id stringlengths 32 32 | url stringlengths 31 1.58k | title stringlengths 0 1.02k | contents stringlengths 92 1.17M |
|---|---|---|---|
9835b4baf69e377680901a52ec2df2ca | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-ca-1963-story.html | The Community Video Advisory Board of Orange... | The Community Video Advisory Board of Orange...
The Community Video Advisory Board of Orange has canceled a meeting scheduled for Thursday to further revise proposed guidelines for its public access cable channel. Any revisions are likely to be “very minor,” according to board president Ben Pruett. The board’s next meeting is scheduled for April, when a vote on the guidelines may be held, Pruett said. The guidelines have been the focus of controversy involving a locally produced public access news program for gays and lesbians.
|
8730398308275c294202b11391bbb257 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-ca-1965-story.html | Sculptor to Exhibit Works, Technique | Sculptor to Exhibit Works, Technique
Sculptor Jack Zajac will be artist-in-residence at Fullerton College from Monday through Friday. He will give a public series of sculpture and printmaking demonstrations and a slide lecture, and a selection of his work will be on view from Monday through April 4 in the campus gallery in the Home and Fine Arts Building.
The sculpture demonstrations will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, and from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursday and Friday, in Room 2115 of the Sculpture Building. A studio demonstration of media and techniques is scheduled for Tuesday from 9 a.m. to noon, and a demonstration of monotype technique will be given on Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m., both in the Home and Fine Arts Building. The slide lecture will be presented Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Wilshire Auditorium.
Zajac, a professor of art at UC Santa Cruz since 1969, turned to sculpture after winning the Prix de Rome for painting in the mid-1950s. His work in bronze and marble incorporates elements of representation and abstraction.
He has been an artist-in-residence at Dartmouth College and has taught at the University of Colorado, UCLA and Cal Poly Pomona. For more information: (714) 992-7317.
|
d09590ca1d7eb451e445ce2207bc6366 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-ca-1968-story.html | Mindszenty Conference Set Today | Mindszenty Conference Set Today
The ninth annual Mindszenty Conference will be held today from 9 a.m to 4 p.m. at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim.
Four prominent speakers are scheduled to address the conference, which is sponsored by the Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation.
Frank Shakespeare, U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, will give a firsthand account of recent events in Central Europe and the Ukraine.
Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) will discuss “The Cultural War in America.”
Bishop Jerome J. Hastrich, who recenty retired after 20 years of diocesan duties in Gallup, N.M., will speak on the topic, “A Call to Holiness.” He also served for 19 years as the auxiliary chaplain to the U.S. Air Force.
Psychologist William R. Coulson, who helped Dr. Carl Rogers create the first facilitator training for teachers, also will speak. His topic will be, “The Closing of the Catholic Mind.”
A Mass is included in the conference program.
The Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation was founded in 1958 at a time when the prelate was imprisoned by the communists in Hungary. The foundation used his name as a symbol of resistance to totalitarianism and the upholding of principles of religious freedom.
Cardinal Mindszenty was finally released in 1971 and visited the foundation’s home office in St. Louis after that to bless the organization’s work. He died in 1975.
Fee for the sessions and luncheon is $36; for the sessions only, $18. Members of the clergy and students will be admitted free.
The conference will be in the Marina Ballroom at the Disneyland Hotel, 1150 W. Cerritos Ave., Anaheim. For reservations and information, call (714) 838-5289.
Reginald Utley from radio station KMAX (107.1 FM) will act as emcee for the “Friday Nite Gospel Live” held at the Radisson Suites Hotel in Fullerton from 8 p.m. to midnight Friday.
The Rev. John McReynolds, pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Santa Ana, will give an inspirational message. There will be music, testimonies and prizes.
The Radisson Suites Hotel is at 2932 E. Nutwood Ave., Fullerton. Information: (714) 637-8726.
An “Interfaith Dialogue on War and Peace” is scheduled for Sunday at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Corona Del Mar.
Speakers representing three major world religions that have been involved in the Mideast conflict will participate: Rabbi David Gordis, vice president of the University of Judaism; George Grose, president of the Academy for Judaic, Christian and Islamic Studies; and Muzammil Siddiqi, director of the Islamic Society of Orange County.
The public is invited to attend the free forum in the church’s parish center from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at 3233 Pacific View Drive. Information: (714) 644-0463.
Wally Amos, founder of the “Famous Amos” cookie empire, will share his philosophy during a two-hour seminar Sunday.
The seminar, “The Power in You,” based on his book by the same title, will be held at the Unity Church in Mission Viejo at 11:30 a.m.
A free-will offering will be taken. Unity Church is at 28722 Marguerite Parkway. Information: (714) 364-9616.
The Golden Circle Church of Religious Science in Santa Ana is sponsoring a performance by “The StorySingers,” an inspirational/entertainment team.
Vashti Ataya and Noah LeVia will present a musical variety show designed to appeal to all ages.
The show is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at 600 N. Golden Circle Drive in Santa Ana. Donation is on a free-will basis. Information: (714) 541-3365.
The Center for Spiritual Development has planned a weekend retreat, “Life’s Healing Journey,” March 15 through 17.
Cost of shared room and board at the center is $95. Registration is required by March 8.
The seminar will be held at the center, 434 S. Batavia Street, Orange. For reservations and information, call (714) 744-3175.
The Coastline Chapter of B’nai B’rith Women has scheduled a dinner at the Marriott Suites Hotel in Newport Beach on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
All area women are invited. Cost of the dinner is $10.
The Marriott Suites Hotel is located at 500 Bayview Circle, Newport Beach. For a ride or information, call (714) 960-9428.
J. Dudley Woodberry will discuss the issues and history of the Persian Gulf conflict in a program Sunday called “The Roots of Conflict.”
Woodberry is an associate professor of Islamic Studies at Fullerton Theological Seminary in Pasadena.
He served as a minister in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan before becoming a professor of Islamic Study at the Reformed Bible College in Michigan. He was a consultant to former President Jimmy Carter and includes among his published books, “Muslims and Christians on the Emmaus Road” and “Where Muslims and Christians Meet.”
The public is invited to attend the free program, which will be held at 7 p.m. in the Stuart Lounge of the First Presbyterian Church of Garden Grove, 11832 Euclid St. Information: (714) 534-2269.
“Unitarianism, Yahweh and the Prophets” is the Rev. Maurice Ogden’s topic on Sunday at the Unitarian Church of Orange County.
The service is at 10:30 a.m. at 1120 W. Santa Ana St., Anaheim. Child care is available. Information: (714) 758-1050.
Orange County Religion Notes is published on Saturdays. Send the item at least two weeks before the event to Orange County Religion Notes, The Times, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626. Telephone calls cannot be accepted. Because of space limitations, The Times cannot guarantee that all notices will be published. Items must include subject, telephone number, event date, time and exact address.
|
9fc5ec94fd0c305eb467c02b8b786429 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-ca-1978-story.html | Soaps in Spain | Soaps in Spain
I read with amused chagrin Stanley Meisler’s Feb. 12 article “Soaps Sending Spain Down Drain?” He writes that Spain’s intellectuals are complaining that their country’s addiction to “low-brow” soap operas produced in Latin American countries are reducing their people to a 10-year-old’s mentality.
Perhaps this is Latin America’s ultimate revenge for the early Spaniards destroying the rich (and often advanced) culture of that region. The surviving natives fled and hid; denied both their culture and schooling, they become -- as one person in the article arrogantly put it -- “the illiterate and miserable population that lives below the level of material and spiritual subsistence.”
TRINI MARQUEZ Sky Forest, Calif.
|
231a0a828cd137ccd324d623057c5d8b | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-ca-1979-story.html | Lay off His Ears | Lay off His Ears
In his Feb. 12 review of the television drama “Not of This World,” Chris Willman not only took the movie to task but he singled out 10-year-old Luke Edwards and insulted his ears.
I can understand Willman not liking the movie and I can appreciate his vitriol directed at the makers of a film he so despises, but I cannot fathom his insensitivity toward a child actor’s feelings, someone who dreams of acting and could harm no one. Even if Luke’s performance was abominable (which it was not), it cannot justify this sort of personal attack.
It does a disservice to the Los Angeles Times to insult Luke so painfully and publicly. I believe an apology is in order.
JONATHON BRAUER Producer, “Not of This World” Pacific Palisades
|
b989e842ad685e822b607aa9087bf0bb | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-ca-1980-story.html | Grammys, Prayer, Women and Dylan | Grammys, Prayer, Women and Dylan
If so many critics didn’t worship Dylan with such blind faith, he’d have been yanked offstage with a cane after the first bridge. While Dylan may have been a seminal figure in the ‘60s, that was then and this is now.
GREGG MITCHELL Los Angeles
|
065f877157f95cfaeba1992f106c44de | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-ca-1982-story.html | Grammys, Prayer, Women and Dylan | Grammys, Prayer, Women and Dylan
Was anyone else perturbed by the Feb. 20 Grammy telecast? It seemed to me that the show degraded women and their talent by presenting all five of the male vocal performance awards during the telecast but only one female.
Pop, rock, R&B;, jazz and country male performance categories were all fully shown, with nominees and speeches. Only the pop female award, given to Mariah Carey, was in the broadcast.
I hope the Grammy show will be more responsible next year and balance the awards better. If it doesn’t, it will have more Sinead O’Connors to deal with in the years to come.
MARY HASKINS Malibu
|
0f22d1d3b741ad6a180cb1f95669d97e | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-ca-1983-story.html | Grammys, Prayer, Women and Dylan | Grammys, Prayer, Women and Dylan
That Hilburn -- what a joker! I had a great laugh when I read his description of Dylan’s muddled, droning performance as “a remarkable display of pure artistry.”
Too bad Hilburn refrained from commenting on Dylan’s incoherent acceptance speech. I wonder how he would have described it -- “comparable to a Shakespeare soliloquy,” perhaps?
LINDA BESSIN North Hollywood
|
67fa2996ba8c25258293d61532e9acc2 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-fi-1709-story.html | Square D Wins Round in Takeover Bid:... | Square D Wins Round in Takeover Bid:...
Square D Wins Round in Takeover Bid: Square D Co. won a skirmish in its effort to fend off a takeover attempt by a French competitor, Schneider S.A., the American company said. The Palatine, Ill.-based firm said it obtained a New York Supreme Court order compelling Schneider to maintain secrecy on information it obtained during joint venture talks that the two companies held last year. The case is part of Square D’s legal battle to blunt a buyout bid by Schneider, a major French manufacturer of electronic devices.
|
b637c54bcd453ee2fdf105c084f550e6 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-fi-1710-story.html | Bush Sends Controversial Trade Bill to Congress : Legislation: It would extend a system under which lawmakers cannot amend international agreements that the United States negotiates. | Bush Sends Controversial Trade Bill to Congress : Legislation: It would extend a system under which lawmakers cannot amend international agreements that the United States negotiates.
President Bush sent Congress proposed legislation Friday that is expected to set off a heated political battle over whether the United States should continue to pursue new international agreements to reduce barriers to foreign trade.
U.S. Trade Representative Carla Anderson Hills said the legislation, which would extend an existing “fast-track” procedure for approving new trade pacts, is “absolutely indispensable to this government’s capacity to negotiate.”
Currently, the United States is involved in two major sets of trade talks. One seeks a free-trade agreement with Mexico; the other is a global round of negotiations aimed at lowering trade barriers.
The global talks broke down last December during what had been planned as the final negotiating session in Brussels. However, they started again in recent days after the 12-nation European Community agreed to consider lowering its agricultural subsidies.
On the face of it, the legislation that Bush submitted Friday was merely a procedural request to extend by two years an existing process under which Congress accepts or rejects trade agreements without being able to amend them.
In practice, however, losing the procedural fight could make it impossible for the United States to participate in talks, because foreign governments would be reluctant to strike deals with Administration negotiators knowing that they could be reversed by Congress.
Thus, opponents have two opportunities to kill a trade agreement--first, by denying negotiators the fast-track procedures and, second, by defeating the agreement itself.
The bill to extend the fast-track procedures is unlikely to come up for a vote on the House and Senate floors until May. Even so, introduction of the measure is the opening bell for a bitter fight that will pit an unlikely coalition of such erstwhile foes as organized labor, agricultural interests and environmentalists against the Bush Administration.
Unions, for example, fear that lowering tariff barriers between this country and Mexico is an invitation for U.S. corporations to move their operations across the border so they can pay lower wages. The AFL-CIO’s top legislative priority, it has said, is blocking an agreement with Mexico.
Environmentalists contend that the pact will encourage a similar migration of American firms seeking to avoid U.S. laws regulating pollution.
Also likely to oppose the measure are industries--such as textiles and some agricultural products--that fear a flood of cheap imports if trade barriers are lowered.
In addition, protectionist pressures almost always rise in Congress as the economy weakens.
Opposition to the potential trade agreements comes from so many quarters that some in Congress say they believe that a vote on the fast-track procedure would fail if it were held now.
Supporters of the negotiations hope that Bush will throw his popularity, enhanced by the Gulf War, behind the trade talks.
|
4b6e9f3f48276d74a71a6bca1c89387a | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-fi-1711-story.html | Carolco Pictures Is Talking to Several Potential Investors | Carolco Pictures Is Talking to Several Potential Investors
Carolco Pictures Inc., best known for producing the Rambo movies, confirmed Friday that it is holding “preliminary” discussions with several possible investors.
Carolco identified RCS Video, a division of Italy’s Fiat Group, as a potential partner. It declined to reveal further details, but a spokesman said “no agreements or understandings” have been reached.
Carolco’s statement came in response to recent reports that it had entered into negotiations for an emergency cash infusion. Daily Variety, the industry trade paper, reported Thursday that Giovanni Agnelli, chairman of Fiat Group, was considering a $100-million to $200-million equity investment in the West Hollywood-based company.
Sources said Carolco needs the money to fund production of its next two films, “Basic Instinct” and “Universal Soldier.”
President Peter Hoffman, however, denied that the company is short of cash. Carolco is expected to release its year-end results within a month.
Carolco, Hollywood’s largest independent film company, was rocked in December when a Los Angeles judge accused Chairman Mario Kassar of making personal use of studio funds. The judge froze 2.2 million of Kassar’s shares and limited his access to company accounts.
Carolco is known for making big-budget pictures with major stars such as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Its current releases include Steve Martin’s “L.A. Story” and Oliver Stone’s “The Doors.” Carolco finances the majority of its costs through foreign presales.
|
fc0841385419fa3d78e1f354bf83daa9 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-fi-1894-story.html | Revival of Meetings, Conventions Awaited : Travel: An industry group postponed its own gathering so members could sort out company travel plans. Recovery could take months. | Revival of Meetings, Conventions Awaited : Travel: An industry group postponed its own gathering so members could sort out company travel plans. Recovery could take months.
When corporate travel arrangers gather for their annual convention this year, many will likely bemoan how the Persian Gulf War caused companies to drastically cut back on training meetings and conferences.
The commiseration, however, will be delayed by a few months. Like so many of the employees whose trips were canceled amid cost cutting and fears of terrorism, the planners themselves are feeling the travel pinch.
Their group, the Assn. of Corporate Travel Executives, postponed its annual meeting at the San Diego Convention Center. Originally scheduled for this week, the meeting of 300 travel executives is being delayed until May because so many of the members have been busy trying to sort out the company travel plans that went haywire when the war began, an association official said.
They are not the only group whose travel dollars will take longer finding their way into the tills of Southland hotels, restaurants and entertainment complexes. The war cut into the relatively small, but extremely lucrative, part of the travel business that caters to conventions and meetings.
“A lot of corporations are canceling their meetings. The associations are not canceling . . . but we hear there is some slippage in attendance,” said Roy B. Evans, executive vice president of the Professional Convention Management Assn. in Birmingham, Ala.
Just as the erosion was slow in starting after the war began in January, he said, the recovery in the convention industry may take a few weeks or months.
“I think you are going to see a 60-(day) to 90-(day) lag time, and then it (meetings and convention attendance) is going to come back strong,” Evans said.
While foreign tourism came to a virtual standstill when war broke out last month, the business and convention trade at first appeared resilient enough to tide over tourism-dependent businesses. After all, organizations and large companies were hardly likely to cancel events that they had booked months or years in advance.
Convention centers and hotels that cater to the meeting trade, however, say that they have seen declines in the numbers of participants in some shows or meetings. In addition, some smaller meetings are being postponed or canceled.
“The hotels are struggling a lot more. Business is down. There are cancellations,” said Gary J. Rosenberg, a Culver City meeting planner and executive director of the Southern California Chapter of Meeting Planners International.
The war and recession have forced companies to re-examine their meeting policies.
“They will say, ‘Is this meeting really necessary?’ If not, they are not going to do it,” said Larry Rose, general manager of the Red Lion Hotel in Costa Mesa, which caters heavily to the meeting trade because of its proximity to John Wayne Airport.
Companies have cut back on travel for cost-cutting reasons as well as terrorism fears since the war began. Three-day trips have been reduced to two days. Some executives fly in early in the morning to attend a daily meeting rather than the night before, saving the cost of a night’s lodging, Rose said. And companies are sending smaller delegations to meetings.
One of the largest surf-wear and sportswear trade shows, held in late January in San Diego, lured more participating companies but fewer representatives from each, said Rich Jeffries, trade show coordinator for Action Sports Retailer magazine, which sponsored the show.
“I think the recession and the war--to what extent I’m not certain--had some bearing on the show,” Jeffries said.
The war has also affected attendance at other shows for more direct reasons. Cancellations are running ahead of last year’s pace for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons convention scheduled for March 7-12 at the Anaheim Convention Center. The meeting is expected to attract up to 22,000 doctors and exhibitors this year, down from as many as 24,000 in past years.
The cancellation increase appeared to be due in part to physicians who were activated for military duty or foreign doctors who were expecting to have difficulty traveling, said Alvin Nagelberg, assistant director of the academy, based in Park Ridge, Ill. Before the conflict, the convention was expected to attract 22,000 conventioneers and exhibitors.
So far, only one major California convention appears to have been killed outright. The Wendy’s International fast-food chain cancelled a five-day convention for 2,000 franchisees that had been scheduled for May in San Francisco.
But representatives of the Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Diego convention centers say their bookings are holding firm.
“Certainly the recession has affected attendance, (but) there has not been one cancellation that I could attribute to the war,” said Chuck Woolf, spokesman for the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Donna Alm, spokeswoman for the San Diego Convention Center, said that while overall attendance remains close to last year’s level, “the numbers are not as high as they anticipated it would be before the war broke out.”
Trying to cope with the business meeting slowdown, hotels and airlines have responded with targeted advertising campaigns and price cutting.
United Airlines, for instance, has been airing commercials in which a nervous boss explains that the company lost an important client and starts handing out stacks of airline tickets to the assembled sales force. He explains that each of the company’s customers must be visited to shore up the accounts.
Hotel sales staffs have been aggressively trying to fill their empty rooms, both sleeping quarters and meeting spaces.
“I’ve been getting a lot of calls from hotel people,” said Donna Garrett, a meeting coordinator for the accounting firm of KPMG Peat Marwick in Los Angeles. “They are more willing to negotiate for a price of a room. From what I know, they are going to bend a little bit more.”
|
35cad07524fa23a7305f0b7990ce8778 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-fi-1904-story.html | First Interstate Selling Oklahoma Bank: The Los... | First Interstate Selling Oklahoma Bank: The Los...
First Interstate Selling Oklahoma Bank: The Los Angeles banking firm said Boatman’s Bancshares of St. Louis will pay $86 million for First Interstate Bank of Oklahoma. The deal, which must be approved by regulators, is expected to be completed in August. The unit has $850 million in assets.
|
74b15dacae8b31033895c677ff53e5e8 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-fi-1905-story.html | Leading Indicators Take Sixth Drop in a Row : Economy: A separate report puts construction spending at a four-year low. | Leading Indicators Take Sixth Drop in a Row : Economy: A separate report puts construction spending at a four-year low.
The government’s main gauge for forecasting economic activity fell 0.4% in January, its sixth straight drop, but some analysts said the relatively moderate decline signaled a mild recession.
The index of leading economic indicators’ string of declines, which included a revised 0.1% drop in December, matched the six consecutive drops from May through October, 1984, the Commerce Department said. The December index first was reported to have edged up 0.1%.
The index has not advanced since an anemic 0.1% gain last June. It was unchanged in July.
“It is telling us that the recession is not going to be deep because the extent of the declines is not that great,” economist Robert Brusca of Nikko Securities Co. International said of the latest index reading. “It may be heralding a shallow recession.”
“Whether or not this will be the actual trough (of the recession), we are seeing signs of a bottom forming,” said Bob Dieli, an economist with Northern Trust Co. in Chicago.
Gilbert Benz, an economist with the Swiss Bank Corp. in New York, concurred, saying that the index “does project a relatively mild recession.”
Because the index is designed to forecast economic activity six to nine months in advance, Benz said, “we cannot expect any sustained improvement until May or perhaps June.”
Benz said the index would have to fall 0.8% to 1.5% a month to forecast “a relatively severe recession.” During the six-month decline, the index has tumbled an average of just 0.8%.
The Administration, which also projects a mild contraction, agreed. Chairman Michael J. Boskin of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers said after a congressional appearance Friday that “we expect the economy will be rebounding sometime toward the middle of the year.”
Only five of the 11 forward-looking components were positive in January, including an index measuring consumer confidence. Analysts expect this index to improve even more since the Persian Gulf War ended in an allied victory.
Nevertheless, many economists question whether improved confidence will translate into an early end to the recession because of rising unemployment and falling incomes.
And economist Gordon Richards of the National Assn. of Manufacturers said, “There are other factors that will keep the economy in a slump until midyear.”
One of the factors is the construction industry, which posted another decline in January.
The National Assn. of Purchasing Management said its monthly index of business activity indicated that the recession was ebbing. Its index rose to 38.5% last month from 37.7% in January, but was still below 44%--the point at which the association considers the economy to be in a decline.
In a second report Friday, the Commerce Department said construction spending fell 2.6% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $396.6 billion, its lowest level in four years. It was the 10th consecutive monthly drop.
Still, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s chairman, L. William Seidman, and several housing industry trade groups have reported anecdotal evidence that the nation’s real estate slump may be bottoming out.
But that was not indicated in January’s leading index. One of the components that often is a barometer of future housing activity, building permits, fell.
The other negative factors were a shorter average workweek, faster business delivery times, a tighter money supply, a drop in prices of raw materials (suggesting slack demand) and lower stock prices.
In addition to the consumer confidence index, the other positive components were an increase in factory orders for consumer goods, a drop in initial unemployment claims, an increase in unfilled factory orders and a boost in orders for new plants and equipment.
The various changes left the index at 139.1% of its 1982 base of 100 and down 4.3% from its level a year ago.
|
6ed465d49e922e5de4e06f7f33d790e5 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-fi-1907-story.html | Realty Trust Emerges From Bankruptcy: Mortgage &... | Realty Trust Emerges From Bankruptcy: Mortgage &...
Realty Trust Emerges From Bankruptcy: Mortgage & Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust with executive offices in Burbank, emerged from reorganization under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy law. Mortgage & Realty sought bankruptcy protection 10 months ago after failing to make $105 million in debt payments.
|
8d5cc6c95901025a71ecaaec91ec41d5 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-fi-1908-story.html | NBC Posts Sharp Profit Decline: NBC reported... | NBC Posts Sharp Profit Decline: NBC reported...
NBC Posts Sharp Profit Decline: NBC reported that its operating profit for 1990 plunged 21% to $477 million. Revenue fell 5% from 1989 to $3.2 billion, according to parent company General Electric’s annual report. GE attributed the profit and revenue declines to a soft advertising market, higher programming costs and lower ratings at the network. The results, which had not been disclosed when GE announced its 1990 companywide profit and revenue figures last month, were in line with analysts’ expectations.
|
ca95d66d644b24d27457bd289054b9a3 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-hm-1970-story.html | FURNISHINGS : ARTISANS: Spotlighting makers of hand-crafted goods : Now That Country Decorating Is In, Quilts Are Out of Closet | FURNISHINGS : ARTISANS: Spotlighting makers of hand-crafted goods : Now That Country Decorating Is In, Quilts Are Out of Closet
The image of women gathered together to create warm and colorful quilts has always been enjoyed by Americans. Yet it took the Bicentennial to bring many of those old quilts out of the closets and attics and onto the beds and walls in the homes of the younger generations.
“The Bicentennial really launched an interest in quilting and quilts,” said Del Thomas, a longtime quilting advocate, former president of the Orange County Quilters Guild and an expert on quilts and their care. “At about the same time as the Bicentennial, country decorating became popular, so quilts fit right in.”
Today’s quilters enjoy new freedom to experiment with this art form. Contemporary quilts may feature abstract designs and bolder, brighter colors than those of former times. There are even computer programs to help quilters envision what their designs will look like before they stitch their first piece of fabric.
“In Southern California, we tend to be a little more conservative and traditional in our approach in quilting,” Thomas said. “Back East, there are more contemporary quilts, but in the Midwest and West, we tend to stick with traditional looks.”
“We see both types of quilters,” said Janet Marsh, co-owner of Flying Geese Fabrics in Irvine, a store that caters to quilters. “We have lots of customers who want the calicoes and what we call the ‘sweet prints,’ that is, little flowers and small patterns. Yet we also get those who like the larger, bolder prints.”
Even quilts with more traditional looks often have a decidedly untraditional means of being displayed. Quilts today are found decorating walls as often as covering beds. Some are even used as tablecloths. Still others are cut into pillows or smaller shapes.
“There’s some controversy about cutting up quilts,” Thomas said. “And there are quilts I would hate to see cut. On the other hand, when women were making them a long time ago, many of them sewed them for strictly utilitarian purposes. It was the same to them as a blanket is to us. However, there are some beautiful quilts that really shouldn’t be cut.”
If you wish to display your quilts on the wall, there are some steps to take to ensure their safety and beauty.
Gadgets such as the “quilt keeper” can be attached to the wall. The quilt is then slipped in between two clips, which work much like clothespins. If the quilt isn’t too large, a row of straight pins placed across the top can also affix it on the wall without damaging the quilt. Or you can sew “hoops” across the top or a sleeve on the back, where a flat dowel can be inserted, supporting the quilt from the side.
“If you display a quilt on the wall, you may want to vacuum it with the flat nozzle of the vacuum cleaner every few months,” Thomas said. “After it’s been up for six months, take it down for a while. The stress of hanging can damage some of the fibers in the fabric, so it’s good to let it rest before hanging it back up. A good rule is six months up, six months down.”
Also be aware that light will fade colors, so keep quilts out of direct sunlight. Quilts also shouldn’t be displayed directly against a wooden wall (or touching the wood in a chest for that matter) as wood can discolor fabric after a period of years.
When storing, wrap the quilt with a plain white sheet and fold it. Every time you unfold it, fold it another way to avoid crease lines.
“There’s no rule that says the folding needs to be even,” Thomas added. “You need to change the folds to minimize damage to the fibers and prevent the folded edges from discoloring. At least twice a year, refold your quilts. One time fold it in eighths, another time in fifths. In some of the older quilts, you can see where the fabric actually has breaks along the edges from being folded so tightly.”
Or you can roll quilts to avoid folding at all. To roll a quilt, Thomas recommends a plain white sheet and a mattress pad. Wrap the quilt in the sheet and then roll it around the mattress pad. And don’t stack quilts too high on top of one another.
“I know one of the popular looks now is to stack a variety of different quilts in a cabinet,” Thomas said. “But if there are too many, the weight can damage some of the quilts at the bottom. If you want to stack them, rearrange the quilts so the weight is more evenly distributed.”
Cleaning requirements for quilts may vary depending on the age and condition of the piece, however, use caution in dry cleaning as some of the chemicals used can be harmful to delicate fabrics and stitching.
“Most quilts made after 1960 can be washed in the washing machine and dried for about 20 minutes in the dryer,” Thomas said. “After that, let it air-dry until it’s completely dry. For older quilts, I hand wash them in cold water in the bathtub. You’ll probably need to rinse them 10 or 12 times to get all the soap out. Then lift them carefully and lay them out flat, making sure they have adequate support.”
With a silk or wool quilt, you’re better off consulting a textile expert who can tell you the best way to care for it.
Thomas has been surrounded by needlework ever since she was a child.
“I learned to quilt from my grandmother when I was young,” she said. “I stopped for a while; however, in the 1960s, I took it up again and found it very calming. In 1980, when I retired, I started doing more sewing.
“Then I saw a flyer about a group of women who wanted to start a quilting group. I attended the first meeting of the Orange County Quilters Guild in March, 1981. Right from the start, there was a great deal of interest, and today we have 450 members.”
Although many think of quilts as being traditionally European or American, they have been found dating back to ancient times. Quilts are also found in the Orient and the Middle East.
“It’s an art form that’s common to almost every country and culture,” Thomas said. “Each country does seem to have its own distinct style. The English start their quilts from the center and work out. In the Mid-1800s, you’ll see beautiful patterns of trees and fountains and very few geometric shapes.”
What is decidedly American is the idea of piecing together blocks of fabric rather than sewing through large sheets of material. Most quilts consist of three layers of material: a top, a bottom (referred to as the backing), and filling placed between. The three layers are then “quilted” together. (There are, however, quilts made of two layers but these aren’t as common.)
There are different motifs that can date a quilt. One of today’s most popular patterns is the pineapple design. “I personally know five different books of pineapple design patterns,” Thomas said. “Before 1988, I never saw pineapples.”
Colors also come in and out of fashion (with the exception of blues and white, which always seem popular).
“The most requested colors at our shop are the blues, dusty rose, gray blue, and green and peach combinations,” said Marsh of Flying Geese Fabrics.
The advent of sewing machines has helped hasten the amount of time it takes to put together a quilt, yet many still enjoy sewing the elaborate coverings by hand.
“If you begin making them yourself, you find yourself finding designs everywhere,” Thomas said. “From tin ceilings, nature, buildings and window frames.
“Often an interest in quilts occurs when someone is given a quilt or stumbles across an antique quilt,” Thomas said. “There’s a sentimental value to quilts. It belonged to your grandmother or you remember a favorite one from childhood. Once you start learning about quilts and beginning to appreciate them, it’s hard to stop.”
|
cbeac46ee09441a965953fe148348b83 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-hm-1971-story.html | A Big, Busy Family Avoids the Housework Blues With Easy Cleaning and Ingenuity : Immaculate Invention | A Big, Busy Family Avoids the Housework Blues With Easy Cleaning and Ingenuity : Immaculate Invention
“He who messes it up cleans it up.”
That’s the household motto at the La Habra Heights home of Sandra and Reed Phillips. And it’s a good thing, too. Because with a family of 10, chaos might be the alternative.
But the Phillips family also has another ace in the hole when it comes to housecleaning. That ace is the house itself.
“We decided to build a home that would build housework out of our home,” Sandra Phillips says.
She helped design the 4,000-square-foot home. She served as her own contractor and supervised subcontractors.
And in the end, she got just what she needed--a five-bedroom house with low-maintenance materials and features that make housework easier.
For her guide and inspiration, she used a book, “Make Your House Do the Housework,” by Don Aslett and Laura Aslett Simons (Writer’s Digest Books, $9.95).
The house’s features include an automatic faucet, drinking fountain, electric hand dryer, built-in headboard that eliminates the need for clutter-collecting night stands and an easy-to-clean chandelier with flat prisms and smoked glass.
Other features are ceiling lights rather than lamps, suspended snack-bar seating that is easy to clean under, a down-draft cooktop that helps keep the kitchen stay cleaner, marble window sills, easy-care floor coverings that don’t show dirt and a central vacuum system.
“There’s no magic to anything we’ve done,” Phillips says. “There’s just incorporation of a lot of common sense type of things.”
Phillips first discovered Aslett and his cleaning theories in 1984, when she was pregnant with her eighth child. Even with a degree in home economics, she was beginning to feel overwhelmed.
Reading Aslett’s book “Clutter’s Last Stand” (Writers Digest Books, $9.95) convinced her that part of the problem was “that we had too much, that it could be organized more properly and that we needed to spend less time (on housework).”
Aslett’s ideas gave her “the courage to ‘de-junk,’ ” she says.
She and her family got rid of items they really didn’t need--like more than three changes of sheets for a bed.
Later, she attended one of Aslett’s seminars and read his “Is There Life After Housework?” (Writers Digest Books, $8.95). This book outlines “how to clean intelligently,” she says.
“So, if we can de-junk, organize that which we have left and then clean it intelligently, I felt that that would give us more time to be together as a family and it has done that,” Phillips says.
“The goal we have in our family is to do as little housework as possible and the kids don’t complain about that,” she says. But that doesn’t mean they don’t work.
The Phillips brood includes two girls aged 12 and 7 and four boys aged 9, 10, 14 and 17 at home. Two sons--aged 19 and 21--are away at college. All the children at home have assigned chores. A valued rite of passage is that high school seniors in the family are absolved of dishwashing responsibility.
