St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 91

II 1 MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 1994 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 71 Bridge Dropping, Chunk By Chunk Town RENT THEM HERE: WHEELCHAIRS HOSPITAL BEDS HOME OXYGEN EQUIPMENT wrCH FREE DELIVERY! out of a sandy riverbank, filled with squat, drab houses that stretch along dusty streets from the tall, green levee wall toward a perimeter of dark forest and rich corn fields. Voting rolls show a loss of 30 voters since last year's flood. In Grand Tower, where the levee does not rise above the 100-year flood level, FEMA rules require buildings put up in certain areas since the early 1980s to be raised above that point. That's 6 to 15 feet above the ground in some cases.

But nine buildings including a church stand on ground below that point. From page one County voters will decide in Novem-5 ber whether to approve a $1.7 million Jtond issue to help pay for the project. "It's just a commitment to this community to preserve it for our kids if they wish to stay," said road com- tnissioner Mike Clover, who runs the local construction company. "It's just the nicest river town anybody would Jlver want to visit." jGrand Tower is a beachhead dug marked off on a drawing," Doerr said. "The crane hunts until we find it all." The trickiest part of the whole job will be when the longest span 445 feet over the main channel comes down.

The river will be closed to barge traffic for that one, and workers must rush to remove the debris so traffic can resume. "The Coast Guard has told us they want it out in 24 hours, so we might have to work around the clock," Doerr said. The last thing to go will be the concrete piers. Holes already have been drilled in them. They will be packed with explosives and blown into the river.

By Linda Eardley Of the Post-Dispatch Staff With an ear-splitting a span of the old Clark Bridge split into pieces and dropped into the Mississippi River on Friday. The explosion was part of the dismantling of the old bridge that connected Alton and St. Charles County. Taking down the bridge, which carries U.S. Highway 67, is expected to cost $1.6 million, a little more than the $1.2 million to put up the structure 66 years ago.

The bridge was obsolete and only 20 feet wide, causing it to be tagged one of the worst on a major U.S. highway. The new Clark Bridge opened in January, is a comfortable 80 feet wide and cost $118 million. The old bridge is carefully being taken apart in spans seven across the river and 13 across land. The 284-foot section that disappeared Friday was the second.

The job began Aug. 11 and is expected to be done Nov. 15. The Illinois Department of Transportation hired Anderson Excavating and Wrecking Co. of Omaha, to do the work.

Earl Doerr, IDOT resident engineer overseeing the job, said that first the concrete deck is peeled off and taken away. Then explosives' are attached to the structural steel. Instead of blasting the steel into tiny bits, the explosives cleanly split it into about 10 large chunks, about 25 to 40 tons apiece, that drop into the river. "The explosive is called a shaped charge," Doerr said. "It's clamped onto the side of the steel where you want it to break, and it cuts it like a knife.

It's more high power than dynamite." A crane reaches down into the river about 50 feet deep there retrieves the chunks and places them onto a barge to go to a scrap dealer. Removal takes about two days. "As each piece comes out, it's 2007 Camp Jackson Road, Cahokia, Illinois 332-2500 fUnion Breaks Minimum-Wage Scale Henredon FACTORY OUTLET vfey Margaret Gillerman the Post-Dispatch Staff Vera Hopkins used to make just the minimum wage of $4.25 an hour. for the first time, she has Surpassed that. For her and for about vJ50 other East St.

Louis and Metro iEast workers like her, it's a triumph. Local 880 of the Service Employees International Union has won an agreement from National Homecare Systems to increase pay for home 5 care workers and personal assistants such as Hopkins. The new wages showed up on paychecks this month. "It took us a year of negotiations Lto get what we wanted," said Hopkins, an East St. Louisan and bargaining team member.

"I think the company was waiting to see if we would blow away. But we didn't. We are finally getting some decent wages Jnd respect for the difficult work that we do." Homecare workers in Metro East care for hundreds of elderly and disabled people and attend to their personal needs at home. They run errands and do chores, cook for them, clean and bathe them and provide companionship. Illinois pays some of the workers directly for their care of the elderly people who are unable to care for themselves.

The state also contracts with companies including National Homecare; the contractors in turn pay the homecare workers. "This is the first time the folks at this company have gone above the minimum wage since the minimum wage went into effect in 1991," said Lenny Jones, union organizer. Two home care companies operate in the East St. Louis area National Homecare, which unionized last year, and Community Care Systems, which unionized in 1991. Some 4,700 home care workers belong to the union around the state.

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