St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page A004

A4 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 1 THURSDAY 12.6.2012 LAW ORDER PARK FROM Al $30 million in renovations to take place COMING IMPROVEMENTS AT FOREST PARK Here are some of the scheduled improvements to Forest Park: RECREATION Along trails, renovate five restroom buildings and fix water fountains, all for year-round use, install more park benches and bike racks. $3.6 million. At Central Fields, rebuild ball fields and add service road for events such as balloon glow. $1.7 million.

At Aviation Field, complete installation of lights and irrigation for all ball fields, rebuild utility path to concession stand. $1.2 million. LAKES AND BRIDGES At Jefferson and Bowl lakes, near Planetarium, improve surrounding landscape and water quality, add waterfall. $5.2 million. Near Boat House, build new bridge for Government Drive over waterway and enhance waterway.

$3.3 million. At Round Lake, north of Steinberg Rink, restore 1916-vintage fountain and improve landscape. $1.5 million. PAVEMENT Near Zoo, rebuild Government and Wells drives, and rebuilt and extend sidewalks. $5.4 million.

Near Central Fields, rebuild Wells and Macklind drives. $1 million. AtMuny, rebuild upper parking lot, improve lighting and pedestrian walkways. $2.7 million. FLORISSANT POLICE Police say this man robbed the St.

Louis Community Credit Union in Florissant. FLORISSANT Credit union is robbed A man robbed the St. Louis Community Credit Union, 1250 Graham Road, about 1:35 p.m. Wednesday, police said. The man approached a teller, announced a robbery and implied he had a weapon but didn't show one, police said.

The robber left with an undisclosed amount of cash. Nobody was hurt. If you have more information about the robbery, call Florissant Police at 314-831-7000. ST. LOU IS Man is fatally shot Police identified a man fatally shot early Wednesday as Prince Patton, 25, of the 7800 block of Tennessee Place.

Patton was shot about 12:45 a.m. in the 900 block of Bates Street. Witnesses told police that Patton was talking with a man who pulled out a handgun and fired several shots. Patton died at a hospital. The gunman fled in a white SUV with tinted windows and illuminated running boards.

Police found the vehicle but had not made an arrest Wednesday. ST. LOUIS COUNTY Police to pursue harsher charges after injured woman dies Police said Wednesday they will seek stiffer charges against a St. Louis County nurse accused of abusing her 92-year-old grandmother and causing injuries that led to her death. Rachel Armstrong, 37, a nurse who lived in the 11000 block of Golf Crest Drive, was charged Nov.

21 with first-degree elder abuse. Police said that on Nov. 12, complications of multiple injuries from the assault. After Armstrong's arrest last month, police took her a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, said Officer Randy Vaughn of the St. Louis County Police Department.

She was deemed fit for confinement, released and is now being held at the St. Louis County Jail in lieu of a $75,000 cash bail. ST. LOUIS Intruders take gun, money Three men dressed as maintenance workers came into a home near Fairground Park on Tuesday morning, handcuffed the resident and took a gun and money, police say. The incident happened about 11:40 a.m.

Tuesday in the 3800 block of Ashland Avenue, a few blocks south of Fairground Park. No one was injured. A woman visiting the residence heard a knock at the door, according to police. She opened the door and saw three men dressed as maintenance workers. Police say the woman went to tell the man who lives there that he had guests.

When she walked away from the door, the men entered the home, handcuffed the man who lives there and took the gun and money, police said. Authorities didn't reveal how much money was taken. EAST ST. LOUIS Homeless man is found dead Authorities are investigating an apparent homicide after a homeless man was found dead about 8 a.m. Wednesday by an employee at Top Metal Buyers, at Eighth Street and James R.

Thompson Boulevard, police said. Authorities believed the man was killed at the scrap yard and his body had been there for a few days. Police did not say how he died. East St. Louis Police Chief Michael Floore said the dead man, 61, was from the East St.

Louis area and was well known to police. Authorities did not immediately release his name. The Illinois State Police is assisting in the investigation. huntleigh wife claims assault Kenneth Poteet, 51, of Huntleigh, chairman and chief executive officer of Sterling Bank, has been charged with misdemeanor battery in Naples, for allegedly attacking his wife of four months, Julianne Poteet, 47, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel there Oct. 25.

