The Los Angeles Times du lieu suivant : Los Angeles, California • Page 319

B2 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1992 LOS ANGELES TIMES Metro Digest Local News in Brief AL MARTINEZ Exotic Infant First Round Finished in King Jury Selection The first round of jury questioning in the trial of four police officers accused in the Rodney G. King beating wrapped up in Slml Valley Wednesday, and Judge Stanley M. Weisberg has asked a total of 141 potential jurors to return Friday morning for further evaluation. Jury selection began Feb. 3, and attorneys on both sides of the case said they hope to have a jury chosen and the start of opening arguments in the year-old case by late next week.

Two area police radio dispatchers were excused Wednesday from the jury pool, including one woman employed with the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPD dispatcher was dropped from the case after she said she was hurt by the large amount of public criticism that followed the March 3 beating. She also said she was "shocked" after seeing a videotape of the police incident. Sgt. Stacey Koon and Officers Theodore J.

Briseno, Laurence M. Powell and Timothy E. Wind have pleaded innocent. Plan for School Counselors to Issue Condoms Dropped The Santa Monlca-Mallbu Unified School District has scrapped plans to have a trained counselor in charge of distributing condoms, and instead will make condoms available to high school students with as little fuss as possible. The school board unveiled its draft policy on the issue at a meeting Monday night and will probably formally adopt the policy on March 9.

A similar plan for the Los Angeles district has generated heated debate among board members and parents, but no opposition has been raised in Santa Monica-Malibu schools. School board members had earlier said they thought condoms should be issued by a counselor, so that students' questions could be answered and the students would be reminded that sexual abstinence provides the best protection against unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. But after listening to passionate testimony from students that a counselor would deter many students from using condoms, the board members altered their position. No vote was taken on the issue, but board members praised the draft policy. Rembrandt Stolen From Scott Church Recovered A Rembrandt painting stolen from televangelist Gene Scott's University Cathedral in Los Angeles was recovered and one of two suspects in the case has been arrested, police said Wednesday.

The painting, worth an estimated $100,000, was taken Nov. 7 from the cathedral, said Detective Al Gonzales of the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Station. Police arrested Kourosh Jadali, 35, at his Los Angeles home, where the painting was found. A second suspect is still being sought, Gonzales said. "The church is, of course, pleased with the outstanding work of the FBI and the LAPD in recovering this very sacred art treasure for us," said Ed Masrey, general counsel for the University Cathedral-Westcott Christian Center.

The painting was stolen by two armed suspects. Judge Orders Officer Jailed Pending Trial in Theft Case A fired Compton police officer was arraigned Wednesday on grand theft charges and ordered jailed by a judge who said the alleged thefts of cash from drivers' wallets was too serious to let her remain free. Charmagne Evon Drew, 25, of Compton turned herself in to the court Wednesday and pleaded innocent to five counts of grand theft. She was accused of stopping Spanish-speaking motorists on the pretense of traffic violations, asking for their wallets and removing hundreds of dollars in cash in four incidents from August to November, 1991. Two people were victims in one of the incidents.

The 14-month veteran was fired from the Compton Police Department late last year when an undercover officer from another police agency posed in a sting operation and became her last victim, police said. Municipal Judge Glenette Blackwell refused public defense attorney Irv Cohen's requests for Drew to be released on her own recognizance. "It is like preying upon unsuspecting elderly people or people who don't speak English," Blackwell said in denying the release. "It is a violation of public trust." Fox Studios Proposes Traffic-Limitation Plan Fox Studios in Century City has agreed to a traffic monitoring system that could halt its proposed expansion plan in midstream if it brings more traffic to the studio than predicted. Monetary penalties are also a part of the agreement, which is intended to protect nearby residents affected by traffic from the new development.

The studio's proposal for the traffic-lim- Bums in the City I was wandering around Long Beach the other day looking for a place to eat when a guy came up to me and said, "You got any loose change?" He was maybe in his late 30s and had the spacey appearance of someone who wanted the loose change for something other than food. "Sure," I said, reaching into my pocket, "can I see your license?" I backed away a little as I said it because the guy smelled faintly of urine, which, as you can imagine, is not my favorite odor. I prefer Aramis. He looked at me as though trying to figure out what it was I said and then repeated his question. "You got any loose change?" I said, "You don't get money until you show me your business license." At that point he became a little aggressive and demanded to know what the hell I was talking about.

I explained that bums in Long Beach were required to obtain a business license before they could panhandle. "If I give money to you," I explained, "and you don't have a business license, I would be a party to a criminal act and we would both be subject to severe penalties." "Man," he said, shaking his head, "this place sucks," and shuffled off muttering to himself, as bums often do. I was not in Long Beach specifically to find a place to eat. That was incidental to my primary purpose. Going to Long Beach to eat would be like going to Bellflower to vacation.

