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September 16th - 22nd, 2012

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Storybook ending

Mormonmoment

BY TIM [email protected]

INDEPENDENCE, MO. • With astark white statue of Jesus — hisarms stretched out before him,palms up in invitation — fourmissionaries sing hymns to carrya message Mormons have beentrying to get across for genera-tions.They work six days a week at

the visitors center of the Churchof Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints, declaring to all who willstop and listen that they worshipJesusChrist.And yet the missionaries work

against a backdrop far bigger thanan8-foot-tall likeness ofChrist.The young women are on pe-

culiar soil, just feet from a small,scrubby plot of land sacred onlywithinMormonism. It’s a settingthat in some ways distracts fromtheir effort to draw ties betweenMormons and other Christians.

Ride of the Century roars through area—with police scrutinyBY SHANE ANTHONY • [email protected] > 314-340-8169

ST. LOUIS • A huge group of motorcy-clists rode through the St. Louis area ontheir annual controversial ride Saturday,as police kept a close eye.Police presence was visible but not

heavy as the bikers gathered at midafter-noon near the flood wall along the Mis-sissippi River just south of the GatewayArch for the 10th Streetfighterz Ride oftheCentury.Ahelicopter hovered overhead; someof

the bikerswaved at it.Elsewhere, scanners were busy with

reports of groups of motorcycles on area

roads and drivers complaining about bik-ers doing stunts and running red lights.Police were patrolling highways to pre-

vent a repeat of last year’s ride weekend,when an estimated 2,500 bikers buzzedarea highways, performing stunts, star-tling drivers andweaving through traffic.There were a few incidents and arrests,

but Missouri Highway Patrol spokesmanTrooper Juston Wheetley said no seri-ous injuries had been reported as of lateSaturday afternoon. There was no tally of

PHOTOS BY J.B. FORBES • [email protected] clouds roll over the Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kansas City last month. The temple wasdedicated on May 6. Joseph Smith, who founded the Mormon religion in the 1830s, sought to rebuild the early Christian church.

Mormon teenagers dance the Macarena at the Kansas City Temple ward during ayouth night at the church one weekend last month.

Romney’srunspotlights tensionover faith’sdistinctivebeliefs—andMissouri isat thecenterofmany.

Adam-ondi-Ahman • Obscureplot inMissouri representsbothbeginning,endofhumantime.A13

HistoryMuseumland dealexaminedSite of struggling restaurantbelonging to former mayorBosley was not appraisedbefore purchase, audit shows.

BY STEPHEN [email protected] > 314-340-8116AND DAVID [email protected] > 314-436-2239

ST. LOUIS • Robert Archibald, presi-dent of the Missouri History Museum,says he had a vision six years ago of cre-ating a community center along DelmarBoulevard, bridging racial divides anduniting residents throughhistory.So, he says, he pushed for the pur-

chase of a one-acre property on Del-mar. The parcel was owned by the city’sformer mayor, Freeman Bosley Jr., andit was the site of a struggling barbecuerestaurant that Bosley and a partner hadopened.Theyhad takenouthundredsof thou-

sands of dollars in loans and owed atleast three years of back property taxes.Then, the museum paid $875,000 for

the property in 2006.It did so without a common practice

in real estate deals — getting an ap-praisal.On top of the purchase price, themu-

seumpaidnearly $101,000 for legal fees,environmental assessments and othercosts.Themuseumpaid off the $16,000in back property taxes that Bosley andhis partner owed, according to city re-cords.

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Motorcyclist OmarPerez (left) of Albany,N.Y., makes a call toa friend Saturday asMissouri HighwayPatrol Sgt. ShannonCrouch (center) andTrooper Brent Mooreinspect Perez’s bike forviolations. The policewere checking to makesure the bike was legal,not stolen and had itsproper paperwork.DAVID [email protected]

See MUSEUM • Page A6

See BIKERS • Page A3

A6 • ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH M 2 • SUNDAY • 09.16.2012

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REAL ESTATE

The community center dreamhas long been abandoned, but itstill cost the museum nearly $1million.Today, the restaurant has been

razed, and the city values theproperty at $232,300.All themuseumhas to showfor

its investment is an abandonedpatch of asphalt between Good-fellow Boulevard and HamiltonAvenue.Bosley said that he never listed

his property for sale and that thepurchase came about throughconversationswithArchibald.Still, both men deny that per-

sonal or political connections in-fluenced the purchase.“I’m sure people will say that,”

Bosley acknowledged, but headded that “forward-thinking”people would have said it was agood investment.Archibald said he now realized

that “an appraisal might havebeenprudent, givenhindsight.”The purchase was highlighted

in a recent audit of History Mu-seum finances commissioned bythe St. Louis Zoo-Museum Dis-trict.The district’s eight-member

board represents property tax-payers of St. Louis and St. LouisCounty, who pay about $70 mil-lion a year to help fund the His-toryMuseum,Missouri BotanicalGarden, St. Louis Art Museum,St. Louis Science Center and St.Louis Zoo.“You just don’t not get an ap-

praisal,” said GloriaWessels,whosits on the St. Louis Zoo-Mu-seumDistrict board.Charles Valier, another district

board member, also questionedthe lack of an appraisal, sayingthe purchase involved “a fairlypolitically significant individual.A public institution has to takeprecautions in those kinds of sit-uations.”History Museum officials say

they plan to eventually sell theland, perhaps when the real es-tatemarket improves.Onemem-ber of the board of trustees, realestatebrokerElizabethRobb,saidshe was confident the museumwouldn’t losemoney on the deal.“I think it’s worth in the mid-

($800,000)” range, Robb said. “I

don’t think we are upside downon this one at all.”

MULTIPLE LOANSReal estate records show Bosleyand his business partner, JamesArmstrong, bought a 1.65-acreparcel along Delmar in 1999 for$150,000.Itwaspreviouslyhometo aMcDonald’s restaurant.The two opened Big Jake’s

Bar-B-Que on the site and, insubsequent years, took out atleast three loans. The first wasfor $475,000 in 2002 from thenow-closed Gateway NationalBank of St. Louis, according tocity records.That sameyear, theysplit off a portion of the propertyon which to build and sell threehomes. The restaurant sat on theremaining acre.The partners later got two ad-

ditional loans, for $185,000 in2003 and $70,000 in 2004, fromthe St. Louis Local DevelopmentCo., a branch of the city’s devel-opment arm. Both loans were forthe restaurant, according to theloandocuments.Bosley and Armstrong weren’t

required to pay back those loansso long as they met various re-quirements, including creatingat least six jobs and staying inbusiness for a certain number ofyears. In the end, they paid backonly $42,500.

Bosley said that the restaurantnever really took off but that “wewereable tokeepthedoorsopen.”The restaurant lost $18,500 in itsfirst sixmonths, according to cityrecords. The city’s Collector ofRevenue later sued the partnersover at least three years of unpaidproperty taxes.When he heard that the His-

tory Museum was looking for alocation for a community center,Bosley said, he told Archibaldhe was interested in selling theproperty.The two were not strangers.

Archibald, leader of the His-tory Museum since 1988, servedon the city’s School Board from2003 to 2007. Bosley was St.Louis mayor from 1993 to 1997,and todayworks as an attorney.In 2003, Bosley and Archi-

bald were both on the executivecommittee for Citizens for HomeRule, a group that sought to cutseveral at-large electedpositions,put more power in the mayor’soffice and revamp city opera-tions.The museum’s board voted in

October 2005 to approve theDel-mar land deal, and the sale closedinNovember 2006.Armstrong, Bosley’s partner,

said he was “the barbecue man”and Bosley was “the businesspartner.” He said that he could

not recall many details of theland sale but that hewas satisfiedwith the $875,000price.“It was OK,” he said. “It was

more thanwehad in it.”Archibald said that he couldn’t

remember who approachedwhom about the Delmar landdeal, but that the museum hadalreadybeen searching for a loca-tion in the area.Archibald said he envisioned

the community center as a placewhere families andneighborhoodassociations could hold eventsand use video to record their his-tories. He chose Delmar becausedecades earlier, it was seen as aboundary between black andwhite residents. The boulevardwas also seeing a developmentboom.Archibald said he and the mu-

seum’s board of trustees lookedat several properties along Del-mar before settling onBosley’s.Ray Stranghoener, chairman

of the board, said last week thatthe boarddidn’t seek an appraisalbecause some trustees were realestate professionals who coulddetermine the value.Two years earlier, in 2004,

Delmar Loop developer Joe Ed-wards had purchased the build-ing next door, the former DelmarHigh School, which still standson the site, for $333,000. That

site is 0.72 acres.Plans for the museum’s com-

munity center never got far. Ar-chibald said the museum hadhired an architect for the project,but then the recessionhit.“The opportunity for rais-

ing funds for construction fadedaway,”he said.Themuseumhas since decided

to use current space and newtechnology to accomplish muchof what it wanted to do with theproposed center,Archibald said.Stranghoener, the board chair-

man, said the museum wouldn’tattempt to sell the property untilthe real estate market improved.He hopes an old-fashioned trol-ley line that Edwards is spear-heading along 2.2 miles on Del-mar — from the University CityLibrary to theHistoryMuseum inForest Park—will boost propertyvalues.Construction on the trol-

ley will begin in a few weeks andis scheduled for completion inmid-2014. Archibald is head ofthe nonprofit Loop Trolley Co.,which was established in 2001 toraisemoney for the trolley.The History Museum’s fund-

ing comes from private sourcesand several million dollars intax money it receives annuallythrough the Zoo-Museum Dis-trict. The district’s leaders are inthe process of commissioningaudits on each of the cultural in-stitutions. A draft of the HistoryMuseum audit was given to thedistrict board lastweek.

The community center plan has been dropped; the site, which cost the museum nearly $1 million, is now valued at $232,300

STEPHEN DEERE • [email protected] Missouri History Museum spent $875,000 in 2006 for this site on Delmar Boulevard; it now plans to sell.

Post-Dispatch

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electronicsbusiness in—inSt.Louis.Hehasfouremployees.Hesaidheandhisson

calculatedhowmuchtheypay intaxes…Itaddeduptowellover50percentofwhattheyearned.”

St. Peters businessmanwho calculated hisoverall tax burden is cited by candidate.

BY BILL LAMBRECHT • [email protected] > 202-298-6880

Presidential candidates relish storiesthat show they’re connecting with vot-ers, andMitt Romney found such a storyin St. Charles County that he recountedin the debate in Denver on Wednesdaynight.“I’ve talked to a guy who has a very

small business. He’s in the electronicsbusiness in — in St. Louis,” Romney be-ganduring the first segment of thepresi-dential debate.Thebusiness owner,Romney said, told

him that he had added up all the taxes hepaid, and the total ended up being morethan 50 percent of what he had earned inhis business.Romney then turned to President Ba-

rack Obama and declared: “And yourplan is to take the tax rate on successfulsmall businesses from 35 percent to 40percent.”Obama disputed that assertion and

others Romneymade in exchanges abouttaxes. Obama said he had actually low-ered taxes for small business 18 times

during his administration and aims tolower the business tax rate to 25 percent.But Romney hadmade his point about

taxes by using a reference to St. Louis,one he has sounded across the country.In Los Angeles last month at a HispanicChamber of Commerce gathering, Rom-ney told the story about “an electronicsentrepreneur fromSt.Louis.”

Abortiondrop herecoincidedwith studyResearchers citeimpact of affordablecontraception.

BY BLYTHE [email protected]

The abortion rate in the St. Louisarea declined by more than 20percent from2008 to 2010, coin-ciding with a research study thatgave free birth control to thou-sands of areawomen.Washington University re-

searchers said the ContraceptiveChoice Project offered evidencethat affordable contraception, ahotly contested requirement ofhealth care reform, can reduceunintended pregnancies andabortions.Although the drop in abortions

in St. Louis cannot be attributedsolely to the project, the abortionrate for the rest of Missouri re-mained constant over the sametime.Contraception is key to reduc-

ing unintended pregnancies andabortions, said project leaderDr. Jeff Peipert. “We need to re-move cost barriers,” Peipert said.“I think all women should haveequal access.”The researchers recruitedmore

than 9,250 women ages 14 to 45

Potentialconflict inmuseumland dealBosley was servingon History Museumboard when he firstdiscussed propertywith museum worker.

