St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 28

B2 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH METRO MONDAY, JULY 22, 2002 ORDER LAW ST. CHARLES Two women escape to safety after being abducted from Southern Illinois Two women were abducted at gunpoint early Saturday from Southern Illinois and driven to St Charles, where they escaped when their captor stopped for gas at a service station at Highway 94 and Veterans Memorial Parkway, police said. The women drove to another service station and called for help, authorities said. St.

Charles police arrested a suspect, Robert Eugene Gibson, 20, of the 2600 block of Natural Bridge Avenue in St. Louis, at about 6 a.m. Saturday. Gibson was charged with kidnapping, armed criminal action and possession of marijuana. Police refused to release any more information vvtt ir'; 'II iil Safest s-twiI t(-mm rti 1 Gibson Kidnappini suspect on how or where The FBI and Illinois State Police The scene of a mobile home fire Sunday morning near Cahokia in which a 4-year-old boy died.

Four dogs The cause of the fire had not been determined Sunday. SAM LEONE POST-DISPATCH also were killed in the blaze. Fatality Boy, 4, dies in fire in mobile home Continued from Bl investigating, including Illinois State Police and the Sheriffs The victim was identified as Dawson Spencer Hill. Bishop's boyfriend, William Cotton, who was not at home when the fire started, told a reporter that Bi- shop had been watching Dawson for about a week and a half while the boy's mother was in the latter stages of her pregnancy in Gra- "I could care less about what I lost in the fire; the boy can't be brought back," said Cotton, 34. Four of Cotton's five dogs also died in the fire.

One dog escaped. Cotton-s next.door neighbor Johnnie Sams, 68, tried to save the boy. 1 utsf t0 feed 311(1 1 heard, a PP-PP-PP like popcorn and saw that the engulfed hg said. "Me and one of my sons kicked in the door and heard a whining sound I don't know if it was the little boy or the dogs MADISON COUNTY Man is killed when car rolls over on Route 143 Cristopher A. Mendoza, 22, was killed in a one-car accident on Goshen Road near Ridge View Road in Madison County late Saturday night, authorities said.

Mendoza, who lived on Route 143 near Edwardsville, lost control of his car and it rolled over several times, about 11:30 p.m. He was wearing a seat belt, authorities said. FRANKLIN COUNTY Driver is killed in one-car accident on Highway NN Joseph A. Leuchtmann, 51, of Union, was fatally injured in a single-vehicle accident about 2:15 a.m. Sunday on Highway NN, about a half-mile south of Highway in Franklin County, authorities said.

Leuchtmann drove his car off the roadway and it overturned, authorities said. He was wearing a seat belt. Leuchtmann was taken by helicopter to St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur, where he was pronounced dead. ST.

LOUIS COUNTY Fire at nursing home leads to evacuation Scores of elderly people were safely evacuated early Sunday as a result of a fire in the laundry room of the Delmar Gardens South nursing home at 5300 Butler Hill Road, authorities said. One elderly woman who suffers from asthma had some breathing problems and was taken to a hospital, where she was treated and returned to the nursing home, said Shirley Grice, the Delmar Gardens administrator. An apparent electrical short in a clothes dryer caused the fire, which was discovered shortly before 6:30 a.m. After the smoke was cleared out, the residents to return to the nursing home. GRANITE CITY Suspicious fire destroys home A suspicious fire destroyed a home in the first block of Wilson Park Drive in Granite City about 10 a.m.

Sunday, authorities said. No one was at home at the time of the fire, which is under Ill Scott explores better ways to move troops, equipment the women were abducted. are investigating. suicide, police say held Sunday night while police continued to investigate. The shootings occurred about 8 p.m.

at the family's duplex home. Police said the 23-year-old man pulled out a gun, shot his 29-year-old sister and then shot himself. Phil Gaitens Deputy metro editorzones 314-340-8156 Carlton Winfrey Assistant metro editornights 314-340-8220 E-mail editors by using an individual's first initial and last name 5 but there was too much smoke and we couldn't make any headway." Sams complained about the length of time it took the Camp Jackson Volunteer Fire Department to arrive. He estimated it took the department 45 minutes to get to the scene. But an investigator with the Sheriffs Department said firefighters arrived within about 10 minutes of the call.

