The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 267

Fired Detective Files $8 Million Lawsuit Ixs Angeles (Etmes Southeast Edition Ex-Lieutenant Lists Compton Chief, Four Others in Complaint BY TOM GORMAN Times Staff Writer COMPTON Saul Lankster, who was fired as a detective on the Compton Police Department last October after being charged with theft of public funds and falsification of police records, has sued the city for $7.8 million, claiming his reputation has been damaged. Specifically named as defendants in the suit were Police Chief Joseph Rouzan and four other officers of the I 1 I Making Jewelry Is Art VrO I i Students of jewelry making get their first taste of the course liciKjfe. I 1 in Jewelry Art, one of three such classes offered at Cerritos JjLst jS'grf jj College, all leading to an associate in arts degree in art. aB RL i Taught by Joe Girtner, top right, shown grinding tool for nT 1 i jewelry stamping, the class is limited to 20 students. One of jf 1 I them is Mary Yacono, below, forming a copper sheet for a i 1 belt buckle on an anvil-like tool known as a pitch bowl i because it is of solid tar.

Work produced in the class includes I 1 bracelet, top, being polished on wheel, butterfly-shaped I I sterling and wire pin by Nancy Heinz, and hammered copper i I relief pendant featuring a shark by John PadiSa. Class 42 I I acquaints students with basics of the craft, focusing on II i 1 making pins, rings, etc. The class meets six hours weekly. mmmmmmmmMkmmmmmmmmmJ i I department Lankster, 32, formally filed his claim at Tuesday's City Council meeting and the council as it does for virtually all claims filed against the city, voted to deny it at the recommendation of City Atty. Clarence Blair.

Rouzan fired Lankster after an internal department investigation, which Rouzan said, showed that Lankster, a nine-year veteran of the force, submitted false overtime pay requests on four occasions during the month of July. Lankster, according to Rouzan, sought more than $400 in overtime pay for time he said he was in court on police-related matters. Rouzan said a routine audit of overtime pay requests showed that Lankster was not subpoenaed to appear in court on the four dates listed by the police officer. Lankster has denied the charges and is appealing his dismissal before the city's Personnel Board. In an unrelated incident, Lankster, who also serves as a member of the Compton Unified School District Board of Education, also had been charged with using excessive force on four teen-agers held in the Compton jail in 197a Those charges were presented by the District Attorneys Office to the county Grand Jury, which decided not to render an indictment Lankster referred to both the alleged theft of public funds and the alleged beating of prisoners in his suit, which listed seven causes of action: Employes of the Police Department made false," "defamatory and "malicious statements alleging that he assaulted certain prisoners in custody.

Department employes said that Lankster "specifically asked to be given custody of the prisoners. the expressed intent of assaulting them." Those statements, Lankster claimed, were also false, defamatory and malicious. Information about the alleged assault on the prisoners was released to the press, in violation of his rights and constituting an unprivileged publication of the statements. Department employes made "insulting and threatening" remarks to Lankster, causing "several mental and emotional distress" to Lankster and injury to his health Statements to the public and press accusing Lankster of the theft of public funds were made by department employes "who knew they were The charges damaged his reputation and prevented him from securing other employment after being fired, Lankster said. The press was notified by department employes that Lankster was to be fired before Lankster himself was notified of the discipline.

Rouzan told the City Council that Lankster was guilty of the theft charges prior to Lankster being fired. Those statements, Lankster said, interfered with his appeal process since the City Council might ultimately be asked to uphold the chiefs decision. In addition to Rouzan, those named Please Turn to Page 4, CoL 3 Trustees Recall Effort Mounted Part VII THURSDAY, FEBRUARV 9, 1978 New School Closure Plan Set for Vote Staff Backs Shutting of Six Norwalk-La Mirada Intermediate Campuses BYBOBTNHEFFLEB Timet Staff Writer Trustees of the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District are expected to vote in a special board meeting today for a drastic restructuring of the district's grade system which would eliminate the intermediate schools. The meeting, to be held at 730 pm. in the Excelsior High School auditorium, follows a recommendation by staff Monday night for restructuring to deal with the district's declining enrollment problem.

Acting Supt Bruce Butler outlined the staff proposals calling for a grouping of 7th graders with primary school students, placing 8th graders on the high school campuses and closing the district's six intermediate schools. Highly placed sources in the district said the board would probably adopt the staffs proposals rather than an alternative plan presented last week, because of community pressure At another special board meeting last week, an estimated 1,500 disgruntled parents heard a plan to close the Norwalk campuses of John Glenn High School Henry Wright Intermediate and Nettie Waite Elementary, as well as Rancho Elementary in La Mirada. The plan was presented by the educational consulting team of Stall-ings and Associates in conjunction with a 220-member ad hoc committee composed of parents, teachers and school personnel which met for two months to study the enrollment dropoff. It met with strong opposition from parents and others concerned about possible aggravated gang problems and busing of younger children. Butler said the restructuring would maintain the neighborhood school concept and not add to transportation requirements while affecting the movement of about 1,600 students.