“It isn’t always perfect and sometimes we don’t get everything done,” she says “but we get the important things done each day.”
Phillips considers those important things to be the dishes, the laundry and making all the beds.
How does the house help with all of this?
It’s simple, Phillips says. Much of her house is based on one of Aslett’s major principles: “Avoid high-maintenance materials.”
For instance, floor coverings can be a high-maintenance item, but not in the Phillips’ house. The entry floor is covered with gray-toned marble tile with dark grout and swirls of peach and salmon colors. Marble is durable and easy to maintain, requiring only a little damp mopping, and the colors don’t show dirt easily.
The kitchen floor is sheet-vinyl in a speckled gray pattern. Phillips chose the smoothest finish she could find, because the indentations common to vinyl trap dirt and make floors harder to clean.
Phillips doesn’t believe in waxing floors--one point she differs on with Aslett. She says just a little damp mopping keeps her floors looking clean enough.
As to the mopping, that’s where the kids come in. Since the family style is to go barefoot--leaving shoes at the door to cut down on tracked-in dirt--the kids do the mopping with their bare feet.
It’s easy and fun, Phillips says. This requires a couple of damp cloths (old towels work best), a spray bottle with water mixed with a little all-purpose liquid cleaner and, of course, willing feet. They spray a little cleaner here and there on the floor and skate-mop across the floor.
Carpets aren’t a problem either.
Phillips selected a medium-gray tweed carpet in a Berber weave.
“Anytime you have a tweed . . . it’s more forgiving because you don’t see as many spots and sprinkles in it,” she says. The varied height also camouflages and “camouflage whenever you can” is another Aslett principle.
As a result, Phillips’ carpet only needs vacuuming once a week and that’s easy, too, because of the central vacuum system.
However, she did choose a dense plush carpet in a medium gray for her husband’s office, the music room and the master bedroom, because they are not high-traffic areas and won’t get dirty as fast.
And then there are the window sills.
Dusting window sills made of painted drywall can be frustrating, because after a while, the dust and dirt just seem to sort of stay there.
Phillips’ solution was to purchase 92 feet of white slab marble for about $300. She then had a piece cut for each window sill in the house. Now, her window sills are beautiful and wipe clean in the blink of an eye.
Several of the unique items in the Phillips home were fairly inexpensive.
The kitchen drinking fountain, which filters and cools the water, cost about $250 and paid for itself in six months. Bottled water for the family was costing $30 to $40 a month and there was the cost of paper cups. Now there are no paper cups to throw away and fewer glasses to wash, which saves money and water.
In what Phillips calls her “magic bathroom” is a wall-mounted, electric hand dryer that cost about $150 and is low-voltage. Time, money and water are saved by not having to wash towels for that bathroom.
The same bathroom has an automatic faucet. Put your hand under the faucet and warm water comes out. Remove your hand and the water shuts off. There are no handles to drip water on and that tough job of cleaning around the bottoms of faucets has been eliminated.
This bathroom also has a wall-mounted soap dispenser, eliminating another source of mess.
The downstairs baths have wall-mounted toilets, which eliminate the underneath pedestal that’s difficult to keep clean. The weight of the toilets requires that they be attached to the foundation for safety. That’s why Phillips was unable to have them installed in her upstairs bathrooms.
Features in other bathrooms include a manufactured shower in the shape of a nautilus shell. The 30-inch-diameter shower of rigid acrylic is designed so that no water splashes out and there is no need for a shower door (always a tough cleaning job) or curtain.
The master bath contains an easy-to-clean imitation marble custom tub and a separate shower. The floor is a medium-gray ceramic tile with dark grout.
In the master bedroom, a built-in headboard hides controls for a security system, reading lights, a phone, a flashlight and controls for a television, which is in a cut-out area in the wall, rather than on a table. The light source is attached to the ceiling fan.
There are no lamps or bedside tables in the master bedroom, which cuts down on dusting tasks and general clutter.
Perhaps the most wonderful example of organization in the Phillips home is the laundry room, which is about 100 square feet and arranged in a U-shape.
There are three doors on one side of the room. Behind those doors are laundry bins. The laundry bins are at the bottom of chutes located behind wooden panels at the landing of the home’s rear stairway. Upstairs, members of the Phillips family drop dirty clothes into chutes marked: light, medium and dark.
The dirty clothes are removed from the laundry bins to be treated for spots at the sink. Next, clothes go into the washer and then the dryer. The room has shelves and space for folding and hanging clothes. There’s even an ironing board that folds back into the wall and a sewing machine for mending.
But even with all this organization, Sandra Phillips says, “I feel like it takes all my intelligence, which I may have been given in this life, to keep this household running.”
But she also says: “I never feel like anything I do is more fulfilling and more important than keeping the home organized, with the help of the children. I don’t do it for them. I do it with them.”
|
b71ba6c0920bd759b4b0ada61f067774 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1627-story.html | Ojai : Builder Withdraws Subdivision Plan | Ojai : Builder Withdraws Subdivision Plan
A developer who offered to donate an 11-acre park to the city of Ojai withdrew his subdivision proposal Friday.
However, in his letter to city planners, developer Howard M. Palmer of Anaheim said he intends to resubmit a proposal to create the 26-lot subdivision next to Nordhoff High School.
“We are not done yet,” said Palmer’s project manager, David Armanetti. “The intent is to throw something back at them in the next two months that will try to mitigate the traffic impacts.”
The Ojai Planning Commission was scheduled to hold a public hearing on the project Wednesday, but that will no longer be necessary, Planning Director William Prince said. “The issue is moot until he decides to resubmit,” Prince said.
Palmer withdrew his application because it could not be approved within a one-year limit required by state law, Prince said.
After filing his proposal last April, Palmer sought to offset the tract’s environmental impact by offering to donate parkland to the city and to help finance a community center or public pool.
The City Council and Planning Commission gave a cool reception to the park offer and told Palmer that he would still have to undertake a full environmental report. Armanetti said the report could cost Palmer between $50,000 and $80,000.
|
270f9c0568353a065e627e4655f4a30c | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1628-story.html | Torn Canopy Sparks Design Flap : Convention Center: Engineers try to figure out why giant tent panel ripped to shreds during rainstorm. | Torn Canopy Sparks Design Flap : Convention Center: Engineers try to figure out why giant tent panel ripped to shreds during rainstorm.
Perplexed officials Friday pondered what caused a giant Teflon-coated panel stretching over part of the San Diego Convention Center to tear to shreds--causing a massive water leak--while engineers and architects scrambled to find a quick fix.
The panel, 25 feet wide and 330 feet long, began tearing apart at 1 p.m. during Thursday’s rainstorm, when 27-to-35 m.p.h. winds ripped a hole in the sail-like panel. The wind enlarged the tear until the panel broke loose.
A spokesman for the San Diego Unified Port District, which owns the Convention Center, said engineers Friday were still trying to determine what caused the panel to tear. On Thursday, a Convention Center spokesman had blamed the tear on an aluminum strut that was ripped from its mooring.
Los Angeles architect Arthur Erickson, who designed the center, said the panel was designed to withstand winds of up to 100 m.p.h. Erickson and Jon Duncan, vice president of Birdair, a Buffalo, N.Y. company that manufactured the sail, said they did not know what could have caused it to tear.
“This thing was very carefully engineered and tested up to 100 m.p.h. It was a wind-tunnel test subjected to gale force winds,” said Erickson. “It (reason for the tear) could have been in the fabrication. Really, it could have been anything.”
Erickson said the panel was made from a plastic neoprene that is fiber reinforced.
Port District officials summoned engineers and architects Friday to inspect the damaged panel and to advise them on repairs. The panel, which is longer than a football field, covers four huge ventilation holes on the center’s main tent roof, keeping rain out of the special-events area. Officials said the main roof was not damaged.
Convention Center spokeswoman Donna Alm said rain has been falling through the vent openings. But she said the rain is being channeled toward floor drains, and there has been no water damage.
The combined cost for the sail and Convention Center’s tent roof was $1.6 million, Alm said. She put the entire cost for the tent roof and the special-events area it covers at $6 million.
However, Port District spokesman Dan Wilkens said that Port District officials do not know how much repairs will cost.
“Right now our main concern is to begin short-term repairs to minimize any further damage from the rain. That should only be a matter of a day. As for the ultimate solution for permanent repairs, I don’t have a clue,” Wilkens said.
In a telephone interview from New York, Duncan said that Birdair had sent an engineer and two superintendents to San Diego to inspect the damaged sail. He said he was not sure what may have caused the sail to tear.
On Friday, Port District officials said the sail was covered by a 10-year warranty. Port District Director Don Nay said he does not believe the Port District will have to pay for the damaged sail.
Duncan said his company manufactured the panel, but added that “we built it to the design of specifications.”
Birdair has manufactured similar panels for other public facilities, but this is the first time a panel manufactured by the company has failed in 19 years, he added.
“We are just as interested to find out what caused the panel to fail as anybody else,” Duncan said.
|
0ce528bae8f64bc09b69f6108b72c3b5 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1630-story.html | 500,000 May Starve in Mozambique Drought | 500,000 May Starve in Mozambique Drought
More than 500,000 people in central Mozambique are facing starvation in the worst drought in 40 years, local authorities said Friday.
“The present crop is practically lost . . . causing a grave famine situation,” a government report said.
“Our province is in a catastrophic situation and is going through the worst drought in the last 40 years,” the director of agriculture in Manica province said.
The population of the province is estimated at 622,000 people. More than 560,000 of those people live in areas where most of the corn and millet harvest has been lost.
|
c0166832b625c01ad1b8fa025fe097d9 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1631-story.html | Landfill Closure Casts Doubt on Cleanup Funds | Landfill Closure Casts Doubt on Cleanup Funds
The court-ordered closure of the Azusa Land Reclamation Co. landfill has cast doubt on the future of a $20.5-million contribution the dump’s operator made in 1989 for cleanup of the underground water supply of the San Gabriel Valley.
State and landfill officials said it is uncertain what will happen with the money, considered one of the few sure sources for a cleanup that will cost an estimated $106 million. The funds were placed in an escrow account as a condition of the dump’s planned expansion.
Landfill manager Paul Schelstrate said the company is considering withdrawing all but $3 million from the account, using some to help pay for environmental studies that must be undertaken before the site south of the Foothill Freeway would be permitted to reopen.
|
c3751c66f53284c67fa98411c4c1c958 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1639-story.html | Countywide : Congressman Offers Kuwait Political Aid | Countywide : Congressman Offers Kuwait Political Aid
Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) has offered to help build political parties in Kuwait and to work to broaden voting rights there.
Lagomarsino and two other members of the National Republican Institute for International Affairs want to help establish a democracy in the country whose autonomy has been at the crux of the Persian Gulf War. Since the 1700s, Kuwait has been ruled by a royal family.
Lagomarsino heads the institute, a branch of the Republican Party that promotes international democracy. He and his colleagues did not offer more details of their plans after meeting with the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States on Thursday.
“There’s no trip planned,” Lagomarsino spokesman Matt Reynolds said Friday. “We don’t want to shove anything down their throat.”
But Reynolds added, “The Kuwaitis are certainly receptive to us. . . . The institute is prepared and ready, willing and anxious to help out in the process of furthering political development and reform in Kuwait.”
|
f79cae8f7f1abff874f657a0ddcba7bc | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1640-story.html | Opponents of Utility Merger at Odds Over Review Plans | Opponents of Utility Merger at Odds Over Review Plans
Some opponents of San Diego Gas & Electric’s planned merger with Southern California Edison are at odds with San Diego City Atty. John Witt over the impact of state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren’s decision to review a key phrase in the state law that governs utility mergers.
The state Public Utilities Commission, which must approve the controversial merger, last month granted Lungren additional time to study the phrase, which mandates that mergers “not adversely affect competition.” Lungren, who took office in January, has questioned the constitutionality of the language that was approved last year by former Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp.
Witt, who met with Lungren in Sacramento on Thursday, said that Lungren’s decision to review one small issue should not affect the state Public Utilities Commission’s merger vote later this year because “the overwhelming weight of the evidence (is) against the merger.”
But some merger opponents are worried that Lungren’s decision to review the narrow antitrust standard is one of several signs that Lungren has shifted gears and weakened his office’s opposition to the merger.
“Lungren is changing or toning down his opposition to the merger,” said Michael Shames, executive director of Utility Consumers Action Network, a San Diego-based consumer group that opposes the merger. “We, his allies in this case, are no longer sure if he is opposing the merger.”
Shames noted that Lungren’s first merger-related filing with the PUC early in February lacked the “strong anti-merger language” that Van de Kamp used in several previous filings. “He’s sanitized the (attorney general’s) position tremendously,” Shames said.
|
b47b87030754e6b1c1dd1c2799d6ea3b | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1643-story.html | THOUSAND OAKS : Bail Reduced 94% for Fraud Suspect | THOUSAND OAKS : Bail Reduced 94% for Fraud Suspect
After three attempts, the suspected mastermind of a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme had his bail reduced Friday from $2.5 million to $150,000 and was released from the Ventura County Jail.
Olen B. Phillips, 51, of Thousand Oaks had been in custody since Feb. 8, when he surrendered in connection with an 81-count indictment charging him and two others with conspiracy, grand theft and securities fraud.
Phillips’ bail originally was set at $2.5 million, and Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele twice refused to lower it. Among other things, the judge said he needed an accounting of the assets Phillips might be able to post as bail.
In the past few years, court records say, Phillips has raised about $16.3 million from about 1,000 people who invested in his limited partnerships.
On Friday, the court-appointed receiver who has taken charge of Phillips’ business interests told the judge that virtually all the holdings are in bankruptcy or are over-encumbered with mortgages and liens.
“Of the assets you control, are there any that could be encumbered for purposes of bail?” asked Phillips’ attorney, Louis Samonsky Jr.
“The answer is no,” said the receiver, Richard Weissman, a Los Angeles attorney.
In his testimony, Phillips agreed that he is broke. He said he needs to resume his career as a United Airlines captain to raise money for legal fees and other expenses.
Samonsky noted that Steele had reduced bail to $150,000 for co-defendant Charles J. Francoeur of Agoura Hills and to $50,000 for co-defendant Felix Laumann of Cambria. He said friends of Phillips had pledged property valued at $300,000--which is worth half as much for bail purposes--and said that was all Phillips could come up with.
Steele granted the 94% reduction in bail, but insisted on several conditions:
Phillips may not leave the country, and he and his family must surrender their passports; Phillips must turn over an airline credential that allows him to bypass customs; he must stay in California except when flying for United; and he must inform the district attorney’s office of his work schedule.
The three men are scheduled for arraignment March 18.
|
836278455a5f373e67e3cc790f2afe40 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1648-story.html | Grim Scenes Greeted Inspectors | Grim Scenes Greeted Inspectors
Food and linens ran critically low, putrid trash and infectious wastes overflowed onto floors, and at least one patient was left gasping for breath outside the locked emergency room doors.
It was scenes such as these that greeted state inspectors during the last days of San Diego General Hospital.
In reports released this week, hospital licensing inspectors fined the hospital $2,000 for violations that often resulted from shortages of staff and supplies because the hospital hadn’t paid its bills.
The reports also reveal for the first time that the hospital’s request to have its emergency room downgraded to standby status came two days after an inspector was called to the facility to investigate the case of a woman who was denied care there.
“A sign was posted on the emergency room doors, ‘ER closed--phone 911 for emergency,’ ” the inspector wrote of the Feb. 5 incident. “A middle-age female, acutely short of breath, was sitting outside the door in the ambulance breezeway.”
An ambulance attendant had arrived to give the 47-year-old woman oxygen and transfer her to another hospital, the report says.
“When asked why . . . this obviously distressed lady was outside in the cold airway, the nursing staff indicated that they did not have an ER physician on duty, since he refused to work without malpractice insurance, which had lapsed at 12:01 a.m.,” it says.
Two days later, the hospital put its emergency room on standby status--available for first aid for walk-ins only--and eventually shut it down altogether.
Meanwhile, inspectors began visiting San Diego General daily in an attempt to ensure that the hospital’s potential death throes were not harming patients. It was on those visits that inspectors found other scenes for concern:
* On Feb. 11, the kitchen trash bins were overflowing with open bags of waste, with a foul-smelling ooze coming from the bottom. Garbage was also piled on the loading dock where food was delivered. The hauler had refused to come because of unpaid bills.
* On Feb. 18, 10 days’ worth of infectious waste spilled from barrels inside an enclosure next to the food loading dock. Rodents and insects had easy access to the waste. That hauler also had not been paid.
* On Feb. 18, food in the hospital kitchen consisted of a large can of ketchup, a large box of mashed potatoes, two days’ worth of bread, four heads of wilted lettuce and six gallons of outdated milk.
“Staple and perishable foods have been low due to the fact that the hospital has been in arrears with a number of vendors providing food supplies. All supplies and deliveries are on C.O.D,” the inspector wrote.
* On Feb. 24, the trash dumpsters were caked with black, sticky debris and sitting atop spilled milk.
* One of the main hospital elevators was inoperable for about three weeks.
* The hospital was about to lay off the people in charge of making sure essential machines worked--its maintenance supervisor and biomedical engineer--until inspectors objected.
* The Feb. 5 inspection found that prescription drugs were openly accessible on storage carts, instead of locked up. Emergency room drugs were locked, but there was no reliable record of their distribution.
“When the pharmacist in charge was asked about the implementation of procedures for distribution, dispensing and use of drugs, he stated that, once the nurses picked up and signed for the drugs, he was not responsible for what happened to the drugs,” one report says.
|
87f0c5624c7ce1dcb20381deab55466c | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1649-story.html | Suspect in Strangling Pleads Not Guilty : Crime: The body of Najat Chehade, 26, was found dumped off a road near Ojai in December. Louis Hayden Gary, 42, was arrested in Idaho. | Suspect in Strangling Pleads Not Guilty : Crime: The body of Najat Chehade, 26, was found dumped off a road near Ojai in December. Louis Hayden Gary, 42, was arrested in Idaho.
A 42-year-old man suspected of strangling his roommate with a cord and dumping her body off a road near Ojai in December pleaded not guilty to murder in Ventura County Municipal Court on Friday morning.
Louis Hayden Gary, 42, of Los Angeles was arrested a week ago in Boise, Ida., in connection with the murder of 26-year-old Najat Chehade after Ventura County sheriff’s detectives traced his path across the country, authorities said. He remains in the Ventura County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail, a jail spokesman said.
Chehade’s body was discovered about 10:40 a.m. Dec. 17 on the side of California 33 by a Sheriff’s Department employee who was taking inmates to the Rose Valley Work Camp, authorities said.
Chehade had been strangled with a cord 16 to 17 hours earlier, Ventura County Sheriff’s Lt. Joe Harwell said. There was evidence of sexual intercourse, authorities said.
It appeared that her body was dumped off the side of the road after dark, and whoever dumped it probably intended it to roll farther down the embankment, Harwell said.
Detectives, who at first were stymied in efforts to find friends or acquaintances of Chehade, said they traced her address to a Los Angeles apartment that she shared with Gary.
Chehade had known Gary for five years and had been staying in his Los Angeles apartment since November, Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol J. Nelson said.
Gary, who became the primary suspect in the case, left the area after Ventura County sheriff’s detectives interviewed him in January.
He sold his car, bought another car under an assumed name and converted all of his money into traveler’s checks, authorities said.
Gary was arrested after Boise police spotted the car with Nevada license plates at a car wash. Gary, who was lying in the front seat to vacuum his car, was arrested without incident. Sheriff’s detectives returned with Gary on Monday.
But Gary’s lawyer said Gary may have left the area because he was disoriented from the medicine he was taking to combat severe bouts of depression.
Gary left a trail making it extremely easy to find him and would not have done so if it had been his intention to flee from authorities, attorney Louis Milton Signer said.
Gary is a computer programmer who had designed, installed and serviced computer systems, Signer said. He used the apartment, a holdover from before he was married, as a place to sleep when he was working on long-term assignments in downtown Los Angeles. He would sometimes work 24 hours straight, sleep for eight hours and go back to work, Signer said.
He also shared a house in Los Angeles County with his wife and two stepchildren, Signer said.
He and his wife had had marital problems, partly because of Gary’s depression, but had not filed for separation, Signer said. The couple had begun seeing a psychiatrist for therapy sessions.
He said that Gary was friends with Chehade and was trying to give her some help. Signer, who has known Gary for about seven years, described him as very intelligent, gentle and caring. He said he was concerned with the environment and people.
“Any kind of violence would be out of character,” Signer said.
|
48717008f1af4602f56b1f43e5a95832 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1651-story.html | 2-Year Term for Man Who Shot Youth at Border | 2-Year Term for Man Who Shot Youth at Border
An Imperial Beach man was sentenced Friday to two years in state prison and fined $10,000 for killing a 12-year-old Mexican boy last May, shortly after the youth had crossed into U.S. territory.
The death was one of a number in the border area last year that drew widespread attention in both Mexico and the United States, sparking allegations that an atmosphere of racially charged terror dominated the area.
After extensive investigation, authorities declared that the shooting was not racially motivated but instead the tragic result of a target-shooting spree.
Dwight Ray Pannel, 23, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in January for the May, 1990, death of Emilio Jimenez Bejines. The youth and two siblings, accompanied by an uncle, were walking in the border strip on their way to join his parents in the Orange County community of Stanton.
In a plea-bargain, prosecutors earlier dropped a murder charge and an unrelated car-theft charge against Pannel. His maximum prison exposure was limited to two years, according to the agreement.
The assailant’s attorney, Alex Loebig, told San Diego Municipal Judge Ann Winebrenner that Pannel and two other people had fired a gun that day while target shooting. He said Pannel never intended to kill anyone.
“From the very start, Mr. Pannel has not denied . . . that his behavior was grossly negligent,” Loebig said.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Luis Aragon told the judge that relatives of the boy believe the two-year sentence is not enough.
The judge said her only options were to sentence Pannel to the agreed-upon two years or to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea and face a potential murder trial. Neither attorney made a request to withdraw the plea.
Aragon has said the plea bargain was accepted because prosecutors did not have facts or evidence to prove the shooting was done deliberately or with malice. On the afternoon of the shooting, Aragon said, Pannel and his friends had been target shooting and drinking beer.
At first, another man, Leonard Cuen, 21, was arrested for the slaying; the fatal shot emanated from the rear balcony of his border-area home. But Cuen was eventually cleared of criminal involvement and released.
The prosecutor said the boy was 400 yards from the house when he was shot in the head.
The judge gave Pannel credit for 120 days already spent in jail, which will be subtracted from his prison term.
|
d13450498f7fff61c185bce6c87e766d | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1655-story.html | A Foul on ‘Silk’ | A Foul on ‘Silk’
Businessman and former Laker star Jamaal Wilkes had every right to complain about two Los Angeles police officers on a robbery detail who pulled him over and handcuffed him during a routine traffic stop. That kind of humiliating harassment is an unfortunate part of life for many law-abiding black men.
Wilkes (“Silk,” as he’s known to fans nationwide) was stopped blocks from his office in the Mid-Wilshire district. Why? Because his registration was about to expire, Wilkes says he was told by the officers at the scene. Since when is that a violation? They hand-cuffed him, police say, because a computer check first registered an outstanding felony warrant, then later showed a clear record.
Wilkes complained. The officers later said they stopped him because a tiny light above his license plate was out. That is disputed by Wilkes, who believes he was stopped and hand-cuffed only because he is a black man.
When to use handcuffs is certainly a judgment call that should be left up to officers on the scene. They face a potentially volatile situation when they stop someone in car. But sensitivity is part of sound judgment.
The Los Angeles Police Department captain in charge of the Wilshire Division made that point to his troops. Captain J. I. Davis also wrote a letter of apology to Wilkes for the lack of a thorough explanation of why the former athlete had been detained and for any embarrassment. More important, Davis promised additional training for his officers.
The Wilkes incident demonstrates the need to keep sensitive and accessible officers at the top of the department. Assistant Chief Jess Brewer--who retired Friday from the No. 2 position--was a tough cop and an advocate for equitable treatment of minorities inside and outside of the department. His replacement should have similar qualities.
The Wilkes incident raises many questions. Does the message from the top--which has improved in recent years--reach the patrol officers?
Are minority men in certain cars or certain neighborhoods considered automatically suspect? Is there extra scrutiny during traffic stops? A more challenging approach on the part of police officers? A greater tendency to order the motorist out of a car and reach for the handcuffs?
Do some officers see a potential felon behind every black face? Black men do commit a disproportionately high percentage of street crimes. But as John Mack of the Los Angeles Urban League points out, that sad reality does not give any cop carte blanche to suspect all black men, or violate their civil liberties.
The LAPD rightly apologized for the poor explanations Wilkes originally received from officers. But it’s troubling that the incident occurred at all.
|
45d0b856d8efb7edeb34f5b7715288da | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1659-story.html | Women Serving in the Gulf War | Women Serving in the Gulf War
What is wrong with women in the battlefield during Operation Desert Storm? Absolutely nothing! But Mary Kenny has tried desperately to pull our heartstrings on the issue of mothers on the front lines of the war in the Gulf.
Funny, I don’t recall the United Sates forcing these women to go there. However, I do recall them volunteering to join the armed forces. And in doing so, they knew the risks involved in such an endeavor. I guess they just didn’t think that the war would actually take place, and now they cry “foul!”
On one hand, women want to be treated as equals, yet, on the other hand, when it comes time for them to become the male’s equal, they scream “unfair” and want to back out of their agreement.
WILLIAM J. KELLER JR.
Fontana
|
d8f746dc947215f08ea721f67213f1bd | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1662-story.html | Women Serving in the Gulf War | Women Serving in the Gulf War
Mary Kenny, the author of the column “Mothers of Babies, Not Battles,” (Commentary, Feb. 20) needs to remove her personal response to being a warrior and try to understand why women have enlisted in our military service. She found it reprehensible that a mother would not only be called off to battle but follow through on those orders. Nowhere in her article did she ask why a woman would choose to be in the military or be a police officer or any high-risk occupation. Those are personal decisions that are made by the individual that are balanced by one’s beliefs, convictions, desires, aspirations and skills. To prevent women from performing any job because the public feels uncomfortable about them holding that position is purely sexist.
Kenny seemed to feel that the loss of a father is less important than the loss of a mother. Death is death and family is family.
She also felt that having women as soldiers is betraying a “chivalric ideal that women and children should be protected by the more brutish male.” Unfortunately, that ideal is a myth. In our society women are not protected by men, they are brutalized by men. The statistics are shocking. Every 15 seconds a woman is beaten, every six minutes a woman is raped and every six hours a woman is killed by her husband or lover. The single largest cause of injury to women in the U.S. is domestic violence. The truly sad social commentary is that the women serving in the Gulf are safer than many women in the U.S. in their homes with their husbands.
LINDA C. McCABE
Woodland Hills
|
56b6c1ef4d9c2de3f45852bedca9ede1 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1668-story.html | Jury Calls for Life Term in 1985 Rape, Murder | Jury Calls for Life Term in 1985 Rape, Murder
A jury recommended a life prison sentence without parole Friday for a North Hollywood man convicted of raping and murdering a woman who disappeared from the Sunset Strip.
The San Fernando Superior Court jurors could have recommended the death penalty for Edmund Arne Matthews, 33, who they found guilty last month of first-degree murder and rape.
Judge Ronald S. Coen scheduled formal sentencing for Matthews on April 19.
Matthews, who was once known on the Sunset Strip as “The Count” because he frequented nightclubs wearing a black cape, was convicted of killing Lisa Ann Mather. She was last seen alive Jan. 12, 1985, outside the Whisky A Go Go nightclub.
Nearly two years later, Mather’s bones were discovered by a hiker near Coldwater Canyon Avenue in the hills of Sherman Oaks.
Matthews became a suspect in the case because he had been convicted of raping a North Hollywood woman after picking her up on the Sunset Strip and taking her to the same area where Mather’s body was found. He is serving a 10-year sentence for rape in that case.
After being accused of the slaying, Matthews maintained that Mather had voluntarily gone with him to the remote site and that she allowed him to tie a rope around her neck. He claimed she was strangled when she slipped off the muddy hillside with the rope around her neck.
|
d73498a0c499a9132aa193680e595cbc | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1842-story.html | New Coroner Choice Is No Stranger to Controversy | New Coroner Choice Is No Stranger to Controversy
Dr. Yong-Myun Rho, one of New York City’s top medical examiners, said Friday he has accepted the job of Los Angeles County coroner after the man who was the county’s first choice changed his mind and rejected the post.
In a telephone interview Friday evening from his New York residence, Rho confirmed he had accepted the $150,000-a-year position in one of the nation’s busiest coroner’s offices.
“I think I can handle the job,” said Rho, who added that he has held his New York job as deputy chief medical examiner supervising the borough of Queens since 1978.
Rho will be taking a post that has been mired in considerable controversy in recent years.
Both former coroners Thomas T. Noguchi, who served from 1968 to 1982, and Ronald N. Kornblum, who held the office from 1982 until last year, left the office under fire stemming from accusations of poor management.
For his part, Rho, 61, is no stranger to controversy.
In the 1980s, he served as a deputy to Dr. Elliot M. Gross, then New York City’s chief medical examiner.
At the time, Gross’ office was coming under intense criticism from many lawyers and pathologists who alleged that its once high quality had badly deteriorated. Doctors alleged that equipment was out of date. And Gross acknowledged that autopsies were being performed in the presence of only one doctor, a violation of city law, the New York Times reported in 1985.
That year, amid a growing investigation of the New York City coroner’s office, the State Board of Professional Medical Conduct said Rho improperly determined the cause of death in one autopsy. They also found that Rho had made seven separate errors in investigating and reporting a gunshot wound in a second autopsy.
A lower court agreed that Rho had not properly performed the autopsies. But ultimately, the New York State Court of Appeals overturned the decision.
“It was nothing at all,” Rho said Friday when asked to comment on the court case. “Dr. Gross was the target at the time. I was somehow rolled into it.”
As a result of the controversy, Gross resigned and is practicing private forensic medicine in Gary, Ind. Gross also was one of about two dozen applicants for the Los Angeles coroner’s post.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ first choice to succeed Kornblum was Dr. Joshua Perper, the current coroner of Allegheny County, Pa., which includes the Pittsburgh area. Perper said he turned down the Los Angeles job because of the city’s high cost of living.
Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, Perper’s predecessor who currently is in private practice in Pittsburgh, said he is familiar with the charges that were leveled against Rho because he was involved in a court case that ultimately led to some of the charges against Gross.
“They were quite serious charges which could have resulted in revocation or suspension of Rho’s license,” Wecht said in a telephone interview Friday night.
“It’s not my intention or purpose to dump on Rho,” he said. “I’m just making the observation that the charges were serious.”
Dennis Morefield, an aide to Supervisor Deane Dana, confirmed that Rho had accepted the county’s offer to become its new medical examiner. Rho is scheduled for confirmation by the Board of Supervisors at its Tuesday meeting.
Morefield and Mas Fukai, chief deputy to Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, said they were not aware of any problems in Rho’s medical career.
For his part, Rho said that when he was interviewed for the Los Angeles coroner’s post last year, “I only answered their questions and didn’t bring it up.”
Rho graduated from Seoul National University Medical School in Korea and did postgraduate work at New York University.
|
47b4b82814acd9fcd325130222ce9d2a | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1843-story.html | Latest Rainstorm Packs a Punch | Latest Rainstorm Packs a Punch
The latest in a series of storms pelted Southern California on Friday, bringing strong winds and high tides that sent part of a Malibu home crashing into the surf below and causing flooding, power failures and beach closures from Los Angeles to San Diego.
The showers were the tail end of the second major storm to pass through Southern California since Wednesday, when the strongest storm systems in years began dropping more rain on the region than in the previous eight months, and spawned a rare tornado that damaged dozens of homes in Orange County.
With Friday’s storm came more problems. In Malibu, heavy surf slammed against a row of expensive beachfront properties at Las Tunas Beach, severely damaging one home and threatening to undermine at least two others nearby.
“There wasn’t much we could do,” County Fire Department Capt. Larry Huerta said around 10 a.m., after violent waves swept the pilings from beneath a two-story house in the 18000 block of Pacific Coast Highway, causing its front to collapse onto the beach.
Pounding surf driven by the storm also swept away boats along Los Angeles County beaches, and flooded septic tank fields near beachside homes, causing sewage spills that forced the indefinite closure of miles of beaches from the Palos Verdes Peninsula to the Los Angeles County line. Overnight, at least a dozen homes were flooded in the western Antelope Valley, and morning rain contributed to a 20-car pileup on the Santa Ana Freeway near Mission Viejo. Breakers as high as 10 feet were reported in San Diego.
