The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 644

Serving Artesia, Ik-llllowcr, Cmitos, Downey, hi Mirada, Montehello. Norwalk, Pico Rivera, Santa Fe Springs, South (iate. Whittier and surrounding communities. Cos Angeles Saturday, November 3, and Sunday, November 4, 1984 HD Part IX SOUTHEAST Heated 63rd District Race Accelerates City Officials Predict Battle for Assembly Seat Is One of State's Fiercest Budget Cuts, Chaos If Prop. 36 Passes seen such an outpouring.

"It's just hard to keep track of," he said. "They just mail and mail and mail." If nothing else, the contrasting approaches have drawn a pointed political picture of the district, a heavily Democratic but conserva- Writer Grisham-Xitco By DAVID FERRELL, Times Staff If anything is certain in the hotly contested 63rd District Assembly race, it is only that Wayne Grisham and Dianne Xitco the two survivors from a bitter June primary fight have drawn markedly different battle lines in the fight for one of the state's few open legislative seats. Grisham, a Republican and a former congressman, is attempting a political comeback in the district and has waged his campaign almost on a federal level, pinning his chances firmly to the coattails of President Ronald Reagan. Gris-ham's campaign mailers often picture him with Reagan, and time and again Grisham has stressed his association with "the party of Ronald Reagan." At Grisham's big fund-raiser in late October, dozens of stenciled yellow balloons reiterated the message: perts believe would easily have captured a fifth term in the Legislature. Young's retirement left a once-secure Democratic seat vulnerable and has given Republicans an eagerly awaited chance to improve their 48-32 minority standing in the Assembly.

Spending in the campaign is expected to approach $750,000 as much as $500,000 by Xitco alone even after hard-fought June primaries, in which Xitco outspent Grisham, $175,000 to $35,000. Campaign disclosure statements filed Oct. 25 showed that Xitco had spent $326,877 and Grisham $152,926, a spokesman in the county registrar-recorder's office said. Xitco, who faced a bulky field of 11 candidates in the primary, is receiving most of her financial support from Democratic Party Please see 63RD, Page 4 California Elections tive area encompassing Downey, Norwalk, Cerritos, Artesia, Santa Fe Springs, Hawaiian Gardens and parts of Lakewood, Whittier and Long Beach. Although normally quiet, the district has become one of the focal points in state politics following the abrupt retirement this spring of incumbent Bruce Young (D-Cerritos), who most ex By JILL STEWART, Times Staff From Long Beach in the south to Montebello in the north, city officials in the Southeast area are predicting major revenue losses if Proposition 36 is approved by voters on Tuesday.

The property tax- and fee-reduction initiative, authored by tax crusader Howard Jarvis, would force cities, counties and other taxing districts statewide to pay back $1.7 billion in property taxes collected since Jarvis' Proposition 13 was approved in 1978. If Proposition 36 is approved, Montebello and Santa Fe Springs would be among the hardest-hit cities in the Southeast area. In recent months, both cities have substantially increased fees that would have to be refunded to residents and then rolled back to August, 1983, levels. 'Worst Case' Preparations Montebello city spokesman Richard Torres said the city has formed an ad hoc committee of citizens, business leaders and school and city officials to find ways to cut the operating budget by $3.5 million, or 20, to offset "worst case" losses. "We are facing trouble," Torres said.

"There's a great concern in this community that the proposition is going to pass." Santa Fe Springs City Manager Don Powell said a hiring freeze and a ban on overtime were adopted by his city six weeks ago, and all department heads have been asked to find ways to cut their budgets by 15. City officials have predicted at least a yearly loss from their general fund of about $14 million, he said. "City employees have officially been encouraged to vote against the proposition," Powell said. "The people who say this is going to cause financial chaos aren't exaggerating." The initiative would require a Su Mk" -V -4ir v-. tews "swm 73 zzz 1 two-thirds vote of the people for fee increases that exceed the rate of the consumer price index and would prohibit the use of "benefit assessment" taxes now paid by homeowners who receive special services such as street lighting or tree trimming.