BY STEPHEN [email protected] > 314-340-8116

ST. LOUIS • When the Missouri History Mu-seum began talking to former Mayor FreemanBosley Jr. about potentially buying a one-acreproperty he owned, Bosleywas in a unique posi-tion.He was a member of the museum’s board of

trustees.Bosley sat on themuseum’s board for six years

before stepping down in October 2005. But twomonths earlier, Melanie Adams, a museum em-ployee overseeing a search for land for a plannedcommunity center, had met with Bosley to dis-cuss his property on Delmar Boulevard, accord-ing tomuseumrecords.The History Museum eventually spent about

$1 million in 2006 for the land in a deal that hasrecently come under fire, despite denials fromBosley and museum President Robert Archibaldthat personal and political connections were afactor.The museum,which recently released records

related to the land deal to the Post-Dispatch, hasdefended the purchase. The museum has notedthat it made offers on other properties and hireda real estate consultant to negotiate for fear that

ROMNEY’S 50%TAXGUY

LAURIE SKRIVAN • [email protected] Bonadio with Reason Amplifier Co. in St. Peters assembles a cabinet for anamplifier Thursday. Mitt Romney referenced Bonadio’s business in the debate.

Mercedes dealer ismoving to formerKTVI-TV site in cityBY TIM [email protected] > 314-340-8206

After nearly two decades, the city of St. Louis isgetting itsMercedes-Benz dealership back.TriStar Imports, a Mercedes-Benz dealership

in Ellisville, plans to abandon a stretch of stripmalls and other dealers to build a “uniquely ur-ban”dealership just south of Forest Park.If that sounds counterintuitive — the migra-

tion of regional wealth has generally headed theopposite direction — the move makes businesssense to TriStar owners on multiple fronts, evenat greater cost than a renovation inEllisville.TriStar plans an $11.7 million dealership on a

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Robbery victim diesof injuries in beatingBY KIM BELL • [email protected] > 314-340-8115

ST. LOUIS • A man who waskicked and punched by twoteens in a street robbery morethan sevenmonths ago has diedof his injuries, authorities saidThursday.Prosecutors planned to file

revised charges against the al-leged attackers, who were 15and 16 years old at the time.The victim, Lewis Rice, 46,

never regained consciousnessfrom the beating, said his oldersister, Debbie A. Rice. “He wasa vegetable,” she said.Rice was attacked as he

walked on a sidewalk in the4200 block of West Finney Av-enue at about 7 p.m.Feb. 23.Court records say Deshawn

Owens, 16, and his stepbrotherDonaldCotton,15,punchedandkicked Rice and went throughhis pockets trying to rob him.They were held by juvenile au-thorities, and in April a judgecertified them to be tried asadults on charges of assault andattempted robbery. Their bail is$250,000 each. Both live in the4200block ofWest Belle Place.Court records show that the

same teensare accusedo f j ump-ing anotherman abouta half hourearlier in the4100block ofEnright Av-

enue. The victim of that attacksuffered a broken leg and headinjuries, said Debbie Rice, whomet the other victim at a hear-ing.She said her brother died

Monday at Hillside ManorHealthcare, a rehabilitationcenter where he was sent afterthree months at Barnes-JewishHospital.Lewis Rice lived in the 4200

block ofWest Cook Avenue. Hedid demolition work for rela-tives. His one son lives in Chi-cago.Debbie Rice said she asked

detectives if the attack waspart of the so-called “knockoutgame,” involving random at-tacks in which the violence it-self is the motive. She said theytold her they didn’t think so.

LOCAL

property owners would drive uptheir asking prices if they knewthemuseumwas the buyer.But themuseum as of Septem-

ber 2005,after the initialmeetingwithBosley,hadstill not finalizeda contract with that consultant,records show.The museum’s board of trust-

ees had discusssed buying landforacommunityhistorycenterasearly asMay 2005. Bosley did notattend any of the board meet-ingswhere the issue cameup,ac-cording to meeting minutes. Theboardhasabout 50members,andnot all regularly attendmeetings.Bosley said in an interview this

week that the land deal had no“connection with being on theboard.”“I didn’t think thatwas aprob-

lem,”he said.Bosley couldn’t recall how he

came to serve on the board, ex-cept that someone from the mu-seum invited him.Bosley also said that he was

too busy keeping afloat a strug-gling restaurant he owned on thesite, called Big Jakes Bar-B-Que,to attend board meetings. “Thatrestaurant started taking up somuch time,” saidBosley,whowasmayor in themid-1990s.Bosley served two terms as

a museum trustee, each lastingthree years, starting in 1999. InDecember2004,hesignedacon-flict of interest certificate thatmany trustees sign, acknowl-edging they have no personal orbusiness conflicts with museumoperations.The History Museum released

a statement this week, reading:“As we have said from the be-ginning, the museum followed acompletely transparent, above-board process” when buying theland. The statement added thatthe deal “had nothing to do witha former politician being part-owner of the property.”The museum bought the

property in November 2006 for$875,000. It did so without acommon practice in real estatedeals—getting an appraisal.The museum also did not for-

mally hire a real estate agent.The institution relied on trusteeElizabeth Robb, herself a real es-tate agent, for advice throughout

the process. Robb did not receivea commission on the purchase,museumofficials said.The land also had some envi-

ronmental problems. The mu-seum paid more than $44,000for environmental assessmentson theproperty, alongwith about$56,000 for legal andother costs.Bosley and a partner bought a

1.65-acre parcel along Delmar in1999 for $150,000. It was previ-ously home to a McDonald’s res-taurant.In 2002, they split off a por-

tion of the property on which tobuild and sell three homes. Theirrestaurant, Big Jakes, sat on theremaining acre. The restaurantquickly fell into financial trouble,and the partners eventually owedthousands of dollars in backproperty taxes.Museum officials have said

they wanted to buy the propertyin hopes of building a“Center forCommunity and Family Stories”to record the histories of individ-uals and neighborhoods. But therecession set the plans back, andthe museum later decided to useother space for that purpose.Today, the one-acre property

that the museum bought fromBosley is vacant, and the city val-ues it at $232,300.Museum lead-ers say they plan to eventuallysell it.Museum officials have said

tax money was not used for theDelmar land purchase. The His-tory Museum receives about $10million a year from a tax city andcounty residents pay to help fundlocal cultural institutions.

MAKING A DEALIn October 2005, the HistoryMuseum’s board of trustees ap-proved spending up to $1.5 mil-lion to purchase land for thecommunity center.ByMay 2006, themuseumhad

two offers out, according to re-cords. One was made to Bosleyand his partner for $750,000,records show, and the other forthe same price for a property onDeBaliviere Avenue, about fiveblocks north of the museum.Both owners initially declined torespond to the offers, accordingto amuseummemo.Three months later, in August,

a deal with Bosley was nearlywrapped up. Archibald toldthe trustees at a board meetingthat the museum had made an$875,000 offer on Bosley’s prop-erty for the planned communitycenter. He said the only remain-ing issue was an environmentalstudy.In October 2006, Archibald

wrote a letter to Bosley statingthat the History Museum was“dissatisfied with the environ-mental condition of the prop-erty,” according to museum re-cords. But, the letter added, themuseum would not back out ofthedeal. It closedon thepropertytwoweeks later.The Post-Dispatch has asked

the History Museum for copiesof the environmental studies thatwere conducted.Last month, the Delmar land

deal was highlighted in an audi-tor’s report to the Zoo-MuseumDistrict, which oversees morethan $70 million in tax moneythat funds St. Louis’ five cul-tural institutions, including theHistory Museum. The audit, inparticular, noted the lack of anappraisal, and Zoo-MuseumDistrict board members havequestioned the deal and askedthe History Museum to reviewrelated records.Bosley said he thinks it’s

strange that issues surroundingthe purchase are just now beingbrought up. “Six years ago wouldhave been the time to raise ques-tions about it,”he said.

Bosley did not attend board meetings at which land issue was discussed

Investigations are cited as Zigmanis honored by St. Louismedia

FROM STAFF REPORTS

KSDK’s Leisa Zigman was honored Thursday bythe Press Club of Metropolitan St. Louis as theMedia Person of theYear.Post-Dispatch photographers J.B. Forbes and

Robert Cohen, and public relations firm Fleish-man-Hillard alsowere honored.The gala, held at the Hilton St. Louis at the

Ballpark, raisesmoney for scholarships.Zigman was recognized for her investigations

into brutality on school playgrounds and highlevels of lead in children’s jewelry, along withreporting on non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a diseaseshewas diagnosedwith in 2010.Forbes and Cohen were recognized for their

coverage of the 2011 tornado in Joplin, Mo., andfor organizing an exhibit and silent auction thatraisedmore than $10,000 for Joplin relief.Both have won many regional and national

awards. Forbes joined the Post-Dispatch in 1975and has traveled to 27 countries for the news-paper, photographing war, international eventsand medical missions. He was inducted into theMissouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame in 2011.Cohen joined the Post-Dispatch in 1999.HewasaPulitzerPrize finalist in 2010 forphotosof sub-urbanhomelessness.

Zigman

Forbes

Cohen

CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS

• Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney stated inWednesday night’s debate that “Obamacare”would require a $716billion cut fromMedicare to pay for the new program.The numberwas incorrect in a summary onThursday’s front page.

TIMELINE OF HISTORY MUSEUM LAND DEAL

Dec. 16, 1999 • Former Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr.and a partner buy a 1.65-acre parcel along DelmarBoulevard for $150,000.October 2002 • Bosley begins a three-year term onthe Missouri History Museum’s board of trustees. Itis his second term.Dec. 21, 2004 • Bosley signs a disclosure statementsaying he has disclosed any personal and businessinterests that are “museum related.” He also signsa “Conflict of Interest Certificate” acknowledging hehas received no “remuneration of any thing in valuein excess of $1,000” from the museum.Aug. 17, 2005 • Amemo explaining the HistoryMuseum’s effort to buy land for a community centerestimates the cost at “about $600,000 per acre.”Aug. 18, 2005 •Melanie Adams, leading themuseum’s effort to find land, meets with Bosleyabout a one-acre portion of the land on Delmar.October 2005 • Bosley’s term on the board oftrustees ends.

May 19, 2006 • Amemo on the community centerproject indicates the museum has made two offers,both for $750,000 — one for land on DeBaliviereAvenue and one for Bosley’s property.Aug. 23, 2006 • At a board of trustees meeting,museum President Robert Archibald says themuseummade an $875,000 offer on a property onDelmar and DeBaliviere. This is Bosley’s property.Archibald also says the only remaining issue is anenvironmental study.Oct. 25, 2006 • A letter from Archibald toBosley says the museum is “dissatisfied with theenvironmental condition of the property” but willgo forward with the deal.Nov. 9, 2006 • The museum closes on Bosley’sproperty for $875,000. The museumwould spendat least another $100,000 on related costs.

Source: Missouri History Museum records and city records.

Post-Dispatch

DeBaliviere

Delmar

Delmar

Lindell

DesPeres

Forest Park Pkwy.Forest Park Pkwy.Forest Park Pkwy.

Goodfellow

Hamilton

Forest Park



St. Louis

STEPHEN DEERE • [email protected] Missouri History Museum spent $875,000 in 2006 to buy a closed restaurant on this spot at 5863Delmar Boulevard. The restaurant has been razed and the property has been valued by the city at $232,300.

Rice

MUSEUM • FROMA1



VPDEBATEDemocrat Joe Biden and RepublicanPaul Ryan will square off over foreignand domestic policy in tonight’s vicepresidential debate at 8 p.m. at CentreCollege in Danville, Ky. Story, A8

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Lambertaltersplan onparkingRates won’t go up for now,but may increase next year.

Short-term parking rates at the two primary ga-rages at Lambert-St.Louis InternationalAirportwill stay put— for now.The St. Louis Airport Authority on Wednes-

day postponed action on a proposal that wouldhave effectively doubled the price to park in oneof the garages during the first hour.The proposalcalled for a flat $5 for each two-hour increment—or any fraction of that time.It nowcosts $2.50 anhour.“There were just a lot of comments from peo-

ple that they didn’t understand it,” Airport Di-rectorRhondaHamm-Niebruegge said.“We feltthat it would be better if there are questions andthere seems tobe confusion, thatwedomore” toeducate the public.She said she hopes to bring the parking rate

increases back to the Airport Authority beforethe end of the year. The new parking rates wereexpected to generate an additional $1.5 milliona year.TheAirportAuthority alsoput onhold a sepa-

rate plan to increase fees it charges hotel shut-

BY KEN [email protected] > 314-340-8215

SitemuseumboughtwascontaminatedOfficials didn’t get lower price onland, but defend 2006 purchase.

