The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 308

B2 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26. 1992 SACRAMENTO ed the argument of Sacramento City Unified School District officials that Rachel Holland should spend at least half of her time in a special -education class. Rachel, who has an IQ of 44, is in a regular second-grade class in a private school, but her parents want her enrolled in a regular class in the public school district. Sid Wolinsky. an attorney for the Disability Education and Defense Fund in Berkeley, which represented Rachel, said the case was watched by school districts and parent groups across the nation.

"It's a resounding victory for disabled children and their parents," he said. LOS ANGELES Gay Officers Can Wear Uniforms at Festival Booth Seeking to avoid the controversy that erupted last year, a task force sought and won Police Commission approval Tuesday to allow gay and lesbian Los Angeles Disabled Girl Wins Right to Attend Regular School In a decision hailed by advocates for the handicapped, a federal judge ruled that a 9-year-old mentally disabled girl should be allowed to attend a regular public classroom. U.S. District Judge David Levy reject- police officers to wear their uniforms when they staff a booth at a gay pride festival this year. The officers, however, will do no recruiting at the two-day Christopher Street West event in West Hollywood in June because, as Chief Daryl F.

Gates noted, the Los Angeles Police Department is in the midst of a hiring freeze. Instead openly gay and lesbian officers, all volunteers, will provide information about the LAPD. They also will "build bridges" of good will between the department and the gay and lesbian community, said John Ferry, co-chair of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Police Advisory Task Force. "The presence of openly gay and lesbian officers at the task force booth at last year's Christopher Street West festival was the single most positive event ever in building trust and cooperation," Ferry told the five commissioners Tuesday, before they unanimously approved the plan. Getting approval for the officers' participation last year was not so easy.

At that time, Gates created a public furor when he refused to allow some of the seven openly gay and lesbian officers on the LAPD to wear their uniforms in a recruiting booth at the festival, even though approval had been given by a lower -level police official. Gates relented, but only after he and gay rights activists argued publicly over whether he had earlier endorsed the idea. A similar controversy flared a few months later when activists wanted a similar recruiting booth at a Silver Lake street fair. In that instance, the commission overruled Gates. LOS ANGELES Roybal 'Successor' Drops Out of Race In an abrupt turnabout, the man whom retiring Democratic Rep.

Edward R. Roybal had handpicked as his successor said Tuesday he was dropping out of the race because of family considerations. Henry Lozano, Roybal's 58-year-old chief of staff, said he made his decision last weekend and called friends and supporters to tell them that he was not running for the 30th Congressional District seat. in a deal that no doubt will be compared to the Getty Museum's purchase of Van Gogh's "Irises," the American Stamp and Coin Co. of Tarzana has announced its purchase of Elvis Presley's 1975 driver's license.

As with "Irises," the price fetched by the King's Tennessee license was not revealed. Owner Jay Tell of American Stamp says that Elvis originally gave the license- -which had expired -to a fortuneteller identified as "Madame Star," whose -ball reading pleased him. The psychic later passed it down to her goddaughter, who sold it to Tell. We're sure that Tell has carefully checked the authenticity of the license. But one thing bothers us.

This Elvis Presley lists his weight at 170. ay Olins of Santa Monica points out that in view of the recent massive sewage spill in San Diego, those billboard ads for the America's Cup races have taken on new meaning. The blurbs say: "JUST DOWN THE FREEWAY, SOMETHING BIG IS IN THE WIND." erb columnist Caen, in the the anti- Bay -Angeles Area, reports a Stockton newspaper ran a headline that said: "Crooked Cop Gets 5 Years in L.A." Caen's comment: "That'll show the mizzerable creep." he about movie, mobster "Bugsy," Bugsy a 1940s Siegel, yarn took WASHINGTON EDITION LOS ANGELES TIMES California Digest WILDERNESS Revived Falls Have Visitors Pouring By DAVAN MAHARAJ TIMES STAFF WRITER TRABUCO CANYON- -The waT throw terfalls canyons in from are Falls the only and tony a Holy condo- stone's Jim miniums and cookie-cutter homes in the planned communities of Rancho Santa Margarita. But follow the rutted dirt road along Trabuco Creek and the distance can easily be measured in years, not miles. Towering sycamores and majestic, century -old oaks stand amid clumps of fragrant sage and manzanita.

