St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 1

iirT-fliiTTp-ir tHM pa nimnu ji )t GETTING A GRIP i Five Ways To Keep 1 i Calm During I 0 Liri Emergencies BUSINESS Economy Ekes Out Tiny Gain 7A REGION Science Lab Becomes An Oasis id NATION FCC Shuts Syndication Window 2A Shanahan Says Goodbye Former Blues star Brendan Shanahan tearfully talks about Thursday's trade that sent him to Hartford. SPORTS 1C IFAT i9 -A- 50C 5-STAR SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1995 VOL. 117, NO. 210 (5) Copyright 1995 7r sMsaini imii.tiimnilii,.t,iiUMmii..i.u.in. i.iiliilL.i nun I I li.tl ui i i 1110 i "But forgive? That's something I'm going to have to deal with, I guess, further on down the road." Prosecutor Tommy Pope defended his decision to seek the death penalty, saying he would do it again.

"This community can begin to heal," Pope said. "It's taken a tremendous toll but it's something that had to be done." Public opinion in Union, a town of 10,000 people, shifted from favoring the death sentence shortly after the crime to becoming more sympathetic as Susan Smith's troubled past, including sexual abuse by her stepfather, became known. Smith's attorney, David Bruck, said: See SMITH, Page 4 UNION, S.C. (AP) A jury swiftly rejected the death penalty for Susan Smith on Friday, sentencing her instead to life in prison. Smith gasped as the unanimous verdict was read after just 2Vi hours of deliberations.

She cried as she was led from the courtroom after a hug from her attorneys. The jury started its deliberations after Smith's attorney argued that she was tormented enough in her own "lake of fire" for drowning her two young sons. She will be eligible for parole in 30 years. The boys' father, David Smith, sat stone-faced in court. He told reporters later that he and his family were "disappointed, but it wasn't our choice on what Sentence means at least 30 years in prison for Susan Smith 1 3B A chronology of events in Smith's life 13B Call PostLine, 923-2323, for updates.

Tap in 4015 penalty she was to receive." David Smith, whose testimony about losing his sons reduced several jurors to tears, said that he could not imagine visiting his former wife in prison and that he was thinking of moving away from Union to escape the memories. "I'll never forget what Susan has done to me and my family, even I'd have to say to her family. And I'll never forget Michael and Alex," he said. AP Susan Smith is escorted into the courthouse in Union, S.C, by corrections officers Friday. The jury sentenced her later to life in prison for murdering her two young sons.

It's A Dirty Job, Bui Senate Ends Free Trips, Curbs Gifts I Compiled From News Services WASHINGTON Goodbye, expense-paid trips to the Super Bowl. Good-bye, free skiing junkets to Vail and golf outings to Palm Springs. Beginning Jan. 1, members of the Senate will have to adhere to new rules sharply limiting the freebies they may accept from lobbyists and other special interests) The new restrictions were adopted Friday. "We have ended recreational travel," said Sen.

Carj Levin, a chief sponsor of the measure. "And the worst abuses of meals and tickets to sports and entertainment events are over. It is significant gift reform." Final passage came on a 98-0 vote, reflecting not so much unanimous enthusiasm for the restrictions as a grudging agreement in the compromises that had been thrashed out. "1 think this is one issue we want to get behind us, and I See SENATE, Page 4 Consider Yourself Warned Forecast: 100 Degrees, Second Heat Warning By Fred W. Lindecke Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Health officials on Friday issued the second heat warning of the summer in preparation for a weekend of temperatures near the 100-degree level again.

The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for the entire state of Missouri for today and Sunday, warning that heat indices combining temperature and humidity would range between 105 and 110. Dr. Coleen Kivlahan, Missouri health director, also issued a statewide heat alert. That is done whenthe heat index goes above 105 for two days in a row, and an alert indicates the life-threatening nature of the heat. Heat indices combine the effect of the temperature and the relative humidity.

Dave Metze, weather service forecaster, said a large high pressure system "that has been building in the Southwest is heading northeast toward us. It's the same one that produced 117 degrees in Phoenix, but that's normal out there. It isn't going to get that hot here." Toddy's liigh is expected to be near 100, Sunday in the middle to upper 90s, with Monday in the mid-90s. The first heat wave of the summer two weeks ago lasted six days and was blamed for 21 deaths in the metropolitan area. Heat indices then ranged from 110 to 120, Metze said.

According to the forecast, this hot spell will be shorter. Monday and Tuesday are supposed to bring a chance of thundershowers and high See HOT, Page 6 1 I House Rejects -j Curbs On EPA But Clinton Still Vows To Veto Bill Over Agency Funding Cuts WASHINGTON (AP) A sharply divided House reT jected a Republican effort Friday to blunt federal enforcement of anti-pollution laws. By a 212-206 vote, the House cut from a spending bill 17 provisions that would have limited the Environmental Protection Agency's work against pollution. President Bill Clinton hailed lawmakers for rebuffing what he called a GOP "stealth attack on public health and environmental protections in the guise of a budget billj But Clinton repeated his promise to veto the spending See HOUSE, Page 4 1 Larry WilliamsPost-Dispatch Chris Devine, 11, plunges into a mud pit Friday during the Mighty Mud Mania Children's Festival at Jefferson Barracks County Park. It was one way of escaping the heat, which peaked at 91 degrees Friday afternoon.

i Moderate Republicans in House differ with corv servatives on nation's course 13B WEATHER INDEX ow Tims The Mystery: They Left Their Home, Disappeared Sunny And Hot Business 7-1 3 A Classified Letters 15B Everyday 1-10D Movie Timetable 9D Obituaries 3B People 2A Religion 5D Reviews 8D St. Louis IB Sports 1-7C Television 8D EDITORIAL PAGE FORECAST Today Sunny and hot with light and variable wind. High near 100. Partly cloudy tonight. Low 76.

Sunday Partly cloudy. High 95. Other Weather, 16B Moviegoers Get Chance To Judge 'Waterworld' By Charles Hurt Of the Post-Dispatch Staff "I'm not a Kevin Costner groupie, you understand," said Myron Lindsey, who was first in line Friday for the first St. Louis showing of Costner's $200 million movie, "Waterworld." "I just like anything he does," he said. "He seems like a regular-Joe guy." While Lindsey may not be a groupie, Costner groupies were out in full force Friday to see "Waterworld," heralded as the most expensive movie ever made.

"Waterworld" opened across the country Friday. Area theaters said early ticket sales met and sometimes exceeded expectations, but they cau-See MOVIE, Page 14 By Joe Holleman Of the Post-Dispatch Staff On an overcast, muggy Wednesday morning 20 years ago this summer so the story goes Jack and Patricia "Patsy" Girou dressed in their Sunday best. Jack loaded a pistol and stuck it in his pants. A Cadillac drove up. They vanished.

Police flushed out sewers near their home on La Bonne Parkway, near Missouri Highway 141 and Big Bend Boulevard. They dug up the back yard. They tested bones found over the years. They monitored the Girous' bank accounts. Without a trace.

The couple ran away from two jobs, two cars, two uncashed paychecks, four children and 10 acres they had just bought for their dream home. See COUPLE, Page 5 POST-DISPATCH WEATHERBIRD 7 Remember The Go-Go '80s Settling A Score With Auditor Kelly 12B A family photo of Jack and Patricia Girou of west St. Louis County. They have been missing for 20 years. I 100.