ST. LOUIS • The site of a proposed commu-nity center purchased by the Missouri HistoryMuseum was contaminated with arsenic, leadand chromium, and could have cost as much as$300,000tocleanup,according toenvironmen-tal reports released by themuseum.The museum didn’t use the information to

negotiate a lower price. Officials felt the one-acre site was a good deal when they bought it sixyears ago for $875,000, a museum spokesmansaid thisweek.“The museum was acquiring the property at

the low end of what comparable properties wereselling for onDelmar,” saidTimBeecher, a seniorvicepresident at thepublic relations firmFleish-man-Hillard, hired recently by the museum tohandle communications on the landdeal.The institution purchased the property from

former Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr., and has beencriticized for not having the property appraisedbefore the purchase. Bosley, who ran a strug-gling restaurant on the site,was amember of the

BY STEPHEN [email protected] > 314-340-8116AND DAVID [email protected] > 314-436-2239

Nailed by Carpenter

TAKINGCONTROLRedbirds move to within a win of sealing division series.

IN SPORTS, SECTION B

BernieMiklasz: Cards spoil Nationals’ party • Carpenter and Kozma are heroes for a day.More online at STLtoday.com/cards

NLDS GAME 3 • CARDINALS 8, NATIONALS 0NLDS Game 4: 3:07 p.m. today at Nationals Park, TBS

CHRIS LEE • [email protected] shortstop Pete Kozma (38) is congratulated by teammates Wednesday after hitting athree-run home run in the second inning, the biggest blow that spoiled Washington’s first homepostseason baseball appearance since 1933. The Cardinals lead the best-of-five series 2-1.


Getup to55%off TheZombieExperienceonNov. 2 -4, 2012!

MineWorkers target Patriot, PeabodyThey threaten disobedience here, over potential loss of pension and health care benefits.

TRIANGLE, VA. • The United MineWorkers union is threatening civil dis-obedience in St. Louis and elsewhereto protest the potential loss of pensionand health care benefits from PatriotCoal Corp.’s decision to seek bank-ruptcy protection.In an interview,MineWorkers Presi-

dent Cecil Roberts likened his union’sresolve to the Pittston Coal Strike in

1989, when about 4,000 miners werearrested in Virginia during a 14-monthstrike to protest termination of healthcare benefits for retirees, widows anddisabledminers.Roberts, who directed the Pittston

campaign before heading the union,said he views the Chapter 11 filing ofCreve Coeur-based Patriot and eventsleading to it as a “moral issue” requir-

ing theMineWorkers tomake a stand.Roberts gave no time frame for the

threatenedprotests.The Mine Workers call their cam-

paign “Fairness at Patriot,” but a pri-mary target is Peabody Energy Corp.,of St. Louis,which spun off Patriot andsomeof its liabilities in 2007.

BY BILL LAMBRECHT • [email protected] > 202-298-6880

Economydominates debate among rivals

Candidates seeking to replace re-tiring U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello de-bated on Wednesday night howto best represent the Metro East’sblue-collar, military-heavy dis-trict.The race between Democrat

Bill Enyart and Republican JasonPlummer has been marked byspending from national groups asthe two political parties battle forcontrol of the U.S. House and Illi-nois’ 12th Congressional District.The seat, once safe terrain forDemocrats, is one of the few that

polls show could tilt either way inthis fall’s general election.The area’s economy dominated

the debate at Lindenwood Uni-versity’s campus in Belleville. En-yart framed himself as an experi-enced leader who would fight forthe area’s middle class. Plummerframed himself as a small busi-nessman who would bring jobsto the district and a fresh face toWashington. Paula Bradshaw, aGreen Party candidate, describedherself as a child of coal min-ers who would address corporate

wrongs.The subject that drew the most

heated exchange was taxes, spe-cifically tax returns.Enyart hammered Plummer, a

lumber heir, for not releasing histax returns to the public. Enyartsaid Plummer has failed to showhis tax returns for four years, andlater said“millionairesneed topaytheir fair share of taxes.”He show-cased his own résumé and barbedPlummer by saying he “has only

BY NICHOLAS J.C. PISTOR • [email protected] > 314-340-8265

Plummer

Enyart

ELECTIONS2012: Illinois’ 12thCongressionalDistrict

See LAMBERT • Page A7


See MINEWORKERS • Page A5

See DEBATE • Page A7

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH • A710.11.2012 • THURSDAY • M 2

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FROM A1

tles, private parking facilities, taxicabs, charter buses andlimousine companies.Someof the“ground transportationfees”havenot increased since 1998, airport officials said.Those fee increases were expected to raise an additional

$132,000 a year beginning next year, said Susan Kopinski,the airport’s deputy director of finance and administra-tion.Airport officials stressed that they are under pressure to

increase non-aeronautical revenue as a way to reduce air-lines’ landing fees and lease costs. Reducing airline costs,they say,would also help attract and retain air service.“At the end of the day, the goal of this airport is to be a

more cost-effective airport,” Hamm-Niebruegge said.“Our goal is to try to lower the cost for the airlines’ operat-ing expenses.”Shifting the parking rates to two-hour increments from

one-hour increments in the two main garages would en-courage “meeters” and “greeters” who park short term touse one of the airport’s two cellphone lots.Thecellphone lotsare freeandprovideaplace for friends

or family members to wait before picking up arriving pas-sengers at the terminals. But airport officials acknowledgemost airport visitors don’t knowenough about the lots.Hamm-Niebruegge said the airport will look at doing

more to promote those lots.By doing so, it would free up garage spaces for people

parking long-term. The Terminal 2 garage — servingmostly the Southwest Airlines gates — is full four out offive business days.“There is a demandout there,”Hamm-Niebruegge said.

“We hear it every single day that people are turned awayfrom that lot.Our goal is to free up and have some optionsfor those short-termparkers.”Meanwhile, the Airport Authority will consider a series

of fee increases for shuttles, charter buses and limousinesthat would take effect on Jan. 1. Taxicabs operating at theairport would be assessed $3 per passenger pickup begin-ningApril 2016, comparedwith $2 today.Under the plan, the cost for rental car companies and

private parking lots operating near the airport would in-crease.Airport Commissioner Dick Hrabko urged Lambert of-

ficials to consider a higher rate for private parking lotsthat compete directly with the airport for customers andpay a relatively small amount to run shuttles to Lambertterminals.One reason for the fee increase, Kopinski said, is to pass

along maintenance costs to users of the airport’s upperand lower roadnetwork.“As you know, roadways are expensive,” Kopinski said.

“Just imagine what ours go through as far as the shuttlebuses and all the other traffic and vehicles that go acrossthose.Maintenance is very expensive.”The proposed ordinance containing the ground trans-

portation fees would need to be approved by the AirportAuthority, the St. Louis Estimate Board and the St. LouisBoard ofAldermen.Hamm-Niebruegge said she does not expect changes to

theparking rate or the ground transportation feeproposalsbut could not rule it out.

Airport panel decides not to raiseshort-term parking rates for now

museum’s board of trusteeswhen talks started on the deal.Bosley and the museum president, Robert Archibald,

have denied that personal or political connnections playeda role in the deal.In addition to the purchase price, the museum paid

$44,572 for environmental studies.The museum, in a statement this week, characterized

the $300,000 estimate as a “high-end, Cadillac-style”cleanup seldom used for commercial properties. Themuseum also received an estimate for a less extensive$94,000 cleanup,“the standardmost often used for com-mercial properties,” the statement said.The museum received the two cleanup estimates on

Oct. 16, 2006. Nine days later, Archibald informed Bos-ley in a letter that the museum was “dissatisfied with theenvironmental condition of the property.” But, the letteradded, the museum still planned to go through with thesale.The site has been home to a variety of businesses since

the early 1900s, including multiple dry cleaners — knownsources of contamination due to solvents used in thecleaning.In 1984,McDonald’s bought the site and operated a res-

taurant there for about a decade.In 1999, Bosley purchased the site,which then included

1.65 acres, with a business partner for $150,000, andopenedBig Jakes Bar-B-Que.In 2002, they split off a portion of the property to build

and sell three homes. Their restaurant sat on the remain-ing acre. The restaurant quickly fell into financial trouble,and the partners eventually owed thousands of dollars inback property taxes.The museum purchased the property in November

2006, but the recession eventually set back plans for thecommunity center. The land is vacant now, and the cityvalues it at $232,300.Before the museum purchased the property, it paid for

two environmental impact studies.Such studies aremost often required by banks for loans,

said local real estateprofessionals.Sometimes,buyers seekthe reports on their own.Governments and nonprofits of-ten engage environmental consultants, seeking to be extracautious before purchasing property.And somegrants andtax credit programs require the studies.Real estate professionals say environmental impact re-

ports, such as the ones received by the History Museum,are typically used to negotiate a lower sale price. Also, themuseum is now required to tell any potential buyers aboutthe impact studies.Museum officials have said tax money was not used to

purchase the Delmar land. However, Beecher said that asmuseum employees were reviewing records this week,they found that about $14,000 in tax money was used topay for the demolition of Big Jakes.The History Museum receives about $10 million a year

from a tax city and county residents pay to help fund localcultural institutions.Last month, the Delmar land deal was highlighted in

an auditor’s report to the Zoo-Museum District, whichoversees more than $70 million in tax money that fundsSt. Louis’ five cultural institutions, including the HistoryMuseum.The audit, in particular, noted the lack of an ap-praisal, and Zoo-Museum District board members havequestioned the deal and asked the History Museum forrelated records.Themuseum initially said it would not release the envi-

ronmental studies, even to the Zoo-MuseumDistrict. Butthe organization later changed its stance.

History Museum defends 2006 purchaseof land despite tract being contaminated

worked for his father.”“The voters want answers, they

don’t want attacks,” Plummer re-sponded.Enyart himself has assets exceed-

ing $1 million, according to his per-sonal financial disclosure. Plummeris estimated to be worth up to $33million.Plummer said of his tax returns,

“I don’t think that it’s public infor-mation.” He also accused Enyartof raising money from other can-didates who haven’t released theirown taxes.“If you’re not going to be honest

with the voters when you’re askingthem for their vote, how are you go-ing to treat them if youwin?”Plum-mer said.Enyart said it is important for dis-

trict voters to know if Plummer haspaid his fair share of taxes,which hisreturnswould show.Plummer focused on a message

of bringing jobs to Illinois and saidhis businesses have employed morethan 1,000people in theMetroEast.“I argue you send a small busi-

nessman to Washington, D.C.,”Plummer said.

The district stretches from thewestern parts of Madison County,all of St. Clair County, and straightdown to the Kentucky border. It islargely working class with a strongmilitary presence.Only two men have represented

the district since the end of WorldWar II: Democrats Mel Price andCostello, who announced last yearhe wouldn’t seek re-election afterrepresenting the district for about22 years.Republicans hope to capitalize

on the district’s more conservativeleanings on social issues.Enyart, 62, is a lawyer who retired

fromhis job as the head of the state’sNational Guard in June so he couldrun for the seat. Enyart grew up incentral Illinois doing farmwork dur-ing the summer and working as astockboy after school at a dime storewhere his mother was a clerk. Helives in Belleville with his wife, re-tiredCircuit JudgeAnnette Eckert.Plummer, 30, is the vice president

of corporate development at family-owned R.P. Lumber Co. He lives inO’Fallon, Ill., but was raised in Ed-wardsville.Heunsuccessfully ran for

lieutenant governor in 2010.Both candidates have military

backgrounds. Enyart was the ad-jutant general in Illinois since 2007and has had military service since1976. Plummer is an intelligence of-ficer in theNaval Reserves.Plummer and Enyart each show-

cased that experience when talkingabout Scott Air Force Base, the dis-trict’s largest employer.“Scott Air Force Base isn’t a Re-

publican or Democrat issue,” Plum-mer said.“It’s a national issue.”Plummer pledged not to just keep

the statusquoatScottAirForceBasebut to grow it.Enyart said he would have “in-

stant credibility” in Washington topreserve and grow the base.Supporting the base is one of the

few issues about which all of thecandidates agreed.Bradshaw, who wants to cut the

military inhalf,said sheneverthelesssupports the base. “You can supportthe military without supporting in-vasions of other countries,” she said.

Candidates haggle over tax returns, express support for Scott Air Force Base

STEPHEN RICKERL • The Southern IllinoisanFrom left: Green Party candidate Paula Bradshaw, Democrat Bill Enyart and Republican Jason Plummer debate Sept.20 in Marion, Ill. They also debatedWednesday night in Belleville, aiming to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill.