The storm was expected to move east and away from Southern California by this morning, leaving behind a weekend of dry but cloudy skies. However, two more storm systems are expected to pass through the region next week, possibly bringing showers Tuesday that could continue off and on through Friday.
The rain was a welcome, though temporary, reprieve from the parching five-year drought that has gripped California.
Almost 0.7 of an inch fell at the Los Angeles Civic Center during a 24-hour period ending late Friday, bringing the season’s total to 5.17 inches--most of that falling this week. The total was less than half the season’s normal rainfall of 11.7 inches, but weather experts were pleased nevertheless.
“We’re still short, but it’s a step in the right direction,” said WeatherData meteorologist Steve Burback. “Usually this is the tail end of the (rainy) season, so it caught us just in time after being so desperately dry.”
In other parts of the Southland on Friday, Culver City recorded an inch of rain, Montebello reported 1.55 inches, Long Beach 1.28, Newport Beach 1.25 and Palm Springs 1.93. Rainfall generally varied from 1 to 3 inches in other parts of the region.
No one was injured at the Malibu house that collapsed and the owner, who was away at the time, managed with the help of neighbors to remove most of his furniture and belongings. County building and safety officials condemned the property.
“It doesn’t look good, but I’m thankful that we were able to get most everything out,” owner Greg Econn said. Econn, who remodeled the house as a weekend and summer home several years ago, learned of the incident after a neighbor called him at work.
“I heard a loud bang and looked out and the house was down,” said Fay Singer, whose beach home is next to the badly damaged house.
Witnesses said that once waves demolished part of a sea wall protecting the house from the ocean, it was only a few minutes before the foundation of the house began to crumble.
“I knew something awful had happened when a big wave lashed up over my patio and hit my living room window,” said Sharon Cain, who watched from her second-story living room as Econn’s house, three doors away, slid perilously close to the sea.
“As soon as I looked out, I saw it go,” she said. “First, the (outside) stairs broke off, and then the patio buckled, and then the whole house sort of shifted to the left and collapsed.”
In the western Antelope Valley, homes were flooded when an overnight collapse of a water detention basin sent a muddy river flowing through the community of Quartz Hill. Moving mud banks shoved parked cars out into the middle of the street.
Los Angeles County firefighters struggled to stem the water flow with sandbags throughout the day, possibly preventing the erosion of another basin.
Wind and rain caused $100,000 in damage to the Yucca Bowl, a bowling alley in Yucca Valley, 100 miles east of Los Angeles. Winds lifted a roof coating and rain water poured inside, damaging the lanes, officials said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Water and Power and the California Highway Patrol were kept busy responding to power failures and accidents on rain-slicked roads.
Power lines knocked out by lightning and strong winds left 35,000 people without electricity by early Friday afternoon, said DWP spokesman Ed Freudenburg. Most of the affected customers were in the city of Los Angeles, he said, and power was expected to be restored by the evening.
A spokeswoman for Pacific Bell said the storm had temporarily disrupted telephone service to 30,000 customers throughout Southern California.
CHP Officer Chuck Mosley said accidents caused temporary closures of several freeways.
In Woodland Hills, a fallen pepper tree blocked the 4700 block of heavily traveled Topanga Canyon Boulevard for more than an hour Friday morning.
Fender-benders made for brisk business for at least one local insurance company. Brenda Smith of State Farm Insurance said that about 500 losses had been reported between Wednesday and Friday afternoon.
The volume “is large enough for us to have to set up a special unit just to handle them and we’re anticipating more losses,” Smith said.
The second storm, which blew in from the Pacific late Thursday night, stirred up waves as high as eight feet in San Diego and Orange counties. The waves were high enough to pique the interest of surfers but were rendered unridable by the high winds.
“It’s like Victory at Sea here,” said Huntington Beach Lifeguard Lt. Steve Davidson. “It looks like the agitation cycle in a washing machine.”
Larry Wheaton, a 35-year-old surfer from San Diego, sat on the sands of Laguna Beach watching the roiling waves. “It’s pretty junky and bumpy out there,” he said. Times staff writers Amy Pyle and James M. Gomez and Times wire services contributed to this story.
The Rain 24-hour total (as of 4:30 p.m.).63 in. Storm total: 3.79 in. Monthly total: 3.79 in. Total for season: 5.17 in. Last season to date: 5.43 in. Normal season to date: 11.16 in. Figues based on 7 p.m. Friday readings at the Los Angeles Civic Center, were compiled by the National Weather Service.
|
2c4bf4ab060a658ad858173a06878f5e | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1846-story.html | Drive Seeks $2 Million in Aid for Troops’ Families | Drive Seeks $2 Million in Aid for Troops’ Families
The American Red Cross and the United Way announced a drive Friday to raise $2 million in the Los Angeles area for programs that help families of troops serving in the Persian Gulf.
The money will be used to assist voluntary agencies that have been helping the families of the 42,000 Southern California members of the armed forces in the Persian Gulf, according to officials of the charities, who were joined at a City Hall press conference by Mayor Tom Bradley.
“Some may say, ‘The war is over, why the need to raise money at this time?’ Let me tell you that the need is not over just because the war has been won,” Bradley said. “These families are going to be without their major providers for quite some time.”
|
d5579ab9e766b07e8e665e42a3e59277 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1848-story.html | City Council Creates Endowment for the Arts | City Council Creates Endowment for the Arts
The Los Angeles City Council, creating a permanent endowment for the arts, adopted a law Friday that requires developers of commercial projects to pay special fees that will go toward cultural and artistic facilities and services.
Councilman Joel Wachs said the fees, approved by a 10-1 vote, will “make the arts accessible to all neighborhoods, not just downtown.”
The fees will be based on the size, use, expected occupancy of the proposed development and other factors.
Developers can either make contributions to an Arts Development Fee Trust Fund, to be administered by the Cultural Affairs Department, or apply to receive a credit to provide cultural facilities that will serve the project and its users.
The services could include murals, exhibitions, the performing arts, lectures or special events such as festivals.
|
cf75b1ef881a466435a04e1269e5696f | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1849-story.html | Slumlord Begins Serving 4-Month Jail Sentence | Slumlord Begins Serving 4-Month Jail Sentence
A Beverly Hills man began serving a four-month jail sentence Friday over slum conditions at his Westlake district hotel.
Aaron G. Kempe was taken into custody in the Los Angeles courtroom of Judge John Loomis after losing an appeal of a 1989 conviction for failing to make repairs at the Stratford Hotel.
As part of his sentence, Kempe, 64, must also pay $100,000 to five agencies serving the homeless: Midnight Mission, Downtown Women’s Center, Los Angeles Mission, Fred Jordan Mission and Para Los Ninos.
In 1989, Kempe served a 45-day sentence under house arrest at the hotel. City Atty. James K. Hahn said Kempe is under court order to sell the 93-room hotel at 2620 W. 8th St. “By his attitude and total disregard for the safety and welfare of his tenants, he has forfeited the right to be the landlord,” Hahn said.
|
a3fdf473d7e3e4d0a01b35895b1f1244 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1854-story.html | Garcia Altered Date Books, Prosecutor Says | Garcia Altered Date Books, Prosecutor Says
A federal prosecutor Friday accused Darnell Garcia of altering his personal calendar books so he could refute allegations that he stole millions of dollars in narcotics and cash while working as a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent.
The date books have become a key to Garcia’s defense and he has relied heavily on them during five days of testimony at his jury trial in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
“You’ve altered some of the entries in your calendars since you learned you were under investigation, didn’t you?” Assistant U.S. Atty. Joyce Karlin asked during a second day of intense cross-examination.
“No,” Garcia replied, speaking in a low voice.
Under further questioning, Garcia conceded that in at least one instance he altered a ledger entry to greatly increase his income during a time that the government believes he was profiting from drug trafficking.
Some of Garcia’s logs for 1982 to 1987 are book-sized with red covers. Others are larger “month at a glance” ledgers with black covers. They have been sent to a government laboratory, where experts are trying to determine if Garcia has changed his original notes since he was indicted in 1988 on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering.
Although lab results are not expected until next week, Karlin’s questioning indicated she was confident that Garcia had tampered with the date books.
Neither Karlin nor co-prosecutor Stefan Stein would comment on the lab work.
The date books purport to show his daily appointments and travels as well as outside income. They are not official DEA records.
Garcia has been incarcerated since July, 1989, when he was arrested in Luxembourg after a seven-month international manhunt.
Garcia, 44, of Rancho Palos Verdes is the last defendant in a corruption scandal that centered in the DEA’s Los Angeles office in the 1980s. Two other former agents, John Jackson and Wayne Countryman, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges. They have testified that Garcia participated with them in thefts of narcotics.
Garcia’s defense is that he was able to deposit about $3 million in a Swiss bank account because he was paid big commissions by an Italian jewelry firm to smuggle gold chains past U.S. Customs. Under the extradition agreement with Luxembourg, he was not charged with smuggling, a felony. The government has charged that the $3 million represents Garcia’s illicit drug profits.
On Thursday, Garcia estimated that--based on his date books--he smuggled more than five tons of gold chains into the United States over a five-year period. During three of those years, he was a DEA agent.
Taking note that Garcia has been in jail for more than 1 1/2 years, Karlin told him: “You had every opportunity to go back to your calendars and alter them.” Garcia denied this.
Karlin said it was curious that in November, 1988, government agents searched Garcia’s Rancho Palos Verdes house but failed to find the date books. Garcia testified Friday that they were on a bookshelf in his library “in plain view.”
Karlin accused Garcia with being “selective” in his entries. She said he attempted to “distance” himself from Jackson, Countryman and convicted drug dealer Ron Waddy, who Garcia is accused of harboring, by crossing out references to them or not mentioning them at all. Garcia denied this.
Among the alterations, Karlin said, was one for Dec. 28, 1985--a note for Garcia’s gold smuggling profits for that year. Garcia, she told jurors, placed the number “4" in front of his original entry of $59,905, thus increasing his profit by $400,000. At the same time, she said, Garcia added the notation: “Profit to me.”
Garcia testified he “may have” recalculated the figure.
“You had to justify your big Swiss deposits?” the prosecutor asked.
“No,” Garcia replied.
|
98eb8f221e329269360462ce0585ea58 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-me-1933-story.html | DANA POINT : Sheriff’s Deputies to Begin Bike Patrols | DANA POINT : Sheriff’s Deputies to Begin Bike Patrols
The Sheriff’s Department will begin bicycle patrols in this harbor city next week.
Lt. Dan Martini, a department spokesman, compared the new bike patrol unit to a modern version of the cop on horseback.
“It does offer that idea of a more personalized service,” Martini said. “It gets the officer away from being behind a car door. We are encouraging the officers to make contact with people in the community.”
Most important, the bikes offer a police officer mobility in some of the more crowded and inaccessible areas of the city, such as the residential Lantern District, the Doheny Village area, downtown and Capistrano Beach, Martini said.
“We looked into the horseback idea, and looked at mopeds, three-wheel ATCs (all-terrain cycles), but as far as practicality goes, the bikes top the list,” Martini said.
The Dana Point City Council this week allocated $2,195 to purchase two Raleigh “Chill” mountain bikes, which retail for about $700 each, and riding equipment such as shorts, shoes, gloves and helmets.
|
228b88ca0740d7e7d6fa038932d7c985 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-mn-1739-story.html | Kuwait’s Rebels Vow to Speak Out | Kuwait’s Rebels Vow to Speak Out
Hussein Abdurahman still had his Kalashnikov rifle slung over his shoulder when he strolled into the lobby of a downtown hotel and a government official asked him to put away his gun. “You are embarrassing the government,” the man whispered.
“I said to him, ‘Shut up. You are not able to talk to me. Because you’ve been outside the country, and I’ve been here, keeping the country,’ ” said Abdurahman, a leader of the Kuwaiti resistance.
It was a remarkable exchange in this region of sheikdoms, emirates and monarchies, where the word of the government can normally be accepted as final. But these are not normal times.
For seven months, while Kuwait’s emir, crown prince and Cabinet ministers waited in exile, the Kuwaiti resistance picked away at the Iraqi occupiers, staging small nighttime rifle raids, lobbing Molotov cocktails at supply trucks, setting off car bombs near Iraqi gathering spots--all in the name of reminding the Iraqi occupiers--and the world--that the invisible land behind the intimidating barrier of tanks was still called Kuwait.
Now, while Kuwait’s official government remains hundreds of miles away in Saudi Arabia, resistance leaders have become folk heroes among a populace that is in many ways bitterly resentful of the Kuwaitis who left. And the resistance, which now controls most of Kuwait city, appears disinclined to remain silent after Sheik Jabbar al Ahmed al Sabah returns to his palace.
“We are here, and they have to listen to us,” Abdurahman said, explaining his clash with the government official. “Someone should tell the government that when the troops came into Paris, the resistance was in charge.”
A Saudi journalist with close connections in the Persian Gulf region warned: “I’m afraid there could be a civil war. The resistance will challenge the emir, and they have the guns.”
The city remains a violent place. A Kuwaiti opposition leader was recently shot by unknown assailants in an apparent assassination attempt, and a large section of central Kuwait city was closed off Friday night when a firefight broke out between Qatari troops and unknown snipers. Resistance leaders continue to round up Palestinians suspected of collaborating with the Iraqi occupiers, and in one central Kuwait police station Friday, a suspected collaborator was led in, screaming and crying, by members of the resistance.
“Ay, Mohammed! Ay, Mohammed!” the man shouted.
“I don’t agree with this kind of thing, but some things you have to do,” a resistance leader murmured. “Remember what the Iraqis did to us.”
Abdurahman said he has had no inclination to sympathize with the Iraqi forces who plundered Kuwait and murdered his 16-year-old niece for ferrying weapons for the underground.
“When I killed them, I killed them as we kill the sheep, with a knife,” he said. “I put his body on the floor, like this,” he said, signaling a place under his foot. “And I pull his head over and I cut it, like that. We burned their bodies with the garbage at Mubarak Hospital.”
The quiet mountain resort at Taif, Saudi Arabia, where Kuwait’s government leaders have done their business to the quiet tinkling of a fountain in a hotel lobby, is as far from Kuwait city as the moon.
Kuwaiti government leaders apparently know that. Sheik Jabbar has both pledged a return to democracy, something already demanded by resistance leaders, and imposed three months of martial law.
“It has been something incredible. Most of the time, we work without the help of anybody. The only creature with us was God,” said Ahmed Hindi, one of the best known of the resistance leaders.
“Most of the time, I am angry at the people who left,” he said. “Why did they go? They had no reason. What can they say? Because they get hunted? I got hunted. Because they get shot? I got shot. If they have reason, we have more, but we didn’t leave.”
The resistance was born on the morning of Aug. 2 when Iraqi troops thundered into Kuwait city, resistance leaders say. As the Kuwaiti army eventually fled south to Saudi Arabia, citizens began phoning each other to try to figure out what to do next.
Abdurahman headed over to the hospital and started selecting weapons from the injured and the dead. Others contacted soldiers who hadn’t made it to their base that morning and started a distribution of heavier-duty weapons: hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades, automatic rifles.
Leaders and members of the resistance gave this account:
The Kuwaiti resistance started as a group of five men in Kuwait city who met and decided to organize to fight the advancing occupiers, according to interviews with a number of resistance leaders. It grew from five to 25. Eventually it numbered more than 1,000.
At first, resistance fighters launched individual hits against soldiers on the streets, standing in dark corners or driving by in speeding cars and firing as they passed.
“Any soldier we saw, we killed,” Hindi said. “Everybody we see walking on the road, two, three, we hit them. We hit them quick and ran.”
As they grew more sophisticated, the Kuwaitis began targeting senior Iraqi officers and, in one case, an administrator from Iraq’s ruling Baath Socialist Party who was overseeing many operations in Kuwait city.
Because of their close network in Kuwait city, resistance fighters could quickly find out where an Iraqi officer lived, when he usually came home, who accompanied him.
In the first such operation, directed at an Iraqi colonel, four resistance fighters jumped over the back wall of the colonel’s house and crouched in the garden, Hindi recounted. Three others waited in the darkness out front.
Bodyguards from the first car that arrived walked back to search the garden. The awaiting Kuwaitis opened fire, killing them, then ran out to the driveway, where the colonel was emerging from a second car, and shot him. The three men waiting in front shot several Iraqi intelligence officers in a third car. In all, nine Iraqis were killed.
It was Hindi’s first major operation.
“It looks like I will live this thing all my life,” he said. “My hands didn’t shake. I didn’t make any mistake. When I looked to myself, I was doing a professional job.”
Hindi’s group next launched an operation against a Baath Party official, breaking into his house, tying up his daughter and her husband and waiting silently for a little less than half an hour until the man arrived. As he pulled into the garage, the Kuwaitis rushed out and began to shoot.
Hindi was rushing down the street when Iraqi soldiers in the house next door opened fire. “I was running, and I feel hit here,” he said, pointing to the back of his calf. “But not a lot of pain. I was even driving until we reached the place we planned to sit in after the operation.”
His friend called a doctor cooperating with the resistance, a pediatrician who said the bullet had come out near Hindi’s foot.
One of the largest operations ever mounted by the resistance occurred in late August when Iraqi troops began moving into Kaifan, a suburb of the capital that they had previously neglected in their rush to secure the city and the borders.
“They came to surround the area, so all the people start to come out and fight,” Hindi recalled.
“They (resistance fighters) started to telephone everybody in Kuwait, ‘Come and help us, come and help us.’ All the Kuwaitis come, everybody has guns comes. We stopped the attack, the first one, but the biggest one, no, we had to run away. There were a lot of dead people. First one, we burned all the trucks. Then they come back with tanks, goddamn tanks. We start to retreat.”
The Iraqi army, enraged, clamped down on the resistance to a terrifying degree. After the bodies of several Iraqi soldiers were found at a school in the Al Rouda area, Iraqi soldiers set fire to all the houses surrounding the campus, giving residents little warning.
“They entered the house,” recalled one young Kuwaiti, Tarik Mazidi, speaking of the Iraqis. “They say, ‘You have five minutes to leave the house.’ The people say, ‘Please’; they start crying. They (the Iraqis) say, ‘You have four minutes now.’ ”
Wives, mothers and fathers of resistance leaders were taken into custody, and families were told that they would be exchanged for resistance leaders or else killed. Kuwaiti fighters who were actually captured were reportedly subjected to brutal torture, which began, the resistance leaders said, after Iraqi soldiers had been drinking for several hours. Some Kuwaitis gave in under the torture, disclosing the identities of their companions.
By then, the resistance was no longer operating as a cohesive group but had divided into dozens of small cells that were carrying out independent operations. None knew the identities of fighters outside their own group.
Iraqi authorities had a list of suspected fighters and their addresses, and Kuwaiti citizens went to work, painting out every street sign and house number in Kuwait city in a matter of days, hoping it would make it harder for Iraqi soldiers to track down resistance leaders. Citizens who were asked directions often sent soldiers driving the wrong way.
Hindi got a telephone call one day that a member of his cell had been arrested, and within seconds, he said, the implications began clicking through his brain.
“Straight, I took my family to the border,” he said. “Straight. I know he’s going to confess. I know how they torture. They (the family) say, ‘Wait. Let’s say goodby to friends, to relatives.’ And I say, ‘No, you have to get out now.’ ”
Hindi drove his wife and daughter through the desert to the Saudi Arabian border and paid several Iraqi soldiers to allow them to pass. He went back to Kuwait city to live a life on the run, moving from house to house, never sleeping in the same place for two nights in a row. He became even more well known for slamming into Iraqi soldiers at checkpoints, and Iraqi troops began circulating his picture in an attempt to find him.
“By now, most of our group got killed or ran away,” he said. “I am not a fighter. I am not the army. But can you sleep with a gun in your hand? I can sleep with a gun in my hand, and never with a safety. Seven months I didn’t go to bed without a grenade.”
When Iraqi soldiers began searching houses for weapons, resistance leaders began hiding their guns in their gardens. Kuwait Radio, in an enthusiastic report on the resistance broadcast from Saudi Arabia, disclosed that guns were being hid in gardens, and Iraqi troops showed up the next day with shovels.
Soldiers set up checkpoints to look for weapons, and the radio, to the furious consternation of resistance leaders, boasted that fighters had begun to hide guns under their car seats. Soldiers at the checkpoints started looking under the seats.
Citizens stepped up their participation in the resistance because they had to, the leaders recalled. Women started carrying guns in their cars, because their cars weren’t searched. Young children were tabbed to carry money.
Abdurahman’s 16-year-old niece on a single day carried 11 carloads of weapons for the resistance--and became the first Kuwaiti woman to die as part of the resistance, he said. Her bullet-riddled body was found in the downtown area.
Effectively prevented from carrying weapons on the street, resistance fighters turned to car bombs, driving their cars to an area frequented by Iraqi soldiers, setting the timers and leaving. Bomb-splintered apartments and offices are in evidence at several locations around the city.
For Hindi, it all came down to a rainy night, Jan. 18, the night after allied forces launched the war to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.
By this time, he said, “we can’t stay two hours in the same place. Our family, our friends, all are not safe.”
Hindi, his brother and a colleague were hiding out in an abandoned house and at midafternoon saw a squad of Iraqis surround the residence. As the first troops jumped over the wall and into the yard, Hindi and his associates opened fire, unleashing in return an unholy barrage that peppered the house with fire: grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and .50-cal. machine-gun bullets.
The first floor of the house caught fire, and the three resistance fighters went up to the roof.
“They come in, but they couldn’t reach us because the fire between us and them. The stairs, all of it, burning,” Hindi recalled.
The Iraqis went to the houses next door and started lobbing hand grenades onto the roof while the three men crouched behind a low wall ringing the top of the house.
“I hear a sound, barroom-pgooom , and I see a grenade. It hit the wall and fall down, maybe six meters (about 20 feet) away,” Hindi said. “I crouched on the ground; it exploded.
“I turned to my brother and he said, ‘It’s OK. It’s nothing.’ Suddenly we see another grenade--they throw it. And another grenade. My brother say, ‘I’m hit.’ ”
Meanwhile, the two brothers could hear shouts coming from the houses next door.
“They started to kill the people in the houses around us,” Hindi said. “We heard a woman crying, and shooting, and suddenly quiet.”
Hindi waited quietly, nursing his brother in the gently falling rain until night fell. The Iraqi soldiers waited until there was no more noise from the roof, and left. The fire burned out without reaching the roof. The rain kept falling.
As it turned out, Hindi’s brother had been struck with two fragments in the hip but was not seriously injured. Nineteen people from the surrounding houses were later found dead.
Today, Hindi is hailed as a hero among the hundreds of young resistance leaders who man checkpoints and police stations in a liberated Kuwait city until the former government returns.
“I’m not looking to be leader,” Hindi said. “All I’m looking for is to see my kids, to sit with them, to play with them. That’s all.”
But Abdurahman said most resistance leaders will expect a more responsive government when it returns from Taif.
“We’re not against the emir,” he said. “But we are against many of the policies here, and we have demands.” Among them, he said, is that remaining collaborators be rounded up and tried, that resistance members be allowed to keep their guns and that Kuwait adopt a more democratic government.
“I’m carrying this gun with me because I keep it for seven months, defending my family and myself, and now they come and say, ‘Put it away,’ ” Abdurahman said. “Our mission is not finished, because we have to tell the government what’s happened in this country, and the government has to listen to us.”
|
761afa6f75b74d78149e60eca84b0622 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-mn-1747-story.html | Fugitive Alleged Nazi Charged in World War II Deaths of 3,400 | Fugitive Alleged Nazi Charged in World War II Deaths of 3,400
Alleged Nazi war criminal Josef Schwammberger, who hid in Argentina for 40 years, has been charged in connection with the deaths of more than 3,400 Jews, a state prosecutor’s office announced Friday.
The trial of Schwammberger, 79, could be the last major Nazi war crimes hearing of its type, prosecutors said. Like many elderly former Nazis tried in recent years, Schwammberger is in frail health and has complained of heart problems.
The Baden-Wuerttemberg state prosecutor’s office in Stuttgart issued a statement saying that charges against Schwammberger had been filed and that his trial could begin “possibly in June.” It did not specify when the charges were filed.
Schwammberger is being held in Stuttgart’s high-security Stammheim prison, where the trial is expected to take place.
During World War II, Schwammberger was a Nazi SS lieutenant who commanded forced labor camps in Poland, including concentration camps at Przemysl and Mielec where thousands of inmates, mostly Jews, were interned and died, the prosecutor charges.
The prosecutor’s statement said Schwammberger is suspected of personally killing at least 50 Jewish inmates and assisting in the murders of at least 3,377 others from 1941 to 1944.
Charges against him include murder and accessory to murder. The statement said he “carried out some of the murders in a cruel fashion out of a feeling of self-superiority and racist hate.”
According to the prosecutor’s office, Schwammberger has admitted shooting one labor camp inmate, “because of special circumstances,” but has denied responsibility in the deaths of the others. It did not elaborate.
Survivors of the camps have claimed that he starved prisoners to death and personally shot at least one Jew. They also say he let attack dogs tear prisoners apart and threw inmates into fires to watch them die.
Schwammberger was arrested after the war by the French army. He escaped in 1948 from a train that was taking him to U.S. military authorities in Austria for trial.
He entered Argentina within months, living under his own name, and obtained citizenship in 1965. For years he worked at a petrochemical plant in La Plata, 30 miles south of Buenos Aires.
West German authorities had sought Schwammberger’s extradition since 1973, when they notified Argentina that he might be living there. Argentine officials found him in 1987 in Huerta Grande, a village 500 miles northwest of Buenos Aires.
After two years of appeals to fight extradition, Schwammberger was returned against his will to Germany on May 3. For years he had been on the list of 10 most wanted Nazis compiled by famed Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles said it has found 73 witnesses and conclusive evidence against Schwammberger.
|
48265446b102d35480f7be9e9fcc9b8e | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-mn-1750-story.html | THE MIDEAST’S RECORD ON CEASE-FIRES | THE MIDEAST’S RECORD ON CEASE-FIRES
Permanent peace in the Middle East--or for that matter, even a lasting cease-fire--has been an elusive quest. Some recent examples:
IRAN-IRAQ WAR: Baghdad responded to Iran’s initial acceptance of U.N. cease-fire resolutions in 1988 by bombing industrial sites inside Iran. Moreover, Iran accused Iraq of using chemical weapons and causing 2,700 casualties in two days during the cease-fire.
The fighting came to a formal end Aug. 8, 1988. But the exchange of prisoners--70,000 Iraqi and 45,000 Iranian POWs--wasn’t resolved until last August, when Saddam Hussein made surprise territorial concessions in hopes of winning Iran’s support for its actions in Kuwait.
LEBANON: Cease-fires between rival factions have been mere interludes, sometimes lasting just hours, before the next round of killing began. This has been going on since the mid-1970s.
SIX-DAY WAR: Israel and Egypt showed initial signs of talking peace after the war in June, 1967, but an Arab summit meeting, with Soviet support, formed a policy of non-recognition, no talks and no peace with Israel.
YOM KIPPUR WAR: Israel signed disengagement agreements with Egypt and Syria after the October, 1973, war, but it was two years before an interim accord on the Sinai Peninsula was signed and five years before Israel and Egypt made peace at Camp David. Egypt didn’t regain control of the Sinai until 1982.
|
04fe79b948ce12c9264a3c18e2b38681 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-mn-1753-story.html | AFTERMATH OF WAR : Destroyed Armor: Recycle? | AFTERMATH OF WAR : Destroyed Armor: Recycle?
Gershow Recycling, which handles tons of metal on New York’s Long Island each year, says the charred remnants of 4,000 Iraqi tanks in the Gulf may represent the largest repository of recyclable metal in the world--200,000 tons of steel. The firm suggests that the tanks--representing perhaps 60 tons each--could be used for:
100 billion paper clips
67 billion bottle caps
16 million bicycles
10 million filing cabinets
|
91c830517f14bf253554703fc1f88306 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-mn-1756-story.html | Mourners, Shoppers in Baghdad : Iraq: Relieved that air raids are over, war-weary residents visit mosques to pray for the dead. | Mourners, Shoppers in Baghdad : Iraq: Relieved that air raids are over, war-weary residents visit mosques to pray for the dead.
Relieved Iraqis went to mosques on Friday free from the fear of allied bombs. For many, it was a pilgrimage of mourning.
In the Kadhimain district of Baghdad, site of a Shiite Muslim shrine, the faithful knelt in the Great Mosque of Kadhimain to give thanks for peace.
“People prayed for peace and to teach our people to understand what happened,” said Ali Mohammed, a Baghdad University history professor. “Our people have to rebuild themselves first and then rebuild their country.”
Outside the mosque, the walls were bedecked with five black banners with white script in mourning for soldiers and civilians killed in the Gulf War.
In a country of 18 million people, with an estimated prewar army of 1 million regulars and reservists, hardly anyone in Iraq did not have a friend or a relative in the war.
“There will not be one single family that will not be affected,” said Msgr. Marian Oles, the Vatican ambassador to Iraq and Kuwait.
Shoppers crowded Baghdad’s main market to buy goods that have become essential in a city deprived of electricity, fuel and water by the allied bombing that lasted from Jan. 17 to Thursday’s halt in the fighting.
“If the war is really over, I will throw all this lot in the river,” said Kadhim Hamad, selling oil lamps and battered kerosene gas stoves from a stall. His large lamps, which nobody wanted before the allied air raids cut electricity, now sell for $350, nearly five times their prewar price.
Other merchants did a brisk trade in candles, matches, plastic water containers, lamp wicks and batteries from Iran.
“We and our children are filled with great joy that we have been relieved of this disaster,” said Sahed Ghani, an 80-year-old store owner selling Arab headdresses.
Traders said the market was busy after the first 24 hours without an air raid.
“There is more movement. People are relieved that there are no more air raids, no more war,” said Ali Mahdi, a 29-year-old selling shoes at his father’s store.
His full-time job at a government ministry ended when the building was bombed.
“This will keep me going until things get back to normal,” he said.
Soldiers, some back from Kuwait and southern Iraq, mingled with civilians at a stall selling charcoal-grilled kebabs, sweet tea and dates.
Many Baghdad residents returned to the city from outlying districts and the countryside, where they had sought safety from air raids. Fixed curtains used in many homes to stop light from escaping at night were taken down. Some Iraqis said they had used car batteries to power bright lights Thursday night after weeks under the dim glow of candles and oil lamps.
Official newspapers on Friday continued to boast of victory, claiming that Iraq had inflicted heavy losses on allied troops. The statements contradict allied reports of tens of thousands of Iraqi war dead and prisoners. Many Iraqis said they had heard such reports on foreign radio stations but did not believe them.
“You know, in war there are always prisoners, death and casualties,” said Latif Mohammed, a 35-year-old army reservist.
Air raids and reports from returning soldiers that Iraqi troops were bombed as they withdrew from Kuwait have caused bitterness and resentment against the United States.
“There is a real anti-American sentiment. This is the first time I have felt this, it is growing very fast,” said Mohammed, the history professor, who was educated in the United States.
|
59702c8565145abd5d0332ace139e371 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-mn-1763-story.html | Millions of Iraqis Face Threat of Epidemics, U.N. Health Officials Warn : Medicine: They cite an urgent need to restore water supplies, food stocks and medical services. | Millions of Iraqis Face Threat of Epidemics, U.N. Health Officials Warn : Medicine: They cite an urgent need to restore water supplies, food stocks and medical services.
Raising the specter of cholera epidemics and widespread malnutrition, U.N. officials warned Friday that millions of lives may still be in danger unless water supplies, food stocks and medical services are urgently restored in Iraq.
“What we are concerned with is that millions of lives are at stake, especially children,” said James P. Grant, executive director of the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF). “I don’t think anyone in the West--anyone in the coalition--would want to see tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of children die as a result of this war.”
Grant and Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), undertook a dramatic, five-day U.N. survey of the Baghdad area. It ended two days before the allied ground offensive began.
Their team’s report offered a gripping account of the suffering of Baghdad civilians under the onslaught of the allied air offensive. The officials insisted that the suffering had not stopped with the halt in the hostilities. They predicted that the situation in Basra and the countryside were surely far worse than that in Baghdad.
“The Tigris River,” said Richard Reid, co-leader of the UNICEF team, “has been used as a well, as a bathing place and, increasingly, as a latrine.” Citing fears of a possible cholera epidemic and extensive malnutrition in the weeks ahead, he warned that a “truly drastic situation” had developed and said there is “a burning urgency to make sure that kids and pregnant women do not fall victim to the things that are edging in around them.”
The problems have been eased somewhat by Baghdad’s chilly winter weather, Reid said, but he warned that warm weather would start in four to five weeks. Iraq would then become the “hottest place on Earth,” a breeding ground for cholera, typhoid and meningitis, he said.
Reid said that if relief aid does not arrive soon, the breakdown of services and supplies “could cause more deaths and casualties than the bombing and fighting.” As a stop-gap measure, he urged the allied military forces to make their stores of medical supplies available immediately to the defeated Iraqis.
