St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 72

ST.LOUE POST-DISPATCH 1 ST mwmrn SUNDAY Living and the arts MONDAY Health and science TUESDAY Living WEDNESDAY Relationships 'v. ut Arts and entertainment FRIDAY Entertainment SATURDAY Consumer news SECTION THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1994 JERRY BERGER Realty Deal Will Create The Plaza At Sunset Hills SOUTH COUNTY RUMBLING: The more than 30-acre Sunset Hills Shopping Plaza has been purchased by the Sansone Group, Equitable Life Assurance and Erhart Development Co. from a California syndicate. It is expected to be demolished by the end of 1995 to make way for The Plaza at Sunset Hills. Purchase price for the Sunset Hills mall was more than $40 million.

SURPRISE PACKAGE: Michael F. Neidorff, board chairman of the.St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, has shot out Congrats to those who've accepted nominations to the Symph's board of trustees. In a letter to the trustees-to-be, Neidorff wrote, each board mem- har ic ackpri in makp a minimum trustee commitment by joining the Green Room Association on I I an annual uasis wiui a giu ui $1,000 or more." Said a bef of the Symph's development office, who asked to remain anonymous, "We sometimes ask for $5,000 or $25,000, based on their history of donations." Asked if anyone ever re Sk Urn. a XL.

or 4(1 'I A 1 X' 1 p. ('' fuses, the no-name source replied, "We don't have any of those. When we ask for gifts, we know they're capable of responding." PRESSING ON: Yacovelli's Restaurant, which recently reached its 75th year in biz, will debut on Dec. 5 its new eatery, Jamaican Me Crazy Sports Bar and Grill, in St. Peters.

The establishment, also owned by the husbandwife team of Jack and Jan Yacovelli, will feature a two-man bobsled in its atrium that is 12 feet long and weighs over 400 pounds. Speaking of victuals, Fox Club GM Carron Bean has greenlighted Fox Event Services to purvey catered meals at events around town. King Dodge's Irene Pathenos and Post-Dispatch makeup foreman Rudy Schildroth will tie the knot Friday at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, followed by a pouring at Busch's Grove Katrina Johnson, a senior at Washington University, will be winging her way to Paris on a free Air France ticket soon, as one of 10 students selected to represent the United States in the international Parie Concours de Jeunes Createurs de Mode. It's a fashion-design competition sponsored by the French airline.

Senior Karen Bouwman and juniors Sonja Maynard and Laura Kilo are spending the week before Christmas in Paree with Johnson. Jeigh gleton, proud papa of the WashU fashion program, said Johnson won with the design of a sheer white organza coat appliqued with a black design based on the wrought-iron fences surrounding a French chateau. VITAL STATISTICS: Samuel Allan Reiss bopped into our world Nov. 5 "at Jewish Hospital, where he weighed in at 6 pounds, 5 ounces. Beaming parents are Dr.

Jackie Reiss, who's doing a fellowship in allergy at Barnes Hospital, and Dr. Craig Reiss, director of WashU's Cardiology Consultants and cardiologist at Barnes Hospital. Just in from the Mayo Clinic with clean bills of health are' Lester Miller and Ben Fixman (they usually work together!) John and Donna Hopkins' son, Jacob Gabriel, arrived Nov. 13 at 2 p.m. John is a fourth-year student at Concordia Seminary, where he and Donna are presidents: he of the Student Association and she of the Seminary Women's Association.

Donna was with Opera Theatre of Kansas City and is now a member of the Bach at the Sem chorus. THIS THATTA: What became of most of the memorabilia from Al Baker's? The stained glass, wine cellar doors, paintings, sculpture, wine racks and some wine are now housed in a manse in Rolla, Mo. It is listed with Leigh Anne Volas at the Washington, offices of Coldwell Banker. David Mason was the architect. Shaare Emeth Temple hit paydirt over the weekend with its Taste of the Town fund-raiser, which drew 375, each of whom paid $40 (patrons, $80).

The $20,000 raised will be used for the temple's operation. Unwittingly, Harvey and Teri Brandvein found they were bidding against each other for a trip to the Ozarks. Among participating restaurateurs were European Caffe, Morton's Stak House, Dominic's, L'Auberge Bretonne, Benedtcto's and Faust's. Seen on the Shaare Emeth scene: Doron and Barbara Berger; Gil and Barb Gans; Dr. Jay Liss and his wife, Joy; Charles and Gigi Werner (he's prez of the Temple); Dr.