I was there to discuss bums with City Councilman Wallace (Waffling Wally) Edgerton, whose idea it was to require panhandlers to have the same kind of license needed by street vendors. That is not in effect yet, by the way, and may never be in effect. I used it on the bum mentioned earlier only as a means of eliciting his response. Edgerton proposed the law when his district was recently reapportioned to include the downtown area, a favorite place for bums. The proposal is being studied by the city attorney's office.

I stopped by to see Waffling Wally after receiving several telephone calls from frantic liberals who would like to see him burned at the stake but worry about martyring him. "What next?" one caller demanded of the proposal, "bumacide?" He was making up a word to indicate mass extermination of panhandlers. "Just what do you have in mind?" I asked Waffling Wally as we sat in his neat-as-a-pin living room one sunny weekend morning. They call him Waffling Wally because of his indecisiveness, but there is nothing indecisive about his current stand toward bums. He wants them gone.

"The people downtown feel imprisoned by panhandlers," Wally said. "They're afraid to walk the street and merchants are losing business because of it. They're angry and want someone to do something. So I did something." The purpose of his proposal, he explained, was to create a dialogue. If it should become a law, however, that's all right too.

"Maybe all the bums will leave town and end up in Los Angeles," Wally said. KKNI.UHAS Los Angeles Times A baby Verreaux's slfaka, an endangered species of lemur native to Madagascar, clings to Its mother as it made Its public debut Wednesday at the Los Angeles Zoo. The baby was born Feb. 18 to the only pair of slfakas In the United States. Bakery Building Named L.A.

Cultural Monument The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission has added the 62-year-old Van de Kamp's Holland Dutch bakery building in Glassell Park to the city's list of historic-cultural monuments. Jay Oren, staff architect with the commission, said the bakery and corporate headquarters, reminiscent of a 16th-century Dutch townhouse, "was part of the most successful corporate effort in the history of L.A. to establish image through architecture." The design complemented the windmill motif of Van de Kamp's retail stores, the blue and white Dutch -girl uniforms of their staffs and product packaging. The building, at 3020 San Fernando Road, has been vacated by Van de Kamp's, which filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy laws in October, 1990. VDK Development its owner, has no current development plan, company spokesman Larry Mielke said.

Fruit Fly Quarantine Area Expanded The discovery of a wild Mexican fruit fly in Downey has prompted state officials to expand an agricultural quarantine zone from 60 to 100 square miles of Southeast Los Angeles County. An unmated female Mexican fly was found in a trap just a half-mile outside itation plan was contained in an application to Los Angeles for a change in the Century City South Master Zoning Plan. The application was made public by Fox officials on Wednesday. The first such agreement in the city was forged in November, 1990, when UCLA, though a state institution not bound by city rules, voluntarily agreed to a traffic monitoring plan to gain support for its 15-year expansion plan. Fox is the second private company in Los Angeles to propose such a traffic limitation plan, following the lead of Nansay which is seeking to build a hotel in Westwood Village.

Battle Over Shield Law Delays Deputy's Hearing A deputy's preliminary hearing in Los Angeles on rape charges was delayed Wednesday so lawyers for a television reporter could prepare legal arguments supporting his refusal to testify about his interview with an alleged victim. The hearing for Sheriff's Deputy Lloyd Shoemaker was put off until March 6, when three alleged victims are expected to testify. Shoemaker, 33, has denied two counts of rape and one count each of oral copulation and lewd conduct stemming from alleged attacks on three women. He is accused of stopping women drivers on false traffic violations, directing them to drive to remote locations and sexually assaulting them. A woman who at that time was not linked with the charges called KCBS with similar allegations.

Prosecutors subpoenaed KCBS reporter Mike O'Connor to testify, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jodi Rafkin said. But Rafkin said O'Connor has refused to testify, invoking the California Shield Law which allows reporters to refuse to disclose sources or unpublished material. By Steve Harvey jLHfMonterey (w IMPERIAL I Lynwood rea A Lakewood fLngBech) the existing quarantine area in Downey on Feb.

13, bringing the number of flies found since last November to 17. Residents in the zone are prohibited from transporting home-grown fruit and vegetables from the 100-square-mile area in order to prevent the spread of the crop-threatening fruit fly. Much like the Mediterranean fruit fly, the Mexican fruit fly lays it eggs in citrus and soft fruits and the larvae feed on the fruit, ruining the produce for market. Agricultural officials have been attacking the Mexican fruit fly infestation with the release of about 20 million sterile flies a week. An additional 5 million sterile flies a week will be released in neighborhoods surrounding the latest fly find, officials said.

The sterile flies overwhelm the wild fly population and breed it out of existence. Las Angrles Times Aerial spraying of the pesticide malathion is not planned at this time, officials said. Only in L.A. For the Record Restaurant closures Due to errors by county inspectors, health violations for two restaurants were incorrectly listed in a chart published Wednesday. Burger Palace No.l in Los Angeles was not cited for improper sanitizing of multiuse utensils as reported.

