VICTIMS' RIGHTS AND TERM LIMITS AMONG ISSUES APPROVED IN STATE

Sarah Froemsdorf knows first-hand the agony faced by crime victims and their families.

Tuesday's election, however, helped ease some of that pain; Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment strengthening crime victims' rights.

The Perryville woman's husband, state Trooper James Froemsdorf, was shot and killed March 2, 1985, along Interstate 55, four miles north of Perryville.

Froemsdorf said Wednesday that passage of Amendment 4 is a victory for crime victims.

"And I also feel like it is a victory for Jim because at least if he had to die, his death wasn't in vain," said Froemsdorf, founder of the Missouri State Survivors Association and a leading advocate of crime victims' rights.

In addition to Amendment 4, voters also approved term limits for state and federal lawmakers, riverboat gambling and expanded the duties of the lieutenant governor.

Voters, however, rejected measures authorizing toll roads and bridges; allowing simulcasting of horse races, both at the track and in off-track betting parlors; reducing the margins needed at certain elections to approve bonds in St. Louis and local tax increases statewide; and letting the legislature set aside budget surpluses to offset revenue shortfalls.

Froemsdorf said she was "ecstatic" over the passage of the constitutional amendment. She said she was surprised by the significant margin of victory. Returns showed the measure receiving 85 percent voter approval.

"I was just amazed at the landslide," she said.

The amendment guarantees the victim the right to be informed and present at criminal proceedings, a right to restitution and protection from the defendant, and the right to be informed of escape or release of the defendant.

Froemsdorf said the measure may help ease the pain felt by crime victims and their families. "It gives them back the respect that the criminal took away."

Both Froemsdorf and Bettie Knoll, victim advocate for the Cape Girardeau Police Department, said they hope the constitutional amendment will lead to establishment of more crime victim advocate programs in the state.

Currently there are 10 counties in the state that have crime victim and witness programs.

Knoll said Cape Girardeau's program, which has been in place since August 1985, is the only crime victim and witness advocate program in 21 counties of Southeast Missouri.

Crime victims, said Knoll, often feel that no one is looking out for their interests. "You do not realize the trauma that it leaves with the family and the things that you will never, never get over. You can't put a price on that. It changes your entire life."

Having to go into court and face the defendant is a traumatic ordeal for witnesses, the crime victims and their families, she said.

"I think this is a step in the right direction," Knoll said of the amendment.

Knoll said the Missouri Victims Association, of which she is a member, lobbied hard for passage of the measure.

Missouri was one of 14 states where voters approved term limit measures Tuesday.

Missouri voters approved term limits for lawmakers at both the state and federal level by about 3 to 1 margins.

Under the measures, state lawmakers would be limited to terms of eight years each in the Missouri House and Senate. At the federal level, lawmakers would be limited to eight years in the U.S. House and 12 in the Senate. But those limits at the federal level would only take effect when 25 states adopt similar restrictions.

Republican Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau, who was elected as the new state senator for the 27th District, has championed term limits.

He said Tuesday's election was evidence of the public support nationally for term limits. The 14 states where term limit measures were approved comprise about one-third of the nation's population, he said.

"It is the nearest thing we have ever had in this country to a national referendum," Kinder said Wednesday.

"This is an issue that cuts across all party lines," said Kinder. "It has support from all age groups and all demographic groups of the American public."

The defeat of two incumbent congressmen in Missouri Tuesday is evidence of support for term limits, said Kinder.

Both incumbents Republican Tom Coleman and Democrat Joan Kelly Horn had opposed term limits, Kinder said.

"We all understand the down side of term limits. You are going to turn out of office some gifted lawmakers," he said.

But he maintained such measures are needed to foster a return of the citizen-legislator as opposed to the lifetime politician.

"I think it is a huge step in that direction," said Kinder. "It is a net gain and a needed reform of the system.

"It will recycle new people and new blood and it is a gain in the sense of expression of democratic faith in the people to conduct their own business.

"It is a rejection of the idea that we need a special elite class of people who spend their whole life in government and politics to run things," said Kinder.

He pointed out that there are already term limits in place for Missouri governors and U.S. presidents. In light of that, limiting the terms of legislators only makes sense, he said.

But state Rep. Mary Kasten of Cape Girardeau disagrees. The Republican lawmaker thinks term limits are a bad idea.

"I really wasn't for it because I think what it does is it gives too much power to the bureaucracy that stays, and, therefore, I believe people are not as well represented as they should be."

Kasten argued that in state government there has been a regular turnover of legislators. "A great many changes come about every two years," said Kasten.

She said voters already have the power at the ballot box to turn out incumbents who "milk the system."

"If the electorate were informed and involved in the process, they could take care of those people who don't need to be there," she said.

Term limits, she said, only put more power in the hands of the bureaucrats.

Voter approval of the riverboat gambling measure sets the stage for floating casinos on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers within a year, promoters predict.

"I think right at this time it is anybody's guess," said state Rep. Herb Fallert, D-Ste. Genevieve, who sponsored legislation that put the issue on the ballot. "I would say that it is going to be late summer or early fall of '93."

Fallert said that at this point no state funds have been appropriated for setting up a riverboat gambling commission and licensing operators. He said some enabling legislation may be required next year to really launch riverboat gambling.

Voters in Ste. Genevieve and a number of other places approved local measures Tuesday to allow riverboat gambling.

But Fallert said Wednesday he was uncertain if Ste. Genevieve is large enough to support riverboat gambling.

Fallert believes riverboat gambling will boost tourism. "I just think it is the missing link that could make tourism the number one industry in the state of Missouri."

Riverboat gambling, he said, recalls the river roots of many of Missouri's towns. "Missouri has been blessed with many miles of rivers through and around its borders. I think that we can really make it work for us."