Harry Burack, chief resident to-be at Barnes St. Peters. with his wife, Susan. When the committee ran short of volunteers, they recruited Spencer Garland and Bruce Feldacker to don aprons and work the steam tables. BOTTOMS UP: Judye Kriegshauser, assistant to the chairman of Delmar Gardens Enterprises, has become engaged to former Missouri Lt.

Gov. Kenneth Rothman, who heads a law firm in Clayton. Said a wonderful gourmet cook, she rides horses and she laughs at my jokes. What more could any man want?" Happy Thanksgiving! Dennis Riggs with daughter Arianna, born four months after he suffered a brain hemorrhage. Story by Gail Pennington Photos by Wayne Crosslin Of the Post-Dispatch Staff ARIANNA RIGGS has her daddy's gray-rimmed hazel eyes and his quick -smile.

At 7 months old, she's a sturdy, red-haired miracle in a miraculous year for Dennis Riggs. "By all rights, I shouldn't be here," says Riggs, who is counting many blessings this Thanksgiving Day. Riggs almost lost his life on Christmas night, 1993. "We'd had a great day," he recalls. The family wife Ellen, who was five months pregnant, and sons Devlin, then 9, and James, 7 played games, snuggled and built a fire.

"I have video of the boys saying, 'This is the greatest Christmas Riggs, 44 and a 20-year veteran of TV journalism in St. Louis, had to get up early for his Sunday morning show on Channel 2. He'd laid out his clothes so he wouldn't wake Ellen, his high-school sweetheart, when he dressed at 2 a.m. Instead, after sleeping awhile, "I sat bolt upright with this terrible headache. It felt as if someone had driven a railroad spike into my forehead.

I complained to Ellen, can't get this to go He got up for a painkiller, but found himself crashing into walls. "I didn't realize what was happening, but paralysis had set in. And I fell." Devlin had awakened, and Riggs will never forget the sound of his son's voice, crying in horror, "Daddy can't walk!" Ellen Riggs called an ambulance, over her husband's protests. "Thank God," he says now. He had suffered a rupture of veins on the left side of his brain, an arterial venus malformation, or AVM.

The condition is congenital, and not all that rare, the Riggses have since learned. "When your brain is forming, a couple of veins twist," he says. Years often pass without a problem; sometimes seizures or headaches give a clue to the condition, while other people have no symptoms at all. See RIGGS, Page 11 Riggs works with physical therapist Carolyn Stecher at St. John's Mercy Medical Center.

So Much Kindness, So Many Thanhs i Hi -1 story. "The walls in my hospital room were covered with cards, and there were so many plants they called my room the flower shop," Riggs says. "It was so humbling that people would take the time to sit down and write. And not just cards, pages Riggs at home in Chesterfield with some of the mail and cards he has received from well-wishers. DENNIS RIGGS wants to say thank you and thank you, and thank you, and thank you.

At his home in Chesterfield, three big bags full of cards and letters show how warmly people responded when Riggs became ill last Christmas. "I hoped I could answer them all," he says, still concerned that the task was impossible. "I just want everyone to know how much their support meant." Channel 2 viewers learned about Riggs' illness after he came out of surgery. sort of a legend at the station," he says. "I called in sick from an After his condition was reported on the air, the cards and letters began pouring in, and increased after Riggs did a news series in February, while still hospitalized, telling his and pages from people telling me they knew what I was going through." Perhaps most touching was a letter from a 6-year-old girl with cerebral palsy, dictated to her mother, "telling me that therapy works, to stick with it." Many kindnesses lifted Riggs' spirit while he was hospitalized.

His neurosurgeon, Dr. Selwyn Picker, "would come in almost daily just to chat," Riggs says. The surgeon has been a continuing source of optimism and encouragement. "He's such a sweet gentleman," Riggs says. "He really cares about medicine, about people." When Riggs had trouble dealing with his contact lenses, Peggy Kemp, his optician's assistant, came weekly to take them out, clean them and return them to his eyes.

Shari See THANKS, Page 9 Renyold FergusonPost-Dispatch Rosebud, a 13-month-old coonhound mix, is spayed and housebroken. She needs a large yard for exercise. To adopt: Apply in person at the Humane Society of Missouri, 1210 Macklind Avenue, before noon Saturday..