LAMBERT • FROMA1

MUSEUM • FROMA1

DEBATE • FROMA1

Damage closes ice complexFAIRVIEW HEIGHTS • The U.S.Ice Sports Complex here has closedindefinitely because of structuraldamage to the building and ice sur-faces due to mine subsidence, thecomplex announcedWednesday.Structural engineers and workers

with the Illinois Department ofNat-

ural Resources have been evaluat-ing the building since Monday, andall use has been canceled until theyhave finished assessing the damage.The complex is at 125 South RubyLane.The complex features two rinks

that are the size of those used by the

NationalHockeyLeague.It is used by several groups and

teams, including teams from McK-endree University and several MetroEast high schools.

FROM STAFF REPORTS



FINAL EDITION • SUNDAY • 10.21.2012 • $2.50

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Mercy’s attemptto sell hospitaldraws criticismChesterfield-based system wantsto sell facility in Hot Springs, Ark.,to for-profit, crosstown competitor.

BY JIM [email protected] > 314-340-8372AND TIM [email protected] > 314-340-8221

HOT SPRINGS, ARK. • Formore thanacentury,St. Joseph’s hospital has practiced its charitableministry in this quirky spa town, not far fromthe mineral waters that have attracted legions oftourists,baseball stars,evengangsters.Twonuns established an infirmary in 1888near

Bathhouse Row. Now, the hospital sits on a hill-side above this valley, providingmedical care andhelping to stitch together a safety net of other so-cial services.The city’s largest hospital and largest employer

is the centerpiece of Mercy Health’s larger foot-print in southwest Arkansas. Mercy’s affiliatedphysician groups and health clinics serve thecity’s 35,000 residents andmore in nearby hard-scrabble rural areas.But the nonprofit health system’s leading role

here will soon end if executives at Chesterfield-based Mercy Health are permitted to sell the HotSprings hospital to the Tennessee-based ownersof a rival for-profit hospital across town.To pull that off, Mercy officials must not only

convince federal regulators — who are crackingdown on hospital monopolies in smaller cities —but also Vatican officials in Rome. Mercy Healthis a corporation,or“public juridic person,”withintheCatholicChurch.Thefutureofwhat localsaffectionatelycall“St.

Joe’s” lies in a bubbling stew of health care poli-tics, antitrust law and religious doctrine.And thedebate over its fate cuts to the core of the shifting

BERT VESCOLANIPresident,St. Louis Science Center

PAYUP FORCAPTAINSOF CULTUREZoo-Museum District institutions try to stay competitive, but some compensation, perks are being scrutinized.

BY DAVID HUNN • [email protected] > 314-436-2239 AND STEPHEN DEERE • [email protected] > 314-340-8116

ST. LOUIS • The head of the MissouriHistory Museum, Robert Archibald, had a$90,000 salary in 1990.By 1997, Archibald’s salary had risen to

$185,000. Nine months later, the board oftrustees added $20,000 more. The nextyear, it gave him an additional $9,000 inJanuary, then $35,000 inOctober.In total, Archibald got 11 raises between

1997 and 2008, often worth five fig-ures, sometimes twice in one year. This

past summer, the president of the boardof trustees, V. Raymond Stranghoener,signed a new contract with Archibald for$375,000 in base pay for 2013.Archibald also has an annual $33,000

housing allowance, a museum-paid mini-van and yearly retirement payments —worth about $89,000 last year alone. Hegets six weeks of leave each year for “his-torical research andwriting,”which comeson top of four weeks of vacation. In previ-

ous years, he had eightweeks of vacation.Then, this past July, the History Mu-

seum board spelled out the riches of onemore perk. It agreed to pay Archibald for410 unused vacation days, due as a lumpsum upon his retirement. If Archibaldwere to retire at the end of this year, thatcheckwould come to $580,000.In recent weeks, board members of the

Zoo-MuseumDistrict, which oversees taxmoney distributed to theHistoryMuseum

and other cultural institutions, have dis-cussed withholding money from the His-tory Museum because of anger over Ar-chibald’s pay andbusiness dealings.“When does that stop?” asked Com-

missioner Gloria Wessels about Archiba-ld’s pay raises.Commissioner Jerome Glick was par-

ticularly irked at the vacation deal.

$275,0002012 salary

$317,3002012 total compensation

ROBERT ARCHIBALDPresident,Missouri History Museum

$368,7002012 salary


PERKS• $33,000 annual housingallowance• 2011 Toyota Sienna• Six weeks of “historicalresearch and writing,” inaddition to four weeks vacation• 410 unused vacation days tocash out at retirement.

JEFFREY BONNERPresident,St. Louis Zoo

$490,0002012 salary


PERKS• 2009 Ford Explorer• Wife’s expenses covered forzoo-related trips• Expenses covered for zoo-related entertaining at home

BRENT BENJAMINDirector,St. Louis Art Museum

$410,0002012 salary


PERKS• Five different retirement plans,including $115,000 a year indeferred compensation, and anunspecified number of vacationdays to convert to retirementpay.

PETERWYSE JACKSONPresident,Missouri Botanical Garden

$300,0002010 salary

Not provided2012 total compensation

PERKS• Free use of Director’s Residence• Half of his utilities paid (about$5,000 annually)• $670,000 for home renovations(covered by a grant from theDanforth Foundation)• 2010 Hybrid Toyota Highlander• Round-trip flights from Europefor each child in college

Red-bloodedBASEBALLHAS LEFTAN INDELIBLEMARKONTHIS PIONEERTOWN

BY DAN O’NEILL • [email protected] > 314-340-8186

Former St. Louis Cardinals public relations director Jim Toomey, a ground-skeeper and a chaplain paraded out to right field at Sportsman’s Park one chillymorning in 1951.The landscapewas engulfed in the shadows,cast by the tower-ing light standards and stooped upper deck of the antiquated park.A few leavesandwax-paperwrappers fluttered about in the fall breeze.They arrived at an unobtrusive spot in right field, and the groundskeeper

began to dig.Toomey carefully set the urn he carried into the hole.The ground-skeeper replaced thedirt as the reverenddelivered the appropriatewords. It hadbeen the dyingwish of an anonymous Cardinals fan to be laid to rest as close toEnosSlaughter as possible.Hiswife contactedToomey,and so itwasdone.

INSIDE • Determined Cards, Giants take battle back to San Francisco > Bernie Miklasz on the series. IN SPORTS • C1

NLCS GAME 6 • CARDINALS VS. GIANTS6:45 p.m. Sunday at San Francisco, KTVI (2)

J.B. FORBES • [email protected] legend Stan Musial makes a surprise appearance before Game 4 of the National League championshipseries between the Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants on Thursday at Busch Stadium.

See MERCY • Page A10

TheCardinalWay

SULTANOFSQUASHCommunity • B1

See CARDINALS • Page A8

See MUSEUMS • Page A5

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH • A510.21.2012 • SUNDAY • M 2

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ZOO-MUSEUM DISTRICT

“That,”he said,“is an abuse.”Stranghoener, the head of the

museum’s trustees, says the va-cation and salary increases werenecessary to keep Archibald,whom he described as a nation-ally recognized leader.He saidArchibald led twomul-

timillion-dollar expansions, wona nationalmuseum service awardpresented by then-first lady Hil-lary Clinton, and was offered atop job at the Smithsonian In-stitution. And under Archibald’sleadership, Stranghoener noted,museum attendance has risenfrom 157,000 annual visitors tomore than 356,000 today.Moreover, Archibald’s com-

pensation alone isn’t unusualwhen compared to chief execu-tives at the four other tax-sup-ported institutions.In fact, chief executive pay

at all five — including the Mis-souri Botanical Garden, St. LouisArt Museum, St. Louis ScienceCenter and St. Louis Zoo — hasrisen sharply over the past twodecades.In 1990, zoo Director Charlie

Hoessleearnedlessthan$90,000a year. His replacement, JeffreyBonner, this year will make morethan $500,000 in total compen-sation, including salary, retire-ment and other perks. BotanicalGarden chief Peter Raven made$103,000 in 1990, and $404,000in total compensationby the timehe retired in 2010.And former Art Museum boss

James Burke collected $155,000two decades ago. Yet current Di-rector Brent Benjamin will re-ceive nearly $640,000 in com-pensation this year.In total, chief executive com-

pensation at the five institutionsrose from a combined total of$661,000 in 1990, to $1.3 millionin 2000, to $2.5 million in 2010—a 280percent increase over thetwodecades.Even after adjusting for infla-

tion, that’s still a growth of 130percent.The St. Louis institutions are

under added scrutiny that comeswith receiving tax money. Thefive split about $70million a yearfrom a tax collected on residentsin St.Louis andSt.LouisCounty.

TOPS IN THEIR FIELDSThe board members who gov-ern each organization argue theyhave little choice when it comesto paying their chief executives.The institutions’ leaders, theysay, are top-class in their fieldsand command top salaries.“You have to appreciate what

kind of zoo we have,” said zoo

commission chairman and for-mer Mayor Jim Conway. “We arerecognized as one of the top zoosin theworld.”The zoowill get about 3.4mil-

lion visitors this year, Conwaysaid, likely the largest count inthe region. “We probably willdrawmore people than the base-ball Cardinals,”he said.Patrick Mulcahy, head of the

Art Museum Commission andformer CEO of Energizer Hold-ings, echoed similar sentiments.“We truly have a world-class

CEO,” he said. Two museums, infact, recently called him lookingto hire away Benjamin, Mulcahyadded.To hold on to the chief,

Mulcahy said, the board aims tokeep Benjamin’s salary in the top25 percent of art museum direc-tors in the nation.Andsalaries across the country

have risen. According to a data-base kept by the nonprofit evalu-ator Charity Navigator, museumand zoo chief executive compen-sation has grown froman averageof $192,000 in 2001 to $320,000in 2011. Among the 53 institu-tions that list figures for both2000 and 2010, pay balloonedfrom$249,000 to $368,000,a 50percent increase.It mirrors the dramatic rise

of CEO pay and bonuses in thecorporate world and even at largenonprofit organizations.With cultural institutions, ex-

perts says, the job is harder nowthan it was then. Twenty yearsago, museums picked scholarsto fill the role of director, said

Dewey Blanton, a spokesman forthe American Alliance of Muse-ums,based inWashington.“That’s not the case these

days,”he said.Blanton said the portion of

museum budgets funded by gov-ernment sources has droppedfrom about 35 percent in the1990s to around 25 percent to-day. That decline put a premiumon presidents skilled at raisingmoney.“Themain job of a historymu-

seum director is fundraiser-in-chief, communicator-in-chief,advocate-in-chief,”he said.But in St. Louis, taxpayer

contributions haven’t dipped —they’ve increased. The Art Mu-seum and zoo now get about $20million ayear froma tax collectedfrom St. Louis and St. LouisCounty residents. The ScienceCenter,HistoryMuseumandBo-tanical Garden are sent about $10million each.The institutions work to raise

private money, too. And, in mostcases, they succeed.Zoo revenue rose from$14mil-

lion in 1990 to nearly $70 mil-lion in 2010. The Art Museum’sboomed from $17 million to $56million. History Museum rev-enue doubled. The Science Cen-ter’s grewbyone-fifth.Still, the climb in CEO salaries

here has outpaced the increasein revenue. Twenty-two yearsago, chief executive pay made upabout 1 percent of each institu-tion’s total revenue.By 2010, thatfigure had almost doubled.In particular, Archibald’s com-

pensation at the History Mu-seum took up 3.1 percent of hisinstitution’s revenue in 2010, thehighest of all the St. Louis insti-tutions.And hismuseumdoesn’tstack up to the others in visitorattendance or fundraising, Zoo-Museum District commission-ers have pointed out. Tax moneymakes up about60percent of theHistory Museum’s annual rev-enue.“Compensation should be tied

to the size of organization,” Glicksaid. “The History Museum hasnot prospered as nicely as theother institutions.”Stranghoener disagrees. Ar-

chibald’s pay, he said, has in-creased with the success of themuseum. Under Archibald, hesaid, “the whole scope of the op-eration grewexponentially.”