Instead, it was closed voluntarily due to fire damage on Jan. 24; it reopened on Feb. 7. Your Place in Beverly Hills was not cited for contaminated food as reported. Instead, It was closed on Jan.

10 for remodeling a kitchen without required plans and for storing food at unsafe temperatures. It reopened the same day. "very popular with people stuck in L.A. traffic." Corporate customers already include the Department of Water and Power, Pacific Bell and Universal Studios. Brief Relief, Cassidy says carefully, is useful "where conventional rcstroom facilities are not available or are in poor condition.

It's a portable restroom in a bag." Specifically, it's a plastic bag (capacity: IGounces) containing chemicals that "gel the liquid, deodorize it and act on the uric acid to neutralize it so it can be disposed in a trash container," said Cassidy of American Innotek based in San Marcos in north San Diego County. Apart from being useful in traffic aviation companies are also customers Cassidy sees Brief Relief (price: $3 per bag) as an integral part of the emergency preparedness kit of the future. "When the Big One comes and plumbing goes out," she said, "it could solve a lot of problems." miscelLAny: West Hollywood, a city with an area of about two square miles, has four zip codes. I don't think so. Even the people on L.A.'s skid row are getting tired of bums.

Many businesses, and even a couple of missions, are installing automatic sprinklers to discourage them from hanging around out front. By automatic I do not mean to imply that the sprinklers come on only when sensors pick up the aroma of bums. I mean they are timed to start automatically. At any rate, the ACLU doesn't like the idea and will surely make a case out of it. You can't water down bums in America and get away with it.

If Waffling Wally is successful in chasing panhandlers out of Long Beach, I doubt they will come to L.A. The likelihood is they will go to Bumville U.S.A. Right. Santa Monica. I asked a friend in Santa Monica how he felt about that and he said I should stop applying the blanket label bums to everyone on the street.

I said I wasn't and suggested that bums had infiltrated the ranks of what he called "the legitimate homeless." Bums are not people willing to work. Bums are able-bodied people who would rather beg and steal than work. "Many of them are emotionally disabled," my friend argued. "A lot of editors I know are emotionally disabled," I said, "but they still work." lie replied that it was useless to talk to me and strode off. I suspect he spent the remainder of the day hugging bums along Palisades Park as a sign of compassion.

Waffling Wally has sympathy for those out of work due to the recession. But what bums need, he adds, "is a swift kick in the butt." I am not in favor of licensing, kicking -or watering bums. But I agree something must be done about them. I intend on doing my part. I'm going into Santa Monica this afternoon and sprinkle them with Aramis.

DODDS BOOK SHOP 021992 20:48 17 16730 1 8 16.95 0395446130 16.95 HAS ZAPPED 18 29.95 0823021610 29.95 GRAPHIC HIT If 3.98 0792451465 3.98 WHALES HOW THEY SUBTOTAL 50.88 SALES TAX 6 6.2511 4.20 TOTAL 55.08 TENDER VISA 55.08 4818 E. 2ND 310-438-9948 NO CASH REFUNDS PRACTICE SAFE SEX. TAKE A BOOK TO BED Wherefore Art Thou, Daisy The Shakespeare League of Pasadena has announced that, in April, it will stage "Li'l Abner" at the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium. At last, a literary mystery is solved! It was Al Capp who wrote the plays credited to the Bard. Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip That started on a tropic isle, aboard this tiny ship.

The mate was a mighty sailor man, The skipper brave and true. No, this wasn't Shakespeare. It was the musical theme of "Gilligan's Island," the 1960s sitcom starring seven stranded actors. We're singing the jingle again because the show's fan club, which is based in Studio City, has sent Hawaii Gov. John D.

Waihee a petition to change the name of Maui to Gilligan's Island. 'Gilligan's Island' is not just a TV show, it's American folklore," explained fan club leader Bob Hines. "It's worthy of an enduring honorarium." At last report, the petition was marooned in the governor's office, where a secretary laughed it off. A sales slip that slips In a message. marry at the finish line of the 1992 run Sunday.

Oddly enough, Johnson first noticed the previously divorced Elkin because he was wearing a T-shirt that said, "Marriage is the No. 1 cause of divorce." One form of literature produced by the computer age is the sales-slip ditty (see photo). Consider it a kind of psychic rebate. Terry Cassidy figures her company's product, Brief Relief, may become Will the Shakespearean "Li'l Abner" use the expression Ah hain't gonna How about a traffic island in Hawaiian Gardens? Get Me to the Finish Line on Time: Lorin Johnson of Seattle and Peter Elkin of Irvine, who met after completing the 1990 L.A. Marathon, will.