It would reduce the assessed values of homes bought before the 1977 cutoff date, creating a permanent loss of property taxes to cities. It would also prohibit the use of fees to pay for anything but the direct cost of services, such as recreation programs or garbage collection. Many cities pay for employee pensions or office overhead from such fees and would be forced to find that money elsewhere. Opponents say the initiative, which would provide an average tax refund of $315 to each California homeowner who purchased property before March 1, 1977, will benefit only a select segment of the state's residents while creating chaos in city government. Proponents, however, say Proposition 36 will "plug holes" created by courtroom challenges to Proposition 13.

Jarvis has argued that cities and other taxing districts have greatly increased fees and created special taxes in order to get around the restrictions of Proposition 13. Recovering From Prop. 13 Cliff Caballero, a county administrative analyst, said scores of cities in the county were just beginning to recover from cuts made under Proposition 13 "and now they are getting hit again. If fees and other legitimate funding sources are restricted, we feel there's nowhere left for many of them to go for money Huge losses would be felt in Long Beach, where city leaders expect a yearly reduction of $28 Please see PROP. 36, Page 3 fearing for the safety of friends and loved ones caught in the political upheaval thousands of miles away.

"She deserved better, much better," said Suijeet Arora, 22, manager of the India Restaurant in Artesia and a member of the Sikh sect. Extremist members of the Indian religious group have claimed responsibility for killing Gandhi, who was shot by two Sikh members of her security force. "Now I'm sad to see all the violence at home," said Arora, who grew up in the Punjab province of northern India, where a majority of the country's 14 million Sikhs live. Separatist Movement In recent years, there has been a growing separatist movement and violence in Punjab, leading to a clash June 6 between Indian government troops and Sikh extremists at the holiest shrine in the Sikh region. Gandhi's death, some say, was in retaliation for the attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

And Arora now believes tensions between Sikhs and ruling Hindus may worsen in the wake of Gandhi's assassination. "There may be Please see GANDHI, Page 8 Mw-i tr ft i Writer To counter that, Democrat Xitco, president of the ABC Unified School District board, has put her faith in another federal institution the U.S. Postal Service. Her campaign, heavily supported by state Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and other leading Democrats, has been founded on an expensive, non-stop mailing effort aimed at overcoming Grisham's strong name recognition in the region he once served. Blitz of Mailers Going into the campaign's final week, Xitco had dispensed at least 15 mailers many of them full-size color flyers and the blitz was expected to continue.

Xitco had mailers promoting her leadership talents, mailers lauding her management skills, mailers attacking Grisham's record in Congress. Even Grisham said he has never RICK C0RRALES Los Angeles Times Writer We just can't do it all." Some critics at the council meeting alleged that drugs are blatantly sold on city streets and demanded the police department do a better job or be replaced by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Others asked that the City Council consider removing Carrington, 54, who has been chief since August, 1980. A majority of the five-member council has supported Carrington, with Councilman Max-cy Filer saying, "I hope he stays forever." Councilman Robert Adams however, says Carrington has lost the respect of "many" of his officers and should resign. City Manager Laverta Montgomery, empowered to hire and Gandhi Slaying Shocks Community Indians in Southeast Fear for Native Land By STEVEN R.

CHURM, Times Staff Writer Sue Schoensiegel directs Whittier's Ecumenical Food Center. Lifeline for Hungry May Face Closure By LENORE LOOK, Times Staff Kokila Mehta stood motionless in the kitchen, her tiny bare feet seemingly frozen to the linoleum. Her hands were buried deep in the pockets of her sweater, hidden from the morning chill that seeped through the torn screen door. She paid no attention to the cold, the whistling teapot or the phone that rang in the kitchen of the Radhak-rishna Hindu Temple in Norwalk. Mehta was transfixed by a question about Indira Gandhi, the slain prime minister of her native India.

Loss Felt Deeply "She was India strong, enduring and tolerant," Mehta said finally. "Everybody dies. But no one should die that way, not at the hands of assassins. Not everybody loved her but everybody, even the Sikhs, respected her. "Our shock and loss is very deep." Throughout the Southeast area, hundreds of Asian Indians like Mehta mourned and pondered the loss of Gandhi, the powerful leader for nearly two decades of the world's largest democracy.