The UNICEF-WHO report bristled with a host of stark images: mothers whose nerves are so frayed by bombing that they cannot breast-feed infants; pregnant women subsisting on only a third of the calories they need; families unable to boil polluted river water because of fuel shortages; sleepless children wetting their beds out of anxiety; a four-fold increase in diarrhea cases, the surest sign of an oncoming cholera epidemic; mothers with children turned away from health clinics because of a shortage of drugs and vaccines; doctors unable to reach medical centers because of the lack of gasoline for their cars; a halt in the manufacture of disposable syringes; and the use of plastic bags for intravenous feeding.
Nakajima said WHO already had stockpiled medical supplies in Bahrain for use in five hospitals in Kuwait. But it had not sent any materials to Iraq, since the team crossed the border from Tehran on Feb. 16 with 54 tons of medical supplies.
Upon receiving the report, U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar said he would send U.N. Undersecretary General Martti Ahtisaari to the Persian Gulf to see what role the United Nations can play in supplying humanitarian aid.
“It was evident to us that the United Nations system must react with all due speed . . . to provide help urgently to those in need,” Perez de Cuellar said.
In their report, the U.N. team said the Baghdad government, which had supplied 500 liters (131.5 gallons) of water daily to every resident before the bombing began, was now supplying just 15 liters (just under four gallons) daily. That compares with the 94 to 149 gallons used daily by Southern Californians, according to the Metropolitan Water District.
The UNICEF-WHO team proposed spending $1.3 million on generator fuel, chemical purifiers and other supplies to raise the water ration in Baghdad to 40 liters daily per person for three months. To do that throughout the rest of Iraq might cost $4 million more, the team said.
To deal with food and nutrition problems, the team proposed that: aid agencies supply infant formula for children younger than 4 months; a campaign be launched to promote continued breast-feeding; foods for young children be developed, based on materials available in Iraq; a system be set up to monitor children to ensure malnutrition problems do not become sweeping.
Because the Iraqi Ministry of Health is now powerless to deal with an epidemic, the team recommended that aid agencies buy drugs to fight cholera and meningitis. U.N. officials also urged the ministry to resume monitoring the incidence of serious illness so it could move quickly at any epidemic’s onset.
RELIEF AGENCIES
The following groups are accepting cash donations to support their efforts in providing humanitarian assistance to civilian victims of the Persian Gulf War. Those wishing to donate goods or volunteer their services should contact Volunteers in Technical Assistance, (703) 276-1914.
Adventist Development and Relief Agency, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Springs, Md. 20904.
American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19102.
American Jewish World Service, 1290 Ave. of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10104.
American Near East Refugee Aid, 1522 K St., N.W., Suite 202, Washington, D.C. 20005.
American Red Cross, Box 37243, Washington D.C. 20013.
Care, 660 First Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016.
Catholic Relief Services, Box 1720, Baltimore, Md. 21297. Attention: Persian Gulf Fund.
Christian Children’s Fund, 203 East Cary St., Richmond, Va., 23261.
Church World Service, 475 Riverside Dr., New York, N.Y. 10115.
Direct Relief International, Box 30820, Santa Barbara, Ca. 93130.
Grass Roots International, Box 312, Cambridge, Mass. 02139.
Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, 6505 Wilshire Bl., L.A. 90048.
Lutheran World Relief, 390 Park Ave. South, New York, N.Y. 10016.
MAP International, 2200 Glynco Parkway, Brunswick, Ga. 31520.
Mercy Corps International, 3030 S.W. First Ave., Portland, Or. 97201.
Operation California/USA, 7615-1/2 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, Calif., 90046.
Oxfam America, 115 Broadway, Boston, Mass. 02116.
Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief/Episcopal Church, 815 Second Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017.
Save the Children, 54 Wilton Rd., Westport, Ct. 06880.
The United States Committee for UNICEF, 333 E. 38th St., New York, N.Y. 10016.
World Concern, Box 3300, Seattle, Wa. 98133.
World Relief, Box WRC, Wheaton, Ill. 60189.
World Vision Relief and Development, Box O, Pasadena, Calif. 91131.
YMCA of the USA, 101 No. Wacker Dr., Chicago, Il. 60606.
For more information about these groups, call InterAction (The American Council for Voluntary International Action), 202-822-8429.
|
ee5a2bf7c2c5b9c6a186dce6ec9f933c | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-mn-1776-story.html | Pentagon Shows Itself Adept at Art of Deception : Press: Coverage generally helped the allies, and military officials encouraged erroneous assumptions by reporters and exploited television’s thirst for dramatic pictures. Some news outlets uncovered the battle plan but kept it secret. | Pentagon Shows Itself Adept at Art of Deception : Press: Coverage generally helped the allies, and military officials encouraged erroneous assumptions by reporters and exploited television’s thirst for dramatic pictures. Some news outlets uncovered the battle plan but kept it secret.
Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf’s climactic briefing on the eve of victory this week raised the idea that one weapon in the allied arsenal may have been overlooked: fooling the enemy by deceiving the American media.
“The chart (of the allied assault) you showed there,” a reporter told Schwarzkopf during the briefing, “was almost the exact reverse of what most of us (in the media) thought was happening.”
Did the military follow an organized plan to lie to the press in order to deceive the enemy? And did the media buy it, aiding the American military effort without meaning to?
A close review of press coverage of the war, and discussions with Pentagon officials involved in handling the press, reveal that in large part the answer is no.
There were some incidents of military officials misleading and even lying to the press--especially foreign news agencies. The military also relied heavily on the notion that television grossly exaggerates anything with pictures to dramatize exercises for the Marine amphibious landing “Imminent Thunder"--which never happened.
But more significant to protecting military security, U. S. officials concede, is what the media held back from the American public voluntarily.
In particular, some key members of the media--notably CBS, NBC and the Washington Post--actually figured out the American battle plan, but they never reported it.
The Pentagon’s primary effort at controlling the press--its system of keeping reporters in organized pools with military escorts--was designed not so much to deceive the press as keep it away from the action.
But as it turned out, the most potentially damaging security leaks were those allowed by military censors. “We are guilty of contributing to the release of some very important information that could have been very helpful to the enemy,” said one high-ranking military official instrumental in trying to manage the press at the Pentagon.
Potentially most devastating, military officials admit, was the approval a censor gave to a pool account written by a Los Angeles Times reporter on Jan. 23, which mentioned near the bottom that allied engineers were working in the western Saudi Arabian town of Rahfa.
To CBS Pentagon correspondent David Martin, the story was a dramatic signal that the allied troops were secretly migrating much farther west than anyone was expecting. Rahfa is 200 miles away from where most experts expected the assault.
“When I was there in December they (the troops) were not going out that far,” Martin said.
By reading subsequent pool reports and talking to their military sources, Martin and NBC correspondent Fred Francis eventually figured out the secret objective of the allied military’s surprise “Hail Mary” rush north into Iraq--Nasiriyah, a town near the Euphrates River, where the allies eventually cut off the Iraqi retreat.
“Nobody (in the media) understood the full weight of the western swing,” said one key military official. Nevertheless, after Martin’s questions of his sources made it clear he understood a good deal of the plan, a Pentagon official recalled, the military appealed to Martin “to not emphasize the activity you are seeing in the West.”
Not only did Francis and Martin keep that information to themselves to protect national security, at one point, Francis even warned his network against revealing the plan inadvertently after one of its expert commentators speculatively pointed on a map to Nasiriyah. The Washington Post also knew and protected the broad outline of the battle plan. In addition, military officials contacted two expert network commentators warning them against emphasizing certain points that could betray the plan.
One of the most significant ways in which press coverage helped the allies, Schwarzkopf said in his briefing, was that in the early days of the operation last fall, the press gave the allies credit for more military strength than it had. “That gave me quite a feeling of confidence that we might not be attacked quite as quickly as I thought,” the general said.
Military briefers insisted in those early months that they had the troop strength to protect Saudi Arabia. “In retrospect, that was proably not really truthful,” said Michael Ross, a Los Angeles Times correspondent in that first press pool.
But the press also helped knowingly. A senior military official held a briefing for some members of the initial press pool and told them “we are going to be vulnerable for a while, and you would do a great deal of (harm) if you focus on that weakness.”
The reporters, the Pentagon official said, agreed, and “deliberately and consciously protected the vulnerability of the force.”
Outright deception also occurred. In particular, the military planted false reports, or disinformation, of Air Force landings in Kuwait and Iraq, one senior military official said, in the Saudi and Kuwaiti news agencies.
“The targets were native news agencies, and this was handled by our Psychological Operations” people in the region, said a military official.
Yet American reporters were actually warned against believing these reports, military officials said.
The most organized act of deception of Iraq involving the American press was not disinformation. It just involved playing off the press’ tendency to exaggerate when it has pictures.
The project was to convince the Iraqis that the Marines would launch an amphibious landing in Kuwait or Iraq. To help, the military invited the press to amphibious exercises, gave it a code name, “Imminent Thunder,” and always mentioned the possibility of the amphibious landing when discussing the battle plan in hypothetical terms.
The press knew it all might be a feint, and the Pentagon never said the attack would definitely occur.
“But it was also known that in a news-starved environment, with little else going on to take pictures of, it would be blown out of proportion on American television,” said a Pentagon official. “We merely invited you to cover the exercises and you guys did the rest.” The Los Angeles Times also wrote a story outlining how the proposed amphibious landing would work.
The cases of real deception were smaller, though they were common, Pentagon officials now concede privately. Usually, they involved allowing reporters who were testing hypothesis to draw false inferences. They did not involve planting erroneous stories or events in the media, the officials insist.
One example was a Washington Post story Feb. 15 that said the main allied attack would include 70,000 U. S. soldiers. In fact, the troop strength was twice that size.
“He asked me if it would be a corps size. I said yes,” said a senior military official who was an unnamed source on the story. “He didn’t ask me if there would be two corps.”
The Los Angeles Times was similarly misled two days later in a story that led the paper. While the main point of the story, which said that the allied troops were now ready to invade, was correct, the reporter was misled on where the invasion might occur.
Rather than refusing to answer the question that might give away secrets, the Pentagon official who was a key source for the story told the reporter that the western flank of the invasion would occur along the Kuwaiti border, about 200 miles from its actual location.
“I allowed him to draw or infer conclusions that were untrue,” the source said in an interview after the cessation of hostilities. “I told him this was a hypothetical,” the source said, and then drew a map of the battle that was inaccurate.
“That was widespread, that sort of thing,” the official said.
But in many other cases the Pentagon was hardly so cagey. “There are a lot of people with good sources who talk too much,” said one military officer.
When Francis reported last Monday that allied troops were now 150 miles from Baghdad, a Pentagon official rushed down to Francis’ office in the Pentagon and began pointing to maps, trying to convince him his story wasn’t true.
“I don’t know anything about that, I’d be careful with that,” Francis recalls the official saying. But the report was true, and Francis felt that with the battle nearly done, the story did not jeopardize national security.
|
93850cd3f6641f9771a423f15d2bbf2f | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-mn-1777-story.html | Navy Wives Sew Own ‘Medal’ for Princeton Crew | Navy Wives Sew Own ‘Medal’ for Princeton Crew
The wives of the U.S. Navy cruiser Princeton, which encountered an “influence mine” in the northern Persian Gulf and became the only U.S. ship put out of action in the war, are fashioning a huge purple heart to send to the crew of 420.
They also are beginning to think about a huge homecoming celebration.
The purple heart in a few days will be on the way to Dubai, where the $1-billion Princeton is undergoing six to eight weeks of temporary repairs before what may be a slow voyage home for permanent repairs.
“It’s a queen-size sheet, to which we’re attaching metallic heart-shaped purple sequins, one beside each guy’s name,” said Julie Patten, wife of Fire Controlman 2nd Class Robert Patten. She was interviewed with two other wives at the Princeton’s home base, the Long Beach Naval Station.
Patten said the homemade purple heart seemed appropriate because the wives learned that many crew members received bumps and bruises when the explosion jolted the ship, even though the Navy officially listed three wounded. The explosion damaged a propeller and cracked the ship’s superstructure.
Having to retire from the action just before it reached its zenith was “a bit frustrating” to the crew, said Mary Ellis, wife of Fire Controlman 2nd Class Mark Ellis.
Ellis said that when her husband called her last week, a few days after the explosion on Feb. 18, he said he and his crew mates “were disappointed not to be participating” in Naval operations any longer.
But the wives were relieved, she said, adding: “The day we’ll feel they’re really out of danger is the day they sail into Pier 7 here in Long Beach, whenever that is.”
Ellis said the conversation marked the first time she had talked to her husband since New Year’s Day, when the Princeton stopped in the Philippines en route to the Persian Gulf. That call cost her $300 but, she said, “it was worth it. In this call, we told each other we loved each other and we were both OK. It’ll be awhile before I get the bill.”
Kim Collins, wife of Storekeeper 3rd Class Andy Collins, said her husband “sounded excited and scared at the same time” when he called. “He was talking faster than normal, and he told me the ship had come six to seven feet out of the ocean when the mine exploded.”
Ellis’ husband was in the shower when it happened and he told her that he and a few others were “bumped around quite a bit.” Patten’s husband, at a duty station, said he was thrown on his back and hurt his elbow “pretty good.” Collins’ husband was unhurt.
The Princeton, Navy officials have said, did not actually strike the mine. An “influence mine” lies on the sea bottom, exploding when triggered by sound, water pressure or magnetic field of a ship, they said.
Patten, assistant ombudsman for the ship’s family support group, said the worst moment for her came when she received a telephone call, about two hours after the explosion and well before the first public broadcast of the news, telling her simply that the ship had been hit by a mine and that she would be called with further details as soon as possible.
She said she then suffered “15 minutes of sheer panic” before getting a call disclosing that there had been only three injuries, one of them serious.
Volunteers spent much of the rest of the day calling the 200 wives and hundreds of parents and children of crew members through the support group’s “family tree” telephone system, Patten said.
This week, in a morale-boosting gesture toward family concerns of the Princeton crew, the Navy arranged for one sailor, whose wife was about to give birth, to fly home for the delivery. Air Control Specialist Steve Shoemaker, 27, arrived just hours before his wife, Letecia, gave birth to their daughter, Jessica, at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach.
The Princeton, a 2-year-old ship whose only major voyage before the Persian Gulf deployment had been to the Soviet port of Vladivostok last September, has one of the most active family support groups of any ship, the wives said. Assisted by the family center at the Naval Station, it has a hot line to give immediate news, puts out a newsletter every three weeks and distributes a “familygram” sent periodically from the ship.
Recently, the wives said, groups and individuals outside the base have been making all kinds of gifts to ship families. The Long Beach Civic Light Opera has donated 1,000 tickets for an upcoming performance.
“We’d like to tell everyone, ‘Thank you for your prayers,’ ” Patten said. “I know many do pray for our troops, and we appreciate it. We feel it’s the reason our husbands are safe.”
|
e0fd1aaa4393129e2809662e78f62eb4 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-mn-1783-story.html | Soviet Coal Miners Strike, Demand Gorbachev Resign | Soviet Coal Miners Strike, Demand Gorbachev Resign
Tens of thousands of Soviet coal miners in the Central Asian republic of Kazakastan went on strike on Friday, demanding President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s resignation and higher wages.
About 70,000 miners from 23 of the 26 mines in Karaganda, the country’s third largest coal producing basin, stayed out, said Pyotr P. Shlegel, chairman of Karaganda Territorial Council of the Coal Industry Trade Union, which called for the strike.
“The people have been driven to despair,” Shlegel said in a telephone interview. “The miners are determined to defend their interests and carry the strike through.”
The official news agency Tass reported earlier in the day that 20 mines had participated in the strike. Shlegel said that three more mines had started striking later in the day and he expected that two more mines would also join.
There also were scattered strikes reported in the Donetsk Basin area of the Ukraine and a threatened Monday walk-out in central Siberia.
In Karaganda, a one-day strike had originally been called. But the miners’ demands for higher salaries, compensation for price hikes and the resignations of Gorbachev as well as the national Parliament were not met, so the strike was extended through Monday, making it a four-day strike, Shlegel said.
“Since no compromises have been reached today,” Shlegel said, “the decision has been made to continue the strike to March 4, inclusive.”
Shlegel said this strike is important because it is the first strike held since the formation last fall of the 80,000-member Independent Union of Miners.
“The unwillingness of the government to resolve our problems and recognize our trade union added oil to the fire,” he said. “The situation is tense. . . . We have the feeling that if the strike gets out of control it can lead to (violent) clashes.”
This was also the first major coal miners’ strike that will last more than one day since a massive coal miners’ strike thrust the country into its first major labor crisis during the summer of 1989. Half of the Soviet Union’s coal production was temporarily shut down when 500,000 miners went on strike in western Siberia and the Donetsk Basin of southern Ukraine. They resumed work only after the government promised to fulfill their demands for better working conditions and pay.
A year after that strike, miners across the country again held a 24-hour work stoppage to protest the Kremlin’s failure to deliver on its year-old pledge to ease their lives.
But Friday marked the first time miners have tried to oust Gorbachev.
Shlegel said the strikers in Karaganda have encountered fierce confrontation from local officials. The local legislature is considering economic and administrative sanctions against the miners, he added.
Miners in other regions were not as successful in walking out. In the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, the center of the country’s largest coal mining region, the strike committee decided at the last minute to call off a strike, because they had not been able to get enough petitions to hold it legally.
Under the law, 75% of all workers must vote in favor of a strike before it can be held, Yuri Bolderyev, a chairman of the miners’ strike committee in Donetsk, said.
“With 20% of the miners on vacation at one time and other miners out sick or on business trips, it’s impossible to get enough ballots in favor of the strike,” Bolderyev said. “Almost everyone who voted was for the strike, but we couldn’t fulfill the conditions of the strike law.”
Only about 15 of the 225 mines in the Donetsk Basin went on strike and not all of those had totally stopped working, Bolderyev said.
“Vremya,” the nightly television news program said, however, that only five of the 214 mines in the Donetsk Basin were affected by the strike.
In the central Siberian region of Kuznetsk, miners said they would hold a one-day warning strike Monday to demand higher pay and Gorbachev’s resignation.
|
9d53381530372476836d5dd23f51a7bb | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-mn-1794-story.html | NATION IN BRIEF : RHODE ISLAND : Layoffs, Government Shutdown to Come | NATION IN BRIEF : RHODE ISLAND : Layoffs, Government Shutdown to Come
Gov. Bruce G. Sundlun said Rhode Island will move ahead with a 10-day government shutdown and hundreds of layoffs after unionized state workers rejected an alternative plan. Sundlun said the first day of the shutdown will be next Friday. The remaining days will fall primarily on Mondays and Fridays through the end of June. Union leaders vowed to go to court to stop the shutdown, but Sundlun said that if they prevail, he will be forced to lay off more state workers. A spokeswoman for the governor said layoff notices will be sent out Monday to about 475 union workers. The layoffs and government shutdown are to help offset a deficit estimated at more than $200 million this fiscal year.
|
a8d967e4facf530eb907c5b54c9d7ff3 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-mn-1797-story.html | U.S. Probes Claim That Lab Falsified Data on Pesticides | U.S. Probes Claim That Lab Falsified Data on Pesticides
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department are investigating charges that a Texas laboratory falsified data used to determine the amounts of pesticide residues that remain on food products, the EPA announced Friday.
EPA officials said they began the investigation after pesticide manufacturers that had hired Craven Laboratories of Austin, Tex., expressed concern to them last summer that the lab was manipulating data used to determine pesticide residues on grocery products.
Those reports, along with results of a scheduled EPA inspection of the laboratory in September, led to a criminal investigation by the EPA and the Justice Department, Linda Fisher, an EPA assistant administrator, said. However, the Justice Department would not comment on whether it was investigating the firm.
EPA officials refused to disclose the specific allegations against Craven. However, they said the issue was whether the alleged manipulation might have unduly minimized the health risks posed by certain pesticides.
The EPA has identified 17 pesticides manufactured by 11 companies as being involved in the possibly fraudulent data. They include several varieties of EBDC, or ethylene bisdithiocarbamate, a fungicide that the EPA is in the process of banning from use on most food crops because of cancer risks.
Despite their concerns about the test results, EPA officials said they do not believe that consumers or the environment suffered any ill effects as a result of the alleged falsifications by Craven.
However, environmentalists disagreed with that.
“Depending on the data falsified, products that are more hazardous than previously thought could be entering the food chain and the environment and putting humans and wildlife at higher risks,” said Sandra Marquardt of Greenpeace.
Jay Feldman of the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, argued that the pesticides involved ought to be banned until new residue studies are completed.
The EPA has identified more than a hundred studies performed by Craven that have been submitted to the department since the lab was opened in 1975.
Vida Federighi of the California Department of Food and Agriculture said the department has identified at least 41 studies performed by Craven that were submitted to the state agency for environmental impact testing. The department believes that it also received residue studies conducted by Craven and is continuing its investigation.
A Craven Labs employee said that company officers were not available for comment Friday afternoon.
|
b772b7bf2fa9ac39105efee4e96561ec | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-mn-1810-story.html | Freeway to Replace Double-Deck Road That Fell in Quake | Freeway to Replace Double-Deck Road That Fell in Quake
Faced with a decision that was bound to displease some, state transportation officials announced plans to replace the quake-ruined Cypress section of Interstate 880 with an eight-lane freeway along a new route.
The $695-million project will be built along Southern Pacific railroad tracks west of the original Cypress route, the state Department of Transportation announced Thursday. The decision should end speculation about a $680-million underground expressway, or the possibility of not rebuilding the freeway at all, said Caltrans project manager Irene Itamura.
Residents cheered and jeered the announcement even before Itamura finished her presentation during a meeting of the Cypress Corridor Council community group. As many as 25 homes will be displaced for the roadway.
Plans to rebuild the Cypress structure, the 1.5-mile, double-decked portion of Interstate 880 that collapsed in the October, 1989, earthquake, have been watched closely by residents of the impoverished West Oakland community that was bisected by the roadway.
Forty-two people died in the collapse; many residents of the drug-plagued neighborhood made heroic rescues of trapped motorists.
Alameda County Supervisor Warren Widener applauded the plan, which he endorsed with West Oakland’s Citizens Emergency Relief Team.
“A heavy burden has been lifted with word that the concrete colossus which divided this community will not be resurrected,” he said.
If the route is approved by Caltrans Director Robert Best, the California Transportation Commission and the Federal Highway Administration by July, construction could begin in late 1993 and be done by 1995, Itamura said.
|
ef341d2957a6c2445fd4b754fb739a19 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-mn-1812-story.html | CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SOUTH LAKE TAHOE : No Serious Injuries in Bus Crash in Snow | CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SOUTH LAKE TAHOE : No Serious Injuries in Bus Crash in Snow
All 17 people on a Sacramento-bound Greyhound bus escaped serious injury early Friday in a crash on snow-slick Interstate 50 in the Sierra Nevada about 15 miles southwest of Lake Tahoe. The California Highway Patrol said three passengers were treated at Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe and released. Another five riders complained of various pains but were not treated. It was snowing heavily when the bus from South Lake Tahoe-area casinos skidded on the pavement and crashed through a guard rail near Camp Sacramento.
|
d9a85a7c2f3a148f4c4c970c6e74ca64 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-mn-1814-story.html | Trial Ordered in Detroit Suicide Case | Trial Ordered in Detroit Suicide Case
A judge ruled Friday that a 72-year-old California man accused of helping his wife kill herself at a motel here will stand trial for murder and said his alleged confession to police can be used as evidence.
Bertram Harper of Loomis, Calif., lost a bid to have the murder charge in Virginia Harper’s August, 1990, death dropped.
Detroit Recorder’s Court Judge Isidore Torres said Harper’s admission that he helped secure a bag over his wife’s head as she slipped into unconsciousness can be used as evidence in the trial, set for May 6.
Harper had argued the statement was illegally obtained.
“I’m a little bit disappointed,” Harper said by telephone. He did not attend Friday’s proceedings. “I was hoping the whole thing would go away.”
|
1efe14ed2187589dfb31aa1bd2f1e858 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1682-story.html | Marvin Cobb Ripped for Suit Against USC | Marvin Cobb Ripped for Suit Against USC
After reading about Marvin Cobb’s lawsuit, I have this reply:
Memo to Marvin Cobb: Please be informed that you receive no moral support from co-workers, USC fans or your superiors when you choose to file lawsuits against the university. It would help if you would stop whining and start cooperating.
There are many persons (male and female of various ethnicities) who understand how to look beyond their complexion and see the character inside. These persons are rewarded for jobs well done. No one wants to work with a sniveling adult.
KATHERINE AUSTIN
Redondo Beach
|
e793bfe1eaeb7f1cf1e7849d50a596b5 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1683-story.html | Couples Is Doing OK by Doing It His Way | Couples Is Doing OK by Doing It His Way
Frank Sinatra made a lot of money singing, “I did it my way,” and he lived his life his way. So why won’t Mal Florence and Jim Murray let Fred Couples play golf his way? He has fun playing golf and makes a lot of money.
Why does Couples have to conform to the golf-playing standards espoused by Florence and Murray? Please, let Fred just go on being Fred. I like him the way he is.
DICK ZEHMS
Altadena
|
da2a2af14d7763d98b4f5893faffe474 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1691-story.html | Why Was Griffin Playing Shortstop at All in 1990? | Why Was Griffin Playing Shortstop at All in 1990?
In last Sunday’s (Feb. 24) L.A. Times, it was printed that both Alfredo Griffin and the Dodgers knew his back injury kept him from making routine plays on ground balls--and still they kept him in the lineup game after game.
These actions show a disrespect for the fans, especially when the team was in a pennant race.
Now, Griffin openly admits that after surgery and treatment, if he still has pain he won’t tell anyone because he loves the game and wants to play.
If baseball management will continue to pay million-dollar salaries to pitchers who can’t throw fastballs and infielders who can’t bend over for a ground ball, then I don’t feel sorry for them. Major league baseball and fans deserve better.
THOMAS A. HOERBER
Santa Monica
Editor’s note: Bill Plaschke’s story clearly said that the Dodgers were not aware of Griffin’s pain last season.
|
d76b2ec4b3c9fcf6df9c3525c350d918 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1701-story.html | HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING : Four-Time Champion Clovis Leads Valhalla; Poway Third | HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING : Four-Time Champion Clovis Leads Valhalla; Poway Third
The California Interscholastic Federation State wrestling championships figured to be a battle between four-time champion Clovis and top-ranked Poway of San Diego.
In the early-round matches Friday at the University of the Pacific’s Spanos Center, Clovis lived up to its billing. But Poway slipped and Valhalla fared better than expected.
Clovis, winner of State titles in 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1990, led Valhalla, 53 1/2 to 46, with Poway third with 35 points.
For Clovis, Jimmy Aguirre is trying for his third consecutive State title. He won at 105 pounds as a sophomore, 119 pounds last year and is wrestling at 125 pounds this season.
Friday, he overpowered Dennis Cummings of Cabrillo, 7-0, in the quarterfinals. Aguirre figures to meet Detran Gant of Fresno Roosevelt, last year’s 112-pound champion, in today’s final. Gant has beaten Aguirre three times in five meetings this season, including the Central Section final last week.
Two other defending champions, Tony Okada of Anaheim Savanna in the 132-pound division and Josh Gormley of West Torrance in the heavyweight class, also advanced to the semifinals.
|
a68d15d201a8deb24c2d71449c16c573 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1702-story.html | HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL SOUTHERN SECTION GIRLS’ CHAMPIONSHIPS : DIVISION I-A | HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL SOUTHERN SECTION GIRLS’ CHAMPIONSHIPS : DIVISION I-A
Thousand Oaks 67, Buena 57--Michelle Palmisano had a game-high 24 points to lead the Lancers at UC Irvine.
Buena (25-3) cut a nine-point deficit to 56-53 with 3 minutes 6 seconds left, but Palmisano stole the ball and passed to Sasha Scardino, who was fouled and made two free throws to increase Thousand Oaks’ lead to 58-53.
Buena’s Lianne Ishikawa made two free throws to cut the lead to 58-55, but Palmisano answered with a 15-foot bank shot.
Thousand Oaks is 28-3.
DIVISION V-AA
San Luis Obispo Mission Prep 49, Pasadena Poly 37--The Royals (21-5) outscored the Panthers, 14-5, in the third quarter to break open a close game at CalTech.
Anicia Bonds scored 15 points for Mission Prep. Georgia Barker led the Panthers (29-0) with 14 points.
Mission Prep had a 25-21 halftime lead.
DIVISION IV-AA
Morro Bay 56, Santa Ynez 34--The Pirates (24-3) used a balanced scoring attack and a solid defensive effort to gain the victory at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo.
Morro Bay, which led, 24-17, at half, outscored Santa Ynez, 14-5, in the third quarter to take a 38-22 lead.
Sara Pierce scored 16 points, Wendy Fulong and Veronica McCrea 11 and Zeny Galo 10 for the Pirates.
Erin Alexander scored 17 points for Santa Ynez (15-12).
|
6cc3464cc63cda22e340d26273752641 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1730-story.html | STATE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS : OC’s Okada and Santana Take Different Approaches to Win | STATE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS : OC’s Okada and Santana Take Different Approaches to Win
One found the opening day of the CIF State wrestling championships more difficult than he remembered it. The other didn’t know what to expect and wasn’t sure he was doing well at all.
They took different mental approaches to the State Meet, but Tony Okada of Savanna High School and Danny Santana of El Modena made it through to today’s semifinal round.
Okada was a cagey veteran; Santana a wide-eyed rookie.
A crowd of about 5,000 in the University of the Pacific’s Spanos Center watched Okada, a defending state champion, take halting steps early in the 135-pound division.
“Right now it doesn’t seem like my name is doing much for me,” Okada said after pinning Jonathan Fitzherbert of San Diego Monte Vista 4 minutes 26 seconds into their quarterfinal match. “At the Masters Meet (last week), people were backing down.”
Certainly, Okada’s first- and second-round victories looked impressive enough on paper. But neither he nor his coach, Tom Caspari, was particularly happy. They’ve grown accustomed to perfection, especially at the State meet.
“His second match was really sluggish,” Caspari said. “Usually, he wrestles better as a tournament goes on.”
Okada meets Tim Yoshitake of Schurr in this morning’s semifinals.
For Santana, a 145-pound senior making his first State Meet appearance, Friday was a learning experience. A long car ride to Stockton Thursday and an arena filled to the rafters with fans seemed to rattle Santana at first.
Gradually he began to feel at ease, looking strong in a quarterfinal victory over C. Weber of Madera, 5-2.
“In his second match, he looked like he needed to wake up,” El Modena Coach Alan Clinton said. “The first match he was mesmerized.”
Santana meets Kyle Porter of Hughson in the semifinals.
With four qualifiers, Canyon figured to do well here. But by day’s end, the Comanches’ individual title hopes were nil.
Jason Mitchell, a 140-pound senior who was picked to win his division, advanced only as far as the second round before losing for only the second time this season.
Mitchell was beaten by Bret Perrault of Tuolumne Sonora, 5-3, in overtime. They were tied, 1-1, at the end of regulation, but Mitchell was assessed a one-point penalty for spitting while on the mat. Things went downhill quickly after that.
“He had blood in his mouth and spit on the floor and wiped it right up,” Canyon Coach Gary Bowden said. “That’s not the reason he lost. He didn’t wrestle well.”
Later, Mitchell was eliminated in a consolation rounds match.
Matt Padgett lost his 160-pound quarterfinal match, 17-3, to Adimu Madyun of Canyon Springs and moved to the consolation quarterfinals today. Heavyweight Matt Webber and 152-pounder Alan Holmes were eliminated in the consolation rounds.
Tournament Notes
Bill Grant, Monterey High School coach and editor of The California Wrestling newsletter, picked two county wrestlers to win their divisions in his pre-meet forecast. Grant picked Savanna’s Tony Okada to win the 135-pound division and Canyon’s Jason Mitchell to win at 140 pounds. He selected El Modena’s Danny Santana fourth at 145 pounds.
In its fifth consecutive year at Stockton, the State Meet appears to have found a home at the University of the Pacific’s Spanos Center. Meet Director Chuck Chandler of Stockton Edison High said Thursday the CIF plans to stay in Stockton through the 1995 meet.
|
a94f53c0d3d11dab53c5616713fba081 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1815-story.html | Insanity Over Wages at High-Water Mark | Insanity Over Wages at High-Water Mark
You have watched the rain and you have splashed through the rain and, in truth, you probably have prayed for the rain.
But have you tasted it?
Try it.
If you find it a bit salty, you too will know the secret.
Yes, San Diego has been inundated with teardrops rather than raindrops. It is crying time for the Padres. These were desert storms we have been experiencing, sweeping in from Yuma with the tears of impoverished Padre players destined to spend the summer on food stamps.