A VARIETY OF PERKSThe rise in compensation hasn’tlooked the same at each local in-stitution.For instance, when Peter Wyse

Jackson took over for Raven atthe Botanical Garden in 2010,the board set his base salary at$300,000.But it also gave him a list of

extras — a leased 2010 HybridToyota Highlander worth $698 amonth,$20,000 towardhismovefrom Ireland, and yearly round-trip flights from Europe for eachof his college-going children.In addition, the garden agreed

to pay half of Wyse Jackson’sutilities in the Director’s Resi-dence, where Henry Shaw’s willrequires him to live. He also wasentitled to $280,000 forprepara-tion of “work and lab space,” and$670,000 for “renovations ofthe mechanical systems and up-grades to the residence,” accord-ing toWyse Jackson’s contract.Garden staffers said the resi-

dence hadn’t been renovated in40 years. Wyse Jackson used themoney, part of a Danforth Foun-dation grant set aside specificallyfor that purpose, to update heat-ing and air conditioning, rewireelectricity and tuck-point brick,staffers said.The zoo, too, recently had to

find away to pay its chief outsideof his $490,000base salary.Bonner is a member of the

city’s retirement system, whichwill endow him a six-figure an-nual pension when he retires.His contract also stipulates 12months of pay upon retirement.But the zoo learned a few yearsago that the IRS caps pensionsfor six-figure salaries—meaningBonner wouldn’t get the annualpension he anticipated when he

took the job in 2001.So last year, theboardagreed to

pay him what it believed he wasowed: $901,586, plus a percent-age of his pay every year goingforward, worth about $49,000this year.Bonner said he donated the

bulk of the 2011 payment back tothe zoo.“My wife and I had always

planned to support the zoo’scampaign, and we are thrilledthatwe couldmake an evenmoresignificant contribution … thanwould have otherwise been pos-sible,”Bonner said in an email.But it wasn’t a bad deal for

Bonner, either. He got a tax breakon the payment. And the type ofgifthegave—adeferredpaymentgift annuity — will, beginning in2020, pay him about $34,550 ayear after taxes.None of the retirement plans

here, however, equal those pro-vided Benjamin at the Art Mu-seum. Benjamin has five retire-ment plans. One plan alone nowcontributes $100,000 a year aspart of his total compensation.Art Museum staff point out

that those payments require himto stay through the end of theplans, and, sometimes,meet cer-tain board goals. If he takes an-other job,he’d lose themoney.Douglas Yaeger, formerCEOof

the Laclede Group and chairmanof the Science Center commis-sion, said he would expect lead-erswhohave grown their institu-tions to get paidmore.“Those guys have been there a

long time, run great institutions,”he said.The Science Center’s current

CEO, Bert Vescolani, is young,Yaeger said, and isn’t making thesame as the others yet, nor is hereceiving the sameperks.Vescol-ani, 48, took the job only lastyear, and did so after an outcryabout executive compensation atthe center.ThePost-Dispatch lastyearre-

ported about bonuses and pay toseveral executives at the ScienceCenter. In thewake of the stories,the center endedbonuses and cutthe number of vice president po-sition. Vescolani’s predecessor,Doug King, received more than$440,000 in total compensation,plus an $86,000 bonus, beforeleaving for a higher-paying job inSeattle.But in time, Yaeger acknowl-

edged, Vescolani could be in linefor heftier compensation. “He’llbe more valuable and more mar-ketable,”Yaeger said. “If wewantto keep him here, we’ll have topaywhat themarket is.”

CEO compensation at cultural institutions has risen across the country, mirroring the rise in corporate CEO pay and bonuses

Note: The zoo and art museum estimated figures for 1990.

SOURCE: Institutions/IRS records. | Post-Dispatch

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

$700,000

St. LouisScienceCenter

St. LouisZoo


St. LouisArt

Museum

MissouriBotanicalGarden

1990 2000 2010 1990 2000 2010 1990 2000 2010 1990 2000 2010 1990 2000 2010

$404,477

$639,579

$496,580$526,498

$442,459

THE RISING COST OF MUSEUM CEOSTotal compensation for chiefs of the region's five tax-supported culturalinstitutions has boomed over the last two decades. Leaders attribute the rise,which is more than double the inflation rate, to national acclaim and demand.

MUSEUMS • FROMA1

ComingFriday:VotersguideDon’t miss Friday’s Post-Dispatch to learn about all the candidates and issues on the Nov. 6 ballot. The guide, produced with the

League of Women Voters of St. Louis, is also available online now at STLtoday.com/votersguide.

ST. LOUIS • Flu has blown intotown well before winter’s firstchill.The area’s two pediatric hos-

pitals, CardinalGlennon Children’sMedical CenterandSt.LouisChil-dren’sHospital,al-ready have treatedabout 30 cases

each this month. The severity ofillness isn’t out of line, but thetiming is a surprise — even forsuchan inscrutablebugas the in-fluenzavirus.“Flu usually peaks in January

and February,” Dr. Ken Haller, apediatrician at Cardinal Glen-non, saidWednesday.“Wedon’tget many cases in October. Thenumber we’ve diagnosed al-

ready is quite high for this timeof year.”Haller and Dr. Rachel

Orscheln, an infectious diseasespecialist at St. Louis Children’s,say the arrival is a clarion callfor people to get vaccinated ear-lier than they might usually getaround to it. This year’s supply



THURSDAY • 10.25.2012 • $1.50

Flee, fly, flu

2 M

TOMORROW 55° • FORECAST A20WEATHER • TODAY 81° • TONIGHT 59°

Vol. 134, No. 299 ©2012


Only$35 for a$184DeluxePortrait bundle at SearsPortrait Studio

Museumwaswarned onland’s costPrice suggested by real estate companyowner was half of what museum paid.

ST. LOUIS • The Missouri His-tory Museum has for weeks de-fended the purchase of a one-acre piece of land on DelmarBoulevard from the city’s formermayor by insisting the $875,000pricewas fair.At a cost of roughly $20 a

square foot, officials have said,the land was a bargain when itwas bought in 2006. They havepointed to the advice of a paidconsultant, a real estate inves-tor namedDavidHoffmann,whotold themuseum to expect to payasmuchas $25per square foot forland in that area.But Hoffmann wasn’t the only

person the museum sought foradvice.Museum representatives had

previously talked to Dan Fein-berg, who owns a real estate

BY STEPHEN DEERE • [email protected] > 314-340-8116AND DAVID HUNN • [email protected] > 314-436-2239

PRESIDENT’SCOMPENSATIONRobertArchibaldPresident,Missouri HistoryMuseum• 2012 salary:$368,700• 2012 totalcompensation: $515,000Perks:• $33,000 annual housingallowance• 2011 Toyota Sienna• Six weeks of “historical researchand writing” in addition to fourweeks’ vacation• 410 unused vacation days to cashout at retirement (current value:$580,000)• Fax line, fax machine andcomputer for home

Some sayDanforthhas conflict of interestHe is a partner in a law firm that has had a longbusinesses relationship wth History Museum.

Considering John C. Danforth’srésumé, it’s not hard to see whyhe was asked to help quell thecontroversy surroundingthe Missouri History Mu-seum. As a former sena-tor, ambassador to theUnited Nations and stateattorney general, he mayhave seemed like a perfectchoice.Except for one detail.Danforth is a law part-

ner at Bryan Cave, thesamefirmthathasenjoyeda long business relationship withthemuseum. The firm counseledthe History Museum in the con-troversial land deal with formerMayor Freeman Bosley Jr., andhas performed the studies that

have helped justify PresidentRobert Archibald’s compensa-tion.

Between2006and2011,the History Museum paidnearly $277,000 in fees toBryan Cave, according toa recent auditor’s report.Still, Danforth was

asked last week by St.Louis Mayor FrancisSlay and county Execu-tive Charlie A. Dooley tonegotiate a new plan foroversight of the History

Museum, and provide a solu-tion to some of the thorny issuesplaguing the institution.Danforth says there is no

BY DAVID HUNN • [email protected] > 314-436-2239AND STEPHEN DEERE • [email protected] > 314-340-8116

DanforthPartner atBryan Cave

ELECTIONS2012:MissouriGovernor

OVERLAND • Over the din ofmachinery,Dave Spence is leading a media tour of thefactory that was once the hub of his plas-tics empire.Though he hasn’t worked here in a year,

he still sounds like the boss.Hegreets theworkers atAl-pha Packaging warmly andby name. He reels off facts,such as the precise numberof seconds it takes for ama-chine to spit out a perfectlyformedbottle.The tour is intended to

underscore the businessacumen that Spence, the

Republican nominee for governor, wouldbring to state government if voters choosehim over the Democratic incumbent, JayNixon, in theNov.6 election.“Iwant tomakeMissouri themost busi-

ness-friendly place on the planet,” Spence

Spence cites businessacumen as top assetBut little-known, conservative Republican is facinga ‘tough climb’ against moderate incumbent.

BY VIRGINIA YOUNG • [email protected] > 573-635-6178

Second of a two-part series on therace forMissourigovernor

Wednesday •Gov. Jay Nixon hasspent time andresources in ruralMissouri, battlingnatural disastersand scoring politicalpoints.Today • RepublicanDave Spenceis stressinghis businessbackground as thepolitical newcomerchallenges alongtime electedofficial.

Emails tellof attackat Benghazi

About a half-hour after mili-tants overran the U.S. diplo-matic mission in Benghazi,Libya, last month, the StateDepartment notified officialsat the White House and else-where that the compound was“under attack” by about 20armed assailants, emails ob-tainedbyTheWashingtonPostonWednesday show.Two hours later, the State

Department reported that theLibyan militia group Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsi-bility on Facebook and Twitter,and also had called for an attackontheU.S.Embassy inTripoli.The brief, unclassified

emails from the State Depart-mentOperationsCenterdonotdiscuss the origin of the Sept.11 attack normention any pro-test or demonstration at themission before the assault.Republicans including

presidential challenger Mitt

ANNE GEARAN • Washington Post

Spence

LAURIE SKRIVAN • [email protected] Evans (left) offers a comforting hand to co-worker Dusty Reese (center) as Kandie Halleran, R.N.,administers a flu shot to Reese in the main lobby rotunda area at St. Louis City Hall.

BY TIM O’NEIL • [email protected] > 314-340-8132

GET FLUVACCINE, DOCTORSURGEASBUGHITS ST. LOUIS EARLY

‘Life With Father’detailed end-of-life careby his son.B1

See SPENCE • Page A3See LIBYA • Page A8

Plane crashes into lakeTwo people were taken to a hospital in critical condition after a small airplane that witnesses said

seemed to be attempting to land crashed Wednesday night into Creve Coeur Lake in Maryland Heights. Story, A4

See DANFORTH • Page A5


See FLU • Page A4

CHRISTIAN GOODEN • [email protected]

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH • A510.25.2012 • THURSDAY • M 1

HISTORY MUSEUM

comment, could not be reachedWednesday, when the report wasreleased.The museum’s purchase of the

Delmar land, which was ownedby formerMayor Freeman BosleyJr., has drawn fire for weeks. TheZoo-Museum District board re-port also lambasts the compen-sation of the History Museum’spresident,RobertArchibald, say-ing his newest contract should bewithdrawn and his perks and va-cationdays re-evaluated.And it criticizes the museum’s

board of trustees and calls forchanges in how the museum isrun.The report says Archibald

plays a role in recruiting trusteesand, as a result, the board “hasbecome captive to the president,and thus incapable of prudentoversight and critical judgment.”Thereportwaswrittenprimar-

ily by boardmemberGloriaWes-sels, and she was advised by twoof her colleagues, Charles Valierand Jerome Glick. It sparked dis-agreement at a meeting of theeight-member boardWednesdayafternoon. Some members saidthey had only recently receiveda copy and wanted more time toreview the report before debatingthe points and voting to approveit.One, Thomas Campbell,

warned about possible “innu-endo” and “speculation” in thereport. And typos in the report,he said,meant a lack of attentionto detail.But other boardmembers were

more vehement. In particular,Robert Lowery, the formermayorofFlorissant, said after themeet-ing thatArchibald should resign.“He can’t stay,” Lowery said.

“We’ve been fooling aroundwiththis for too long.”The board will meet again

Monday to discuss the report indetail.Former Sen. John C. Danforth,

now a partner at the Bryan Cavelaw firm, attended Wednesday’smeeting.Acting on the request ofMayor Francis Slay and CountyExecutiveCharlie A.Dooley, he isworking on a deal for new over-sight over the museum and saidhe feared the report would hurtthose efforts.“I don’t think it serves the

purposes of our town to battle onand on about BobArchibald’s va-cationplan,”he said.Danforth also cautioned that

contracts cannot be simply an-nulled.The History Museum said in

an email Wednesday night thatit cannot answer questions aboutthe report.“These documents have not

been reviewed, amended, or ap-proved by the entire ZMD com-mission,” the email said.The ZMD oversees and dis-

tributes $70million a year to area

cultural institutions fromaprop-erty tax paid by St. Louis city andcounty residents. The HistoryMuseum receives about $10 mil-lion of themoney.

