St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 24

B4 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH METRO WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2000 postnet.comnews I Search fails to find clues to missing herd of Ozarks horses mentoring and counseling. Local grant recipients include St Louis, Normandy, Wellston, Ferguson-Florissant and Rockwood school districts in Missouri, and East St. Louis, Alton, Venice and Madison districts in Illinois. The program started in 1997 with $1 million and ended the last fiscal year with $453 million in grant money.

Still, just one in seven school districts that applied for the federal grants received them because of limited funds. Until more tax dollars become available, educators say, after-school care will continue to be paid for by a variety of sources and provided by a wide range of institutions. The challenge, they say, is improving the quality of care. A new initiative in St. Louis is striving to do that The group St Louis For Kids was formed to help after-school programs of all varieties to improve.

The project began in 1997, when community forums identified after-school care as one of the region's most pressing" needs. St. Louis For Kids plans to help raise private and public money to help schools plan more effective; programs, to train staff and expand curriculum. The group also plans to pinpoint where new services are needed most and which children; are being left out. Jama Dodson, who is heading; the effort, said it doesn't matter ul- ornately whether programs are! nonprofit or private, tuition-based or tax-supported.

What's impor-; tant, she said, is making sure those programs are staffed with people! trained to make the most of a I child's afternoon. "Quality staff is the Number 1 factor that makes a difference," she said. To contact reporter Matthew Franck: E-mail: mfranckpostnet.com Phone: 314-209-1247 To contact reporter Holly Hacker: E-mail: hhackerpostnet.com Phone: 314-209-0982 Child care Districts face need for more after-school care Continued from Bl some run by schools and others by outside groups. In the most common arrangement, nonprofit agencies step in with tuition-based programs that operate independent of public school budgets. The YMCA of Greater St.

Louis is the largest such provider. Since 1983, the YMCA has expanded from three schools serving 55 children to nearly 200 schools in the St. Louis area, enrolling more than 7,400. But many schools are testing alternatives. At St.

Elizabeth, the for-profit Medallion has set up shop in a large classroom that is packed with board games, craft beads, crayons, books, and even a guinea pig and a gerbil. The company rents the space and keeps all profits from the program's $38 weekly tuition. And the concept is booming. Since 1989, Medallion has expanded to 21 states serving more than 24,000 students at about 660 schools. The 10 sites in St.

Louis enroll more than 350 children. Other schools handle after-school care on their own. The Webster Groves district, for example, operates an Adventure Club mat hires district employees and is funded exclusively by tuition. Meanwhile, taxpayer investment in after-school care is increasing but fails to reach even a fraction of schools. Missouri offers $275,000 a year in state after-school grants.

That's enough for grants for only 40 of the state's 500 or so districts. Schools must pitch in thousands of dollars of their own. The federal government supports after-school programs called 21st Century Community Learning Centers. School districts team up with community agencies to offer academic help, cultural activities, for up to 50 feral horses descended from farm animals released during the Depression. Passage of the law resolved years of dispute between local people who wanted the horses to stay in their home territory along the rivers and the National Park Service, which wanted to remove the animals.

The 1996 law authorized the Missouri Wild Horse League, a citizens group, to monitor the herd and provide medical attention. Bill Smith, a member of the Wild Horse League, said the dead animals belonged to a band of 13 horses referred to locally as the Cornfield Bunch. Seven of the remaining animals from that group have not been sighted since the killings. Fearing the worst, Smith and two Missouri Highway Patrol troopers conducted a seven-hour helicopter search of the 20,000 acres of the park where the horses generally pasture. The missing seven were never identified.

The penalty for shooting a federally protected horse is up to 10 years in prison and several thousand dollars in fines. To contact reporter Florence Shinkle: E-mail: fshinklepostnet.com Phone: 314-729-7904 By Florence Shinkle Of the Post-Dispatch A helicopter search Tuesday for a herd of federally protected wild horses missing from the Ozark National Scenic Riverways failed to turn up any clues as to the fate of the animals. The air search was conducted after a mare, a stallion and a colt were shot to death this month on park property below Two Rivers, northeast of Eminence, Mo. The killings, which riverways supervisor Ben Clary called senseless and malicious, took place at the same location on two days, suggesting they were intentional rather than accidental. A local resident reported the killing of the stallion and mare Nov.

16. The resident took pictures of a colt, still alive, near the body of the mare. On Nov. 18, investigators from the Shannon County Sheriffs Office came back to the site to find the colt slain. A ballistics test to determine whether all of the bullets came from a single gun was incomplete.

Under a 1996 federal law sponsored by Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, and the late Rep. Bill Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, the riverways must serve as a preserve Carnahan will be interviewed by Oprah Downtown ice rink, Ninth and Market Open: Dec. 14 through Jan. 14 Hours: Monday through Thursday, 1 1 a.m.-9 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m.-ll p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.

to 11 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 8 p.m. Admission: $4 for a two-hour session, with skate rental costing $2. The rink can handle 300 skaters at a time. Amid all the talk about downtown skating, city parks officials say that delays mean the reconstructed Steinberg Rink in Forest Park will not open until February. Parks Director Daniel McGuire said a strike in the concrete industry and design changes were among the reasons.

