St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 84

IN SPORTS: Swarm takes time off for practice, preparation for playoffs. Page SC6 SERVING: St. Charles, St. Peters, O'Fallon, Lake Saint Louis, Wentzville, Cottleville, St. Paul, New Melle, Weldon Spring, Augusta, Defiance, and Dardenne Prairie.

Also serving communities in Warren and Lincoln counties. mm iii jaMMinii.iinia'i8 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2000 ST. LOUIS POST-QISPATCH SCI Care center is accused of not ENTZVILLE National safety award is presented to aquatic staff giving patient records to wife The city's Parks and Recreation aquatic staff has received the Silver National Aquatic Safety Award from Jeff Ellis Associates, international aquatic safety consultants. "Out of 476 clients nationwide (including approximately 30,000 lifeguards) Wentzville was recognized as one of the leaders through aquatic safety and professionalism," said Dave Reynolds, interim park director. Reynolds noted that 92 of the 476 aquatic facilities earned the award.

He said the city requires a lifeguard to complete 20 hours of initial training, a three-hour refresher course each week and a six to seven hour review once each month. Reynolds said the city hires about 30 lifeguards annually. "We recruited, trained them and the rest was their constant desire to be the best that they could be," he said of the city's lifeguards. Wentzville facility faces charge of violating federal law Court order disobeyed, lawyer says SAM LEONEST. CHARLES COUNTY POST trims trees along Highway near the entrance to Timberwood Trails subdivision, in preparation for the widening of the highway.

Neal works for Asplundh Tree Expert Co. Growth brings widening of highways, removal of longtime residents trees By michele munz Of the St. Charles County Post The Wentzville Park Care Center is accused of violating federal law and a court order by refusing to release a patient's medical records to his wife. Kathy Bowman of St Peters says she requested the medical records from the nursing home in July after her husband, Thomas, 73, had to be hospitalized. He had been an Alzheimer's patient at the facility for five months, and she suspected abuse and neglect, said her attorney, Anthony DeWitt But the nursing home refused to give her the medical records, despite her having power of attorney for her husband, DeWitt said.

The administrator of the nursing home, Glynis Waters, who was not administrator at the time, says she had no knowledge of Bowman ever requesting the records. "I have not heard from this lady until a month or two ago when we sent her a bill," Waters said. According to federal law, a nursing home must make medical records available for viewing within a day of a request by a patient or legal guardian. The home must make photocopies available within two days. The laws were designed to prevent changes or deletions being made to the records sought in abuse and neglect cases.

DeWitt said Bowman had contacted him at the Bratimus, Frickleton and Presley law firm in Jefferson City after she was unable to get the records. The law firm on Feb. 25 sent a letter to the home, requesting photocopies of the records. DeWitt said he called the home on March 1 and was told that the records weren't ready. He called again on March 2 and asked if he was going to get copies.

He said he was told by a woman that "no decision had been reached" about releasing the records. He was also told that the records were not at the facility but with the administrator, who had not been in contact with the facility. The woman refused to give him the name of the administrator, he said. DeWitt said he had warned the woman that they were violating federal law and that he was going to seek a court order and fees against the facility. But Waters says that she was not aware of any of DeWitf phone calls or warning.

She says she is the only one who can release the records. Waters was aware of DeWitf letter to the facility, but she said she will not release medical records just because of a letter. "It was just a letter from an attorney See Wentzville, Page 2 t. Charles County Blues chief Sauer to speak at business luncheon Blues President Mark Sauer will be the featured speaker in the first of a series of business luncheons sponsored by the Senior Corps of NECAC, the North East Community Action Corp. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, or RSVP.

The luncheon will be at noon April 7 at the Stegton Regency Banquet Center, 1450 Wall Street, St. Charles. Sauer will discuss "The Business of Sports," with a focus on the glamour and glory of sports with a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes of sports. Tickets are $20 a person by calling Steve Lewis, the NECAC Senior Corps RSVP director, at 636-724-7787 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

weekdays. Sauer, president of the Blues since late in 1996, was the former president of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He is executive vice president of the Civic Center Corp. RSVP and the Foster Grandparent Program make up the NECAC Senior Corps in St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren counties.

RSVP has been active in the area for 20 years with more than 800 volunteers donating more than 80,000 hours of service to 90 not-for-profit and public agencies each year. St. Peters Hospital Auxiliary to hold jewelry sale The Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital Auxiliary invites the community to attend a jewelry sale from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

on March 30-31 at the hospital at 10 Hospital Drive in St. Peters. A large selection of rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings and pins in all price ranges will be available for purchase at the sale. Proceeds from the sale will be used by the auxiliary to purchase items that enhance patient care and to fund scholarships for area college students who are seeking careers in health-care-related fields. For more information, call Bames-Jewish St.

