agency said the station had acknowledged that not all of its FM sales employees 1924 and broadcasts religious programs.

KFUO-FM (99.1) started operating in 1948 and is the metropolitan area's only full-time classical music station. It promotes itself as Classic 99. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod owns the stations, which are based in Clayton. A station spokesman said he believes the licenses will be renewed. "There's absolutely no practice or policy of discrimination against blacks or any other minorities," said Dick Zaragosa, a lawyer in Washington who represents the stations.

Zaragosa and Dennis Stortz, manager of the two stations, declined further comment. Officials of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said the FCC's decision to send the KFUO license renewals to a judge is a groundbreaking move nationally. The NAACP said it marks the first the Look County Board. Burris is black, and Netsch is a woman. They are considered the front-runners.

The second contest is the Democratic senatorial primary in Missouri. The so-called major candidates that LVL? is, the old-fashioned Allahu Akbar! God Is Great! RIGHT: A crane lifts a bronze dome into place Thursday at the new Islamic Center of Greater St. Louis in the 1300 block of Wickstead Road, across from Queeny Park in St. Louis County. BELOW: Zu-baida Ibrahim (left), Athar Raza (center), Lorene Ghani (top right) and two unidentified women watch as the dome is placed atop the $5 million mosque.

The Islamic Center has a membership about 2,000 families, most of whom live in West County. had classical music training but did not explain why. KFUO-AM prefers people with "Lutheran training" for many of its jobs, but that only 5 percent of blacks here are Lutherans. Under an arrangement in which the stations get free studio space at Concordia Seminary, the stations hire students and their spouses for positions that do not require theological or classical music expertise. The seminary trains Lutheran ministers.

Management turnover has made it difficult to maintain a consistent recruitment program. The FCC said the stations' hiring criteria were vague and not ascertainable and had "a direct adverse impact on blacks." If the FCC takes away the stations' licenses, other companies could apply for them. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod also needs FCC approval for its agreement to acquire a third station here KSLH (91.5 FM) from the St. Louis Public Schools. Beaumont Beefs Up Security School Increases Guards After Classroom Invasion By Joan Little Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Beaumont High School, where a gang of youths beat a student in a classroom last week, has more than doubled its security force.

Since Tuesday, six more guards have been searching students for weapons and patrolling the school, said Beaumont Principal Charles Brasfield. He said the extra guards come from other schools; he did not know how long they would stay. Beaumont, at 3836 Natural Bridge Avenue, has five permanent security guards. Also this week, police have got tougher with loiterers and students who get in fights around Beaumont, said Lt. Thomas Malecek, head of the St.

Louis Police juvenile division. "We're tightening up our whole act in the schools," Malecek said. "When we see or hear about a fight, somebody's either going to go to juvenile hall or adult jail." Too many Beaumont students were leaving early and hanging around outside, Malecek said. He said Beaumont officials had assured police that they would put a stop to that. Other security measures including buzzers on the school's outside doors and cameras in hallways are being considered.

The invasion of English teacher Nina Pritchard's classroom by up to 20 students prompted Beaumont teachers to call for stepped-up security, including more guards and permanent metal detectors. On Wednesday, police arrested a Beaumont student, 16, in the assault on Shaun Ollison, 16, who escaped by leaping from a window. The first student has been charged with flourishing a gun, third-degree assault, peace disturbance and, because he had been suspended, trespassing on school property. Ollison and his mother, Lenora, have refused to prosecute, Malecek said. It all started with a fight between two gangs outside the cafeteria, said Juvenile Detective James Zink.

School officials broke that up and caught five of the 12 students. Some of the others ran outside and came back into school with their friends, Zink said. I That gang targeted Ollison because he was wearing a shirt with the number "54" on the sleeve, Zink said. That stands for the 54's, a youth gang whose members live in the 5400 block of Wren and Robin avenues. Zink says Ollison belongs to the 54's; his mother insists he does not.

The other gang was the Six Deuces. Post-Dispatch Photos By Scott Dine i ir ft v. 1 1 L0M 1 jSf rL pols are Alan Wheat, a congressman from Kansas City; Marsha Murphy, the Jackson County executive; and Steve Carroll, a state legislator from Hannibal. Wheat is black, and Murphy is a woman. They are considered the front-runners.

In Illinois, the "outsider" is 49-year-old attorney James Gierach. In Missouri, the "outsider" is 53-year-old Jerry Ortbals. Regular readers might remember Gierach. He's a former prosecutor from Cook County who came to the very logical conclusion that we are losing the war against drugs. So he decided to campaign on the notion that we ought to change our strategy.

He does not favor legalizing drugs, but he believes that drugs ought to be dispensed to people who are medically certified as addicts. Remove the addicts from the drug dealers' food chain, he says, and you've taken a bis bite out of the profit stream. Only then can we get a handle on the problem, he says. Incidentally, he believes that solving the drug problem is central to solving a host of other problems. Gierach contends that you can't have meaningful educational reform when students know that they can make scads of money if they drop out and sell drugs.

If you ask him about gun control, he argues that the real problem involves 14-year-olds who can buy guns illegally with profits from the drug trade. Tax relief is almost impossible, he argues, when we're spending billions of dollars chasing, prosecuting and incarcerating drug dealers and drug users and not making a dent in the problem. "If I could spend 30 minutes in everybody's living room, I knowl could convince them my ideas are sound," he told me a couple of months ago. The political powers are very determined that Gierach not be given that opportunity. He has been excluded from the first two debates.