The gurgling streams that ripple across the roadway are a reminder that these canyons are among the last remaining rustic areas of Orange County. The recent rains have enhanced the canyons' natural charm: Spectacular waterfalls now gush down the mountain slopes and flow into once bone -dry creeks. Forest rangers have recently received a flood of inquiries about the waterfalls since word spread that the storms had transformed the Santa Ana Mountains into a water wonderland. "If you want to see waterfalls in Orange County or close by, now is the time," said Fran Colwell, a spokesman for the Trabuco Ranger District of Cleveland National Forest. "It doesn't flow much better than this." Although the sights provide a thrill for a few hikers who frequent the falls.

they are among the forest's best- -kept secrets, according to officials with the Trabuco Ranger District. The waterfalls at Falls Canyon were discovered more than a century ago, but somehow never made it in local hiking guides. "It's unspoiled and the people who know about it want to keep it that way," Colwell said. "We have no objections to people visiting if they leave i it as they've found it. Take nothing and leave nothing." Falls Canyon is visited by only a handful of naturalists because the area is not easily accessible from Trabuco Creek Road.

Visitors must drive four-drive vehicles through streams and over mounds of dirt that have slid onto the roadway from the steep slopes above. Recent rains have also washed away parts of the trail. But the downpours are also keeping sheriff's deputies busy as they cite or even arrest visitors who break the law by heading into the unspoiled outback with their vehicles and tearing up the terrain. The vehicles sometimes capsize in the streams, leaking oil and gas that kill trout and other wildlife and endanger the forest's fragile ecosystem, rangers say. But the law is waiting for them.

"Well, my wife's mother is very ill and there have been other things, including flying back and forth from Washington all the time," Lozano said. "And look. I'll be 59 years old in October and I'm going against my own rules. It'll be eight to 10 years before I can get a good assignment in Congress. A younger candidate would be better.

"I mean, it's a candidate's dream. I've got endorsements. I was getting some money. I know I'm disappointing a lot of people. But, there's more to life than running for public office." News of the exit of Lozano -a chief strategist of Gloria Molina's successful bid for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors last year -caught many who had lined up behind his candidacy off guard.

Sheriff's deputy Duane Turner takes a One recent day. Sheriff's Deputy Duane Turner's black- -white Chevy Blazer was perched on a hillside, hidden by some shrubbery. Turner, who has been patrolling these canyons since 1982, knows the nooks of this forest like a New York cabby maneuvering the streets of Manhattan. He drove through lower Trabuco Canyon, pointing out the skeletons of vehicles dumped by car thieves amid fields of sage. The sides and hoods of the cars are like sieves, riddled with bullet holes.

During the last week, Turner has been a virtual traffic officer in the forest, writing at least 10 citations to -wheelers who ventured off the road to do wheelies and show off their stunts to friends. Turner later parked his vehicle and COMPTON Ex-Officer Accused of Stealing From Motorists A former Compton police officer was charged with five counts of theft Tuesday for allegedly stopping motorists while on duty, asking for their wallets and then stealing their money. Charmagne Yvonne Drew, 25, is expected to surrender this morning at the Compton police station. On Tuesday, the district attorney's office issued a warrant for her arrest. Drew was a rookie officer who had been with the Compton Police Department for less than a year when the Only in L.A.

By Steve Harvey NNESSEE OP FRATOE 'LICENSE NO. EXPIRATION DATE HEIGHT WEIGHT EVES 511459 01 08 77 600 170 BL BK A DATE OF BIRTH IRRUE DATE c. CONS 35 ogl 18 75 5 PRESLEY ELVIS A 3764 ELVIS PRESLEY BLVD MEMPHIS TN 3311 22 If Elvis is alive, he's missing a vital piece of Identification. some liberties with the facts, but the more universal appeal. filmmakers did pay attention to background detail.

In one scene, Barbara Casey of Malibu swears she Tinseltown's most famous symbol is at a garage sale in that burg: visible--the HOLLYWOODLAND sign. A sign that said: "We accept American That was its original name, in honor Express." of a real estate development. The LAND was later lopped off by the mentioned the other day that El Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Pais, a Madrid- newspaper, (not Caltech students) to give it devoted an entire magazine article to the In KEN HIVELY Los Angeles Times cold drink from a pool at Falls Canyon. escorted two visitors up a winding trail along the rushing creek. The trail brimmed with wildflowers.

Some giant oaks and sycamore trees felled by the recent rains stretched like a natural bridge across the creek. Almost a mile up the trail, the roar of water became louder. Silvery streaks of water cascaded from a 35-foot-high ledge. Turner reached into the pool below and sampled the water. "It's cold, natural and it's compliments of Mother Nature," Turner said.

"Now, in how many places can you see this?" Later, he made his way down the slippery trail, picking up debris. "People don't realize the consequences of their actions," Turner said. "We all can enjoy it if we work to preserve it." alleged thefts began in August. 1991. She was fired in December after an administrative hearing.