Individually and in small groups, they mulled the events of the past week, WHITTIER Near the end of Greenleaf Avenue, past the boutiques and sidewalk cafes, hard times have hit the city's only food center. The Ecumenical Food Center, lifeline for many of the city's poor and homeless, faces the possibility of closing next year because support has dwindled from the sponsoring churches. The program is operated by the Whittier Area Ecumenical Council of Churches 23 churches and one affiliate synagogue with some support from the city and civic clubs. In addition to financial support, churches had promised to donate food. But the donations of food have been far below the center's needs, said center director Sue Schoensiegel.

Not Going as Expected "It isn't going as well as we had expected as far as the ecumenical participation is concerned," she said. "If everyone who goes to church on Sundays would bring one can of food with them, we wouldn't have to buy any food." More than 300 people a week depend on the center for food, Schoensiegel said. "They're barely making it and would go hungry without us. I'm concerned about being able to stay open next year." Jonathan Moody, president of the Ecumenical Council and chaplain of Whittier College, acknowledged that the fever-pitch support the council gave the center when it took over responsibility for it last year has leveled off. Members of the Ecumenical Council attribute the decline in support to a variety of causes, including denominational loyalty.

Moody said the center has to fit in with the other concerns of the The 300 people who line up weekly at the center for groceries will be shut out if food donations continue to dwindle. council. "We have campus ministries, community worship services, programs for the elderly. There is not one ministry that is more important than the others." Schoensiegel said it is "human nature for people to forget to bring in a can of food each Sunday, and certain congregations are reluctant to participate because we are outside of their denomination." The center has been struggling to offer food to more than 100 people each Monday, Wednesday and Friday since it opened, Schoensiegel said. "I expected to have enough food to feed 150 people five days a week." Referrals come from the local Salvation Army and county and state agencies, she said.

Eight percent of the recipients are from Pico Rivera, Norwalk and surrounding communities. The rest are Whittier residents. The Whittier Area Ecumenical Council of Churches has kept its pledges to contribute $600 to $1,200 a year to keep the center open, Schoensiegel said, but food donations remain a problem. About 50 cases of food a month are coming in from church donations, Please see FOOD, Page 9 CARLOS CHAVEZ Los Angles Times at Critics motives, Carrington said, but he maintained that they simply do not know what they are talking about when they say his department is not doing its job. For example, the department was denounced by several residents who said known drug dealers are allowed to flourish near Trag-niew Park in western Compton, an area Carrington said has been worked by a special undercover crime task force off and on for a year.

The task force "was there without the (public) pressure," he said. And, during a 10-day period before and after the mid-October council meeting, undercover officers made arrests at three cocaine supply houses near the park, said Assist-Please see POLICE, Page 8 Compton's Police Chief By DARYL KELLEY, Times Staff Writer Lashes Out fire police chiefs, said she supports Carrington "100." In the interview, Carrington insisted that critics, whom he declined to name, are denigrating his force to gain elective city office next spring. "Every two years we go through this sheriff's thing," he said. "It's political." Mayor Walter Tucker is up for reelection in April but has not sought Carrington's resignation. Tucker said, however, that he wants to look at the Sheriff's Department's effectiveness in neighboring Carson and perhaps request help from that agency.

No other council member has supported bringing in the sheriff. Adams and Floyd James also face spring elections. Some critics do not have political COMPTON-Responding to what he sees as a challenge to the integrity of his department and himself, Police Chief James Car-rington has lashed out at critics, saying, "I'd rather fly with the eagles of this department than flounder with the turkeys who are going to try to bring us down." Carrington, who usually avoids public comment, was reacting to charges by residents at a recent City Council meeting that city police officers are rude, ineffective, poorly led and insensitive to citizen complaints. "Jim Carrington feels very strongly about his credibility and his integrity," Carrington said in a lengthy and emotional interview. "We have lots of crime here, and we're fighting lots of crime.

RICK CORRALES Los Angeles Times Businessman Madhu Mehta, 50, who grew up in western India, says he felt "utter shame" at the Gandhi assassination..