For heaven’s sake, how can Benito Santiago possibly get by on the token $1.65 million he was awarded in arbitration?
That, after all, was what an obviously ignorant arbitrator gave him. Santiago, undoubtedly taking note of rising food prices and the volatile oil market, had asked for $2.5 million.
And how can Eddie Lee Whitson manage to survive on $1.225 million?
His circumstance is a bit different than Santiago’s, in that he signed a contract calling for such a stipend. However, he now is disenchanted to be earning what in baseball is a blue-collar wage.
Both Santiago and Whitson, simply stated, want to share in the fiscal lunacy that baseball has become. Huge chunks of money are all around them, and here they are in contractual straitjackets.
It’s enough to make grown men whimper and whine.
You know, for different reasons, I cannot seem to get my tear ducts exercised on their behalf. I’m not sure anyone can. I can’t imagine a couple of guys eating peanut butter sandwiches out of lunch pails lamenting the misfortune of guys bringing home monthly checks upwards of $100,000.
It isn’t just Santiago and Whitson, to be sure. This entire generation of baseball players is totally out of touch with reality.
Santiago is an unhappy camper because he was subjected to the ignominy of going to salary arbitration for the second year in a row. He desperately wanted to avoid this gut-wrenching experience. His hope was that the Padres would show their appreciation for him and love for him with a multiyear contract and thus render arbitration unnecessary.
To show him this love and appreciation, the Padres need only have offered him a guaranteed four-year contract worth a mere $17.5 million. This, he felt, would make him feel wanted and respected.
We’re talking waaaaaaaay out of touch with reality here.
Benito Santiago has produced average offensive numbers, not bad and not exceptional. He is skilled at throwing out base runners, but prone to throwing errors and passed balls. He is improving in terms of handling pitchers, but hardly the “coach behind the plate” the best of catchers must be.
All of this undoubtedly contributed to the arbitrator’s decision in favor of the Padres’ $1.65 million offer as opposed to Santiago’s $2.5 million demand. Had Santiago asked for maybe $2.1 million or even $2.2 million, he might have won . . . but we’re talking neither sensibility nor reality.
As a result of this insulting experience, Santiago now steadfastly maintains he will be gone when he is eligible for free agency after the 1992 season. He has had it, period.
Here is a guy who cannot get $2.5 million for one year in arbitration, but rails at organization which will not guarantee him more than $4 million for four years.
Reality, call home.
Ed Whitson is approaching this a little more sensibly. He is guaranteed his $1.225 million this year, and he is not asking to renegotiate. It gets stickier next year, however, because the Padres have the option to bring him back for a mere $1 million.
Whitson’s unrest manifests itself in his demand for a guaranteed extension past this year and beyond next year. Arguing that he is underpaid this year, he seems to be saying that a guaranteed contract down the road will heal some of the hurt.
Interesting.
In retrospect, the Padres took a gamble in mid-1989 when they guaranteed Whitson through 1991. He was near the top of the scale when the Padres assured him of this year’s $1.225 million, and they would have been stuck with paying him even if he had been 2-16 with a 6.72 earned run average in 1990. This gamble paid off because he was 14-9 with a 2.60 ERA in 1990.
Good luck for the organization and bad luck for the player. Any time you get a situation like this, you have an unhappy player. Reverse the situation, and the player takes the money and runs.
Understandably, the Padres are reluctant to look down the road and make another such gamble on Whitson. He is 35 now, turning 36 in May. They have to deal with the law of averages as it relates to a player’s longevity. It might also be called reality.
It is a nasty word, isn’t it?
Reality.
Baseball players may be out of touch with it, but they seem to know what it means.
It does, after all, make them cry.
|
4a4709743fe3fb5c0ed9cab55044c157 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1818-story.html | New Nest Pleases Old Jays : Baseball: New Padres Fernandez, McGriff are adjusting to life after Toronto. | New Nest Pleases Old Jays : Baseball: New Padres Fernandez, McGriff are adjusting to life after Toronto.
The clubhouse door opened at 9 in the morning. Tony Fernandez took a peek, looked around and began walking amid strangers into his new home.
He looked confused at first. When you’ve been used to the same spring-training complex for the past 12 years and are wandering into some forsaken place in Arizona, it’s understandable.
Fernandez, breaking into a slow, expansive grin, started walking down the row of lockers, introducing himself to his new teammates, until he finally found the locker with his nameplate.
He began emptying his duffel bag when a familiar face finally emerged. Fred McGriff, his Toronto Blue Jays’ teammate for the past four years, broke into laughter. Here they are, in a city they’ve never seen, in a league in which they’ve never played, in a room full of teammates they don’t know.
“It’s going to be different, very different,” Fernandez said. “But that’s good. I needed a change. I need to have peace again. It’s like a new beginning, and I needed it.”
Fernandez, the three-time All-Star shortstop who was labeled moody and sullen by the Toronto media, he said, is starting over, trying to change his image. He also wanted to make it clear on the first day to San Diego reporters that if they too interpret him incorrectly, he will stop talking just as quickly.
“Just because I don’t smile doesn’t mean I’m not happy,” Fernandez said. “Just because I walk with my head down, doesn’t mean I’m mad. Let me be me.”
Fernandez, who underwent therapy during the winter to rehabilitate his chronic shoulder and knee injuries, likely won’t have to worry about being the focus of attention in San Diego. Oh, he’s a fine shortstop all right, owning a career .289 batting average with four Gold Gloves in his trophy case. And he is the reason why the Padres were willing to trade second baseman Roberto Alomar.
But the man in the spotlight this season figures to be his buddy, McGriff.
It’s McGriff who just signed the largest contract in Padre history, guaranteed $15.2 million over the next four years. It’s McGriff who hits homers that disappear from sight, averaging 35 each of the past three seasons. And it’s McGriff who’s supposed to be one making up for the absence of Joe Carter and Jack Clark.
“I’m kind of used to it from days in Toronto,” McGriff said. “When you’re playing there, you have 50,000 people a night watching, and reporters who keep saying you’re going to hit 40 homers.
“But I know there’ll be expectations. I’m going to be batting fourth, and will be expected to drive in runs. In Toronto, I was the one protecting everyone else.
“Really, the only thing I’ll be trying to do is hit .300. That’s my goal. I want to be a complete ballplayer, not just a home run hitter. So what if you hit 30 to 40 home runs and bat .220?”
Although McGriff did not share the same urgency as Fernandez to leave Toronto, he is eager to get situated. The winter, he said, was the most hectic of his life.
The frenzy began Dec. 5 when he was traded to the Padres. A week later, he and his wife, Veronica, had their first child, Erick. Then, Erick contracted a virus and was hospitalized for five days. McGriff signed a contract that he said he’ll soon use to purchase a new home and car for his parents. For the first time in his career, he had to pack his suitcases for spring training. Toronto’s spring camp was in Dunedin, Fla., only 30 minutes away from his Tampa home. He spent the past few days looking for a house to rent in San Diego. And now, he finds himself in Yuma.
“This is a winter I’ll never forget,” he said.
The Padres, with the addition of their Canadian imports, hope they can say the same about their season.
Although it still remains a mystery exactly what position Bip Roberts will play this year, Padre Manager Greg Riddoch made the picture much more clear Friday.
Roberts will be in the infield, Riddoch said, and most likely, will be playing second base.
“I really want to keep him in the infield,” Riddoch said. “I could see him playing at second. But we’ll see. I just told him, ‘You’re my leadoff hitter, I just don’t know where you’ll be playing.’ ”
Said Roberts, who last played second base on a regular basis in the big leagues in 1987: “That’s fine by me. I know I need some extra work there, especially going to my right.
“But I’m not going to disrupt camp by demanding where I want to play. There is one thing, though, I’d like to play a different position in each inning during a spring-training game.
“Now, that would be something.”
Riddoch, in a state-of-the-team address to players, told them that he’s not about to endure another season of name-calling and back-stabbing among the players.
“He told us if you have something to say, tell that player directly, don’t go to the newspapers,” said one player, requesting anonymity. “ ‘Say what you have to say, and get it over. I don’t want to see it in the newspapers.’ ”
Center fielder Shawn Abner was relieved to find out that the Padre media guide corrected his biography, saying that 2-year-old Jordan is his son, not his daughter. Thanks to the error, the information also wound up on his 1990 baseball card.
“The company apologized,” Abner said. “They sent me 500 of my baseball cards.
“I said, ‘If you really want to make me happy, send me 500 of Tony Gwynn’s cards.’ ”
Padre first baseman Phil Stephenson arrived in camp Friday with a broken bone in his right knee, and understandably is quite skeptical about his chances of making the team.
“I’m going to test it and see how it feels,” Stephenson said, “but right now my lateral movement is nil. . . . You know, they kept saying nothing was wrong with my knee last year, but I knew something had to be. So they finally looked at it again, and there it was, a broken bone in my kneecap. I don’t know what I can do.”
Reliever Larry Andersen, when asked about the craziest thing he has ever witnessed in baseball: “When I signed my contract (two years, $4.35 million). I still can’t believe somebody would give me that.”
Reliever Mike Dunne, wondering when teammate Rafael Valdez’s visa problems will end so he can leave the Dominican Republic, confessed that he once had a visa problem: “Mine were so bad that I just tore up the paperwork. I went to MasterCard.”
Padre Notes
The Padres’ workout was rained out for only the second time since coming to Yuma in 1969. So how did the Padres amuse themselves? Well, they gave Bip Roberts the old hot-foot treatment, they hung coach Rob Picciolo’s bat on the ceiling and a few card games broke out. . . . Padre pitcher Atlee Hammaker is expected to be out of action for at least another two weeks with his broken finger, and likely could begin the season on rehabilitation assignment in the Padres’ minor-league system.
|
425a9736d933affb70e6163450fdca61 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1825-story.html | CSUN Completes Home Schedule With 115-98 Loss to Southern Utah | CSUN Completes Home Schedule With 115-98 Loss to Southern Utah
So much for rematches.
The Cal State Northridge players thought the outcome would be different when they met Southern Utah on their home court Friday night, six days after losing by 21 points to the Thunderbirds in Cedar City, Utah.
But Southern Utah’s DaVor Marcelic had other ideas. In an attempt to atone for a sub-par performance earlier in the week, he hit 14 consecutive field goals and all eight of his free throws for a 43-point effort that sank the Matadors, 115-98.
Marcelic, a 6-foot-7 junior guard from Zadar, Yugoslavia, did not miss a shot until 7 minutes 3 seconds remained in the game. He did not shoot again after his miss.
Curiously, Northridge left Marcelic open on many of his eight three-point attempts and no Northridge player could stay with him on his driving baseline layups.
Kyle Kerlegan, who led Northridge with 21 points, admitted as much.
“Not to take anything away from him, but he didn’t hit any under pressure,” Kerlegan said. “They were just swinging the ball well.”
Northridge interim coach Tom McCollum also was impressed with the Thunderbirds’ ball movement.
“They gave him excellent passes, right in his shooting package so that he could catch it and waste no motion,” McCollum said.
It was the eighth time this season that a player has scored more than 30 points against Northridge, including Southern Utah’s Peter Johnson, who scored 34 last week against Northridge and 37 on Friday.
“I just took good shots,” said Marcelic, whose previous collegiate-high was 32, although he said that he scored 65 once in a Yugoslavian high school game. “I was confident. I was open and those are the shots I usually take.”
The score was tied eight times in the opening 13 minutes. Then David Swanson gave Northridge a little cushion with a three-point basket and a layup for a 36-31 lead.
Southern Utah responded immediately with a 15-3 run that was finally stopped by a Northridge timeout. While the Thunderbirds forged ahead on three layups, three free throws and a pair of three-point baskets, the Matadors turned over the ball twice and put up some poor shots, an archless turnaround by Percy Fisher, a missed layup by Swanson and a weak effort by Shelton Boykin.
After the timeout, Marcelic made a pair of free throws to extend the run to 17-3 and increase the Thunderbirds’ advantage to 48-39.
In the last 2:05 of the half, Northridge cut into that lead with a three-point play by Boykin, a three-point basket by Kerlegan and a 12-foot jump shot by Andre Chevalier with one second left in the half. At intermission, Northridge trailed, 50-47.
Marcelic scored 14 of Southern Utah’s first 18 points of the second half to push the lead to 68-56.
Keith Gibbs and four Northridge reserves rallied to pull the team within 81-75 on a three-point basket by Gibbs, a three-point play and free throw by Swanson, and David Keeter’s two foul shots. During the 9-0 run, the Northridge press forced two turnovers.
After a timeout, the Thunderbirds handled the press better and regained their shooting touch.
It was the final home game of Northridge’s inaugural Division I season. The loss dropped the Matadors to 8-18, 6-5 in Matador Gymnasium.
The Thunderbirds, a third-year Division I independent, ended their season at 16-12.
Notes
Seniors Todd Bowser, Kyle Kerlegan and Kirk Scott were honored in their final appearance at Matador Gymnasium. As part of the Senior Night festivities, a taped message of thanks from Coach Pete Cassidy to the seniors was played over the loud-speaker system. Cassidy, who underwent surgery for diverticulitis Feb. 14, was released from Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Woodland Hills on Friday. Cassidy, 56, had been hospitalized since Feb. 8. Bowser missed the game because of a shoulder injury. The injury has forced him to miss four of the past seven games. His play was limited in the other three. . . . Northridge drew 892 to the home finale, giving the Matadors their highest season average attendance in history: 721. . . . Andre Chevalier had 11 assists to move into third place on the school’s all-time single season list with 123. He nees seven in the season finale Monday at California to break Darren Matsubara’s record of 129.
|
622e0ab7f0c9d69e73d2597e6afc5644 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1826-story.html | Palmisano, Lancers Down Buena, 67-57 : Prep basketball: Thousand Oaks wins first girls’ title behind junior guard’s game-high 24 points, nine rebounds. | Palmisano, Lancers Down Buena, 67-57 : Prep basketball: Thousand Oaks wins first girls’ title behind junior guard’s game-high 24 points, nine rebounds.
Somehow, mild-mannered Thousand Oaks High guard Michelle Palmisano even manages to hide her emotions during such gut-wrenchers as the Southern Section I-A Division championship game Friday night at UC Irvine’s Bren Center.
When Palmisano turns the ball over, as she did twice during key possessions in the fourth quarter, she doesn’t fret. And, when she dribbles into trouble, then calmly banks a 15-foot jump shot off the glass, she doesn’t even smile.
But after the final horn sounded in Thousand Oaks’ 67-57 win over Buena before a crowd of 1,150, Palmisano suddenly expressed herself as easily as Madonna.
She pumped her right fist high in the air, extending her index finger even higher. Not once, but twice. And it was no coincidence that she was facing the Buena bench when doing so.
Palmisano’s sister, Teresa, led Buena to the 4-A final in 1987. After a dispute between Palmisano’s father and Buena Coach Joe Vaughan, Michelle decided to attend Thousand Oaks instead of Buena. The move prompted an investigation by the Southern Section office, which concluded no infraction had occurred.
But the wounds never completely healed.
So which was sweeter? The fact that Palmisano had game-highs of 24 points and nine rebounds in leading Thousand Oaks to its first title? That she became Ventura County’s all-time leading scorer with 1,939 points, eclipsing the previous mark of 1,927 by Camarillo’s Nichole Victoria?
Or was it the victory over Buena (25-3) and Vaughan, that old friend of the family?
Her choice was clear.
“Beating Buena makes it that much sweeter,” said a smiling Palmisano, who scored 15 points in the second half and made 13 of 15 free throws. “There’s no doubt about it.”
When it became Good Grief time for Chuck Brown, the Lancers’ coach, Palmisano came to the rescue.
Buena, making its seventh appearance in a final under Vaughan, cut a nine-point deficit to 56-53 with 3 minutes 6 seconds left and Palmisano turned the ball over on Thousand Oaks’ next possession.
But she then intercepted a Buena pass and fed Sasha Scardino (11 points), who was fouled and hit two free throws to extend Thousand Oaks’ lead to 58-53. When Lianne Ishikawa (12 points) hit two free throws to again pull Buena within three, Palmisano added her 15-foot shot off the glass.
Palmisano, however, wasn’t the only weapon for Thousand Oaks (28-3). After Jennifer Wells (13 points) hit a follow shot that pulled Buena to within 60-57 with 1:20 left, Scardino hit the front end of a one-and-one that extended Thousand Oaks’ lead to 61-57 with 51 seconds left.
When Scardino missed the second shot, teammate Melissa Wood grabbed the rebound and was fouled. After Wood missed the front end of a one-and-one, Scardino grabbed the rebound and put the game out of reach with two free throws that extended the lead to 63-57 with 33 seconds left.
“All of our girls worked very hard,” Brown said. “Michelle is a very, very key person to us. But this team plays with a lot of togetherness.”
Buena, which lost its second consecutive title game and fifth in seven tries, was hampered when its top two players, Ishikawa and Mia Palkie, each picked up three fouls in the first half. Palkie, the team’s leading scorer, had seven points on one-of-10 shooting.
|
c72db60eb46d9c716dc89d2478a3c103 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1832-story.html | Moorpark Pair on All-Star Team | Moorpark Pair on All-Star Team
Kerrie Marshall and Amy Chandler, Moorpark College basketball players, have been added to the South roster for tonight’s North-South junior college all-star game. The game will be held at 5 at Valley as a preliminary to the 7 p.m. state championship game.
Marshall and Chandler were chosen after Moorpark was eliminated in the state quarterfinals by Sequoias on Thursday. Nicole Force of Oxnard is also on the South squad.
|
cf6af0687a524a2a75817f3f33f3c282 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1855-story.html | Westchester Wins 4-A Title : Boys’ basketball: Third try is the charm for the Comets, who beat Manual Arts, 65-57, in City final. | Westchester Wins 4-A Title : Boys’ basketball: Third try is the charm for the Comets, who beat Manual Arts, 65-57, in City final.
After losing to Manual Arts twice during the regular season, Westchester rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Toilers, 65-57, and win its first City 4-A Division boys’ basketball championship before 10,500 at the Sports Arena Friday night.
LeRoi O’Brien was the big force for Westchester, with 24 points and 10 rebounds. O’Brien scored seven points and James Gray added five in the fourth quarter, in which the Comets completed a rally from a 12-point second-half deficit.
With the victory, Westchester (22-7) qualified for next week’s Southern Regional State tournament. Manual Arts (23-4), which won the City title last season, can gain entry as an at-large team.
“We just weren’t playing that aggressive inside in the first half,” said O’Brien, who will attend Pepperdine next fall. “But once we started to take it inside, things started happening.”
Both teams exchanged turnovers and missed open shots to begin the game, with Westchester’s zone defense limiting Manual Arts’ fast-break offense. Manual Arts led, 16-12, after one quarter, with Dwain Bradberry scoring six points.
In the second quarter, Westchester bounced back behind two turnaround jump shots by O’Brien to take its first lead of the game, 19-18, with 5:49 left. Manual Arts answered with a three-point shot by Roland Merriwether and a breakaway layup by Jason Martin, en route to outscoring Westchester, 13-5, to take a 31-24 lead at halftime.
Manual Arts opened up a 42-30 lead early in the third quarter, with Martin scoring three baskets. But, Westchester’s Jason Sanders and O’Brien combined to score 11 points to close the Toilers’ lead to 44-42, at the end of the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Westchester began to capitalize on Manual Arts’ turnovers and took a 55-51 lead with 3:51 remaining. The Comets then outscored Manual Arts, 10-6.
“We didn’t play real well in the first half, and they were killing us on the boards,” said Westchester Coach Ed Azzam. “We were much more aggressive in the second.”
|
b99b580339d34d458aeeb9c08fdec708 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1857-story.html | Third Base Isn’t Dodgers’ Charm : Baseball: Since Cey was traded before ’83 season, 23 players have been tried there. | Third Base Isn’t Dodgers’ Charm : Baseball: Since Cey was traded before ’83 season, 23 players have been tried there.
Since the Dodgers ended 10 years of relative stability at third base by trading Ron Cey to the Chicago Cubs before the 1983 season, 23 players have tried their hand there.
Remember Rafael Landestoy and German Rivera? Tracy Woodson and Phil Garner? Eddie Murray logging two games there in 1989?
Is the hot corner too hot for the Dodgers to handle?
For the ninth season since Cey’s departure, Manager Tom Lasorda will try to find the right combination while making several critical decisions:
--Can Jeff Hamilton come back from a serious shoulder injury without surgery?
--Can Stan Javier, the team’s best outfielder last year, play third base?
--What happens to last year’s platoon of Mike Sharperson and Lenny Harris, who provided solid play but little power?
Lasorda already has clouded the picture by saying the job is Hamilton’s if his shoulder is healed, while making a personal appeal to Javier to leave the outfield, where he is odd man out after the signings of Darryl Strawberry and Brett Butler.
And, of course, Harris and Sharperson are still on the team, competing for time at second and third, with a possible push from rookie Dave Hansen.
“Really, there’s no explanation” for the revolving door at third, Cey said this week. “It seems like the Dodgers are bending over backward to get this monkey off their back, and the harder they try, the worse it gets.”
But it’s not as if this is anything new.
From the time the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958 until Cey arrived in 1972, 43 players were tried at third, from the likes of Dick Gray and Charlie Neal and Bart Shirley to an end-of-the-line Ken Boyer to a scatter-armed Steve Garvey and an enigmatic Dick Allen, who would deliver a most-valuable-player season as soon as the Dodgers traded him to the Chicago White Sox--where he resumed being a full-time first baseman in ’72.
During that period the only third basemen who put down any roots were Jim Gilliam, who switched from second to third in the early 1960s; and Jim Lefebvre, who helped anchor the Dodgers’ all-switch-hit infield in the late 1960s.
After playing a handful of games in 1972, Cey took up residence at third the next season, staying there for 10 years and playing more games than all but a few players in the Dodgers’ century-long history, accounting for 224 home runs, 842 runs batted in and six All-Star Game appearances.
It tells you something about the mercurial history of L.A. Dodger third basemen that only Gilliam played even half as many games as Cey at third, and Hamilton--who has put in one full season there--ranks fourth in games played at that position.
Cey, who had the advantage of having played for Lasorda in the minors, joined shortstop Bill Russell, second baseman Dave Lopes and Garvey at first in the longest-running continuous infield in baseball history.
But the game has changed since Cey’s day.
“I never looked at it like (I was) stabilizing a position,” he said. “If I got a chance, I was going to make the best of it. We had (the same) eight guys go out every day.
“The Dodgers used to nurture young talent. They brought us along through the minors, and we formed the nucleus of the club. It’s a different game now. Baseball is leaning more toward platooning and feeding stats into a computer. Guys have to be able to play more positions and move around.”
In the 1950s and ‘60s and even into Cey’s era, third base was a position teeming with clean-up-type run producers with gold gloves--such perennial all-stars as Eddie Mathews, Mike Schmidt, Ron Santo, Tony Perez and Boyer. That’s no longer the case.
“I couldn’t begin to tell you . . . why someone has not handled the position (for the Dodgers) with regularity,” said Cey, who keeps an eye on his old team as a cable TV analyst. “But it’s throughout baseball. Today there are not a lot of names that come to the fore.
“To me, the prototype third baseman is (San Francisco’s) Matt Williams, who hits for power, has great hands and a strong arm. Tim Wallach of the Montreal Expos has been solid. Those two are probably the best combination offense-defense guys in the National League. Chris Sabo is also a fine player at Cincinnati.”
None of which solves the Dodgers’ problem of finding the right third baseman. Since Cey was traded, the Dodgers have had proven hitters, Pedro Guerrero and Bill Madlock, but haven’t come up with a slick fielder who could hit with power and drive in runs.
In 1983, Guerrero played 157 games at third, hit .298 with 32 home runs and drove in 103 runs, helping the Dodgers win the Western Division title. He also committed 31 errors. By 1985 he was playing most of his games in the outfield and later switched to first.
For pennant insurance that year the Dodgers got Madlock, who hit .360 in September and helped clinch another division title. The next year, as the full-time third baseman, Madlock hit .280 with 60 RBIs and 26 errors. He was traded to the Detroit Tigers after 21 games of the 1987 season.
For comparison, gold glove winner Terry Pendleton, then of the St. Louis Cardinals, played most of his games on artificial turf but committed only 15 errors while playing all 162 games in 1989.
The only Dodger to lay claim to third since has been Hamilton, who started 147 games there in 1989, hitting 12 homers and driving in 56 runs while taking part in more double plays, 29, than errors, 19.
But Hamilton’s reign ended seven games into the 1990 season, when he suffered a torn rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder. Choosing to avoid surgery, Hamilton spent the summer with his shoulder hooked up to a portable electrical stimulus machine. His status at Dodger training camp is still uncertain.
In a platoon setup last year, Sharperson hit .297 with 36 RBIs and 15 errors. Since Cey departed, Dodger management hasn’t shown a lot of patience in developing its young players, with the exception of the pitching staff.
Cey points out that today’s game, with veteran players moving about freely, doesn’t give teams who expect to contend time to prepare many youngsters.
“You’ve got to either rush the kids up to the majors, sign a free agent or trade,” Cey said. “You’ve got to play the game the others play. If (opposing) clubs strengthen themselves through free agency, you’ve got to do something or get lost in the shuffle.”
Conversely, the market rate might mean you don’t take a chance on an attractive free agent such as Pendleton, whose good glove and occasional power got him a multimillion-dollar contract with the Atlanta Braves, even though he hit .231 last year.
“Would I sign Pendleton? Not for the money he’s making, when you look at his (offensive) stats,” Cey said.
So Lasorda will probably continue to shuffle the deck at third and look for the next Schmidt. Or the next Cey.
THERE WAS CEY, AND 66 OTHERS Statistics of Ron Cey, and the 23 Dodgers who followed him at third base after the 1982 season. Forty-three Dodgers preceded Cey after the team moved to Los Angeles in 1958.
PLAYER YRS G/3B AB HR RBI BA E Ron Cey 1972-82 1,481 5,216 228 842 .264 166 Derrell Thomas 1979-83 522 1,211 12 100 .257 42 Mickey Hatcher 1979-80 458 1,011 12 115 .272 29 1987-90 Pedro Guerrero 1979-85 794 2,781 134 451 .306 93 Alex Taveras 1982-83 21 7 0 2 .143 0 Dave Anderson 1983-89 662 1,616 13 116 .232 57 Rafael Landestoy 1983-84 188 123 2 3 .171 9 German Rivera 1983-84 107 244 2 17 .266 16 Bob Bailor 1984-85 139 249 0 15 .261 9 Candy Maldonado 1984 116 254 5 28 .268 8 Bill Russell 1985-86 181 385 0 31 .255 15 Enos Cabell 1985-86 164 612 4 65 .265 20 Bill Madlock 1985-87 166 379 10 60 .280 26 Craig Shipley 1986-87 38 62 0 6 .194 6 Jeff Hamilton 1986-90 375 1,111 23 110 .235 43 Tracy Woodson 1987-98 122 315 4 22 .235 10 Phil Garner 1987 70 238 5 23 .190 13 Mike Sharperson 1987-90 212 477 3 46 .289 15 Lenny Harris 1989-90 191 578 3 44 .291 11
OTHERS PLAYING THIRD BASE AFTER CEY
Steve Sax, two games (1985, 1987); Len Matuszek, one game (1985); Alex Trevino, one game (1987); Eddie Murray, two games (1989), Dave Hansen (1990), five games.
PLAYERS PRECEDING CEY AFTER TEAM MOVED TO LOS ANGELES
Dick Gray (1958-59), Earl Robinson (1958), Randy Jackson (1958), Jim Gilliam (1958-66), Pee Wee Reese (1958), Charlie Neal (1958), Gil Hodges (1958-60), Don Zimmer (1958-60, 1963), Jim Baxes (1959), Bob Lillis (1960-61), Tommy Davis (1960-61, 1963, 1966), Charlie Smith (1960), Bob Aspromonte (1960-61), John Roseboro (1960, 1965), Daryl Spencer (1961-63), Lee Walls (1962-63), Andy Carey (1962), Maury Wills (1963-64, 1966, 1970-72), Ken McMullen (1963-64, 1973-75), Marv Breeding (1963), Bill Skowron (1963), John Werhas (1964), Dick Tracewski (1964-65), Bart Shirley (1964), Derrell Griffith (1964), John Kennedy (1965-66), Don LeJohn (1965), Jim Lefebvre (1966-72), Dick Schofield (1966-67), Nate Oliver (1966), Bob Bailey (1967-68), Jim Hickman (1967), Ron Hunt (1967), Luis Alcaraz (1968), Ken Boyer (1968), Paul Popovich (1968), Bill Sudakis (1968-71), Bill Grabarkewitz (1969-72), John Miller (1969), Steve Garvey (1970-72), Manny Mota (1970), Bobby Valentine (1971-72) and Richie Allen (1971).
|
e7207461c69a2101395abef051ecc064 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1862-story.html | Names in the News | Names in the News
Latrese Johnson, a senior at Azusa Pacific, won her third consecutive indoor high jump championship in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics track meet at Kansas City, Mo. She won with a jump of 5 feet 10, two inches short of the record 6-0 she cleared at last year’s event.
|
1cac6f9efe27b5abe712dd654172fb04 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1864-story.html | Swimming | Swimming
Mission Viejo Recreation Center officials agreed in principle to hold the first two races of Mark Spitz’s comeback April 13 against Tom Jager and April 27 against Matt Biondi. Both butterfly match races will be at 50 meters. Jager replaced German Olympian Michael Gross, who backed out of the event, which was originally scheduled for Gifu, Japan.
|
4be1eb5d28d3984835dc4e87a1e87007 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1868-story.html | Skiing | Skiing
Mammoth Mountain reported nearly three feet of new snow had fallen by noon Friday, and the Eastern Sierra ski resort plans to operate 12 lifts this weekend.
|
ea3f1587fc2b7e74f2b28906484f058e | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1870-story.html | COLLEGE BASKETBALL WCC TOURNAMENT : Pepperdine, No. 1 Now, Will Try to Hold Spot | COLLEGE BASKETBALL WCC TOURNAMENT : Pepperdine, No. 1 Now, Will Try to Hold Spot
Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury is not particularly happy that his team has to play in the West Coast Conference basketball tournament, because the Waves have already won the regular-season championship.
On the other hand, Loyola Marymount Coach Jay Hillock is glad to be anywhere after the Lions, the WCC’s second-place team, started by losing five consecutive conference games.
University of San Diego Coach Hank Egan, whose team has split two games with each of six other WCC teams and swept only last-place Portland, thinks the tournament may be the best way to settle matters. He said this year was the first time he hadn’t been asked if the tournament was a good idea. “That’s good,” he added. “It means we’ve grown up.”
The fifth annual WCC tournament begins today at Santa Clara’s Toso Pavilion, and Hillock may have said it best when he predicted that “any one of the eight teams could win this.”
Portland, which finished the regular season 5-22 overall and 3-11 in WCC play, may be an exception to Hillock’s forecast--but perhaps not. The Pilots will play Pepperdine (19-8, 13-1), which has won 13 consecutive games, at 6 p.m.
San Diego (16-11, 8-6) will open against Gonzaga (14-13, 5-9) at 11:30 a.m., and Loyola Marymount (16-13, 9-5), which has won 10 in a row, will face University of San Francisco (11-16, 4-10) at 2 p.m.
At 8:30 p.m., St. Mary’s (11-16, 7-7) will play Santa Clara (16-12, 7-7).
Semifinal games are scheduled for 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The championship game is set for 9 p.m. Monday.
Only the WCC tournament winner is assured of a berth in the NCAA tournament, and Asbury said he wishes his team did not have to prove itself again against other conference teams.
WCC Notes
Pepperdine swept the WCC’s top awards. Doug Christie was named player of the year, Dana Jones freshman of the year and Tom Asbury coach of the year. The only other time one WCC team won all three awards was when Pepperdine did it in 1985. That year, Dwayne Polee was the top player, Levy Middlebrooks the standout freshman and Jim Harrick the leading coach. . . . The all-WCC team: Eric Bamberger, St. Mary’s; Jarrod Davis, Gonzaga; Geoff Lear, Christie, Pepperdine; Terrell Lowery, Loyola; Tim Owens, USF; Richard Petruska, Loyola; Ron Reis and Rhea Taylor, both Santa Clara, and Kelvin Woods, San Diego. Lear is the only repeater from last year, and there are no seniors on the team. . . . SportsChannel will televise the tournament’s first six games, and the championship game will be on ESPN.
|
5a07a93359f3735ac7bb86a23e0849a4 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1877-story.html | BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : Magrane Out for the Season | BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : Magrane Out for the Season
St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Joe Magrane will have elbow surgery April 1 and miss the 1991 season.
General Manager Dal Maxvill, after consulting with team physician Dr. Stan London, said Magrane will undergo surgery to correct medial collateral ligament damage.