She suffered a broken leg. Julianne Poteet obtained an order of protection against him in St. Louis County Circuit Court, filed a civil suit for damages Wednesday and is seeking a divorce. Kenneth Poteet's attorney, Scott Rosenblum, said his client denied the allegations and believed she was making false claims for financial gain. in 1904.

In the years after World War II, as the city lost population and tax base, the park became distressingly shabby, symbolized by the walls and staircases around Basin Lake at the foot of Art Hill. They were falling in. Guided by a master plan the city adopted in 1995, the partnership of city and Forest Park Forever evenly split the first $86 million cost and turned around the park. Improvements included rebuilt golf courses and athletic fields, more trails, refreshed lakes and waterways, restored buildings and new landscapes all over. Forest Park Forever continued raising money and making improvements, boosting the total invested to about $125 million.

Basin Lake is again a big draw for wedding photographs. City Hall will let in bids for the coming phase of work. The first project, expected next spring, will be new signs to help visitors get around. Dave Lenczycki, project engineer for Forest Park Forever, said another project for next year is adding year-round restrooms and water fountains along the trails. The new all-weather rest areas would be near Steinberg Rink, just east of the Hampton Avenue roundabout and on Wells near the park's southwest corner.

Lenczycki said the list included $5.2 million in improvements at Jefferson and Bowl lakes, which are downhill from the Planetarium. The two would be connected by pumps to improve water quality of Bowl Lake. Water will tumble back into Jefferson Lake in a new waterfall. The $9 million in street work includes new roadways, curbs and sidewalks for Government and Wells drives, near the Zoo. "It's awful to see families pushing strollers down the middle of busy traffic," Hoffarth said.

"Some of these streets date to the World's Fair. They are worn out." Lenczycki said the city would try to schedule street work to avoid summer and other peak attendance periods. A parallel project by Forest Park Forever is raising money for a $100 million endowment to provide about $4 million annually for park maintenance. The Board of Aldermen enabled both maintenance fund and bond issue through legislation last December. Hoffarth said the organization had raised $45 million so far for bonds and endowment.

The office of Comptroller Darlene Green is to sell the bonds to Forest Park Forever as needed to finance work. A spokesman for Green said her office was working with the foundation on that task. City parks director Gary Bess said the plan was to have money available by Jan. 1 to seek bids for engineering work. Bess said the city would set aside about $1.2 million annually from sales taxes to pay the bonds over 30 years.

He said the bond-issue plan gave the park a reliable source of money up front for the improvements. Referring to Forest Park Forever, Bess said, "This is a great partnership. You see the results everywhere in the park." Hoffarth said the $30 million second phase would leave about $25 million in work left on the master plan. Among items on that list is a new landscape around the Jewel Box. Rachel Armstrong threw her grandmother, Angela Armstrong, down on the floor and stomped on her, breaking her arms and eight ribs.

She told police she believed her grandmother Armstrong was "a demon" or possessed by one. Police said Rachel Armstrong lived with her grandmother. Angela Armstrong had been hospitalized since Nov. 12 and died Sunday from her injuries, police said. Autopsy results showed she died from Grand vision Community Health Lecture Series at the St.

Louis County Library 1640 South Lindbergh Boulevard St. Louis, MO 63131 Tuesday, December 18 6:30 8 p.m. "(OiabsdoA (ptevsLntion and VYlanaqswumi (Oukinq JJw (HcIidmjA and (Bsupjnd ROBERT COHEN Police investigate Wednesday after a body was found by an employee at Top Metal Buyers at the intersection of Eighth Street and James R. Thompson Boulevard in East St. Louis.

George Griffing, M.D. SLVCare Endocrinologist Beef or SLUCare, the Physicians of Saint Louis University, Saint Louis University Hospital, the Saint Louis University Hospital Auxiliary and the St. Louis County Library are pleased to invite you to the 2012-2013 Community Health Lecture Series. "Grand Vision 60-Minute Check-Ups" are designed to provide information to keep you healthy as well as resources to help you learn more about health-related issues. To make your reservation for this Grand Vision 60-Minute Check-Up health lecture, please contact the St.

Louis County Library at Chicken SpecM onlv (314) 994-3300 or stop by any St. Louis County Library location Space is limited. Sunday Thursday, SLU The Physicians of Saint Louis University Excludes salad University Hospital A St. Louis County Library Exp. Dec.

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