PATH TO A SOUR DEALBosley was a member of the mu-seum’s board of trustees whentalks began with him about theDelmar property, and the mu-seum never got an appraisal be-fore the deal.Environmental studies showed

the land was contaminated, butthe museum did not use the in-formation to negotiate a lowerprice. In all, the museum spentabout $1.1million, including var-ious fees, for the deal. It wantedthe property to build a commu-nity center, but the recessionscuttled those plans. The land isnowvacant, and the city values itat $232,300.Bosley and a partner had

bought the land, which then in-cluded 1.65 acres, for $150,000in 1999. They opened a barbecuerestaurant on the property but it

quickly fell into financial trouble,and they owed thousands of dol-lars in back property taxes.Archibald and Bosley, who was

mayor in the mid-1990s, havedenied that personal andpoliticalconnections played a role in thelanddeal.The report by ZMD board

members picks apart various as-pects of the deal, as well as otherfinancial issues at the museum.Among the statements in the re-port:• The lack of an appraisal on theDelmar land deal was “recklessandnot in the public interest.”• The museum’s claim that taxmoney was not used for the landdeal is “a distinction without adifference since all the moneysreceived by the (museum) arefungible.”• The early talks with Bosley overhis landwere a conflict of interestsince he was still on the board oftrustees and allegedly “was privyto the budget established by (themuseum) for purchasing hisproperty. No other land owner ...

was privy to this information.”• When compared with othercultural institutions, Archibald’scompensation is “excessive,” es-pecially sinceotherSt.Louismu-seums have grown funding fromprivate sources “to a far greaterdegree.” Archibald’s total com-pensations for 2012 is $515,000,including salary, retirement andother benefits.“The benefits appear out of

line for a nonprofit organizationthat is dependent for over 70%ofits revenue frompublicmoney.”• Archibald’s housing allowance,which is $33,000 annually, is“unnecessary and inappropriate”since there are no requirementsaboutwhere he should live.• Archibald’s accrued vacationdays “are not appropriate andshould be rescinded.”Archibald has banked 410 un-

used vacation days to cash out atretirement. He claims he did notuse any vacation days between1997 and 2007, the report says. Ifhewere to retire at the end of thisyear, the retirement payout forthe 410dayswould be $580,000.Archibald used to receive eight

weeks of vacation; he now hasfour weeks of vacation, but isstill entitled to an additional sixweeks for “historical researchandwriting.”• The museum’s executive com-pensation committee, whichdetermines Archibald’s pay andcomprises members of the boardof trustees, relies on the mu-seum’s law firm, Bryan Cave,to help set pay. The committeeshould instead seek guidance

from a“firmwith knowledge andexpertise in the same industry astheMissouriHistoryMuseum.”

OVERSIGHTThe report also takes issue withthe oversight of themuseum.The museum has two boards.

The board of commissioners issupposed to oversee tax moneythat themuseumreceives.The 10commissioners, half approved bySt. Louis County and half by thecity’smayor,were originally sup-posed to run the museum, butin 1988 essentially ceded thoseresponsibilities and took a backseat to a nonprofit arm with aseparate board of trustees that isnot accountable to taxpayers.Former museum commission-

ers interviewed by the Post-Dis-patch have said they were largelyout of the loop on big decisions,not learning about purchases un-til after they were made and notseeing the budget until after thefiscal year hadbegun.Themuseumnowhas about 50

members on its board of trustees,though not all regularly attendmeetings.“The Board of Trustees is too

large and unwieldy to propertygovern the operations of theHis-toryMuseum,” the report says.It recommends that a new deal

be struck to put power back withthe board of commissioners,with the trustees focused mostlyon fundraising. Danforth is cur-rentlyworking on such a deal andsaid he already had a frameworkin place, with plans to present itto theZMDboard soon.

return calls seeking comment.Jeff Rainford, Slay’s chief of staff,said Danforth, 76, has a historyof dealing with complicated is-sues and was unquestionably theright person for the job.“Should people be angry at the

History Museum? Yes,” Rainfordsaid. “Should people be angry atthis nonsensical land deal? Yes.Should people be angry at JackDanforth for trying to help fix it?No.”“There is not another citizen in

St. Louis who has more integritythan JackDanforth,”he added.But on Wednesday, at a meet-

ing of the Zoo-Museum Districtboard, some members ques-tioned the possibility of a con-flict. The ZMD oversees and dis-

tributes the tax money collectedfor five area cultural institutions,including theHistoryMuseum.A former History Museum

commissioner who attended themeeting, Odester Saunders, wasdismayed when Danforth urgedthe ZMD to steer clear of imme-diately debating Archibald’s payand landdeal.“I think you should be a man

of much more integrity,” she toldDanforth during a break in themeeting.“Everybody else is afraid of

you,” she added.“I’mnot.”For weeks, the History Mu-

seum has been criticized for its2006 purchase from Bosley ofone acre on Delmar Boulevard.Critics have also focused on Ar-

chibald’s compensation, perksandvacationplan.They point to problems in the

museum’s governance. Museummanagement reports to a non-profit board of trustees with 50-plus members. But a separate,10-member commission ap-pointed by the city and county issupposed to oversee tax moneythe museum spends. That com-mission cededpower to theboardof trustees years ago. AnotherBryan Cave lawyer, Frank Wolff,has represented the museumsince 1985 and helped negotiatethe agreement that transferredpower.The commission, though, is

supposed to be responsible forapproving taxpayer-funded ex-

penses. The museum receivesabout $10 million a year in taxmoney, or roughly two-thirds ofits budget in 2011.Last week, political and mu-

seum leaders said in a statementthat they had asked Danforth to“lead negotiations on a new con-tract that would comply with thelaw and balance the interests ofall parties.”On Wednesday, the former

senator outlined his progresspublicly.He said he hadmetwiththe trustees as well as govern-ment-appointed commissioners,and had the workings of a newcontract — one that gave com-missionersmuchmore authority.It would establish a joint bud-

get committee, equal part trust-

ees and commissioners, and ajoint compensation committee.It would spell out proceduresfor expenses over $300,000, thepurchase of real estate, the pub-lic release of annual reports, andyearly training of board mem-bers.“I really would not have

guessed thatwewouldhavecomeso far so quickly,”he said.After the meeting, Danforth

urged ZMD board members notto “hang (Archibald) out to dry.”He said that Archibald was be-loved by people in the commu-nity and that fundraising wouldbe hurt if he left themuseum.“Just help us,” he said to the

group.

Report blasts land purchase, compensation for Archibald, museum’s president, whose resignation was urged by one commissioner

Danforth says much progress has been made on a new contract between History Museum trustees and commissioners

EXECUTIVE PAYThe ratio of CEO compensation to revenue raised at area culturalinstitutions:

Total CEOcompensation, 2010 Revenue, 2010 Ratio

Missouri History Museum $496,580 $16.3 million 3.1%St. Louis Science Center *$442,459 $25.9 million 1.7%St. Louis Art Museum $639,579 $56.5 million 1.1%Missouri Botanical Garden $404,477 $41.3 million 1.0%St. Louis Zoo $526,498 $69.7 million 0.8%*Figure for former president Doug King

STEPHEN DEERE • [email protected] Missouri History Museum spent $875,000 in 2006 to buy this property at 5863 Delmar Boulevard. It is now valued at $232,300 by the city.

IRS arrests owner, 4workersfromarea tax preparation firm

ST. LOUIS • The owner of a tax prepara-tion franchise in St. Louis and four of hisemployees were arrested by Internal reve-nue Service agents Wednesday after beingaccused of falsely claiming educational taxcredits on at least 47 tax returns for 2009.Mo’ Money franchise owner Jimi Clark,

57, of Memphis, Tenn., abused the Ameri-can Opportunity Tax Credit to attract andkeep clients, prosecutors said. Preparersfiled for the credit on at least 47 returns fortaxpayers who had not incurred any edu-cational expenses, and claimed the sameamount of such expenses — $3,765 —onthe “vast majority” of them, their indict-ment says.In all, the 47 returns claimed more than

$50,000 in educational credits.Clark, and Memphis residents Justin

Buford, 26, and Mary Taylor, 48, and St.Louis residents Leslie Chaney, 43, and RayReed, 38, were indicted Oct. 10 on one fel-ony count each of conspiracy to committax fraud.Prosecutors say Chaney, Reed and Bu-

ford also falsely claimed the credits forthemselves.The indictment was sealed until the ar-

restsWednesday.Mo’ Money franchises have been the

subject of repeated consumer complaints,and the corporate headquarters wassearched by IRS agents this year, accordingto news reports. Illinois Attorney GeneralLisa Madigan sued the company this year,alleging it bilked consumers with hiddenfees and filed inaccurate tax returns.

BY ROBERT PATRICK • [email protected] > 314-621-5154

Michael Staenberg,president ofChester-field-based THF Realty, said Wednesdaythat he had agreed to sell his stake to hispartner,StanKroenke.THF, a $2 billion company that devel-

ops retail centers nationwide, is currentlyhelping to redevelop the Union Stationfacility downtown.Kroenke is the owner of the St. Louis

Rams.“Stan and I put agreements in place 21

years ago to acknowledge that our indi-vidual circumstances and personal goalswere subject to change and that it madegood business sense to establish a mech-anism to allow us to separate,” Staenbergsaid in a statement.“The process stipulated by the agree-

ments was intended to achieve an eco-nomically fair and orderly transition ofthe companies fromco-ownership to soleownership.”Reached by telephone, Staenberg

would not confirm details beyond thestatement. Figures for the deal were un-availableWednesday.THF is working with Maryland

Heights-basedLodgingHospitalityMan-agement, which finalized its $20 millionpurchase ofUnionStation thismonth.The $50 million renovation of Union

Station is to include $9 million of hotelwork, along with improvements to thefacility’s parking lots and office and retailspace.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

Kroenke buys out longtimepartner in THFRealty

DANFORTH • FROMA1

MUSEUM • FROMA1

Vol. 134, No. 356 ©2012

WEATHER • TODAY 37° • TONIGHT 29° • TOMORROW 47° • FORECAST A22


Top yums

1 M

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FRIDAY • 12.21.2012 • $1.50


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BY DAVID [email protected]

ST. LOUIS • In April, Robert Archibald stood before trustees of the Missouri History Museum as they considered his salary and contract for the coming years.

He would turn 65 in 2013, he told the board members that day, according to meeting minutes. But far from contemplating re-tirement, Archibald instead said he wanted to continue to direct the institution, and outlined the work he hoped to tackle over the next four to five years: a capi-tal campaign, the Loop Trolley down Delmar Boulevard, and the museum’s 150th anniversary in 2016, among other things.

Only “after completion of these responsibilities,” he told the committee, would he like the “fl exibility to retire.”

But on Thursday, the museum acknowledged that Archibald had abruptly stepped down as president of the museum, after 24 years as head of the institu-tion.

A few months after he had out-lined his long-term goals to the

Archibald leaves History MuseumLongtime president resigns amid controversy over land purchase, pay.

A timeline of events leading up to Robert Archibald’s resignation as president of the Missouri History Museum. A12

Archibald


ST. LOUIS • Three administrators of the Fire-men’s Retirement System of St. Louis have to-gether received more than $40,000 in holiday bonus pay over the past four years, even as city workers have largely gone without a raise.

Every year during the first week in Decem-ber, the three fi re pension employees collected checks ranging from $2,400 to more than $6,000 — paid via the city’s payroll system as overtime.

This year, Susan Degunia, an administra-tive assistant who makes nearly $70,000 a year, charged the system for 90.4 hours of overtime in the two-week pay period, or $3,032 extra. Mari-lyn Williams, an administrative secretary who is paid $56,500 a year and is the wife of system board member Bruce Williams, filed for 93.9 hours of overtime, or $2,550.

And Vicky Grass, the system’s $120,000-a-year executive director, signed for 84.2 hours of her own overtime, costing the system $4,857.

Over the past four years, Grass has been paid more than $20,000 in extra December cash.

Fire pension workers getunusual payBuyback allows administrators to trade vacation time for cash.

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BY KEN [email protected]

Jerry Scherrer uses his semiautomatic rifl e in shooting competitions.

Marc Perez takes his AR-15-style ri-fl e target shooting, and occasionally to hunt deer.

Jack B. bought his Sig Sauer semiau-tomatic rifl e a couple of years back as an investment, knowing it could dou-

ble in value if the U.S. ever banned so-called assault weapons again.