Bush will tour lab developing ways to fight terrorism The Associated Press CHICAGO A chemical sensor that detects cyanide gas, a biochip that can determine the presence of anthrax, and a portable device that finds concealed nuclear materials are among the items scientists at Argonne National Laboratory are working on to combat terrorism. President George W. Bush will visit Argonne today and is expected to view demonstrations of some of the lab's creations that could be used to fight terrorism and defend the homeland. The president also is expected to talk about the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and how the nation can use new technology for protection, said Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman. Argonne, a national laboratory located west of Chicago, was chosen for Bush's visit because it is one of the nation's oldest labs and because of its efforts for homeland defense, Stanzel said.

Argonne is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy and run by the University of Chicago. Scientists conduct research in various areas, such as high-energy physics, biotechnology, transportation, chemistry, mathematics and computer science. Harvey Drucker, coordinator of Argonne's national security research, said the lab began many of the projects related to homeland defense years ago. But after the terrorist attacks, the lab recognized some of those projects could be further developed for other uses.

There is an urgency to find new methods to "get out of Dodge fast" By Robert Goodrich Of the Post-Dispatch The people at Scott Air Force Base are always looking for better ways of moving troops and military equipment, but their work has taken on added urgency with the war on terrorism. Some of their recent ideas are surprising. To wit: Moving heavy equipment by giant dirigibles. Moving supplies by robotic helicopters. Using huge catamarans to move material across water.

Keith E. Seaman heads the U.S. Transportation Command's concepts and technology team at Scott. "We look at technology across the board," he said in an interview last week. "Our focus is, 'How do we get out of Dodge Seaman said the war on terrorism had boosted interest in issues his team was studying already, such as dealing with inaccessible or deficient airfields.

In Afghanistan, for example, airports are in such bad shape that the only military transports that can land are the C-130 and the C-17. To help solve that problem, Killings were murder The associated Press INDEPENDENCE, Mo. An argument between adult siblings Sunday night ended with a man fatally shooting his sister before Wiling himself, police said. Names of the dead were with HOW TO CONTACT US Comments, questions and suggestions about articles in this section are welcome. E-mail or call: KathyBest Assistant managing editormetro 314-340-8257 Adam Goodman Deputy metro editordays 314-340-8258 his team is studying the use of more unmanned aircraft and tilt-rotor planes that can land like a helicopter.

Among them are some strange-looking flying machines. One has four big propellers that tilt from forward to vertical. Another has a diamond-shaped wing attached at the nose and tail. "Most of these are just concepts," Seaman said. "Some look like UFOs." Even so, some look practical, he said.

For example, Boeing is moving rapidly to develop its "Pelican," a cargo jet that would glide across the ocean, riding a wave-top air cushion like a gigantic albatross. Some ships being considered look just as bizarre. They include huge catamarans, trimarans, pentamarans. "We haven't decided on anything yet," Seaman said. But he noted that Australia already had two ferries that can move at 55 mph.

His team would like to see bigger, ocean-going vessels that can move even faster at 75 mph. Dirigibles and other lighter-than-air craft can lift colossal loads but were long considered too vulnerable to wind and storm. Seaman said modern weather technology could overcome that problem. Military transportation has long employed shipping containers and pallets to. speed movement.

Now it is looking at huge, cigar-shaped pod containers that mi could be shoved on or off a cargo plane in seconds. Seaman Heads Scott transportation team Seaman said a big concern since Sept. 11 has been improving security. "How do you detect, monitor, sniff?" A device is already available that can thoroughly check everything in an ocean shipping container, but it requires eight hours, he said. His team wants to reduce that to minutes.

Seaman said moving stuff fast is not much help if you can't keep track of it An Apache helicopter airlifted overnight into a remote hot spot is useless if no one knows where its ammo or fuel is. To track shipments, Seaman's team is borrowing heavily from expertise developed by United Parcel Service and Federal Express. Both claim a many-fold return on funds invested in tracking technology. Seaman, 47, has headed the Transportation Command's concepts and technology team for the past eight years and boasts that he has the worldwide agency's best job. He is a retired Air Force officer with 27 years of service.

He has flown as a weapons and tactical officer in F-4s and F-16s. In 1988, he was honored as the Air Force's top civilian intelligence worker. Reporter Robert Goodrich: E-mail: Phone: 618-235-8919 UU 1 St. Louis Web site. La ran iniiiuiMJ Visit STLtoday.com, the Ilini 1 A ah1ai fi rr ii.iiiiniiiii.

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