“It’s not good news, either from the personal standpoint of Joe Magrane or the ballclub,” Maxvill said.
Magrane’s surgery will be performed by Dodger physician Frank Jobe.
The 26-year-old left-hander flew to Vero Beach, Fla., to be examined by Jobe.
Magrane’s impending surgery was described by London as similar to that undergone in recent seasons by St. Louis pitchers Ken Dayley, John Tudor, Danny Cox, Greg Mathews and Todd Worrell. Worrell is the only one of the five still on the roster.
|
ad47b62e17548217fdccfbfbfb155403 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1880-story.html | HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL CITY 4-A GIRLS’ FINAL : Washington Rolls by Crenshaw | HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL CITY 4-A GIRLS’ FINAL : Washington Rolls by Crenshaw
Charisse Sampson scored 20 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, blocked four shots and had three assists to lead Washington to a 64-34 victory over Crenshaw Friday in the girls’ City 4-A Division championship basketball game at the Sports Arena.
Washington, which has won three consecutive City titles and has not lost to a City opponent in 43 games, never trailed in defeating Crenshaw for the third time this season.
“I’m very happy with this team because we didn’t know how good we would be at the beginning of the season,” said Coach Phil Chase, who is 151-53 in his nine seasons at Washington.
Sampson, a 5-foot-11 junior, nearly outscored Crenshaw by herself in the first half, with 12 points and 12 rebounds, as Washington led, 37-14.
Shakeisha Chambers, a junior guard, added nine points and seven steals as Washington limited Crenshaw to six field goals in the half.
“We knew that the team that gets the most easy baskets is going to win a game like this,” Chase said. “We played really hard defense in the first half and that was a big key for us.”
Sampson, who played sparingly in the fourth quarter, now has 1,428 points and 1,165 rebounds, both school records.
Crenshaw finished 17-6.
“Everyone expected us to win this year, which at times made things tougher,” Sampson said of the Generals, who will have four starters returning next season. “But next year, we’ll be back trying to four-peat.”
Washington (24-4) qualifies for the Southern Regional State tournament beginning Tuesday.
|
21bd75800e317b44f1f886578529a962 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1881-story.html | $1 Million Pacific Classic Is Highlight at Del Mar | $1 Million Pacific Classic Is Highlight at Del Mar
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club will play host to the richest stakes event in its history--the $1 million Pacific Classic--on Aug. 10, during a 1991 season with a $4.2 million stakes lineup.
The Pacific Classic, a 1 1/4-mile run for 3-year-olds and up, will be broadcast nationally on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” as part of a new series on American championship racing.
Del Mar’s 43-day season, which runs from July 24 to September 11, will include 30 stakes races.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Point Loma Nazarene, which won the NAIA District 3 and the Golden State Athletic Conference, will play Wayland Baptist in Jackson, Tenn. on Thursday in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament.
Point Loma Nazarene (24-7) is seeded 28th, Wayland Baptist (25-7) is seeded fifth.
TENNIS
Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras will play an exhibition match to benefit the San Diego State University Aztec Athletic Foundation today at 2 p.m. at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. The match will follow an hour long exhibition by the SDSU men’s and women’s teams.
POSTPONEMENTS
Today’s scheduled softball game between San Diego State and UC Santa Barbara has been postponed because of wet grounds. The contest has not been rescheduled.
Wet grounds also forced the postponement of today’s baseball game between UC Irvine and U.S. International.
|
86f74682d93b815c99c977e5481ff1b1 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1889-story.html | Ermolenko Is Favored in Field for American Final at Long Beach | Ermolenko Is Favored in Field for American Final at Long Beach
Sam Ermolenko, who won three consecutive years, 1987-89, is fully recovered from injuries that forced him to quit after two heat races last year and is the favorite in the 10th American Final on the quarter-mile track at Long Beach Veterans Stadium tonight at 8.
The event is the first qualifying round for American motorcycle riders leading to the world championship.
Ermolenko’s competition figures to come from Ronnie Correy, Greg Hancock and Billy Hamill, all overseas riders. The top five scoring riders will advance to the Overseas Final. The world championship is scheduled Aug. 31 at Goteborg, Sweden.
On the program but not expected to ride is Shawn Moran of Huntington Beach, who won a year ago after a four-lap runoff against Hamill, Hancock and Rick Miller and went on to finish second in the world championship, losing to Sweden’s Per Jonsson in a runoff.
Moran was stripped of his second place and suspended for six months because he had failed a random drug test after the race in Bradford, England.
The test detected that Moran had taken the narcotic dextropropoxyphen napsylate before the race. Moran admitted that he bought an over-the-counter painkiller, distalgesic, to help alleviate the pain from four ribs broken in Sweden three weeks before the race.
|
6f3de41ec79740d6d6c36bfedfe5db78 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1954-story.html | SCC Plays Biola, CCI Takes On Westmont in District 3 Semifinals | SCC Plays Biola, CCI Takes On Westmont in District 3 Semifinals
Southern California College and Christ College Irvine, two local men’s basketball teams with widely divergent postseason experience, play today in a National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3 semifinal at Whittier College’s Graham Center.
Southern California College (24-7), which won the District 3 title last year and advanced to the second round of the national tournament, will play top-seeded Biola at 8 p.m. Christ College Irvine (13-17), which before its 60-53 upset of Fresno Pacific in the first round Tuesday had never played in the district playoffs, faces Westmont at 6 p.m.
For first-year CCI Coach Greg Marshall, it will be the third game he has coached against Westmont, his former employer. Jamie McShan, an all-Golden State Athletic Conference guard, averages 14 points for the Eagles, who are seeded seventh. Westmont (19-9) defeated Christ College, 66-63, in Irvine and, 72-46, in Santa Barbara. Westmont is led by all-conference players Noel Matthews, Chad Kammerer and Peter Partain.
SCC’s Jeff Bickmore, who despite a newly sprained ankle had 35 points and 10 rebounds in the Vanguards’ 75-73 victory over The Master’s on Tuesday in the first round, was expected to practice Friday for the first time since he injured the ankle Monday.
Biola is led by Emilio Kovacic, a 6-foot-10 transfer from Arizona State who averages 19 points and nine rebounds. In the teams’ only meeting of the season, Southern California College defeated Biola, 65-63, in December before Kovacic had become eligible.
|
cd946595b9a46710cd4c80c6c5000f87 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1955-story.html | MULLIGAN ON HIS ALL-TIME ANTEATERS | MULLIGAN ON HIS ALL-TIME ANTEATERS
Comments from the UC Irvine basketball coach on the top players during his 11-year tenure at the school:
KEVIN MAGEE
“I’m not sure he wasn’t as good as Larry Johnson at this stage. He could probably shoot as well or better. He sure could board with him. The difference is, Johnson had a much better supporting cast. Magee is the only guy in the history of the NCAA who was in the top 10 in field-goal percentage, rebounding and scoring in the same year. (Bill) Walton didn’t do it, (Kareem Abdul-) Jabbar didn’t do it, nobody. And Magee did it twice.”
BEN McDONALD
“McDonald was the best defensive player we ever had. He played every position except center for us. One night I had him guard Leon Wood at point guard and we won the game because of what he did. He was a real leader-type guy, even though he didn’t say anything. All he had to do was look at you.”
TOD MURPHY
“He and McDonald were the most solid guys we had, guys who never had a bad practice. Magee was a scorer, period, but those two guys did everything. I remember one night in Nebraska, Murphy is guarding (David) Hoppen, who was a big-time scorer for them, and Murphy was really dragging. So he runs by the bench and says, ‘Coach, coach, give me a minute.’ I call timeout and look at him and say, ‘OK, Murphy, there’s your minute.’ I wasn’t taking him out of there. Murphy was the only one who could handle him.”
JOHNNY ROGERS
“Rogers had some unbelievable games for us. What made him so tough was his outside shooting ability for his size (6-feet-8). We were real fortunate his senior year, when we had Rogers, (Wayne) Engelstad and (Mike) Doktorczyk up front. We’d put all three of them in there, run the break and have them all knock down three-pointers.”
cm,11p6
SCOTT BROOKS
“He’s the best guard we’ve ever had. Brooks was the leading scorer on the West Coast his senior year. I never saw a guy do more with his size (5-11) or play as hard. He loved to play. He and Rogers were real gym rats. Brooks would be in the gym six hours a day, working on his shot.”
|
32167ed433641abee1403e7a618a0119 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-02-sp-1956-story.html | Lakers’ Pfund Contacted by UC Irvine | Lakers’ Pfund Contacted by UC Irvine
Randy Pfund, a Laker assistant coach the past five seasons, said Friday he has been approached by UC Irvine, which is seeking a replacement for retiring basketball Coach Bill Mulligan.
“There’s been some contact made; I think that’s all I’ll say at this point,” said Pfund, who was an assistant at Westmont College before joining the Laker staff.
“We’ll probably have some conversations, then see what the situation is,” Pfund said. “I’m happy here. I think my intent is to stay involved in the NBA. There are a couple of reasons why that situation is worth at least some conversation, but I’d just as soon not get into the particulars of why.”
Pfund said he has been called by an Irvine school official, but had not yet talked with that person, whom he did not name.
Former Laker Coach Pat Riley said this week he had talked to Irvine Athletic Director Tom Ford, and that Ford had contacted him as a reference for another coach.
Asked if Ford had offered Riley the Irvine job, Riley said, “That’s not true.”
Irvine also received permission to speak to Washington State Coach Kelvin Sampson. Sampson has said he will not discuss other jobs until the season is over.
|
8cac06232783e298b4b56c952bed9bf2 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-bk-260-story.html | Unfounded Accusation | Unfounded Accusation
In your Jan. 27 article on Arnold Springer, Venice Action Committee Chairman Jack Hoffman was quoted as saying, “It is curious that Springer and Chumley (that’s me) who are in Ruth Galanter’s inner circle . . . got the money.” It is time to put to rest once and for all the allegations that I am in the pocket of local developers.
I am a private citizen. I am on the board of directors of the Venice Town Council, COAST and Venice Resources Corp., of which I am also acting executive director. In none of these or any other capacity have I taken money from developers, or from anyone else for that matter. Nor have I been promised any.
The truth is easily accessible to anyone suspicious of my activities. Developers planning projects in the community readily disclose the details of their developer exactions. As nonprofit organizations, the Venice Town Council and Venice Resources Corp. books can be made available for inspection.
I don’t see how people can make accusations without bothering to verify them. And I don’t see how The Times can print things based on innuendo, without question as to the motivation or accuracy behind them.
If I held political office, I would treat such mudslinging, particularly in an election year, as an occupational hazard. If I were a public figure, I would have the resources to fight back with a media campaign of my own. As a private citizen, I can do neither. So I resent being repeatedly subjected to allegations, which are no less dangerous or painful because they are indirect and unfounded.
DELL CHUMLEY
Venice
|
f534963696107b262743b3f9eb969d02 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-ca-289-story.html | Veteran Songwriters Reunite at Benefit Concert for Homeless | Veteran Songwriters Reunite at Benefit Concert for Homeless
Veteran Broadway and film songwriters Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane never have to ponder the age-old question: Which comes first, the lyrics or the music?
“Our answer is both,” said Blane, 76, speaking from his home in Broken Arrow, Okla., near Tulsa. “We have a very different way of writing, for a team. We spot a place for a song in a show and then both write one, separately, to fit it. So, we end up with two songs for each spot. Then we get together, play each other our songs and decide which one is best.”
This method has produced stellar results for this team, which has been together since 1938. For one movie, the 1944 musical “Meet Me in St. Louis,” they wrote three songs that have become standards--"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “The Trolley Song” and “The Boy Next Door.”
These songs and many more from their careers as a team and solo songwriters will be featured Monday night at a benefit concert for the Valley Mayors’ Fund for the Homeless, an organization that provides support to shelters and other organizations that help the homeless. The show at the Westwood Playhouse will be a tribute to Martin and Blane, and will be headlined by singer-pianist Michael Feinstein, who is planning to record an album of Martin and Blane songs.
The show will also feature Rue McClanahan, George Hern, John Raitt, Betty Garrett and Gloria DeHaven, most of whom have appeared in movies or shows featuring songs by the duo.
“It is the first time we have been honored with a benefit,” said Blane, who will perform “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” with Martin at the show.
It’s a homecoming for Blane and Martin, also 76, who lives in Encinitas. After they wrote for shows on Broadway, MGM brought them out to Los Angeles in 1942 for the film version of their show “Best Foot Forward,” which featured Nancy Walker and June Allyson.
Blane and Martin also worked at the studio as arrangers and vocal coaches. One actress they coached was Marsha Hunt.
Hunt was not only a performer, but also a social activist. When she was planning the first celebrity benefit for the Valley Mayors’ Fund for the Homeless, an organization she founded in 1983, she contacted her old friends Martin and Blane.
Hunt started the fund shortly after she was appointed honorary mayor of Sherman Oaks by the Chamber of Commerce. The Chambers of Commerce in the San Fernando Valley had been appointing honorary mayors since the 1930s and the position had never amounted to much more than being asked to show up for civic functions.
“Getting the title of honorary mayor was a nice compliment,” said Hunt, whose screen career goes back to 1935 and includes appearances in “Pride and Prejudice” and “The Human Comedy.” “But I thought it could be used for more than cutting a ribbon at the opening of a bank.”
Proceeds from Monday’s benefit will go toward establishing a new multiuse center for the homeless in the Valley.
The Valley Mayors’ Fund for the Homeless benefit show will be at 8 p.m. Monday at the Westwood Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. Tickets range from $25 to $100. For information, call (818) 784-6011.
|
b670c99c807fc2f9b5a609466c005ba9 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-ca-290-story.html | Goethe Institute Uses Arts to Unite Germans, Americans : Among the organization’s projects are several programs related to LACMA’s exhibit on ‘Degenerate Art’ under the Nazis | Goethe Institute Uses Arts to Unite Germans, Americans : Among the organization’s projects are several programs related to LACMA’s exhibit on ‘Degenerate Art’ under the Nazis
Long before the Berlin Wall cracked open and Southern Californians felt a sense of kinship with Germany, there was the Goethe Institute Los Angeles, a German cultural center that has been working for eight years to bring Germans and Americans together.
“We are not here just to tell people what beautiful things we have in Germany,” said Reinhard Dinkelmeyer, director of the Goethe Institute’s Los Angeles office. “We develop programs in cooperation with local partners--museums, universities, film institutes--who are interested in common topics and themes.”
The institute is co-sponsoring several programs related to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s exhibition, “Degenerate Art: the Fate of the Avant-Garde in Germany,” which opened Feb. 17. This exhibit reassembles a significant portion of the artwork that the Nazis took from public museums throughout Germany and displayed in Munich in 1937 to show the German people what kind of work was deemed unacceptable.
Work by such artists as Max Beckmann, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Marc Chagall were among those considered decadent and morally offensive by the Nazis, and are included in LACMA’s reconstruction of seven rooms of the 1937 exhibition.
The Goethe Institute helped obtain rarely seen movies from German archives for the film series at the museum, “From Caligari to Hitler.” Six infamous Nazi propaganda films that have been banned in Germany since 1945 were made available for a seminar on Nazi cinema that takes place next month. A documentary film series that includes “The Art of the Third Reich” and “Swing Under the Swastika” will also run in April.
During the last two weeks, the institute presented “Presence of the Past,” a series of recent feature films that explore the sometimes painful experiences of the sons and daughters of those who lived under the Third Reich. In addition, it co-sponsored two lectures, one on music in the concentration camps, the other on theater during the Third Reich, and a one-day symposium with scholars from Europe and the United States on international responses to the condemnation of degenerate art.
A link between LACMA and the Goethe Institute was established in 1983 when the institute contributed to various arts programs that accompanied the museum’s German Expressionist sculpture exhibition. The institute was interested in organizing and financially supporting the “Degenerate Art” exhibit because it “has always shown its readiness to discuss issues of the Nazi past,” Dinkelmeyer said. “The only way to live with it is to be honest and frank about what happened.”
Dinkelmeyer also believes that the postwar generation in Germany has learned important lessons from the Nazi suppression of avant-garde art that are applicable to the United States today. “We learned to be suspicious of these terms of identifying good and bad art. You cannot draw a direct line from the Nazi attitude toward art to the discussion of so-called obscene art, which is going on in this country today. But one could learn how to avoid things by looking into the past of Nazi Germany and being careful with artistic freedom in this country now. Suppression of artistic creativity can be dangerous everywhere.”
Located in a small bank building at Wilshire and La Cienega boulevards, the institute offers German language study courses and a public library including videos, music and books specializing in German literature after 1945, German film history and contemporary art. It is one of 150 nonprofit Goethe centers worldwide, 11 of them in the United States.
Founded in Munich in 1951, the institute was named after a giant of world literature, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), who wrote several masterpieces, including “Faust.” It was organized when Germany was admitted back into the family of nations after World War II, and exchange students and business people came to West Germany to learn the language, Dinkelmeyer said.
The first branch office opened the following year in Athens to support German language study programs and to work with local academic, arts and cultural organizations to sponsor seminars, exhibits, film programs, concerts and theater productions that would generate an exchange of information about German and local culture.
Dinkelmeyer, now 53, arrived in Los Angeles four years ago after 20 years with the institute. After almost 15 years in Third World countries, he was assigned to the Rotterdam, Netherlands, office. “It was a special challenge for me because Holland suffered so much from the Germans during World War II,” Dinkelmeyer said.
Since arriving here from Rotterdam, Dinkelmeyer and the nine-member institute staff have worked closely with cultural, educational and arts organizations in Southern California--including Women in Film, the American Film Institute, UCLA, USC, various Cal State campuses, the Santa Monica Museum of Art and the Jewish Federation Council. Their efforts have led to programs that give exposure to contemporary, often experimental, art, music and film programs.
“Beethoven doesn’t need the help of the Goethe Institute to be promoted and presented here,” Dinkelmeyer said.
One of the institute’s ideal partnerships, Dinkelmeyer said, was a group of eight artists from Dusseldorf known as BonAngeles who were brought to the Santa Monica Museum of Art in 1989 for a six-week residency and an exhibition. The museum was converted into a studio where the artists worked, inviting people of varied backgrounds and social strata for dinner and conversation about life as well as art.
BonAngeles visited numerous Southern California sites, including an airplane scrap yard in the Mojave Desert, where they searched for art materials. They found two airplane wings for painter Julia Lohmann, one which she recycled into a work for the 1989 exhibition “Plain.” “The airplane is a symbol for Germany as well as the United States, especially Southern California, where you have many airplane factories,” Lohmann said. “The scrap made me think about what technology is doing to our minds.”
The BonAngeles cultural exchange has resulted in unanticipated rewards for Lohmann and sculptor Manfred Muller. Last year, an artist’s studio at Santa Monica Airport became available, and Lohmann returned to Santa Monica to work on her wings and put up a show in the studio. The institute is helping her organize a Southern California exhibit this fall. Muller has been commissioned to do a sculpture for the Santa Monica Pier.
Local artists have benefited as well. The institute had previously established contact with homeless artists downtown, including Henry Brown, known on Skid Row as Henry the Artist. He has painted a mural at 5th and Crocker streets depicting Pegasus on a green meadow facing unsupported stairs that lead skyward.
The mural had been marred by graffiti and, “in a spontaneous action over a drink at Gorky’s Cafe,” the Dusseldorf artists decided to help Brown restore it, Dinkelmeyer said. The artists, with German and American friends and homeless people, did the work.
In December, “we managed to raise the money for a ticket for Henry to fly to Dusseldorf,” Dinkelmeyer said. “The artists provided him with a place to live for six weeks and a studio to work, and from this he had an exhibition. For the first time in his life, he was taken seriously as an artist.”
The institute’s partnership with members of the Jewish community is also serious. Two years ago, the institute organized a conference with the Martyrs Memorial and Museum of the Holocaust of the Jewish Federation Council called “Shadows of the Holocaust, Reflections by the American and European Postwar Generation,” which Dinkelmeyer characterizes as a “remarkable event. It was the first time the Jewish Federation developed a conference jointly with a German institution.”
“Our best partner in developing programs has been the Goethe Institute,” said Michael Nutkiewicz, a child of holocaust survivors who is director of the Martyrs Memorial and Museum of the Holocaust. “Reinhard and his staff have been remarkably sensitive in approaching the subject of Jews and the holocaust with great respect for the postwar generation. What brought us together, as colleagues and as personal friends, is our understanding that our recent histories draw us together in a symbiotic relationship. The Germans cannot heal us, and we cannot alleviate their guilt, but the contact with each other is reassuring.”
“My colleague in Paris could not dream of the networking that is possible here,” Dinkelmeyer said. “I would even say working in Boston and New York is still more difficult than it is here. One of the great advantages of Southern California is that L. A. people are open and curious for new things.”
|
1099769ab5b6b4dd2571eadb9d0bd066 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-ca-5-story.html | Dudley Moore and Richard Griffiths will star... | Dudley Moore and Richard Griffiths will star...
Dudley Moore and Richard Griffiths will star in Hollywood Pictures’ “Blame It on the Bellboy,” which will be filmed in Venice, Italy, this spring. In the script by British writer-director Mark Herman, a bellboy mixes up the hotel rooms for six guests with similar sounding names to everyone’s comic confusion.
Marlee Matlin will star in Eagle Entertainment’s “Fox,” a contemporary romantic fantasy which shoots in Ireland this fall. The screenplay, written and directed by Terry Kahn and produced by Lawrence Vanger and Ed Elbert, is adapted from a French novel, “Sylva” by Vercors, about a fox that escapes death by turning into a young woman.
Peter Boyle, Brent Jennings, Paxton Whitehead, James Le Gros and Kim Walker join Bill Pullman and Julie Brown in Grandview Avenue Pictures’ comedy “Nervous Ticks,” which is going into production locally. Rocky Lang directs David Frankel’s script for producer Arthur Goldblatt.
Paramount’s “Frankie & Johnny,” which began as a two-character play by Terrence McNally, is being expanded by McNally and director Garry Marshall into a film with 40 speaking roles. Recent additions to the Al Pacino-Michelle Pfeiffer film include Hector Elizondo, Kate Nelligan, Laurie Metcalf, Dedee Pfeiffer (Michelle’s younger sister) and Nathan Lane.
Cindy Herron of the rock group In Vogue and rapper Queen Latifah will make cameo performances in Island World Productions’ “Juice.” The coming-of-age story set in Harlem marks the feature directorial debut of Ernest Dickerson, cinematographer on Spike Lee’s last three films. Dickerson wrote the script with Gerard Brown. Producers are Neal Moritz and David Heyman; shooting starts March 13 in New York.
Cliff Robertson and Ned Vaughn of “China Beach” join Matthew Modine and Jennifer Grey in the yacht racing drama “Wind.” Director Carroll Ballard is currently hoisting sails in Australia for Filmlink Int’l and Zoetrope.
Christian Bale, the young star of Steven Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun,” and David Moscow, the boy who grew into Tom Hanks in “Big,” have landed roles in the Disney musical “Newsies,” which Kenny Ortega will direct and choreograph this April. Max Casella and Trey Parker have already been cast.
|
cf37b6056b278629720b51330a322e96 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-ga-71-story.html | $800,000 Voted to Renovate School in Bonita District | $800,000 Voted to Renovate School in Bonita District
After weeks of uncertainty and delay, the Bonita Unified School District board last week approved by a 4-1 vote a plan to renovate a historic but dilapidated elementary school.
The board awarded a contract worth almost $800,000 to ACS Inc. of La Habra to begin work immediately on modernization of La Verne Heights Elementary, built in 1937. The district estimates that the total project could cost from $1.1 million to more than $1.4 million.
The renovation will include installation of air conditioning as well as replacement of some water lines and installation of new carpeting, cabinetwork, ceiling tiles and doors. The plan also calls for expanding the cramped office space and building a portable restroom facility.
Only Robert Green voted against the plan, saying it only spruced up a campus that needed more fundamental renovation. He also lobbied for a permanent cafeteria with restrooms to replace temporary buildings now being used for those purposes.
But Assistant Supt. Karen Willett persuaded other members that changing the project could push the completion date past the start of the next school year, and the district needed the classroom space.
The audience of more than 300 people at Ramona Elementary School applauded both viewpoints. Many still had misgivings that the renovation would accomplish too little and that not all safety concerns had been fully addressed, said Jolene Roselauf, head of the La Verne Heights PTA.
La Verne Heights students have attended the district’s unnamed new school in north La Verne since December, when the old school’s renovation was to begin. Ultimately, the district intends for the new school to serve families in the city’s growing northern section.
|
fd3545ef916fcd105b7922bb2ba27f7b | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-ga-81-story.html | Marine Geologist Wins Harvey Mudd Prize | Marine Geologist Wins Harvey Mudd Prize
Robert D. Ballard, the marine geologist who located the Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck, will receive the annual $20,000 Harvey Mudd College Wright Prize for exceptional contributions to science through cross-disciplinary study.
The prize will be presented March 4 on the Claremont campus.
|
d86ffc42e671e4d0a36d4e98b1000a4e | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-hl-538-story.html | Port Will Pay $3.5 Million to End Rift Over Trade Center : Development: Both sides are pleased to end the dispute over office space that the harbor leased but never used. | Port Will Pay $3.5 Million to End Rift Over Trade Center : Development: Both sides are pleased to end the dispute over office space that the harbor leased but never used.
To end a leasing dispute with developers of the World Trade Center, directors of the Port of Long Beach have consented to pay about $3.5 million of public funds for renting three floors of prime office space the port never used.
The agreement settles a long-running squabble that created a rift in the normally cordial relations between the port and the business partnership that is developing the trade center complex on downtown land owned by the port.
Eager to smooth the waters, both sides say they are happy to have the dispute behind them.
“Obviously I think it’s a good settlement or we wouldn’t have made the agreement,” observed Robert Langslet, president of the Long Beach Harbor Commission, which oversees the port, the second busiest in the nation. “I think it’s fair to all parties.”
While the port agreed to pay $3.5 million to extricate itself from an $8-million, five-year lease for office space at the World Trade Center, the center agreed to increase its payments for the use of four adjacent vacant lots slated for development as part of the complex.
The dispute centered around an unusual and little-known pact first outlined in 1986 between the city-owned port and IDM Corp., the largest real estate development company in Long Beach. The port had chosen IDM and Kajima International Inc., a subsidiary of one of Japan’s largest construction firms, to develop the trade center complex on a 12-acre tract assembled and cleared by the port at a cost of $30 million.
Concerned that construction had not yet begun, the port in late 1986 committed itself to leasing 60,000 square feet, about three floors, in the trade center’s first building, a 27-story office tower.
“We are acting now . . . as an additional incentive to start the building as soon as possible,” wrote James McJunkin, then the port director, to IDM President Michael J. Choppin in a letter cited in Superior Court documents.
In a recent interview, McJunkin said Kajima wanted IDM to come up with more leasing commitments before it would start construction. Ground was broken on the project soon after the port said it would take three floors.
But while McJunkin said that the port was initially considering moving its offices into the new building, subsequent letters between the port and IDM made it clear that the port administration had no intention of moving from its seven-story building in the harbor area to the trade center. Instead, the port said it would help find other tenants for the three floors, with the understanding that once those tenants signed leases, the port would be released from its obligations.
In May of 1989, the same month the office tower opened, those terms were finally written into a formal, five-year lease agreement involving 53,371 square feet, according to court documents.
Problems emerged when the port later that same year said it had lived up to its end of the bargain by helping the trade center land one of its biggest tenants, the U.S. Customs Service, along with two other companies, which together occupied three floors. It was because of the port’s lobbying efforts that the customs office decided to move its Pacific Region headquarters from downtown Los Angeles to the Long Beach trade center, port officials said. The developers disagreed, contending that the port had not been that helpful and insisted the port was still liable for its leasing commitments--which at $135,000 a month rent for five years, amounted to a total of $8 million.
Last October, the port filed a lawsuit against the partnership, Greater Los Angeles World Trade Center Associates, withdrew it after a settlement was reached, and then refiled it again last month after the settlement fell apart. A second settlement was approved last week by both sides and is now being finalized by the city attorney’s office.
“The dispute’s been resolved to everyone’s satisfaction and we’re looking forward to the continued development of the World Trade Center site,” said Jim McMillan, vice president of marketing and communications for IDM, declining further comment on the matter. He said 75% of the center’s office space has been leased.
Steven R. Dillenbeck, harbor executive director, said the new settlement calls for the port to pay slightly more than two year’s rent for the three floors, or about $3.5 million, to the trade center partnership, which will then release the port from the remainder of the lease. The payment will take the form of credits on the rent the trade center owes the port on its land lease. The partnership now pays about $600,000 a year for the office building site, and will pay similar rents on other portions of the complex as they are developed.
Under the settlement, the trade center also will double its payments to the port for use of four adjoining vacant parcels slated for development.
In an exceptionally generous arrangement, the port has been letting the trade center use two lots free of charge to park equipment and trailers needed for construction of the center’s second phase, a 400-room Hilton hotel now under way. It has charged $12,300 a month for another two parcels the center uses for paid parking.
Now the trade center will either pay the port a total of slightly more than $23,000 a month for all four lots or 50% of its gross parking receipts, whichever is greater. It is expected the parking receipts will be the larger of the two after the hotel opens, but in the meantime the port’s rate of return on its initial investment in the lots will be less than 4%, lagging behind inflation.
The port’s commitment to lease three floors of an upscale office building that had not been built was unprecedented for a public agency in Long Beach. “I certainly have never seen it before and I know of no other arrangement in the city like that,” City Auditor Robert Fronke said.
Port officials defend their action, saying it was necessary to get a highly desirable development project started.
“It’s part of the cost of the project,” said Langslet, the harbor board president. “We’re going to come out fine on it. It’s another showing of what the port has done to help the city,” he continued, adding that he expected IDM to eventually exercise its option to buy the 12-acre trade center site from the port at market value.
Fronke added: “If it was a deal maker or a deal breaker, then the action was appropriate. The deal was too important to the city to let it get away.”
Still, some in the real estate business expressed concern. “Not very prudent of those gentlemen is it?,” observed a commercial real estate broker. “Sort of wasting public money.”
He argued that by saying it would lease private office space it didn’t need and didn’t use, the port was in a sense creating a false picture of market demand.
Mayor Ernie Kell, who appoints the harbor commissioners, said he thought the port was wise to settle the legal fight. Of the original leasing agreement, he said, “I think it might have been a mistake to do that, but that’s hindsight. We had other developers that were willing to build it without those conditions.”
He added, “I’m sure it was a business decision, and I don’t have any quarrel with that.”
WORLD TRADE CENTER, LONG BEACH
Height: 27 stories.
Size: 553,000 square feet/office, retail space.
Opened: May, 1989
Occupancy: 75% (office space)
Location: Ocean Boulevard, near Long Beach Freeway (710)
Developers: IDM Corp., Kajima International Inc.
Source: Port of Long Beach
|
b414406a20297feb53036b90df524ad4 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-me-131-story.html | ‘Degenerate Art’: For Some, Ugly Too Is in the Eye of the Beholder | ‘Degenerate Art’: For Some, Ugly Too Is in the Eye of the Beholder
Hitler hated what he did not understand. Most German Expressionist art is strong and forceful. Can the beauty and grace of Rudolf Belling’s sculpture “Triad” be denied?
It’s true we would probably not put Otto Dix’s “Skin Graft” or “Wounded Man, Autumn 1916, Bapaume.” in our living room, but we should put value on what the artist is telling us.
It saddens me that in 1991 there still is Hitlerian intolerance against artistic expression that transcends the norm. The message of the three letter writers is clear: “Heil Norman Rockwell!”
ELAINE PELUCE
South Pasadena
|
9f39003e1f811964c9a025e34228a811 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-me-211-story.html | CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE : New Policy Would Ban Smoking | CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE : New Policy Would Ban Smoking
Cal State Northridge is on the brink of adopting a policy that would make the campus smoke-free by the year 2000.
The proposed policy, to be implemented by CSUN President James W. Cleary after he receives feedback from campus organizations, would immediately prohibit smoking in all public areas, including classrooms, dining facilities, hallways, restrooms and conference rooms.
It recommends phasing out smoking in private offices and reception areas.
Eventually, smoking would be banned at stadiums, tennis courts and other recreational areas and at catered events held by university auxiliaries at the University Club.
Cleary drafted the policy after the Associated Students Senate and the Faculty Senate passed a joint resolution last fall urging that CSUN become a smoke-free campus, said CSUN spokeswoman Ann Salisbury.
“President Cleary will implement the smoking policy as soon as possible, barring any dramatic action against it,” Salisbury said.
Although the policy initially included a six-month phase-out of smoking in private offices and receptions areas, the Associated Students Senate this week recommended an amendment abolishing that grace period.
Many of the senators felt “it would be unfair to give the faculty an edge by smoking indoors when students can’t,” said Associated Students Senator Bruce Najbergier.