Since the Dec. 14 school shootings in Newtown, Conn., military-style weap-ons are indeed being targeted again for a potential ban. But owners — like those three interviewed at random — defend the rifl es and the high-capacity ammunition magazines that some leg-islators want to prohibit.

“These weapons that they want to outlaw are not sufficiently high in

power,” said Karl Schoenbeck, owner of On Target gun store and shooting range in Valley Park. “What they’re trying to do is, they are outlawing the lowest power of rifl es.”

Criminals could still acquire more-powerful rifles that would remain available under such a ban and could be modifi ed to deliver rapid-fi re damage, said Schoenbeck, who owns four of the

BY STEPHEN [email protected]

ST. LOUIS • Carla Alexander had high hopes for the historic building that once housed her grandmother’s gro-cery in the JeffVanderLou neighbor-hood.

The store was a hub for the commu-nity, and Alexander wanted to make it that way once again. She dreamed of bringing the vacant store back and also creating a learning center for teenagers and a home for senior citizens.

But around noon Thursday, while Al-exander was composing letters to so-licit donations, she heard a loud series of crashes and felt the building shake.

The store had collapsed in the day’s high winds.

“We just didn’t get enough money in time,” she said.

Alexander tried to get out through her back door, but a pile of bricks blocked her exit. Firefighters had to rescue her through a window. During the rescue, an exterior brick wall on that building crumpled.

The assault-weapon debate

Wind fi nishes off run-down historic building

PRESIDENT OBAMAWants ban on military-style rifles such as those used in school attack.

RIFLE OWNERSBans on weapons, larger magazines would not stop criminals, the unstable.

National Register status was being sought for structure in JeffVanderLou area.

STEPHANIE S. CORDLE • [email protected] of the three buildings that are known as Tillie’s Corner at Garrison and Sheridan avenues collapsed Thursday. The center structure served as the main entrance to the neighborhood grocery store that Lillie Velma Pearson began operating in 1948.

WINTER WEATHER HITS ST. LOUIS• Thousands lose power in the season’s fi rst winter blast. A8• Solstice brings in winter that might be a little cooler than last. A9• Midwestern snow strands travelers, causes huge pileup in Iowa. A10

CHRISTIAN GOODEN • [email protected] Winkler of Manchester takes a peek at a newly purchased Bushmaster AR-15 semiautomatic rifl e resting on the counter at On Target fi rearms in Valley Park. Since last week’s school shooting, sales of the model have soared.

STILL NO DEAL ON FISCAL CLIFF

Obama, Boehner can’t resolve di� erences as House vote on alternative plan is delayed. A13

See GUNS • Page A7

See BONUSES • Page A12

See TILLIE’S CORNER • Page A8

See ARCHIBALD • Page A12

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trustees, Archibald suddenly came under stinging criticism for a controversial land deal and his compensation.

“This is very surprising to me,” said Romondous Stover, chairman of the commission that oversees the museum’s tax funding, who said he was informed of the resignation Thursday morning.

In recent weeks, museum leaders had vehemently de-fended Archibald. But at the same time, a tidal wave had grown against them.

Some of the museum’s crit-ics last week asked Alderman Joe Roddy to hold public hear-ings on museum finances and leadership. Roddy introduced a resolution at the Board of Al-dermen meeting Friday, and it passed unanimously, giving the board’s parks committee, which Roddy chairs, subpoena power.

That meant Archibald and museum trustees faced de-mands for records and a public grilling by aldermen.

In addition, museum lead-ers were concerned about the impact of the controversies on fundraising. The museum’s 2013 budget was finalized this week. Leaders expect a dramatic drop in capital campaign do-nations — from $8 million ex-pected this year to $3.75 million budgeted in 2013.

Civic leaders have publicly expressed concern about large promised, but still unsecured, gifts to the museum.

On Thursday, the museum denied a Post-Dispatch re-quest to speak to Archibald or the trustees’ new chairman, former Arthur Andersen ex-ecutive John Roberts. Ever-ett Dietle, a spokesman for the museum, said members of the Board of Trustees would meet this morning to discuss the sit-uation. He refused to elaborate until then.

It was unclear Thursday what Archibald’s resignation means for his contract, which runs through 2013, or any compen-sation he may be due.

LAND DEAL QUESTIONEDThe museum’s public relations woes began in September. The Zoo-Museum District, which oversees $70 million in tax dol-lars sent annually to the area’s five cultural institutions — the St. Louis Zoo, Art Museum, Sci-ence Center, Missouri Botanical Garden and History Museum — released an audit report that raised questions about a 2006 land purchase on Delmar Boule-vard, among other things.

The museum bought the one-acre parcel for $875,000 from former Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. without an appraisal, and de-spite studies showing the land was contaminated. Bosley was a member of the museum Board of Trustees when talks began. He had taken out hundreds of thousands of dollars of loans on the property, where he and a partner opened a restaurant. The land is now vacant, valued by the city at $232,000.

Bosley and Archibald denied that personal or political con-nections played a role in the deal.

The museum has since scut-tled its plans to open a commu-

nity research center on the site, blaming the recession.

Archibald then came under fire for his $515,000 pay and benefit package, which includes a $375,000 salary, a car, multi-ple retirement plans, a $33,000 annual housing allowance and

six weeks of “research and writ-ing” time on top of four weeks of vacation.

Critics especially focused on 410 unused vacation days that Archibald had amassed from 1996 to 2007. His contract re-quired the museum pay him for

those days, upon retirement, at the rate of his final salary.

In October, after weeks of criticism over the land deal and Archibald, the museum an-nounced that it would shave two years off his contract. The move meant Archibald had only a one-year contract, expiring at the end of 2013. In return, museum leaders agreed to pay him for his accrued vacation — now worth about $567,000, after he used some of the days — by Dec. 31. They said the pay-ment would not come from tax money but from private funds set aside for his retirement.

Archibald is due to receive the vacation payout this week. Roberts, the trustees chair, de-fended the payment in an inter-view on Tuesday.

“It’s a contractual obligation,” he said. But it’s also what’s right, Roberts added: “Here’s a man who has devoted the ma-jority of his career to this insti-tution.”

Archibald’s supporters have lauded his long tenure at the museum, noting a large building expansion, rising attendance, special exhibits and community outreach. Archibald also volun-teered for a variety of civic proj-ects, and once served on the city School Board.

“I want to thank Dr. Robert Archibald for his years of ser-vice helping the History Mu-seum become an important cultural institution that has enriched our community,” St. Louis County Executive Char-lie Dooley said in a statement Thursday. “I wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay was especially appreciative for Archibald’s time on the School Board.

“I’d personally like to thank Bob for his work on behalf of the city’s children,” Slay said in a statement. “His involvement in public education came at a critical moment.”

Some members of the Zoo-Museum District, who have been the museum’s most vocal critics, welcomed Archibald’s resignation. The district’s board distributes tax money to the cultural institutions. The His-tory Museum receives about $10 million a year from taxes, more than two-thirds of its operating budget.

“I think it was clear to him that the issue wasn’t going away,” district board member Charles Valier said of Archibald. “The publicity hasn’t helped them.”

Another board member, Glo-ria Wessels, said it is “time for him to move on.”

“It was never our intent to say that we want Bob Archibald to resign,” she said. “It was our in-tent for (the trustees) to come to the realization themselves.”

Even Zoo-Museum District Chairman Ben Uchitelle, who fought fiercely against Wessels about her criticism of the His-tory Museum and Archibald, acknowledged that the resigna-tion may be good.

“We have an opportunity to strengthen the History Museum with some new faces,” he said.

A12 • ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH M 1 • FrIDAy • 12.21.2012

from a1

Grass said the payments have never been for overtime. They’re actually “vacation buyback,” au-thorized by pension board policy, she said.

She just records the pay as over-time because it’s easier, she said. “We are not trying to hide any-thing, in no way, shape or form,” Grass said.

City officials, however, were outraged when city Director of Personnel Richard Frank discov-ered the payments this week. Frank initially thought salaried employees were getting paid over-time, something not allowed in city departments.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Frank told the Post-Dispatch. “I just don’t know what to say. It’s like a bonus.

“I felt like I had an obligation ethically to share this with the ad-ministration. I was just appalled.”

Bonuses, Frank said, are often illegal in the state of Missouri for public sector employees.

But it turns out that the fire pension’s vacation policies allow such buyback payments.

The policy, which was approved in 1989, gives each employee six weeks of paid leave each year, ac-cording to system records. Em-ployees can carry over up to six weeks each year, giving them, at max, 12 weeks of vacation they can use in one year under the policy.

And, in December of each year, the system will buy up to two weeks of each employee’s vaca-tion back from them, without any stipulations.

In addition, a 2001 policy gives each employee a $500 bonus on Dec. 1.

The overtime checks, Grass said, were simply two weeks of vacation buyback per employee, plus $500.

She couldn’t immediately ex-plain any discrepancy between that calculation and the actual payments, which were often a little lower and sometimes much higher, and bristled at criticism.

“I have no clear idea where this is coming from, because we’ve been doing it for so long,” Grass said. “We all consider ourselves to be the most fortunate people in the world.”

By Wednesday, the city’s bud-get director had inquired about the charges, the city counselor’s of-fice had been asked to investigate and Mayor Francis Slay’s chief of staff, Jeff Rainford, declared that the payments were made at the expense of other city employees.

“They decided to give them-selves a Christmas bonus,” Rain-ford said. “That’s galling.”

While the pension system is partially funded by city firefighters — they pay 8 percent of their sal-ary each year into the fund — any marked dip in the fund balance is, by law, replenished by the city.

That means, in slender years, tax dollars have to make up for in-creases in pension administration. This year, the city paid more than $21 million to the fund.

City employees, Rainford noted, this year got their first raise — 2 percent — in several years.

The fire pension system’s three full-time employees administer a fund of more than $390 million. It is a creation of state law, governed by a board of eight local appoin-tees, most of whom are current or former firefighters. Board chair-man Len Wiesehan could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The pension system has been under extra scrutiny for more than a year, following a Post-Dispatch investigation revealing widespread misuse of fire disability retire-ments and dozens of additional benefits rubber-stamped over the years by city officials.

Early this year, Slay introduced a plan to close the current system and open a new one with markedly less expensive payouts. He sought to cut many of the add-on perks and curb a disability pension so rich, his staff felt, that it encour-aged firefighters to go out injured.

Moreover, under the new sys-tem, the board would be governed by city law — not state law, as it is now — and its employees would be part of the city’s civil service system, which is governed by a lengthy and strict set of rules.

Vacation buybacks would only be allowed under civil service guidelines if the worker was ur-gently needed yet had to either use his vacation or lose it, Frank said. Frank himself would have to sign off on it.

He said the Fire Department asked for buybacks every year — but he hadn’t authorized such a move in five years.

Now, however, it is unclear whether Grass and her staff will end up in the civil service system. After Slay’s plan passed through the Board of Aldermen, the pen-sion board sued the city over the issue.

bONUSES frOm A1

Pension administrators trade vacation for cash

ArchIbALD • from A1

Museum president is scheduled to receive a vacation payout of about $567,000 this week

By FROM STAFF REPORTS

September 2012 • An audit report questions why the History Museum didn’t get an appraisal before buying a one-acre parcel on Delmar Boulevard in 2006 for $875,000. The site was owned by former Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr., and was part of a larger parcel that Bosley bought seven years earlier for $150,000. The Post-Dispatch reports that Bosley and a partner took out hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans on the property, where they opened a restaurant, and owed at least three years of back property taxes.

Oct. 1 • Mayor Francis Slay organizes a meeting with museum leaders about how the institution is run. The Post-Dispatch had previously reported that a board of commissioners tasked with overseeing tax money the museum receives is not actively involved in key decisions; power rests largely with a separate board of trustees.

Oct. 5 • The Post-Dispatch reports that Bosley was a member of the History Museum board of trustees when talks began about buying his property, representing a potential conflict of interest.

Oct. 11 • The Post-Dispatch reports that environmental studies showed the Delmar property was contaminated with arsenic, lead and chromium, and could cost as much as $300,000 to clean up. The museum didn’t use the information to negotiate a lower price.

Oct. 15 • Robert Archibald, the museum’s president, resigns from a board promoting a trolley line from the Delmar Loop to Forest Park, saying he does not want “the negative coverage that the museum is facing to adversely affect” the project. The museum had previously withdrawn a $1 million pledge to help fund the line, saying the donation hadn’t been “adequately communicated” to the board of commissioners.