The official argument is that he does not have enough broad-based support. He argues that he lacks the support only because the media have declared the three old-fashioned pols to be the "major" candidates and have refused to cover his campaign. He showed up at the first debate in Chicago last Friday, and when he refused to leave, the debate was canceled. He tried to crash the second debate in Springfield Tuesday night, buf private guards cut him off. Suddenly, he got publicity.

Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly good publicity. After he was physically barred from the second debate, this newspaper reported that he had "failed when he tried to reprise his stunt" from the earlier debate. "It's frustrating," Gierach told me Wednesday morning. "All I want to do is get my message out." That same lament is echoed by Ortbals. Although he has been invited to take part in debates scheduled for April and May, Ortbals feels that the media are ignoring him to concentrate on the so-called major candidates.

Incidentally, Ortbals has, from time to time, been mentioned in this column. That's because he does volunteer legal work for the St. Patrick's Center, and occasionally I've written about his efforts to help people. Like Gierach, Ortbals has one theme that dominates his campaign. "I want to reform the whole process of campaigns and public service," Ortbals says.

He calls his plan for accomplishing that the "Power of One." Ortbals says he would serve only one term. That would free him from the need to raise money while he's serving in the Senate. It is that ever-present need to raise money, Ortbals contends, that poisons the political process and makes real reform virtually impossible. He is also refusing to accept any PAC money for his campaign. "Reform has to begin at the beginning," he says.

"You can't take money from the special interests and then claim to be a reformer when you get to Washington." Call it progress or call it weird, but in both contests, if a voter really wants to vote against the status quo, he or she has to look past a woman and a black and vote for a white, male, middle-aged attorney. '7 Flooding Closes E. St. Louis High Sewage Buildup In Boiler Room Cuts Off Heat; Reopening Date Uncertain Home Alone: Police Find 5 Tots In Cold Apartment By Bill Bryan Of the Post-Dispatch Staff When police questioned five shivering children found alone in a dark apartment, a 6-year-old boy quickly let them know who was in charge. Detective Gaft Guinn asked the child whether he was left alone often.

"Yeah," the boy replied. "Who watches you then?" "I do," the boy answered. "I'm a man." The children's mother, Velta Glasco, 25, was charged Thursday with five counts of child endangerment, a misdemeanor. The children six months, 2, 3, 4 and 6 have been placed in foster care. A social worker discovered the youngsters alone Wednesday afternoon in the 3600 block of Shenandoah Avenue and notified police.

With a broken furnace, the apartment was without heat. The electricity had been cut off earlier that morning. There was no refrigerator. The only food, police said, was a box of cereal and a jug of milk on the back porch. Three of the six children had, dirty diapers; all six were suffering from hypothermia.

"The doctor said two more hours in that apartment would have resulted in frostbite," said Detective Bill Bereitschaft. Glasco turned herself in Wednesday night after she learned police were looking for her. She told them she had been shopping and had checked up on her children throughout the day. lockers and damaging students' books," Morgan said. In November, the city's crumbling sewer system also failed.

Unable to handle pounding rain, the water backed up in the school, shorted the electrical system and cut off heat. That gave students an unplanned holiday. The school system has little money for a capital program that could fix the schools or for much else. The district's deficit this year is estimated at $5 million to $9 million. "It's a grave situation," said schools Superintendent Katie Wright.

"The city's going to have to help us with this." Jesse Walker, East St. Louis public works director, said the city was doing everything it could, including hiring emergency contractors and installing a rebuilt pump. The problem was agra vated by a trunk line break on 51st Street near State Street, Walker said. "My main objective now is to get all the sewage out of the school, get the school open and get our pump station back in operation." a.m. Wednesday when the boiler room filled with 4 feet of sewage.

Morgan blames the city's broken sewer pump station on 47th Street, which is supposed to move tons of sewage and storm water from the eastern part of the city to a treatment plant on the Mississippi River. "When the pump isn't working," he said, it seems "all the water gets deposited in our boiler room." This time, the sewage and water swamped the electric equipment, ruined motors and cut off heat and lights. The gas also needs to be checked before it can be turned on again, Morgan said. "I would say it's like 40 degrees in here today," said Morgan, shivering in the main office, where he has been principal for 18 years. In January, frozen pipes burst throughout the building.

Heavy rain and snow also drenched the school's half-repaired roof, and torrents of water leaked into the building. "The water started coming in the By Margaret Gillerman Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Samuel Morgan, the principal of East St. Louis High School, had hoped his 1,400 students would be in class this week, hitting the books to prepare for state achievement tests. If they are hitting the books, it's not in class. The school, at 4901 State Street, has been closed because of flooding again.

The school closed Wednesday, Thursday and today. Nobody can say for sure when it will reopen. "Bah, humbug," Morgan grumbled as he juggled telephone calls and repair workers and tried to cope with the school's latest problem. "We've had everything imaginable happen this year." Broken pipes. A leaking roof.

No heat. No electricity. Sewage in the boiler room. Teachers are displeased, too, with the interrupted classes and difficult working conditions. The latest episode began about 3.