The student senate also recommended omitting from the policy a ban on the sale of tobacco products and a rule prohibiting smoking within 30 feet of all building entrances.
The Committee on Smoking, created to study the impact of a campuswide smoking ban, examined no-smoking rules at other universities and concluded that CSUN would have no major problems enforcing such a policy.
The committee was composed of student, staff and faculty leaders.
Similar policies already have been implemented at Cal State Los Angeles, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Long Beach, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego and other schools.
Peer pressure and campus complaints, as well as disciplinary measures, made policies on other campuses enforceable, a committee report said.
The committee recommended that stop-smoking programs be made available on campus in conjunction with the policy implementation.
|
848daccbd07ee78656fbce3c32c51120 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-me-213-story.html | VALLEY COLLEGE : Softball Team’s Ouster Criticized | VALLEY COLLEGE : Softball Team’s Ouster Criticized
A decision to cut the women’s softball team from the athletic program at Valley College has upset players and women’s athletic officials.
Brick Durley, assistant dean of administrative services, said the team was eliminated because of lack of participation.
But Dee Stark, women’s athletic director, said that when the team was cut late last month, there were 14 players on the team. A scheduling conflict prevented other team members from joining until after the end of basketball season, she said.
The team started practicing a month ago, she said, but was eliminated the day before its first practice game. She said it is difficult for her to understand why the team was cut.
“We’ve never had to cancel a game, and we’ve always met our conference commitments,” Stark said. “It was already written into the budget, and other schools have less players than us.”
Stark said she asked college President Mary Lee and Mary Ann Breckell, vice president of administration, to reverse their decision.
But she said they would not reconsider. Lee and Breckell failed to return phone calls about the team.
“The sad point is the students end up suffering because they don’t have an opportunity to try,” Stark said.
She added that many students use their experience to win scholarships for continuing their education. “For some, it was a doorway to higher education.”
Sandra Zerner, the team’s coach, said it would be difficult to reinstate the team.
Zerner, a former player on the team, said she was looking forward to coaching it. “I was so excited. It was my dream job. It meant so much to me.”
Former team member Erica Hauck said the action was premature. “We had enough players to field a team,” she said.
Stark said that although the men’s athletic department has eight sports teams, the women’s has only four. “In a time when women are gaining equal rights, we should be adding programs, not cutting them,” she said. “That doesn’t sound like equal opportunity to me.”
|
ab8aa1425b09504f672b298f682ab57f | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-me-220-story.html | COUNTYWIDE : Sun Gives Respite After Rainstorm | COUNTYWIDE : Sun Gives Respite After Rainstorm
The sun shone on Ventura County Saturday as residents sawed up fallen trees, cleaned mud from streets and recovered from the county’s heaviest rainstorm in five years.
But the sunny skies and warm temperatures might be just a respite from the storm to come, said Terry Schaeffer of the National Weather Service in Santa Paula.
Schaeffer said at least two storms are on the county’s horizon in the next week, with one due as early as this evening. He said he did not expect either of the coming storms to have the force of last week’s rain.
That storm turned dry riverbeds into torrents, drenched farmland, caused scores of accidents and ended a seven-week dry spell.
Six to 10 inches of rain fell in the county’s mountains, and five to nine inches dropped along the coast, Schaeffer said. County water supply officials, however, said the rainstorm would not end the five-year drought.
Saturday, temperatures throughout Ventura County averaged in the mid- to high 60s.
Bob Thompson, 28, of Ventura woke up to sunshine and the information that a 30-foot tree in his yard had fallen into the street. It had to be cut up to clear Day Road for traffic.
“It was a nice tree, too,” Thompson said. “We had to trim it often but never had any problems with it.”
Thompson said he left home Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. and did not return until 3:30 a.m. Saturday, when he went immediately to bed. He didn’t know anything about the tree until he went outside Saturday morning.
Neighbor Bill White said Day Road becomes a river in heavy rainstorms. White, who has lived in the neighborhood for 28 years, said rainwater gushed through the gate of Arroyo Verde Park and flowed down the street with such force that it lifted a dumpster and floated it down the hill.
The storm caused a number of county roads to be closed, but by Saturday night, only two remained impassable. Grimes Canyon Road and Balcom Canyon Road between Moorpark and Fillmore were closed by rock and mud.
Authorities said they did not know when the roads would reopen.
|
aceea7ffdc53ee2393640abe004ec2f2 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-me-353-story.html | Schabarum--End of an Era : Politics: The controversial member of the Board of Supervisors leaves the county panel the way he arrived--combative and at odds with his colleagues. | Schabarum--End of an Era : Politics: The controversial member of the Board of Supervisors leaves the county panel the way he arrived--combative and at odds with his colleagues.
In 1972, Pete Schabarum took his seat as a Los Angeles County supervisor--a conservative appointee to a board dominated by liberals. On Friday, Schabarum leaves the board, still a political maverick at odds with fellow supervisors.
His departure from the board, however, does not end his crusading. At a retirement party last week, the supervisor told hundreds of supporters that he is still “going to be around. I’m simply shifting gears.”
Aides say Schabarum will expand his drive to limit the terms of public officials and will raise money to fight legal challenges to Proposition 140, which restricts the length of service by state office holders.
Over nearly two decades, the acerbic supervisor has left his imprint on the nation’s most populous county and on the state of California, say critics and supporters.
Schabarum orchestrated a conservative takeover of the board, then pursued an agenda that altered the course of county government.
He helped promote and shape land development, especially in his San Gabriel Valley district.
He attacked the size and cost of county government by hiring private companies to perform many tasks previously done by government employees.
He led the unsuccessful fight against a court-ordered redistricting that recently resulted in the election of his successor, Gloria Molina, and the end of conservative control of the board.
Schabarum also took his message beyond the county line to Sacramento and to the state’s voters--using his fund-raising prowess to help like-minded candidates and conservative causes. He was an important fund raiser for the campaign that ousted liberal Chief Justice Rose Bird from the state Supreme Court. And his sponsorship last year of Proposition 140 assured him a spot alongside Proposition 13 author Howard Jarvis as a fighter of big government.
Schabarum said last March that he would not seek reelection to his 1st District seat because the job is not “as much fun as other things these days.”
Schabarum, 62, will receive a county pension of about $40,000 a year and plans to return to the land development business.
Press aide Judy Hammond said that Schabarum will push for limits on the number of terms that county supervisors and members of Congress can serve. She said Schabarum also is seeking a gubernatorial appointment, which she would not identify.
The supervisor’s style and agenda evoked strong emotions and, his critics say, divisiveness. None of his board colleagues attended Schabarum’s retirement party last week.
Some critics hail Schabarum’s retirement as a blessing for environmentalists, AIDS activists, labor unions, advocates for the poor and others who clashed with him over his abrasive style and his tight-fisted policies.
But his supporters say taxpayers will lose the chief protector of the county’s purse-strings, a self-made millionaire land developer who applied sound business principles when deciding how to spend the public’s money.
His legacy, Schabarum has said, is that he tried “to operate this county budget like your own household budget--mainly that you don’t spend more than you collect.”
Schabarum declined to be interviewed for this story. But Mike Lewis, his former chief deputy, said that the supervisor has taken special pride in his sponsorship of a 1978 voter-approved Charter amendment that allows the county to contract with the private sector for services.
Schabarum, a former San Francisco 49ers halfback, carried his competitive style into politics and practically everything else. In a county-league softball game several years ago, Schabarum bowled over a 135-pound grandmother as he scored a run for his team, “Pete’s Posse.”
“That’s baseball,” Schabarum said, dusting himself off.
A supporter of Proposition 13, Schabarum helped steer the county through rocky financial times. The result, critics say, was a reduction in essential services, especially to the poor.
“I’ve never seen you once vote for poor people,” liberal Supervisor Kenneth Hahn told Schabarum at a 1988 board meeting.
When asked if he could say anything nice about Schabarum, county labor leader William Robertson borrowed a line from President Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Gimme a week, and I might think of something.”
Joel Fox, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., said that Schabarum “helped lead the Board of Supervisors on privatization of county functions. That has been saving millions of dollars for taxpayers. . . . That was an important achievement.”
Part of Schabarum’s legacy are the dozens of public buildings and parks in his San Gabriel Valley district, including Schabarum Regional Park.
A community building at the park houses such Schabarum memorabilia as a 1950 newspaper picturing him throwing a block in a football game that put UC Berkeley in the Rose Bowl, a 1972 car license plate “A-49" from Schabarum’s days as the 49th District assemblyman, and a bus stop sign for the Foothill Transit Zone, a public-private transportation system that he helped create.
Schabarum’s politics were molded from up-by-the-bootstraps Republican values. If the son of a middle-class Covina stockbroker could make himself a multimillionaire, Schabarum believed, then so could anyone else, with hard work.
His political career began in 1965. At age 36, he became the youngest foreman of the county grand jury.
A year later, he was elected to the Assembly. In 1972, he decided not to seek reelection because he “was not making enough headway” in the Democratic-controlled body.
In March, 1972, he was appointed by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan to a Board of Supervisors vacancy created by the death of Frank Bonelli.
Schabarum spent his early years on the board as a frustrated lone conservative, constantly bickering with other supervisors, particularly muckraking Supervisor Baxter Ward. During the eight years he served with Ward, Schabarum never visited Ward’s office.
As a supervisor, Schabarum won a reputation as a hard worker who prepared himself for board meetings. “He may have been an ornery rascal, but he sure did his homework,” said Bill Gilson, Schabarum’s press deputy in the ‘70s.
In 1980, Schabarum tapped his campaign fund and political organization to help elect fellow conservatives Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana to the board.
The conservatives voted together so consistently that the public employee unions--upset by their actions--wrote a jingle for them: “Three-to-Two, Three-to-two, we always know just what they’ll do.”
They steered money away from health, welfare and social services and into law enforcement. They phased out rent controls and farmed out county business to private firms, and they often sided with developers. “I think every man is entitled to the reasonable use of his property,” Schabarum once said, “and as long as I’m supervisor, no reasonable zoning request is going to be denied.”
County funding for health care declined from 17% of the budget in 1980-81 to 11% in the current fiscal year, while expenditures for the Sheriff’s Department increased from 18% to 25%, officials said.
Contracting has saved the county $246 million since it was authorized in 1978 by a Schabarum-sponsored Charter amendment, said Chris Goodman, the county’s contracting coordinator. Last year, the county issued 428 contracts for services previously provided by county employees, such as building maintenance, security, debt collection and vehicle repair.
The new liberal bloc of Hahn, Molina and Ed Edelman have pledged to cut back private contracting, disputing the savings. They also contend that privatization results in a lower quality of services to the public.
In recent years, Schabarum increasingly found himself isolated from his conservative colleagues to the point where he and his fellow board members rarely talked outside of board meetings.
When asked to sum up Schabarum’s legacy, Antonovich said: “Pete will be remembered for turning over control of the Board of Supervisors to a liberal majority.” Antonovich contended that had Schabarum resigned earlier instead of retiring, the governor could have appointed a Republican, giving the appointee the advantage of incumbency for the 1st District election.
Dana said that “Pete was the leader of the conservative majority” but “grew tired of the job.”
Schabarum, in recent years, contended that his fellow Republicans strayed from their conservative ideology.
During a meeting last year, he was on the short end of a 3-1 roll call to require gas stations to obtain permits to sell alcoholic beverages. Noting that Antonovich and Dana joined the liberal Edelman in voting for the measure, Schabarum grumbled, “Two alleged conservatives and a liberal just invoked another piece of government nonsense.”
SCHABARUM’S LEGACY
From streets to a hiking and equestrian trail--things that bear imprint of Supervisor Pete Schabarum:
* The Schabarum Trail, a 28-mile hiking and equestrian trail stretching from Whittier Narrows Park in Rosemead through Schabarum Regional Park in Rowland Heights and ending in Walnut Creek Park in San Dimas. Dedicated on June 4, 1989.
* Schabarum Regional Park, Rowland Heights near Colima Road and Azusa Avenue. Dedicated June 4, 1989.
Compiled by Times editorial researcher Cecilia Rasmussen
* Schabarum Ave. in Irwindale. Dedicated in late 1986.
* Peter F. Schabarum Senior Center, 1556 Central Avenue, South El Monte. Dedicated May,1982.
* Laura Avenue in La Puente was named by Pete Schabarum for his daughter Laura Vandivort around 1960.
QUOTES FROM SCHABARUM
During his 19 years on the Board of Supervisors, Pete Schabarum gained a reputation for direct and sometimes caustic comments on Los Angeles County government, his colleagues and critics:
* On what drives him, 1981: “I’m a competitor. I always have been. I don’t like to lose. I hate losing. I think you have to be that way, to play pro football. . . .”
* On environmentalists, 1981: “A lot of them are living out there, in nice rural areas, and they don’t want to be disturbed. I don’t blame them. Why should they give a damn about the guy next door, sitting on acres of undeveloped property that’s doing nothing for him? They don’t care what’s fair. But I do.”
* On liberal Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, 1978: “He’s been on the board for over 25 years and he fancies himself as our elder statesman. As a result, the board members get a weekly lesson on the history of the county, which is interesting or amusing to visitors, but tiring to those who must endure his homilies on a regular basis.”
* On immigration, refugees and illegal immigrants, 1985: “My own grandparents were examples of the American immigrant dream. My grandfather, a German engineer, migrated to Mexico where he met and married my Mexican grandmother. They eventually emigrated legally to California with their children and became U.S. citizens. There were no welfare programs then, and they and all the other immigrants worked hard to pay for food, clothing and shelter.”
* After flattening a 135-pound, 50-year old grandmother playing catcher during a softball game, 1986: “That’s baseball.”
* After a noisy demonstration in the board chamber by AIDS activists demanding more money to fight the disease, 1989: “If you were to poll the man in the street, I think you would find the vast majority of the public really has no interest in the subject of AIDS and certainly could care less about the public financing the needed programs that you have articulated.”
* Running in a predominantly Latino district would pose no problem “being Hispanic such as I am,” Schabarum said in 1990, noting that his grandmother was Mexican.
* On the election of Gloria Molina to the new 1st District created by a judge, 1991: “The election results notwithstanding, the real story is the preposterous gerrymander . . . which is the worst desecration of one-man one-vote in the history of American politics.”
* On whether his 11th hour decision not to seek reelection made it tougher for a Democrat to run for his seat, 1990: “Shucks.”
* On his term-limitation initiative Proposition 140, 1990: “This is my swan song.”
|
595ea5148bef6b077082d02a068f1b13 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-me-400-story.html | There Goes the New Neighborhood : Construction: Residents in older tracts protest the selling of new, larger homes for less than they paid. ‘This has devastated the value of our homes,’ one says. | There Goes the New Neighborhood : Construction: Residents in older tracts protest the selling of new, larger homes for less than they paid. ‘This has devastated the value of our homes,’ one says.
For two weeks, Ray and Marie Rivera camped out in their motor home parked outside a cluster of model homes, patiently waiting for their chance to buy a piece of the American Dream.
For more than two years, the Cerritos couple had scanned real estate ads, waiting for the air to seep out of an inflated housing market and bring the price of a home within their reach.
The long wait paid off here, where the Riveras found the Vistas: two new tracts with houses selling for at least $50,000 less than comparable homes elsewhere in South County.
But on Saturday, when they stepped out of their motor home to put a deposit on a new house, they saw picket signs held by angry future neighbors.
Across the street, a score of angry homeowners from a neighboring tract were protesting the prices of the Vistas homes--houses that are bigger than theirs but selling for tens of thousands of dollars less, demonstrators said.
Further, the protesters want rebates, saying that when they bought their homes, the developer misrepresented the plans for the yet-unbuilt Vistas tracts.
“This has devastated the value of our homes,” said Terry Perisho, a homeowner in Arroyo Vista, across the street from the Vistas. “With these located right next to us, there is no way we can sell our homes without taking a huge loss.”
The group is blaming the developer of both projects, the Irvine-based Fieldstone Co., for selling the new tract at below-market prices.
But representatives of the developer said the homeowners are just unfortunate victims of a housing boom that was bound to crash.
“There isn’t a builder out there that doesn’t wish the downturn didn’t happen,” said Paul Johnson, Fieldstone’s project manager in Orange County. “We’re not in control of the market.”
Homes in the Vistas start at $207,990 and top out at about $290,000, for homes with 1,730 to 2,712 square feet. Homes in the Arroyos sold for $226,990 to $311,000, in sizes from 1,550 to 2,381 square feet.
With housing sales slowing since mid-1989, some developers have dramatically cut prices for new homes. Homeowners who bought just before the slowdown are finding it tough to refinance or sell because the cut prices have lowered appraisal values in the area.
“Our equity has vanished,” said Debbie Noonan, a saleswoman with Lakeview Real Estate Co. in Mission Viejo, who owns an Arroyo Vista home.
“We wish we could go over there and buy,” she added, pointing to the Mediterranean-style model homes where prospective buyers milled about.
Like most residents of Arroyo Vista and the Oaks tract, Candy and Terry Perisho bought their house about 18 months ago, just before the real estate crunch.
In July, Perisho was promoted to American Airlines captain, which meant transferring to Chicago. At first the father of two commuted home on weekends; the family recently decided to move.
But with the opening of Estrella and Valle Vista--the first phases of a 1,840-home project by Fieldstone Co.--"we’re completely stuck,” he said. “There’s no resale value left in our house, and our equity is less than when we started in a Huntington Beach condo as a new couple, about seven years ago. . . . I don’t see this as the American Dream anymore.”
Vicki Kacerek, another Lakeview Realty agent who lives in the tract, said about the Arroyos: “I know of only three sales there in the past two years.”
So, Arroyos homeowners say they want rebates from Fieldstone. Many accuse sales people of misrepresenting the then-undeveloped Vistas tracts, saying the homes there would be bigger and more expensive than the Arroyos and start in the low-$300,000 range.
Fieldstone sales representatives denied making such claims.
In September, Fieldstone reportedly began settling with San Diego homeowners in a 340-home development, paying several thousand dollars to each family. Some of the owners had accused the developer of selling homes in their tract at top prices, even though they planned to drastically cut prices for future homes.
Fieldstone project manager Johnson said he is not familiar with the San Diego situation, but “there has not been any misrepresentation” in the Arroyos.
“We’ve never had sales people say when the next phase is going up or how much it will be,” he said. “We have dealt fairly with those two communities.”
The protesters Saturday had little impact on about 30 people who showed up to apply for a home in the Vistas.
|
3c1c7540bacff8a53de902919d67efa4 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-me-401-story.html | Where the Bill of Rights Is Suspended | Where the Bill of Rights Is Suspended
Last week, as two Border Patrol officers waved car after car through the checkpoint just south of San Clemente, two young men--dark-haired, dark-skinned, wearing sneakers and baseball warm-up jackets--screeched their car over to the right shoulder of the highway and took off running up the scrub hills to the east.
They disappeared over the bluff just south of the checkpoint, with no one apparently in pursuit.
The officer who waved my car through didn’t so much as look up. I drove north, as I do every day, without incident.
Those two men and the untold number of others who run into the brush or across the highway risk injury or death in their effort to land a spot in this country. Scores of Mexicans died on the highway last year, and each death brought a flurry of questions about how the checkpoint is managed.
But interest passes, inevitably subsides, and life goes back to normal at the checkpoint, where 6,000 commuters an hour sometimes pass beneath the blinking red lights.
It’s precisely business as usual at the checkpoint, though, that can surprise someone from another part of the country, where checks for illegals are as unheard of as whole seasons without rain. I’m reminded every day that my easy passage is only because I’m Anglo, and because my car’s too small to hold a cache of aliens seeking U.S. refuge.
I figure that in the past 18 months since I moved to Southern California, I’ve been through the checkpoint better than 300 times. I’ve never been stopped, never questioned, never told to pull over.
Yet, it’s a rare day when there’s not at least a car or two by the side of the road. Border Patrol agents usually have the occupants by the side of their vehicle, sometimes they’re rifling through their trunks, other times checking the identifications of the driver and passengers.
And not once have I watched them searching anyone who was not Latino in appearance.
“I guess I’ve grown used to it,” said Richard C. Armendariz, a Santa Ana immigration lawyer. “But it’s strange. It’s one of those things that you’re forced to put up with if you’re Hispanic in this area.”
The Border Patrol says it pulls over more than just Latinos. Anyone can be stopped, and officers use their discretion in deciding who to question.
“There’s so much that an officer can look for,” said Ted Swofford, public information officer for the Border Patrol’s San Ysidro office. “I have arrested literally thousands of illegal aliens, and you notice things like the clothing, the way the hair is cut, the difference in the way they carry themselves.”
Cars can tell volumes too, Swofford said. Heavily laden vehicles give their drivers away by the way they ride, by how they stop.
But the checkpoint officer who makes the decision about whether to pull a driver over has to act quickly. The backup during the morning commute can often run 30 to 40 cars deep; to keep traffic moving, the officer must decide in an instant whether he wants to question a driver.
For those stopped, U.S. constitutional protections do not apply. Officers can ask questions, and drivers have no right to refuse to answer. Officers can demand to search the car, and drivers have no right to say no.
The Border Patrol needs no probable cause to justify such a stop, because the checkpoint is considered an extension of the border, not a full part of the United States, where constitutional protections would apply. Anyone can be stopped for any reason or for no reason at all.
“The checkpoint creates an exception to the idea that once you’re here, you’re free from this sort of thing,” said Charles Hammond Wheeler, directing attorney of the National Immigration Law Center. “It’s a zone where they can ask you anything, and you must answer or open up your trunk or whatever.”
For 75,000 illegal aliens, the stop at the checkpoint last year meant arrest and return to Mexico. For a few dozen others, attempts to avoid it meant death.
But for many people who rarely make the news, the brush with the checkpoint was less dramatic. Thousands of legal U.S. citizens--stopped because they looked Latino or because their cars looked suspicious--felt a moment of uncertainty, of fear, of having to prove that they deserved to be in the country where they pay taxes and hold jobs and have families.
That’s a hell of a thing to tack onto anyone’s commute.
|
b4c74d8d49244fc750314561b88122b0 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-me-530-story.html | Israeli Vessel Did Not Cause Oil Spill | Israeli Vessel Did Not Cause Oil Spill
Testing shows that an Israeli cargo ship was not the source of the oil spill discovered last week in the West Basin of Los Angeles Harbor, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said Saturday.
“The ship is no longer considered a suspect,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jim Milbury.
Oil samples from the spill were compared to samples from fuel tanks aboard the Israeli container ship Zim California, which was docked in the harbor when the spill occurred. The results, received Friday, showed the samples did not match, Milbury said.
The ship’s agent, Zim Container, had hired Chempro Environmental Services of Long Beach to clean up the oil. Since the ship was not responsible, the Coast Guard will pay for the cleanup, which is continuing, Milbury said.
The cause of the spill, estimated at 4,200 gallons, was still unknown Saturday. The oil may have leaked from a pipeline somewhere in the harbor area, Milbury said.
|
1131b5f038eb2afb01d75cb15dc5f1bf | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-me-535-story.html | Work of 3 South Bay Artists Exhibited | Work of 3 South Bay Artists Exhibited
Paintings and assemblage by South Bay artists Barbara Berry, Pat Cox and Kathleen Dawson are on view through March 25 at the Artists’ Studio Gallery, located on the second level of The Shops at Palos Verdes, 550 Deep Valley Drive, Rolling Hills Estates. The gallery, which is affiliated with the Palos Verdes Art Center, is open daily from noon to 5 p.m.
Berry is exhibiting figurative studies in oil, while Cox’s work consists of assemblage pieces and watercolor collages that incorporate natural and man-made objects found by the artist. Dawson is showing large-scale images of flowers, emphasizing abstract elements and still-life studies. All three artists have won awards in national, regional and local juried shows.
|
d5ed6c619db468839418050aa16e7aa2 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-mn-383-story.html | Bush Laying Plans for Broad Mideast Peace : Diplomacy: The President hopes to use the allied victory to forge a comprehensive settlement of long-intractable issues that have plagued the region, top officials say. | Bush Laying Plans for Broad Mideast Peace : Diplomacy: The President hopes to use the allied victory to forge a comprehensive settlement of long-intractable issues that have plagued the region, top officials say.
President Bush intends to use his victory in the Gulf War as the foundation for an ambitious attempt to forge a comprehensive new order in the Middle East, including agreements on arms control and peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, top Administration officials said Saturday.
And, in an unusual gambit, the President plans to seek rapid, “multiple-track” negotiations on a range of issues, instead of the traditional step-by-step process that bogged earlier U.S. efforts in diplomatic quagmires, the officials said. One early target would be peace between Israel and Syria, long the Jewish state’s most implacable enemy.
“What the President wants is an overall solution,” said White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu. “I don’t think he’s as much interested in interim steps.”
Another official observed: “There’s a window of opportunity now. We need some active diplomacy to keep the window open and, hopefully, to widen it.”
The war has changed the political landscape of the Middle East, he said, in part by putting Israel, Syria and Egypt on the same side in a crisis. And Israel may now be more willing to give up occupied Arab lands in exchange for peace because Iraq’s Scud missile attacks showed “that territory is not synonymous with security,” he added.
Secretary of State James A. Baker III’s trip to the Middle East this week is intended to lead to a round robin of negotiations that will cut through the region’s many deadlocks by offering something to everyone, the Administration officials said.
Peace between Israel and Syria would be based on a return of a demilitarized Golan Heights to Damascus’ control. Peace between Israel and the Palestinians could follow, once Palestinians recognize that “the train is leaving the station,” in the words of one official.
But the process is fraught with pitfalls--every previous U.S. attempt to fashion a comprehensive peace settlement has failed--so the Administration is deliberately holding off on constructing anything that might be called a “Bush Plan.”
“This trip Jim Baker’s about to take is a genuine consultation, because we don’t have our minds cast in cement,” a White House official said. “We’re deciding exactly how much we want to suggest as well as listen. . . . It’s something we’re still calculating.”
Bush, in his news conference on Friday, said he is particularly interested in solving three questions in the region: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the problem of Lebanon and the future of Iraq. “I want to move fast, and I want to go forward,” he said.
Asked whether he favors an international conference on the issues, Bush said Baker will discuss that idea--but also will pursue the possibility of what the President called “some bolder, new idea.”
That appeared to be a reference to a menu of new options that senior officials have been working on for weeks, reportedly including the idea of launching several sets of simultaneous negotiations, with the United States as a go-between.
Among the issues officials have been debating is whether any negotiations should tackle the thorny Palestinian issue first, or whether Israeli-Arab talks on issues such as arms control and water resources could be launched first to build confidence among the area’s longtime rivals.
The second alternative, one official said, “is the peace process through the back door. . . . It’s moving away from some of these questions of territory and security and political relations, and it’s trying to say, ‘Maybe we can work together on some of these other issues, and maybe that can lead to a certain confidence, a certain momentum.’ ”
But many officials are skeptical, arguing that Arab governments will insist that solving the Palestinian question must be at the center of any negotiations. “My hunch is you’re going to have more progress on things like water after you have some political progress,” said one.
A second, related issue is whether negotiations must include representatives of the Palestinians who live under Israeli occupation, or whether talks could begin between Israel and its Arab neighbors, but without the Palestinians.
“I think we all feel pretty strongly that there’s got to be a dual track--state to state as well as Palestinian,” an official said. “It would be like a one-legged ladder; it wouldn’t hold without it. You’ve got to deal with both. Syria, which is the key state right now which has a territorial dispute with Israel, will not agree to a separate peace” without the Palestinians.
Sununu, interviewed on Cable News Network’s “Evans and Novak” program, said the “tough part” of launching any negotiations would be finding representatives of the Palestinians who are willing to negotiate. The Bush Administration and its Arab allies have condemned the Palestine Liberation Organization for supporting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein during the war.
“You have to negotiate and work with a group that has credibility not only with the Palestinians, but with the rest of the Arab world,” Sununu said. “Whether that can continue to be (PLO chief Yasser) Arafat or not, I can’t tell you.”
In the past, Israel has insisted that state-to-state negotiations must come first--and then, only after the Arab countries explicitly recognized the nation of Israel.
But officials said they hope one result of the war might be a willingness on the part of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir to relax those demands in the interest of a process that could produce a more peaceful and stable region.
A key part of that process, officials said, would be early movement toward easing tensions between Israel and Syria, Jerusalem’s most hostile neighbor, through an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in 1967.
“Nothing is ever easy in the Middle East, but the Golan Heights might be easier than some other things,” one official said. “While it’s strategically important, it’s not, if you will, theologically important. You don’t have the same passion about the Golan Heights as you do about the West Bank,” which includes dozens of ancient Jewish sites, as well as a much larger Arab population.
Another key step would be convincing both Israel and the Arabs that they have an interest in arms-control negotiations to reduce the danger of ballistic missiles and nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
Both Shamir and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have proposed talks on those issues, officials noted. “In principle, there ought to be some predisposition (among the Middle Eastern states) to save resources and to prevent one’s neighbors from gaining the means to blow you to smithereens,” the official said.
The Administration’s hope, he said, is that by expanding the range of talks to include arms control and water, as well as the Palestinian question and mutual security, Israel and the Arabs will find new ways to strike deals.
“The more issues you throw into the hopper, on one level they make things more complex,” he said. “On the other hand . . . it also gives you greater potential for trade-offs.
“You can put something on the ledger here, take it away there,” the official explained. “As a diplomat, it gives you more tools.”
The approach will be a departure for Bush and Baker, who spent more than a year trying to cajole Israel and the Palestinians into peace talks, with no success.
The last President to attempt a full-scale, comprehensive solution of the Middle East’s problems was Jimmy Carter in 1977. His initial efforts failed too. But they led indirectly to the Camp David talks between Israel and Egypt that produced a groundbreaking peace treaty.
Times staff writer David Lauter in Washington contributed to this report.
|
839684f24f079ec5cffb56623111e7e4 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-mn-388-story.html | A 3-Way Fight for Custody : Outcome for Surrogate and Estranged Couple Could Set a Precedent | A 3-Way Fight for Custody : Outcome for Surrogate and Estranged Couple Could Set a Precedent
Robert and Cynthia Moschetta, an infertile couple, hired a surrogate mother to bear their child. But shortly before the baby was born, the surrogate learned that the couple’s marriage was in trouble.
The surrogate, Elvira Jordan, reluctantly agreed to let the couple take the baby home, provided they seek marriage counseling.
But six months later, Robert Moschetta left his wife of nine years and took the baby, fathered with his sperm, with him.
Now all three “parents"--husband, wife and surrogate--are battling for custody.
Legal scholars say the case, Moschetta vs. Moschetta and Jordan, could set a precedent in California with broad implications, not just for future surrogacy contracts, but also for gay parents, stepparents and others who rear children in non-traditional families.
Like the nationally publicized lawsuit by surrogate Anna M. Johnson of Orange County, who is appealing a court decision not to let her keep the child she bore, the latest case raises thorny questions about the definition of parenthood.
When the trial begins March 25, Orange County Superior Court Judge Nancy Wieben Stock will first have to decide which woman is 9-month-old Marissa Moschetta’s legal mother.
Is it Jordan, the baby’s genetic and natural mother? She wanted her daughter to be raised by a happy, loving couple, but signed away her rights to the little girl the day she picked up her last check from the Moschettas.
Or is it Cynthia Moschetta? She has no biological link to the child, but she planned for the birth, helped pay the surrogate, took a maternity leave to care for Marissa, and considers the baby her own.
In yet another unsettling legal twist, the woman who wins the motherhood contest will then face off in court against Robert Moschetta, the biological father, who wants to raise his daughter alone.
In the so-called “Baby M” case, the New Jersey Supreme Court gave the biological father, William Stern, and the surrogate mother, Mary Beth Whitehead, parental rights. Stern’s wife, Betsy, who helped raise the child, was given no legal rights.
But Cynthia Moschetta believes women in her position should not be shut out by the courts.
“I don’t think it’s fair for someone to have to fight like this,” she said. “I believe she’s my baby.”
Because Cynthia has helped raise the child, the court may be unwilling to cut her off, said James B. Boskey, a professor at Seton Hall University Law School in Newark, N. J.
A court decision giving Cynthia custody or visitation could bolster the claims of gay parents, stepparents, grandparents, and others who rear children to whom they may not have legal claim, Boskey said.
“If the court says that one becomes a parent by raising a child, rather than by merely participating in its birth, then it would be truly precedent-setting,” he said.
At the moment, Robert Moschetta has temporary custody of Marissa, and Cynthia Moschetta has visitation two days a week.
Jordan, who calls the baby Melissa Jordan, said the Moschettas have allowed her to see the baby only once, which legal scholars said could hurt her bid for custody. So far, the court has also denied her any contact with the child.
Elvira Jordan has never given an interview. Those who know her insist she only wants to see her daughter in a good home.