Those 1.600 students to be directly affected would be minimal when compared to the numbers involved in other plans the district considered, Butler said. However, he said the staff recognized the difficult "social aspects of 8th graders mingling with older kids" as well as the "loss of a transitional program" provided by the intermediate facilities. "It will be a school within a school with 8th and 9th graders separated from the older students in major aspects," he said. Please Turn to Page 4, CoL 1 Board Says Site Not Suitable for Whittier Seniors WHTITIKR The Parks and Recreation Commission this week said the former RTD depot in the Uptown area would not be adequate as a senior citizens center. In a letter to the City Council, commissioners said the facility would satisfy the requirements of the Rio Hondo Area Action Council's (RHAAC) nutrition program (hot meals for seniors).

But the building, "would not provide the desired smaller rooms for arts and crafts, meetings, classes and counseling," the letter said. Commissioners said they arrived at their position after meeting with members of various senior citizen groups, the Social Services Commission and the RHAAC nutrition program representatives. The city is purchasing the vacated depot for $50,000. Councilmen have called for a study on the conversion and expansion of the 3,000 square foot building located at the intersection of Bailey St and Comstock Ave. Commissioners, in turn, have stated a preference for city purchase and conversion of the former General Telephone building on Bright St.

between Philadelphia and Bailey Sts. and who objected to denial of open discussion. CARE had insisted on answering only written questions. The evening's speakers were Bill Young and Les Taylor, both former members of the BUSD Board of Education; the Rev. Alexander Lambert, Davis, Virginia Boggs and Barbara Conners, identified only as concerned citizens.

Their list of grievances was long. The main points included duplication of salaries for superintendents and legal counsel usurping the powers of the Personnel Commission, the appropriation of $10,000 for a "biased, self-serving" newsletter, financial mismanagement in general taking a Las Vegas trip at a vendor's expense and Bellf lower BY MARY BARBER About 100 residents indicated their approval and participation in the strongest move yet taken toward a recall of three board members of BeU-flower Unified School District After hearing a long list of grievances compiled by the district's severest critics, affiliates and acquaintances of Citizens Acting for Responsible Education (CARE) signed their names to pledge cards which, when counted, will tell CARE leaders if they have a strong enough body of support for a recall CARBs targets are Richard Vermillion, BUSP Board of Education president, and Jay Gendreau and Larry Ward who were elected last spring and who are referred to as a "majority bloc A long list of the three men's actions and votes was presented to a crowd of about 125 at a special meeting called then voting to have the district pay for the trip, the procedures used to remove the former superintendent, disrespect to the majority bloc's two board member opponents and the public in general, and failing to approve board minutes. "Can we take three more years of this?" was a question many of the speakers raised, and each spoke in favor of recall In answer to a question about how such a campaign is started, Boggs sd. "You start, obviously, by requesting signature." CARE has already presented the board majority with a petition bearing more than 1,000 signatures, asking Vermillion, Gendreau and Ward to Please Torn to Page 2, Col. 1 iCitfsistSiMotjas' CLOSED ssm the wm of Judge Refuses to Remove Eight Names From Ballot by CARE.

It was obvious that the sue panelists who spoke were in favor of a recall move, but that they were reluctant to make a full commitment until they were assured of public support. They will have a report on the results of their informal poll and will make their decision soon, according to Dave Davis, CARE chairman who moderated the meeting in a church fellowship hall this week. While the audience response to the CARE committee's report was evidently supportive of recall there were strong objections. Vermillion and a few of his supporters were denied entry to the meeting on the grounds that it was a private function in a private facility and not open to board members. After arguing that his civil rights could be violated in the talk concerning his public performance, he left At the close of the meeting a shouting match involved Leo Higgins, who identified himself as a BUSD resident Gate papers, which were printed according to a form widely used throughout the Southland, did not include a space for dates.

Instead, the South Gate papers bore the dates within which the signatures were obtained. This, Boss said, is according to requirements which went into effect this year. But adding to the apparent conflict with that section of the code, Boss said that all of those signing the papers must be properly qualified voters at that time. "How do you know a person was a registered voter at the time he signed the nomination papers? Boss asked. A signer could have registered to vote at a later time, he explained.

"There is no way, unless the date is on them, that they were a registered voter at the time they signed the papers." Acknowledging that there appears to be differences within the code, Please Turn to Page 4, Col 5 BY KEITH TAKAHASHI TIrim Staff Writer SOUTH GATE Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George M. Dell refused to order the removal from the March ballot of the names of all eight candidates seeking City Council seats. Plumbing contractor Gilbert D. Montano this week had sought to invalidate the nomination papers of all candidates. In effect had Judge Dell ruled in Montana's favor, the papers of candidates in many Southland cities would also have been invalidated.

This would have resulted in elections requiring all those seeking office to be write-in candidates. "In order for all citizens of the city to have a right to vote for candidates of their choice, candidates should either all be on the ballot, or candidates should all be off the ballot, with a 100 write-in vote," Montano said. Montano's attorney, Donald Boss, pointed out that last year the code required that individual signatures bear the date of signing. The South POP TOP An umbrella came in handy for Nannette LeBlanc, 1 1 this week as she attempted to navigate her way home past Downey High School during the rain. Less fortunate were students, at left, who waited for break in downpour before heading home.

Tillies photo by Robert Lachman.