Peters Hospital HealthWise Center at 636-916-9650. St. Peters Easter Bunny to join kids 9 and under for breakfast Children 9 and under are invited to join the Easter Bunny for breakfast from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., Saturday, April 15, in the Barnes-Jewish St Peters Hospital cafeteria, at 10 Hospital Drive in St Peters. Tickets for the event are $3 per person and can be purchased in the hospital gift shop. Pictures with the Easter Bunny will be available for a nominal fee.

For more information about the event, which is sponsored by the Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital Auxiliary, call 636-916-9428 or 636-916-9650. BY MIKAL HARRIS Of the St. Charles County Post They stood strong, regal and mute while Cottleville and St Charles County blossomed and developed all around them. Harold Sammelmann, 68, believes they'd seen at least 150 years when he was a child playing in their shade.

But their days of towering over Highway are numbered. This cluster of walnut trees will be removed once work on widening the roadway begins. Traffic on Highway has increased sharply in recent years because of the development in the area, and a traffic study done in 1995 indicated that widening the road was inevitable. Today, large congregations at the new St Joseph's Catholic Church of Cottleville, situated where Highway meets Motherhead Road, sends packs of vehicles onto the two-lane road after Masses. The Francis Howell School District is also building a new elementary school in that area, and traffic is expected to increase further.

So the Highway widening, which is Like Sammelmann, Cottleville Mayor Steve Kochanski has many fond childhood memories of the walnut trees. "When I was a kid, I used to ride my bicycle down Highway he said. "That's when they had about 10 or 15 cars a day on it. All the wild day lilies were growing in the ditches, and the highway was lined with trees." Kochanski says many residents have expressed dismay about the loss of the trees, which grew to serve as maybe the last reminder of times gone by. "This is kind of a sad time for some of the older residents in the city who remember how it used to be," he said.

"And, of course, for me, too, because I hate to see the trees go. They were probably there back before there were cars, back when it was just a horse and buggy road. "And it's just sad that they've got to come down. But there's nothing that we can do about it We can't shift the road in the other direction." Workers for L. Krupp Construction were to start work Monday.

Completion is expected within 18 months. expected to cost about $1.14 million, means the trees will have to go. "We looked at multiple scenarios with Missouri Department of Transportation and St Charles County officials," Cottleville Engineer Paul Lorton said. "The final locations in the widening were the best compromise reached by all sides." Highway will be widened to three lanes up to the stoplight near the Francis Howell Central High School campus. The road will expand to five lanes near Mid Rivers Mall Drive.

Sammelmann's property houses what is believed to be the oldest of the cluster of trees in the area. His family is selling their land to the school district for the elementary school project When the eventual removal of the trees became apparent in early plans, Sammelmann asked whether there was a chance for the trees to be spared. Perhaps engineers could alter the road widening plans to accommodate the trees. "It would have been nice if they could have," he said. But in the end, Sammelmann realized that selling the property that his father bought decades ago meant losing the trees.

Last year's revenue fell short of projection, Ortwerth says werth told the council, "We actually brought in less revenue last year than we had projected. That's the first year that that has happened since I've been county executive." When preparing annual budgets, Ortwerth traditionally underestimates revenue and overestimates spending. The revised budget had anticipated revenue of $35.4 million, while the actual figure was $322,146 less. "Of course," he said, "part of that is due to the TIF money that went out, about $400,000 that went to the cities from the general fund." TIFs are tax increment financing districts in which part of the sales tax generat ed by new development is drawn off to help pay for bonds that financed infrastructure and other development costs. The county's TIFs are in the cities of St Peters and St Charles and have been vigorously opposed by Ortwerth.

Last year's budget projection of revenue from fees, licenses and permits also came in less than expected, Ortwerth reported. Joe Kernell, the director of administration for the county, explained that in previous years, "even though we're budgeting at a certain level, our experience has proven that the revenue has been coming in at a higher level. It did this year, but the difference was not as great as it has been in the past" He added, "We weren't short. If just that the difference between what actually happened and what we had budgeted was closer than what has happened in the past" Ortwerth told the council "On the expenditure side, we spent $3.7 million less than was in the revised budget, a substantial amount less that what was originally authorized." He added, "That is pretty consistent with what has happened over the years where we have not spent all of the money because of the set-aside for the emergency fund." Another reason for the spread be- See Funds, Page 2 Income was $322,146 less than estimation By Ralph Dummit Of the St. Charles County Post St Charles County Executive Joe Ortwerth distributed copies last week to County Council members of the 135-page, 1999 financial statements for the county's various funds.

In his review of the general fund, Ort.