The charges against 1 her are similar to a recent case involving three Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies who were convicted of stopping elderly motorists. stealing their credit cards and racking up thousands of dollars of purchases. The thefts were brought to the attention of the Compton Police Department in September, after one of the alleged victims complained. In November, the department conducted a sting operation in which an undercover officer from another department posed as a stranded motorist. When Drew stopped to assist the she allegedly asked to see his wallet and then took $300 in marked money.

automobile culture of Angelenos, which it compared to los disparatados argumentos de las comedias norteamericanas (harebrained plots of TV sitcoms). Janet Dooley of the Big Bear community of Fawnskin points out it could be worse here. "The Spanish go to work around 9, 10 a.m.." she said. "They go home for their main meal around 1 p.m. They then go back to work at 3 p.m.

and go home again at 7, 8 p.m." She added: "At least we don't have four rush hours." Unless you consider what we have now -one, never -ending rush hour. If you aren't attending Liz Taylor Fortensky's gala nighttime birthday party at Disneyland, don't despair. Maybe you'll get invited to the Happiest Place on Earth's other big birthday bash later in the year. That one's also in honor of a famous screen star -Goofy. Small world.

Like Liz, Goofy will be celebrating No. 60. miscelLAny: Just over a century ago, the Nadeau Hotel, located at First and Spring streets, became the first building in the city to install an elevator. The need was obvious. The Nadeau was four stories high.

Comment ON LOS ANGELES A Time Between Storms BY AL MARTINEZ anta desert howling Anas like are down blasts of over formidable hot the air winds. from high heaven. They wiped the skies clean of clouds and smog over the weekend with a rush of energy that left us all a little dazzled. I became aware of them in the middle of the night when the branch of an oak tree began rattling against a window. I thought it was rain at first, and bolted upright in bed to await the downpour.

Almost instantly I realized it was wind, but the experience reminded me of all the waiting we had done after that roaring killer storm just two weeks ago. And it reminded me of Larry, who is dying of cancer. I had stopped by to see him during what was supposed to be a lull between storms. He was sitting by a window that looked out toward the Santa Monica Mountains, absorbing all he could of life during the time he had left. His house had weathered the first storm OK, and now, like everyone else, he was waiting to see what the second one would bring.

"Waiting," he said, coughing slightly, "is the hard part. You never know what's going to happen next." I'm not sure whether he was talking about the interim between storms or about himself, suspended between life and the unknown. Later, as I drove around Topanga, I saw how much waiting was actually going on. Nothing was more symbolic of it than a Caltrans truck with a blinking sign that flashed "Residents Only" to traffic entering the canyon. A highway patrolman sat in his car near the crest that overlooked the San Fernando Valley, waiting for the next emergency.

A bulldozer operator stood near a bridge where the highway had been seriously undermined, waiting for truckloads of boulders. Volunteers joined homeowners in piling sandbags along Topanga Creek, where a roaring flood tide threatened homes. And when the piling was over, they watched the water and waited. It was an unsettling time. The sky would alternately darken and lighten.

as though God were playing games with those who looked upward. "Here it comes." we said when the day seemed to go suddenly black and the wind began and a torrent of water spilled from the heavens. But it stopped suddenly. "Whatever became of showers?" Larry asked. His face was gaunt and drawn.

"It's not raining at all one minute and then it's pouring. Doesn't it sprinkle anymore?" From his window, he could see the street next to his house. Neighbors had gathered on a corner and were chatting happily. Calamity creates block parties even as it breeds grief. We are one in disaster.

In Topanga. -timers mingled with yuppies whose very presence they scorn. Yuppies loaded sandbags to save the shacks of old -timers they could never understand. We honored the human spirit in that storm, even as we shouldered the burden of not knowing what lay ahead. At my own home, the waiting was evident.

As I entered, the televised image of young Adam Paul Bischoff was on the screen. his terrified face above water, his mouth forming the words "Help Rescue workers reached for the boy from bridges that spanned the L.A. River, dangling near the surface of the water, arms outstretched, only to miss him by a sigh. We watched the screen in horrified fascination to see him swept downstream by the fierce current. a hand rising briefly from the river, reaching backward to where life still existed.

and then disappearing. We watched him vanish. and we waited. I looked around my house. Toweis were piled on a table to soak up the water that seeped into a rear bathroom.

I opened a back door and cleaned a drain that had clogged with mud. On the deck. I emptied toy buckets that had filled with water. And I waited. The second storm never came.

The body of Adam Bischoff was found downstream. The waiting was over. So why write about it now, weeks later, when the sky is a breathless blue and even the wind has died to a whisper? Because I realized that night as I listened to the Santa Anas how unnerving the unknown can be. Waiting. as Larry said, is the hard part.

We huddle like children at the door of eternity. And though the storm is gone, the waiting is never really over. We are all, in a way, endlessly between storms. The best we can hope for is that we endure each one with equanimity and, like Larry, get on with absorbing all the life we have left..