Friends say Jordan, 42, a divorced mother of three other children, feels it is the couple who have breached their promise to provide the baby a loving, two-parent home.
“To me, the fault lies entirely with the couple and not the surrogate,” said Nina F. Kellogg, a Los Angeles psychologist who has arranged more than 30 surrogate pregnancies, including this one. “This is not a surrogate kicking up trouble. This is a couple who let her down.”
Moreover, Jordan is a native Spanish speaker with little ability to read English, and did not have a lawyer until a month ago, according to two attorneys now involved in the case.
Jordan’s new lawyer, Jeri R. McKeand, claims the surrogate never read the document by which she relinquished all parental rights and would never have signed it had she known what it said.
These allegations--if proved--could strengthen Jordan’s case enormously and help decide the outcome, legal scholars said.
Attorneys for the three contenders say that the Moschetta case is the first of its kind to come before a court in California, and perhaps in the nation. But they disagree about which laws should apply--should it be contract law, or family law on adoption, divorce and custody?
Previous surrogacy disputes, including the Baby M case and the Johnson case, are not legally binding in the Moschetta case because they have not been upheld by a California appeals court. In fact, there have been no appellate court decisions to indicate whether surrogacy contracts are even legal in California, let alone to delineate the respective rights of a divorcing couple and a surrogate mother.
“We’re on the new frontier,” said Leslee J. Newman, the attorney for Cynthia Moschetta.
Each of the three would-be parents makes a compelling case for custody.
Cynthia, 51, has a 30-year-old son by a previous marriage. Shortly before she met Robert, 35, she had her ovarian tubes tied.
The couple considered adoption but settled on surrogacy, she said, partly because they thought it would be faster and partly because her husband “wanted it to be blood.”
In July, 1989, Kellogg introduced the Moschettas to Jordan. Kellogg had previously approached Jordan--a first-time surrogate--about bearing a child for a single man, but she refused, saying she wanted to give a child to a couple.
When Kellogg met the Moschettas, both professionals, she considered them ideal.
“They sat together on the couch. They were holding hands,” Kellogg said. “There were no clues to me that this was a couple having problems. . . .”
The contract specified that Jordan would be paid $10,000, and made no mention of what would happen to the child in a divorce. A clause barring a couple from divorcing would be unenforceable, said Catherine M. Adams, who drafted the contract on behalf of the Moschettas.
“You can’t guarantee to a birth mother that the adoptive parents are going to be ideal,” she said. Still, she said: “It surprised me very much that this all happened before the baby was born.”
In November, 1989, Jordan conceived through artificial insemination. Five months later, Robert Moschetta told his wife he wanted to divorce her and raise the baby himself.
After consultations with Kellogg, they agreed not to tell the surrogate, Cynthia Moschetta said.
Meanwhile, Jordan’s pregnancy ran into complications, and she spent the last weeks of her pregnancy in a hospital bed. Shortly before giving birth, Jordan learned of the marital breakdown.
As soon as Marissa was born May 28, 1990, Jordan announced that she would not allow the child to go home with the Moschettas.
“Her stand was, ‘I wanted the baby to go into a stable home with two parents who love the baby,’ ” Adams said.
But after intense negotiations, Jordan agreed to let the Moschettas take the baby home.
However, according to Adams and others, Jordan imposed several conditions: that the Moschettas agree to undergo marriage counseling for at least one year; that Jordan would not finalize a formal adoption during that period, and that Jordan would still be paid. Jordan also wanted to be allowed to visit the baby to make sure all was well, Kellogg said.
The Moschettas agreed, Cynthia said.
Jordan, who still did not have her own attorney, asked Adams to put the conditions in writing. Adams drafted an addendum to the contract and mailed copies to the surrogate and the couple. Jordan signed and returned the document, Adams said, but the Moschettas did not.
That addendum is likely to be an important trial issue, said Marjorie M. Shultz, UC Berkeley law professor. The agreement may be enforceable even if the Moschettas did not sign it, she said.
Shultz, who has written extensively on the law concerning alternative reproduction, argues that, in general, courts should respect the intentions of those who make such arrangements and enforce the contracts accordingly.
Martha Field, a Harvard Law School professor, argues that surrogate mothers should always have the right to change their minds. She said the issue is whether Jordan was “tricked” into giving up the child.
Robert Moschetta said he initiated marriage counseling. As a Roman Catholic, he said, “Divorce is not something I take lightly.”
Nevertheless, Moschetta said, he was unwilling to allow his wife to adopt Marissa while he was unsure whether their marriage would survive. He hired an attorney who drafted a document by which Jordan would relinquish her parental rights to Marissa and give custody to him, alone.
On Sept. 17, Jordan signed the document, which specifies that Robert Moschetta had offered to give her $500 to hire a lawyer for advice, but that she had declined, court documents show.
McKeand, Jordan’s attorney, said that the surrogate never read that document and had no idea what it said.
Robert Moschetta said Jordan agreed to give up her rights in exchange for her last $5,000. He said he did not deceive her about his intentions.
“I said, ‘We’re working on the marriage, we’re in counseling, I want to wrap up the paperwork,’ ” he said.
On Nov. 30, Robert told Cynthia he was moving out of their Santa Ana home and taking the baby with him, saying it would be better for Marissa to be raised by him than be shuttled between two homes.
In legal documents, his attorney argued that Cynthia is “no more than a stepmother,” and should not have parental rights.
“I bathe her, I feed her, I change her, I give her bottles,” Robert said. “Once this situation is behind me and I get things taken care of, I think I will have a wife and family, and hopefully another baby.”
“He offered me money to leave,” Cynthia Moschetta said, breaking into tears. “He would tell me that I didn’t have any rights, because I’m not the mother. I told him that there was no amount of money in the world that he could give me that would replace Marissa.”
In December, Cynthia filed suit against both her estranged husband and Jordan, seeking custody of the child. She says she still loves her husband, does not understand why he left, and would prefer to reconcile and raise the baby--who is standing up, and getting ready to walk--together.
The trial that will decide who will raise Marissa could very well renew the national debate over the legality and desirability of surrogate motherhood contracts, how they should be regulated and what should be done when, like marriages, they fail.
|
14570eb278d0da9b23ddbaa681748846 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-mn-391-story.html | Prop. 13 Foes to Go to High Court : Property taxes: U.S. will be asked to rule in two cases where levies are disproportionately higher than those paid by others with similar properties. | Prop. 13 Foes to Go to High Court : Property taxes: U.S. will be asked to rule in two cases where levies are disproportionately higher than those paid by others with similar properties.
Rebuffed by the California courts, legal foes of Proposition 13 now are turning to the U.S. Supreme Court, resting their hopes on a cryptic footnote in a 1989 high court ruling that may have invited a far-reaching challenge to the 1978 initiative.
Attorneys for a Los Angeles homeowner and a Northern California department store plan to file last-ditch appeals soon with the federal high court contending that a key provision of the measure is unconstitutional because it forces recent property buyers to pay dramatically higher taxes than their neighbors.
The outcome could have dramatic consequences for California property owners--both individuals and businesses--a growing number of which have seen their property tax bills soar as they moved or their companies changed ownership.
But legal authorities say the challengers face a steep uphill battle. They note that:
* The justices grant formal review in relatively few cases, hearing fewer than 3% of the 5,000 appeals that flood the court annually.
* Generally, the high court has deferred to the states on tax matters, and it particularly may not want to intercede in a constitutionally difficult and politically volatile issue like Proposition 13.
* Perhaps most important, it may well be that the footnote at issue was not an invitation to challenge Proposition 13 but an indication that the court views the measure as constitutionally valid.
“I think it’s unlikely the Supreme Court will want to hear this case,” UCLA law professor Julian N. Eule said. “This is a long shot.”
Proposition 13 restricted property tax rates to 1% of value, rolled back assessments to 1975 levels and limited assessment increases to 2% a year. But when property is sold or new construction added, it is reassessed at full market value. As a result, sharp disparities have emerged in the taxes paid on comparable properties purchased at different times.
The state Supreme Court upheld Proposition 13 in 1978, and the ruling was not appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. There the issue stood until 1989, when the federal high court in a separate case struck down West Virginia’s system in which county assessors made substantially higher assessments on newly purchased property than on comparable, long-held property.
The justices said the equal protection clause of the federal Constitution requires “rough equality in tax treatment of similarly situated properties.”
Tucked into the ruling was what has become known in legal circles as “Footnote 4,” a brief and somewhat unclear reference to California’s Proposition 13, an issue that was not before the court.
The footnote said: “We need not and do not decide today whether the (county) assessment method would stand on a different footing if it were the law of a state, generally applied, instead of the aberrational enforcement policy it appears to be. The state of California has adopted a similar policy (Proposition 13). . . . The system is grounded upon the belief that taxes should be based on the original cost of property and should not tax unrealized paper gains in the value of the property.”
Critics of the initiative saw the footnote as a veiled plea for a renewed challenge to the key provision--requiring reassessment at full market value when property changes hands. A new round of legal warfare over the measure was begun in the state courts.
In one test case, lawyers for Los Angeles homeowner Stephanie Nordlinger charged that the reassessment provision illegally discriminates against new buyers. They cited studies showing new owners pay five times or more what neighbors pay for comparable but longer-held property.
Nordlinger, who bought a home in 1988 for $170,000, will have paid nearly $19,000 in property taxes by 1998, they said. Neighbors who bought a comparable home in 1975 will have paid only $4,500 in the same period, they said.
In a second case, attorneys for R. H. Macy & Co. brought suit challenging the sharp increase in property taxes for a Macy’s store in Contra Costa County after the firm underwent a corporate restructuring in 1986 that was deemed a change in ownership. As a result, the lawyers said, Macy’s is paying 250% the taxes paid by nearby rivals J. C. Penney and Sears.
Last fall, state appeals courts ruled against Nordlinger and Macy’s, upholding the constitutionality of Proposition 13. And in brief orders, the state Supreme Court on Thursday refused to review the decisions. Only one of the seven court members--Justice Joyce L. Kennard--voted for a hearing, three short of the number required.
Attorneys for Nordlinger and Macy’s indicated they will file appeals with the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping the justices will hear the cases during the term that begins next October. If the high court decides to hear the matter, a ruling could come early next year.
The central issue in the appeals will be whether the reassessment provision, resulting in disparities among taxpayers, denies equal protection of the law.
“The question is, can you discriminate against commercial competitors, having identical properties and receiving identical services, based solely on the time they began their business?” said Charles R. Ajalat of Los Angeles, an attorney for Macy’s. Because firms are not treated equally, the reassessment provision should be struck down, Ajalat says.
Jonathan M. Coupal of the Pacific Legal Foundation, a lawyer defending Proposition 13, believes the law reflects a “rationally based” policy and thus meets constitutional requirements. Critics of the measure should turn to the Legislature, or the initiative process, rather than the courts.
“The opponents are trying to make a policy argument before a legal forum,” he said. “I think the court reaction is going to be, as it has been, that if you see a flaw in the system, you should address the political process.”
Not surprisingly, the two sides in the Proposition 13 dispute drew different conclusions from the high court’s decision in the 1989 West Virginia case.
Challengers see the systems in West Virginia and California as basically the same in effect--creating “gross tax inequities” among similarly situated taxpayers.
Backers of the measure say the systems are different. In West Virginia, property was classified uniformly but treated differently by local assessors who were able to place disproportionately large assessments on new owners. In contrast, backers say, California treats all taxpayers alike, assessing all property on their acquisition value.
Whether the federal high court will decide to hear the appeals is anyone’s guess. UC Berkeley Law School Dean Jesse H. Choper, who has served as a legal consultant on Proposition 13, notes that the state Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case is no guarantee that the federal court also will refuse.
But while Choper himself sees little constitutional difference between the West Virginia and California tax systems, he believes the 1989 footnote “suggested there could be a distinction.” Such a distinction could be enough to save Proposition 13 from successful constitutional attack.
Jonathan David Varat, a professor of constitutional law at UCLA, believes the federal high court may agree to review the constitutionality of Proposition 13. But it may do so only to make clear what it meant to say about state tax systems in Footnote 4.
“The court could deny review outright, or grant review and issue a decision to explain what it meant. But I think it is unlikely the court would go on to overturn what California courts have done in upholding Proposition 13.”
|
fcc29e8eb10b421b33c079843f7f07a9 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-mn-432-story.html | Communications Gone, Iraqis Maneuvered in the Dark | Communications Gone, Iraqis Maneuvered in the Dark
The morning fog coated the desert plains of southern Kuwait, and the U.S. Marine’s 2nd Division was poised to march toward Kuwait city.
Their left flank exposed, they awaited Saddam Hussein’s counterattack.
And they waited.
Six hours passed on that second day of the ground war before the Iraqi army finally launched insignificant, misplaced counterpunches.
“It was at that point,” a senior American intelligence officer said, “that we knew we had him.”
With relentless air strikes in the weeks leading up to last week’s Gulf War ground campaign, coalition forces had targeted the network used by Iraqi field commanders to communicate with their top leadership and with each other, the network for sending and receiving combat orders.
It was the success in destroying that “command and control” structure, from radio transmitters to fiber-optic lines, that gave the U.S.-led coalition a crucial advantage.
Unable to communicate, Iraqi commanders could not follow their enemy’s movements and, just as important, could not react promptly once they caught on. It became impossible to coordinate counterattacks.
Throughout the 100-hour blitz, there were signs of disarray that come when communications fail: Iraqi tanks frequently were reported going the wrong way. Iraqi battalions, fighting for their lives, rarely received backup. There were few coordinated attacks by the Iraqis.
“The left didn’t know what the right was doing, nor the center,” Marine Brig. Gen. Richard I. Neal said.
Even now, the breakdown in communications remains evident: isolated bands of Iraqi soldiers wander through northern Kuwait and southern Iraq, unaware that the war was suspended Wednesday and a formal cease-fire is in the works. And the withdrawal that Saddam Hussein ordered on Radio Baghdad proceeded with haphazard irregularity.
Allied forces patrolling the desert are broadcasting Arabic-language messages on loudspeakers to spread the news to Iraqi troops that they should lay down their weapons and go home.
In the early days of the war, American bombers went after components of Iraq’s military communications network. Radio towers and microwave repeaters were blown up; many of Hussein’s more secure ground lines were destroyed when air strikes targeted the bridges that took the lines over waterways.
The Iraqis found ways around the destruction. Mysterious coded messages were heard going out over Radio Baghdad. And, throughout much of the war, allied intelligence detected microwave and multi-channel communication stations popping up in different spots all over the countryside, used by commanders to talk to their troops.
But even those mobile units disappeared a day before the cease-fire, a senior military source said.
“What little was left, absolutely disappeared,” he said. “It just went into total chaos, and that contributed in no small measure . . . to the success, the speed by which we were able to effect this operation.”
The attack on the command and control structure paid off for the allies time and again. But it was the push into Kuwait by the Marines’ 2nd Division that some top American officers view as the moment that dispelled any doubts.
Day Two of the ground war, and the Marines had pushed easily about 40 miles northward into Kuwait and were gearing to turn east toward Kuwait city, their objective.
Daylight had not yet illuminated the battlefield; surely, the men thought, Hussein’s tank guns would soon use the cover of the dawn fog to train on their positions.
It would not happen. Six hours passed, noon came, and only then did small battalion-sized segments of Iraq’s 3rd Armored Division and 5th Mechanized Division begin counterattacking. And in the wrong place, at that.
Instead of hitting the Marines’ exposed western flank, the Iraqis ran head-on into the northern-most Marine positions.
At that point, the intelligence officer said, “we knew his command and control structure was shot. . . . It was clear that anything he did would be piecemeal from that time on. We knew he wouldn’t be able to get it together.”
Similar scenes were repeated elsewhere in the war theater.
The British 1st Armored Division had traveled west along the Saudi border, then turned north into Iraq. By the time the Tawakalna and Medina Republican Guard divisions became aware of the British movement, it was too late, British officers say. The Republican Guard was being overrun by British tanks.
Nearby, the U.S. 1st Cavalry made a similar push into Iraq.
“I just do not understand how he did not know we were coming,” Lt. Col. Vollney Corn said after leading 100,000 troops 250 miles in three days.
To hear Iraqi prisoners of war tell it, they were simply in the dark.
“Prisoners said they weren’t afraid to fight us,” said Brig. Gen. Ron Griffith of the U.S. 1st Army Division. “They just couldn’t find us.”
This report was based in part on pool dispatches.
|
ee9ec8efa8afda4cbf6d8a69e20b1f77 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-op-313-story.html | POLITICAL FORECAST : How Much Time Left on Hussein’s Political Clock? | POLITICAL FORECAST : How Much Time Left on Hussein’s Political Clock?
Saad Eddin Ibrahim, former secretary-general of the Arab Thought Forum and currently a political sociologist at American University in Cairo:
I don’t think Saddam Hussein will survive for very long, metaphorically or literally. . . . He’s not going to give up without a stiff fight, though.
His legacy will disintegrate. But this will take some time, until the facts are revealed to the deceived masses who thought of him as a messiah of Arab nationalism. I think there will be intense disappointment, frustration, anger, sadness . . . among his supporters, among those who wanted to believe that there is an Arab leader who can stand up to the West.
This, of course, does not change how people feel about the West. Even the most anti-Hussein forces in the Arab World will never forgive the West for a long list of grievances, the latest of which is that the West helped Hussein to become the Frankenstein he became. The biggest grievance is the double standard--the implicit racism in many of the Western policies toward this part of the world. When Hussein pinpointed that, he was right.
Rami G. Khouri, Palestinian-Jordanian political columnist and author:
Although Hussein’s military astuteness is poor, his political survival is probable. His political legacy throughout the Arab, Muslim and Third World was defined between August, 1990, and Jan. 17, 1991--before the Gulf War started.
He articulated and personified a new Arab-Islamic spirit of defiance and fearlessness in the face of clear enemy superiority. That spirit rested on overwhelming Arab dissatisfaction with the artificial, unnatural and failed regional economic-political order following World War I; the double standard of the United Nations and the world in applying Security Council resolutions; the legacy of the Western colonial and neo-colonial powers sending large armies to the Middle East to maintain an order that suits their commercial and strategic needs but does not suit the aspirations of the indigenous Arab-Muslim people, and the U.S. insistence that Israel should reman stronger than all its Arab neighbors.
Dan D. Schueftan, research fellow, Harry S. Truman Research Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
If this war ends, as it seems, with a humiliation of Hussein, the legacy will be very similar to the failure of Gamal Abdel Nasser. In the 1950s and ‘60s, Nasser provided the Arab world with the tremendous hope that it could change, in a major way, the rules of the game. It was after (the 1967 War) that his failure became apparent to all Arabs; he ended his life being the symbol of defeat in terms of changing the rules of the game.
Hussein tried something very similar to Nasser. The legacy he wanted to leave is that if you dare, if you’re strong enough and willing to take the risks, you can change the rules of the game. His failure suggests that the Arabs--and perhaps it goes beyond the Muslim world into the Third World--simply are not in a position to challenge this world order, and when they do, they not only fail in changing it favorably, but they also demonstrate how impotent they are.
If Nasser had failed (as Hussein has), he would not have survived. (However, in Iraq) it is not as if, when somebody fails, the will of the people no longer makes it possible for him to stay in power. It depends, to a very large extent, on whether his opponent kills him or he kills his opponent.
R.K. Ramazani, professor of government and foreign affairs, University of Virginia:
Hussein might survive beyond armed hostilities a bit. But I seriously doubt he can survive much longer than that, particularly if Washington insists on the implementation of all the U.N. resolutions. There would probably be a move within Iraq to remove Hussein in order to remove all these demands of the international community on Iraq.
The Baath Party and the Iraqi military are instruments of Hussein, rather than institutions having their own viability in terms of grass-roots support. The party has survived for so long and developed such a network of cells in Iraqi society that it is difficult to uproot. It is not a grass-roots party but one that exercises authority from the top down. Thus, with the boss disappearing, it is hard to believe it will survive.
Daniel Pipes, director, Foreign Policy Research Institute, Philadelphia:
Hussein will have three legacies. Inside Iraq, he will be remembered as the man whose folly led to devastation, whose ambitions caused a rich country to become suddenly destitute and a proud country to be humiliated.
In the Muslim world, Hussein will be fondly remembered as the standard-bearer who ran into a force much greater than his own. There’ll be a considerable affection and admiration for him, despite his poor showing.
In the non-Muslim world, he will be a symbol, much like Hitler and Stalin, of an unbridled tyrant who indulged his ambitions, who let his own machismo determine the destiny of millions of people, and who eventually ended up destroying both them and himself.
His survival largely depends on decisions made in Washington, and so far the signs are that we’ll try to make it difficult for him.
Sergei M. Rogov, head of the Military-Political Problems Department at the U.S.A. and Canada Institute, Moscow:
The immediate prospects for Iraq are bleak. It has lost about 80% of its heavy armaments. Its air force suffered less damage, but, by all indications, it will not be in Iraqi hands for the foreseeable future. Iraq’s economy is in ruins, its infrastructure almost totally destroyed. It has no military potential at the moment and will cease to be a regional superpower threatening its neighbors until the year 2000, at least.
Although it is uncertain whether Hussein’s regime will collapse, one thing is clear: The Republican Guards, who constituted his power base, are decimated, if not annihilated. In the last decade, Iraq waged two ruthless and destructive wars, losing close to 1.5 million men. Hussein’s prestige, both inside and outside Iraq, will be lost in the economic and political debacle he has suffered at the hands of the Gulf coalition; he will not be able to pull a “Nasser trick"--walking away from the defeat with the halo of a hero. A change of leadership is very likely in Iraq, but the problem is, power might be taken not by pro-Western elements, but by Muslim fundamentalists with pro-Iranian leanings.
Riad Ajami, professor of international management and strategy, Ohio State University:
There will be people in the Arab World who will remember that Hussein was a defiant Arab leader who managed to stand up to the West. There will be a least some residue of this sentiment among the dispossessed, the politically disenfranchised--the Palestinians, some of the Lebanese, some of the poor Egyptians. That will be one kind of legacy. There’ll be others who believe that the Arab world is falling behind, and will fall more behind because of the actions of Hussein. (But) given the psyche and the history of the Arab world, I think that (the former view) will be dominant.
Hussein’s chances of surviving politically are reasonably good. Given his ability to survive in Iraqi politics for such a long time, given the pervasiveness of the Baath Party’s units throughout Iraqi society and given the fact that he has managed to develop a middle class in Iraq--for some of these reasons, in the short run, he will survive.
Naturally, he’s going to exploit the fact that the United States confronted him and the West wanted to eliminate him because he was an Arab nationalist.
Rep. Patricia Schroeder, (D-Colo.), member of House Armed Services Committee:
Politically, Hussein is damaged. The only question is: What is the mechanism for removing him? Somebody else is probably already calling the shots in Iraq. . . . Hussein may not have a check on reality, but (somebody does). Even during the Tarik Aziz negotiations, you almost had the feeling that (the Iraqi foreign minister) wasn’t checking in too closely with Hussein.
My guess is that the Arab community is going to be split. There will be those who think Hussein was the greatest, and there will be others who disagree. Incredible amounts of energy will be expended arguing that issue. There will be a raging debate about whether the Arab community left him high and dry: Could he have won if there had been solidarity?
I would hope it wouldn’t continue for a long time . . . (but) that region tends to rehash history over and over again.
It’s important that we not be there as a colonizing force. . . . It’s the Arab neighborhood, and the Arabs ought to be policing their own neighborhood.
|
50b1d1c3cb6c2c24c33f5c8a0a8640c9 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-sp-158-story.html | O’Neal Becoming the Center of the ‘90s | O’Neal Becoming the Center of the ‘90s
Wading through a horde of autograph seekers outside Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C., toward a bus full of waiting teammates, Shaquille O’Neal smiles and winks, and says the attention from the crowd--some of whom needled him mercilessly during a loss to Duke less than an hour earlier--"makes me feel like Michael Jordan.”
At the tender age of 18, O’Neal already has been christened “Center of the ‘90s,” which doesn’t seem at all far-fetched when you realize that as a sophomore he’s averaging 28 points (eighth in the nation), 14.5 rebounds (first) and 5.1 blocked shots (fourth) for the Tigers while still learning the game.
“The thing that’s so shocking is that there’s still so much room for improvement,” said Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino, who once coached Patrick Ewing with the New York Knicks. “He’s the only player I’ve seen in quite some time that would be the number one pick in the draft any of his four years, if he came out.”
If he stays in school, which may be hard given the size of the contract he would command by coming out this June, O’Neal is all but conceded one of the three spots likely to be reserved for collegiate players on the 1992 Olympic basketball team.
Jordan didn’t become JORDAN until after the 1984 Games; should O’Neal make his mark alongside the professionals in Barcelona, the 7-foot-1, 295-pound frame with a medal dangling off his chest might cast a much bigger shadow than did the Chicago Bulls superstar.
“He has to be the center of the ‘90s,” said Duke center Christian Laettner, who must content himself with all-American candidacy. “People don’t realize how big he is because of how well he moves. I consider myself a good-moving big guy, but it’s fun to watch him.”
Entering Cameron for the recent game with the Blue Devils, O’Neal, dressed in cotton shirt and blue jeans with Walkman headphones around his neck, doesn’t look so imposing. Rather, he looks very much like any other kid who might idolize a professional superstar -- though admittedly a lot taller.
But after he changes into his uniform and the game begins, it’s a different story. O’Neal seems to swallow up the court, dwarfing the 6-11, 270-pound Laettner, let alone gnats such as Bill McCaffery and Bobby Hurley.
Unfortunately for LSU, on this day those two, and medium-sized players such as Grant and Thomas Hill, cut off the passing lanes, limiting O’Neal to nine shots and a paltry 15 points, both season lows.
Afterward, O’Neal is wearing the same amiable expression he had before the game, charitably saying he played a lousy game and it was his fault that LSU lost.
Asked if he wanted to yell at the other players to get him the ball, O’Neal said the thought hadn’t occurred to him.
“What does yelling do? I know they were trying their best,” he said. “Yelling isn’t my style. If it didn’t work today, you come back and try to do better the next time.”
“That’s the best thing about him,” said LSU Coach Dale Brown. “His world doesn’t rise and fall on wins and losses. He has no ego at all.”
His teammates agree, adding that O’Neal is nothing more than one of the guys. One reason may be because last season, that’s about all he was to the Tigers. Despite a storied career at Cole High School in San Antonio, where he led the team to a 68-1 record and a state championship, O’Neal went to Baton Rouge and found himself the third spoke in a wheel powered by the jump shots of guard Chris Jackson and the inside game of 7-footer Stanley Roberts.
“That was very difficult for me,” O’Neal admitted. “Coach’s philosophy is if you’re open, shoot it, and Chris was so quick with the ball that every time he touched it and made a move he was open, so he shot it most of the time. The only time I got the ball really was on rebounds.”
O’Neal still averaged 13.9 points and 12 rebounds and had a Southeastern Conference-record 115 blocked shots. When Jackson left for the NBA, Roberts went to Europe and Maurice Williamson was declared academically ineligible, the scoring onus fell on O’Neal.
Brown showed his confidence by naming the youngster a co-captain at the end of the 1989-90 season, and O’Neal, who had only an 18-inch vertical jump during his senior year of high school, did his part by working out and increasing his leap to 42 inches. With his arms outstretched, he can touch a spot 2 1/2 feet above the rim. That, combined with his strength, leaves O’Neal with little need for fancy footwork in the lane.
Thus, terms such as “Shaqnificent” have been added to the basketball lexicon.
So far, the only glitch in O’Neal’s season -- he has had double figures in points and rebounds in 23 of 26 games -- has been the physical pounding he has endured from smaller, less-talented players literally grasping for some sort of equalizer. At the same time, O’Neal says he has been whistled for phantom fouls because those opponents tend to flop to the floor whenever he comes around.
“The refs always assume I did something but there are a lot of actors in the Southeastern Conference. A lot of people must be related to Marlon Brando,” O’Neal said. “The only complaint I have is when I get the ball and go strong, use my Akeem-like post-up moves, and someone guarding me goes ‘Oooh’ and the referee assumes I did something wrong.
“There are three or four guys touching me every time I get the ball. My hands are big, I’m strong, I get fouled all the time. That’s the only way that they can get the ball from me.”
Brown has argued that inferior officiating eventually will drive his center and other talented big men out of the collegiate ranks and into the pros. O’Neal said he has no particular desire to go pro early, in part because his father, Phillip Harrison, a U.S. Army sergeant, has insisted that Shaquille stay in school.
Recently, however, Harrison said that if his son (who uses his mother’s surname) is going to be subjected to such hooliganism from opponents, he wouldn’t stand in O’Neal’s way if he chose to leave early.
Pro scouts, eager to have him, regarded the statement as providing an out for O’Neal should he decide to accept the NBA’s largess. But his teammates say they expect him back in Baton Rouge next fall.
“I know about the money and all that but I think he’ll stay,” said guard Mike Hansen. “I think he wants to learn more before he goes pro. The guys there are as big as he is so he wants to have a bread-and-butter shot like a fadeaway or hook.”
Should that happen, college coaches nationwide would want to petition the NCAA to make O’Neal turn pro early. It might also make him the center of attention for this decade and beyond.
|
b827446bdaf3f66c1162bbca911f37b1 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-03-sp-170-story.html | NBA ROUNDUP : Bulls Still Can’t Win in Indiana | NBA ROUNDUP : Bulls Still Can’t Win in Indiana
Indiana might not contend for the title, but the Pacers are giving their fans their money’s worth these days.
Last Sunday they treated the home crowd--and a national television audience--to an upset over the Boston Celtics. Saturday night, the Pacers took it to the Chicago Bulls, 135-114, before a sellout Indianapolis crowd of 16,530.
Reggie Miller scored a season-high 40 points and the Pacers held Michael Jordan to six points in the second half as they snapped Chicago’s 11-game winning streak.
“We had to play good defense and move the ball in order to win,” said Miller, who was 14 of 20 from the field. “Right now, we are playing the best we are capable of playing and the guys are stepping up with the injuries we have.”
The Bulls, who won their four previous games by an average of 30 points, entered the game with a chance to tie an 18-year-old club record for consecutive victories. Instead, the Central Division leaders lost their fifth in a row in Indianapolis.
Miller was 14 of 20 from the field and helped shut down Jordan, who finished with 22 points.
“I must give Reggie and the others credit because they were playing good defense, but I thought I missed a lot of open shots, too,” said Jordan, who was eight of 23 from the floor and nine points under his average.
“We wanted to run hard, but we couldn’t find our tempo because they were able to take us out of that,” Bull Coach Phil Jackson said. “They were able to get through our pressure defense and get some easy scores.”
New York 115, New Jersey 105--Patrick Ewing scored seven of his 28 points in the final 3:10 at New Jersey, lifting Knicks to their fifth consecutive victory.
Gerald Wilkins put New York ahead for good, 96-95, by making two free throws with 3:38 remaining.
Wilkins had 23 points and has scored at least 20 in his past five games. Derrick Coleman had 21 for the Nets.
Miami 109, Dallas 103--Sherman Douglas scored 25 points and the Heat dominated the third quarter in a victory at Dallas.
Miami broke the game open with 12 consecutive points to take a 71-55 lead. The Heat has won two consecutive road games for the first time in franchise history.
Glen Rice and Grant Long scored 22 points each for the Heat. Rolando Blackman scored 19 points and Rodney McCray 18 for Dallas.
Denver 126, Orlando 111--Michael Adams scored 15 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter as the Nuggets thwarted an Orlando rally at Denver.
The Magic came back from a 13-point deficit to make it 102-97 with 6:56 left before Adams hit four consecutive field goals, one a three-pointer, to give the Nuggets a 111-97 lead with 5:16 to play.
Blair Rasmussen, starting because of injuries to Orlando Woolridge and Joe Wolf, had 25 points, 16 rebounds and eight blocked shots.
Seattle 120, Sacramento 106--Eddie Johnson scored 31 points at Seattle as the SuperSonics won their fourth consecutive game. Sacramento has lost 26 in a row on the road and nine overall.
Ricky Pierce had 26 points and Benoit Benjamin 16 points and 16 rebounds in his second start as the Sonics’ center.
Seattle Coach K.C. Jones singled out the performance of the team’s recent additions--Johnson, Pierce and Benjamin.
“I have to be happy because they scored most of our points,” he said. “You saw what Benjamin can do. He intimidated them in the middle, got us running and added scoring punch.”
Lionel Simmons led the Kings with 30 points.
Golden State 121, Charlotte 108--Chris Mullin scored 16 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter at Oakland and Tim Hardaway had 30 points and 14 assists as the Warriors broke a three-game home losing streak.
Rex Chapman had 22 points to lead the Hornets, who have lost 11 of 12 on the road.
Rod Higgins scored 21 points for the Warriors, including three three-pointers in the final quarter. Alton Lister had 14 rebounds.
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.