He also said there had been "unforseen environmental issues." He said the city had to make sure that the refrigerant used at the rink adheres to changes in federal and state codes. To contact reporter Mark Schlinkmann: E-mail: mschlinkmannpostnet.com Phone: 314-622-3580 Ice rink Downtown rink could become permanent Continued from Bl He said he hopes that about 50,000 customers will use the temporary rink this season, up from the 36,000 drawn during a month-long run a year ago. Downtown planners have eyed a permanent ice skating rink for years, and it's part of the Downtown Now revitalization plan. Harmon said he envisions a permanent rink being surrounded by restaurants. "I'm thinking of Rockefeller Center, guys," Harmon told reporters, referring to the New York City landmark.

Kimbrough said much of the $450,000 cost of building and operating the temporary rink this year is being borne by Aurora Foods the primary sponsor, and other sponsors such as the downtown partnership. who was elected Nov. 7. Mel Carnahan died in a plane Crash Oct. 16 while running for the Senate.

Also killed were the Carnahans' son, Roger, and longtime aide Chris Sif-ford. "One of the premises of the show is to highlight people who have overcome loss and have showed great personal strength in very difficult times," Wyche said. Mel Carnahan defeated Republican Sen. John Ashcroft by more than 48,000 votes out of 2.4 million cast in the election on Nov. 7.

The Associated press JEFFERSON CITY Jean Carnahan, the widow of Gov. Mel Carnahan, will be interviewed Thursday by talk show host Oprah Winfrey. Tony Wyche, a spokesman for Carnahan, said she will tape a short segment with Winfrey in Chicago. The segment will air sometime next month. Jean Carnahan will serve in the Senate, replacing Mel Carnahan, You may qualify to participate in a research study evaluating two new outpatient procedures for heavy periods, both of which can generally be performed in less than 30 minutes.

Major Qualifications: Excessive menstrual bleeding (heavy period) Not pregnant and have completed childbearing 25-50 years old If you qualify, you will receive at no charge to you: Investigational treatment for your heavy periods Physical Exams Follow up doctor visits If you are interested in being a candidate for this study. Please call: ST. LOUIS DEATHS Rev. Francis Horack He served churches here, Japan 1 and began his ministry in the Passionist Congregation. Father Horack professed his vows at St.

Agnes Church in Louisville, on July 26, 1936, and theology at St. Paul of the Cross church's mausoleum. A memorial Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Passionist Nuns Monastery, 15700 Clayton Road, Ellisville. Among the survivors are two sisters, Albina Hemker of Sappington and Ruth Hemker of Hillsboro.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Japan Passionist Missions, 10-1 Yamate-cho, Mefu, Ta-karazuka -shi, Hyogo-ken 665-0854, Japan. Richard Gimpelson, MD 222 S.Woods Mill Rd. Suite 400 Chesterfield, MO 63017 314-878-1866 Horack Edited newsletter in Japan served as assistant supervisor at the former St. Gabriel's Monastery in Des Moines, Iowa, and was later appointed local superior for the Passionist community in Birmingham, Ala. He then served at Christ the King Monastery in Citrus Heights, before returning to Des Moines to preach at parish missions and retreats.

Father Horack was retreat master at the former Passionist Monastery in Warrenton until 1968, when he left to begin his missionary work in Japan. For 30 years in Japan, he edited Japan Jottings, a quarterly newsletter appealing for prayers and financial support while offering the stories of the Passionists in Japan. A funeral Mass was celebrated today at Ikeda Catholic Church in Ikeda, Japan, with interment at the The Rev. Francis "Frank" Horack, a longtime priest who served churches in St. Louis and other cities around the world, died Friday (Nov.

24, 2000) of complications from lung and liver cancer at Ta-karazuka City Hospital in Takara-zuka, Japan. He was 84 and a St. Louis native. As a teen-ager, Father Horack took a trip with parishioners from his church, Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in St. Louis, aboard a steamer on the Mississippi River.

While on board, he met several seminarians and priests who invited him to visit the Preparatory Seminary in Normandy. He later attended the seminary Monastery in Detroit and Immaculate Conception Monastery in Chicago. He was ordained in Louisville in 1942 and celebrated his first Mass at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in St Louis. Two years later, he moved to St Paul, and served as vice master for novices at a Passionist monastery. From 1947 to 1950, he improving service for you is our top priority e're not going to beat around the bush: Ameritech's recent service-quality needed improvement.

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Over the long-term, we'll invest in enough people and equipment to always fulfill or exceed Illinois' regulatory standards. This effort is already underway, and early results show substantial improvement, indicating that our strategy is working. With these and other actions, Ameritech fully intends to satisfy our service commitments, and to earn back your respect as an outstanding company and an outstanding member of our community. I 1 Walter Hickey Area Manager External Affairs JafcM mt tm Bring In This Coupon Take An Extra SBCj 2neritech tflffsiSe DRESS BARN II fl nil I jf Misses Woman Sizes 4-24 Lfc J.IV..1.11. Nik vjlid(inniinorlofrilcnn.

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