Oct. 18 • At the request of Slay and other leaders, former U.S. Sen. John Danforth agrees to negotiate a new power-sharing agreement between the commission and the board of trustees.

Oct. 25 • The Post-Dispatch reports that a real estate expert the History Museum had consulted as it scouted properties advised the museum to pay $8 to $12 a square foot for land in the Delmar Boulevard area. When it bought Bosley’s property, the museum paid about $20 a square foot.

Oct. 26 • The History Museum announces that it has shaved two years off Archibald’s contract and agreed to pay out more than $550,000 to him for about 400 unused vacation days. Archibald is down to a one-year contract, expiring at the end of 2013.

Oct. 30 • Museum officials finalize an agreement, brokered by Danforth, to give more power and oversight to the board of commissioners.

November • Members of the Zoo-Museum District board, which distributes tax money to local cultural institutions, begin a weeks-long standoff over a report rebuking Archibald and the museum. The board is split 4-4 over the wording in the report, whether the museum had made enough reforms and whether to withhold tax funding.

Nov. 30 • History Museum officials confirm they have hired a former federal prosecutor to investigate allegations that employees improperly destroyed documents related to Archibald’s vacation time.

Dec. 14 • St. Louis aldermen approve a resolution to hold public hearings on the History Museum’s finances and leadership.

Dec. 18 • History Museum officials finalize a 2013 budget, which shows an anticipated 50-percent drop in capital campaign donations.

Dec. 20 • Museum officials confirm that Archibald has submitted a letter of resignation.

From Post-Dispatch staff reports

TImELINE Of EvENTS LEADINg TO ArchIbALD’S rESIgNATION AT mUSEUm

Stephen Deere • [email protected] Missouri History Museum spent $875,000 in 2006 to buy this property at 5863 Delmar Boulevard from former St. Louis Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. At the time, the property included a closed restaurant.

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An e� ort is under way in the Missouri Legisla-ture to keep local governments from imposing tougher smoking restrictions for casinos than what their competitors face.

The bill would prohibit local smoking bans at casinos if smoking is still allowed at a competing casino within 75 miles. It is sponsored by Rep. Bill Otto, D-St. Charles, whose district includes the Hollywood and Ameristar casinos.

The measure would bar the St. Louis County Council from ending the exemptions from the county’s smoking ban for Hollywood in Mary-land Heights and River City Casino in Lemay. The council has been considering in recent weeks removing those and most other exemp-tions.

Hollywood, formerly known as Harrah’s, is just across the Missouri River from Ameristar in St. Charles, where there is no smoking ban.

The state proposal also would prevent St. Charles County from enacting a smoking ban for Ameristar unless one was already in place at Hollywood and other St. Louis-area casinos.


ST. LOUIS • The Missouri History Museum paid former Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. in 2006 three times more for a lot on Delmar Boulevard than what it was worth, according to an ap-praisal released Tuesday.

The museum shelled out $875,000 to Bosley and a business partner. The property’s market value, however, was only about $260,000 — a difference of $615,000, according to the ap-praisal.

The land is now worth even less, just $214,970, the appraiser estimated.

The Zoo-Museum District, a government body that oversees $70 million annually sent to the region’s fi ve tax-supported cultural institu-tions, including the History Museum, commis-sioned the appraisals late last year.

District directors hoped to get clarity on the museum’s Delmar purchase, which had set o� months of inquiries into museum business, leading to an aldermanic hearing, a circuit at-torney investigation and the resignation of the museum’s president, Robert Archibald.

Bill would link casinos’ smoking

Museum paid $615,000 too much for lot

Local bans would not apply if competitors had no restrictions.

Report done for Zoo-Museum District confirms bad deal in ’06.

BY CHRISTINE [email protected]

ST. LOUIS • Joe Spiess feared that an employee he disciplined might seek violent revenge, and took the concern to his boss. “You better make sure you have your gun handy,” was the su-pervisor’s advice, he recalled. “The next thing I know, the guy is shooting paint balls at my window.”

That workplace was the St. Louis Police Department, where Spiess is a major. The em-ployee, who retired, hasn’t taunted him in years. But the episode — un-derscored by the dismissed Los Ange-les cop gone violently rogue — shows that even trained and armed police o� cers are vulnerable.

About five years after Spiess’ un-comfortable encounter, he was a

Police offi cer will give tips on school, work security

Free seminars will discuss the ‘Mr. Uncomfortables.’

Obama touts progress, calls for partnershipMINIMUM WAGE

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TAX REFORMClose loopholes,

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INFRASTRUCTURE$50 billion program

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BY GILLIAN FLACCUS AND TAMI ABDOLLAHAssociated Press

BIG BEAR, CALIF. • The extraor-dinary manhunt for the former Los Angeles police officer suspected of three murders converged Tuesday on a mountain cabin where authorities believe he barricaded himself and en-gaged in a shootout that killed a fourth person, a deputy, before the home went up in fl ames.

A single gunshot was heard from

within, but a Los Angeles police spokesman said in a televised news conference late Tuesday that the smoldering remains of the cabin near Big Bear Lake were “too hot to enter” and that any reports that Dorner’s body had been found were wrong.

LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said authorities were “still in a holding pattern to search” the rubble. Smith said that until Dorner’s body was posi-tively identifi ed “or he’s in shackles,”

Fiery end to standoff where ex-cop holed up LAPD official says site is ‘too hot’ to search for body.

KABC-TV VIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe cabin in Big Bear, Calif., where ex-Los Angeles police o� cer Christopher Dorner was believed to be barricaded burns Tuesday, in this image taken from video provided by KABC-TV.

Charting his course

INSIDEGOP’s Rubio rips Obama’s speechRepublican assails tax increases, more defi cit spending. A8

U.S. troops to return homeHalf of those in Afghanistan will return within year.A8

CHARLES DHARAPAK • Associated PressPresident Barack Obama, fl anked by Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, gives his State of the Union address Tuesday in a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington.

CELLAR DWELLERSHave a root vegetable renaissance with fi ve recipes for winter fare. Let’s Eat • L1

BY JULIE PACEAssociated Press

WASHINGTON • Uncompromising and politically emboldened, Presi-dent Barack Obama urged a deeply divided Congress Tuesday night to embrace his plans to use government money to create jobs and strengthen the nation’s middle class. He de-clared Republican ideas for reduc-ing the defi cit “even worse” than the unpalatable deals Washington had to stomach during his fi rst term.

In his fi rst State of the Union ad-dress since winning re-election, Obama conceded that economic re-vival is an “unfi nished task,” but he claimed clear progress and said he was preparing to build on it as he em-barks on four more years in o� ce.

“We have cleared away the rubble of crisis, and we can say with re-newed confidence that the state of our union is strong,” Obama said in an hour-long address to a joint

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Several Zoo-Museum District direc-tors agreed Tuesday that the appraisals were enlightening, if also concerning.

“It’s clear now that there was no ad-ministrative supervision,” said Charlie Valier, an area lawyer and district di-rector who has long been critical of the History Museum’s board of trustees. “And the price paid for the property was grossly, grossly over what it was worth. It indicates complete negligence on the part of the trustees and employ-ees of the History Museum that super-vised the acquisition.”

Valier and fellow director Jerome Glick released the reports, written by the Hottle Appraisal Co. They cost the District $10,000 in total, Glick said.

History Museum Chairman John Roberts, who has defended the pur-chase in the past, said in a prepared statement Tuesday that Hottle’s fi nd-ings were troubling.

“Hindsight suggests, and we agree, that our process at the time should have been much more thorough,” he said.

At the time, trustees had authorized a purchase not to exceed $1.5 million for land on which to build a commu-nity research center. When informed of the actual cost of the Bosley property, hundreds of thousands less, “trustees believed that the project was proceed-ing appropriately,” Roberts said.

Future board oversight must, Roberts continued, be “more aggressive and collaborative.”

Bosley, however, contested the new appraisals and defended Archibald.

“People knew Delmar was getting ready to take o� ,” he said. “They knew those parcels had value.”

Museum leaders, too, argued for months that the Delmar lot was worth the $20 per square foot that the mu-seum paid. But Hottle’s report con-cluded that comparable land was sell-ing for far less in 2006 — between $3 and $7 per square foot.

The news came to light last fall, af-ter a Zoo-Museum District audit report and a series of Post-Dispatch stories.

The History Museum bought the property — without fi rst seeking an ap-praisal — from Bosley and his partner, who had opened a struggling restau-rant, Big Jakes Bar-B-Que, on the site.

The land was contaminated, requir-

ing up to $300,000 for environmental cleanup. And Bosley was a member of the museum’s board of trustees when talks about the property began.

The controversy, and later questions about Archibald’s compensation, hurt the museum’s fundraising efforts. In December, Archibald resigned — leav-ing town with a six-month, $270,000 consulting contract from the museum board.

Roberts said Tuesday in his state-ment that such a purchase would not happen again. The museum has ad-opted new measures for stronger over-sight, including a rule that real estate purchases must have independent ap-praisals.

Bosley, who was mayor from 1993 to 1997, maintained Tuesday that his personal and political connections to Archibald had played no role in the land deal.

“He mentioned to me he was trying to fi nd some property on Delmar,” Bo-sley said Tuesday. “I said, ‘Well, why don’t you take a look at Big Jakes?’ And next thing I knew, somebody called me.”

But just because he had a relation-ship with Archibald doesn’t mean the purchase was suspect, Bosley repeated.

“I’ve known him for an awfully long time,” Bosley said. “Archibald was one of the greatest men to come to this community. And they ran him o� .

“He did more for this town than ... all of his detractors put together.”

A6 • ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH M 1 • WEDNESDAY • 02.13.2013

Post-Dispatch

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St. Louis

FROM A1

BY MARGARET [email protected]

Charles Creel, of St. George, said he had owned a com-puter hardware repair busi-ness before he became homeless and moved into Rev. Larry Rice’s New Life Evangelistic Center down-town.

Kenda Leile, who used to live in Creve Coeur, told the St. Louis County Coun-cil Tuesday night, “I had a stroke and I ended up homeless.”

Dennis Charlton said he once had a home and a busi-ness. Now he’s homeless.

“I’ve been on the streets, with nowhere to go, no-where to get warm,” he told the County Council. “All we want is a place (in the county) where we can come in out of the cold.”

The three were among 16 homeless people who along with Rice implored the council to open a county-funded shelter.

A spokesman for the ad-ministration of County Ex-ecutive Charlie A. Dooley said later that the county had been searching for a site for a shelter and was nar-rowing in on one.

St. Louis County Council Chair Kathleen Burkett, D-Overland, said she expected the county would open a shelter.

The county owns a shel-ter for women and children who have been victims of domestic violence but not a homeless shelter for men and women.

Rice has been waging a major campaign in support of a county shelter since last year, including setting up an encampment in north St. Louis County and orga-nizing a petition drive and a sit-in outside Dooley’s of-fi ce on Christmas Eve.

“We have a crisis,” Rice told the council Tuesday.

“There’s a tremendous need for a walk-in shelter in St. Louis County ... I don’t want someone else to die like Anna Brown,” a home-less woman who died in a local jail after being arrested at a hospital where she had sought care.

Several speakers were from St. Louis County but have been living in Rice’s shelter downtown. Some speakers, including Angela Gladden, told the council they never imagined they would end up homeless.

“I never thought I would be standing here begging for help,” Gladden said.

Speakers said city shelters are overcrowded and the county has a moral obliga-tion to open one.

In a letter last April, Dooley said that the county “had been working to ad-dress the needs of home-less residents in the county for many years, and we are undertaking an expanded effort to identify homeless families, to address their physical and mental health

concerns and to determine their housing needs.”

In a December letter to area mayors, Dooley said the county had received 4,127 requests for a home-less emergency shelter but service providers were only able to serve 1,175 of those.

On another issue, a bill to allow a zipline adven-ture course in Creve Coeur County Park advanced Tuesday night and Burkett said she expected it would be approved next week.

The Go Ape project ad-vanced despite a plea that it be rejected from James Ruffin, president of the St. Louis Audubon Society. Ru� n said it posed a major risk to bird health . He said his organization represents about 3,000 members in the area. “Creve Coeur Me-morial Park is not just any park, but one that has been designated by National Audubon as an Important Bird Area — a designation reserved only for those areas with sensitive or signifi cant habitats,” Ru� n said.

St. Louis County Council is urged to open shelterHomeless say overcrowded city centers don’t meet need.

MUSEUM • FROM A1

Bosley contests new appraisals, defends Archibald

The inside scoop on local politics.stltoday.com/political fi x

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