The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 60

LONG BEACH Also serving Bdlflower, Cerritos, Compton, Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood, Lynwood, Paramount and Signal Hill Cos Angeles raes Thursday, June 1, 1989 HL Part IX Long Beach Hopes to Start Curb-Side Recycling in 1990 Staff Writer I i Compton police officers question carload of alleged gang JONATHAN NOUROK car on a residential street. By CHRIS WOODYARD, Times LONG BEACH The mindless weekly ritual of taking out the trash is about to require a bit more thought Recycling is coming. Residents will be asked to salvage bottles, aluminum cans and newspapers from the rest of their refuse. Long Beach officials say they hope curb-side recycling will put a dent in the city's huge volume of trash, thereby reducing dumping costs at near-capacity landfills. Recycling also would make the city's trash-to-energy plant operate more efficiently by removing items that won't burn.

"I think it recycling is of utmost importance," Mayor Ernie Kell said. "Burning trash is fine, but we need to start recycling some of this." Mentioned In Budget The City Council is considering the matter, but officials are still months away from concocting a workable recycling plan. They agree, however, with the goal of starting curb-side recycling next year. City Manager James C. Hankla discussed the recycling plan in his budget recommendation for the coming fiscal year, but did not include start-up funds for it As good as recycling sounds, it is not exactly a profitable proposition.

Every recycling program in the county costs more to operate than it earns in sales of recyclables, according to Bill George, who monitors recycling for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. Some cities have increased trash collection rates to provide for recycling. Nevertheless, recycling is increasingly popular among cities as a way of helping to cope with the so-called "garbage crisis," the problem of what to do with trash once Southland landfills reach capacity in the next few years. Until two years ago, only Downey, Santa Monica, Burbank and Claremont had active curb-side collection programs. Since then, six other cities have started full-fledged curb-side recycling or pilot programs.

Together, they collect 1,130 tons of recyclable materials a month. Recycling was supposed to have begun in Long Beach with the start-up of the city's Southeast Resource Recovery Facility on New Weapon fa Gang' Wars Compton Police Serve Written Notice of Street Terrorism Act By MICHELE FUETSCH, Times Staff Writer Terminal Island, which burns trash to produce electricity. But city engineers say they have been so busy dealing with problems at the plant that the recycling program has fallen six months behind schedule. "We played the hand we were dealt," Assistant City Manager John Shirey said. "We had to worry about SERRF because that was the instant issue fraught with risk high-dollar risk and certain problems.

If people think we've dilly-dallied around, we haven't." Recycling is important to the trash-to-energy plant because it not only separates many non-flammable items, but prevents the burning of newsprint which can produce chemical-laden smoke because of the metal content of various colored inks, said Martha Gildart, an engineer for the California Waste Management Board. Plans are moving ahead at a quickening pace. William Davis, Long Beach's solid waste manager, said the city has a $30,000 contract with consultants who are studying how cans and bottles could best be recycled in restaurants, how to 'I think it recycling is of utmost importance. Burning trash is fine, but we need to start recycling some of Ernie Kel mayor of Long Beach salvage dead batteries from cars and whether city crews could compost grass clippings and tree trimmings. The city is looking for a recycling coordinator.

Plans call for a citizens advisory committee to help formulate the program and to sell the idea to the public. After all of the meetings, the actual design of Long Beach's program would start in December. Long Beach's efforts come as landfill dumping rates are rising. The county Sanitation Districts plans a $1.50 raise in the price of dumping one ton of trash in its Puente Hills landfill, the primary dump site for Long Beach, Davis Please see RECYCLE, Page 4 on bicycles now patrol the area. "We believe we have a major handle on the drug activity with the things we have done," West said.

However, West said, "We don't want to be naive and think drugs have disappeared. That's one of the purposes of the checkpoint." More than 20 deputies will help operate the checkpoint, said Deputy William Edmonds, a drug recognition expert The deputies will be looking for such signs as involuntary eye jerking, dilated or constricted pupils, confusion and slurred speech. Individuals suspected of being under the influence of drugs will be required to take a blood or urine test at a hospital or sheriffs office. Formula for Checking Since deputies are prevented by law from stopping every car, they will use a formula, such as stopping every fourth car. Drivers arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of liquor will be taken to the Lakewood substation, allowed to sober up and given citations with notices to appear in court.

City officials said they do not know how often checkpoints will be conducted. Officials are required by law to announce checkpoints in advance. Jack R. Winkler, assistant attorney general, informed city officials in March that the California Supreme Court ruled in a 1987 case that it would be legal to conduct police roadblocks as long as the purpose was to remove impaired motorists who endanger others. It would be illegal to use the checkpoints to search a vehicle or its occupants for narcotics.

Sleep!" Red Mason yelled out the window of the unmarked police car as it rounded the corner onto Rose Avenue, a narrow street lined with big trees and small houses that range from neatly kept to ravaged. "He's already been served," said Mason, who sat in the front passenger's seat. Edward (Red) Mason is a 19-year veteran of the Compton Police Department's gang unit. Sleep is an "O.G.," shorthand for original gang member, in this case the Santana Block Crips, who control a narrow stretch of neighborhood squeezed between Santa Fe Avenue and the Southern Pacific railroad tracks that cut Compton in two. Special Attention Mason, Patrolman Mark Anderson and two officers in the car behind them were serving special-delivery notices on the Santanas.

The Santanas, one of the city's oldest gangs, has been targeted for special attention under the state's newest anti-gang weapon, the Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act. Dubbed "Baby RICO," because it mimics the federal racketeering statute (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) the law says gang membership can be a felony. Police and sheriff's deputies in Compton, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pomona and Pasadena are serving written notices about the law on members of 1 1 gangs that Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner has identified so far through police and court records as engaging in criminal activity.

"What's your name, man?" Mason asked out the window as Anderson, qruising south on Spring Street, stopped the car. "Charles," answered a handsome 18-year-old known as "Black." Mason climbed out of the car, asking Black what gang he belonged to. Black, trying to sound cooperative at the same time he was trying to back down the sidewalk, said he used to Increased Support Goes Supervisors Paramount to Set Up Its First Checkpoint for Drivers Using Drugs members after stopping their the Padua House, so that contract will not be renewed, Schunhoff said. Under a formula that sets aside eight hospice beds or $400,000 a year for each of five supervisorial districts, the Padua House is now receiving the full eight-bed allotment for the 4th District, a coastal strip between Orange and Ventura counties. Lost Its Contract Hospices will be asked to bid for the 4th District funds in June, Schunhoff said.

County payments should begin a month or two after that, he said. The Hughes House lost its contract because the county chose to award the full $400,000 allocation for the 3rd District to a 25-bed regional facility at Barlow Hospital in Elysian Park. However, the Hughes House is in line for state funds and could reopen as a shelter for AIDS pa 3 By LEE HARRIS, Times Staff Writer belong to a gang. Doesn't anymore, he insisted, not since he did time on a weapons charge. Looking for work now, he said.

Has to support his new baby daughter, he said. "What set gang you from?" Mason asked again in an undemanding tone. "No set," Black said. "You want to go over to Lueders with me?" Mason asked casually, as if inviting a neighbor to take a ride with him to the hardware store. Lueders, a city park 10 blocks away, is in Blood territory.

Crips are not welcome. Using the police car hood as a writing surface, Black signed the 4-by-5-inch notice that is designed in triplicate like a credit card receipt. It said that Black has been notified that Santana Block is a "criminal street gang" under the provisions of the new law. The top copy went to Black, the second into police files and the third to the district attorney. Under the law, which has not yet been tested in court, Black could get up to three years in prison for just being a Santana.

Police say, however, what is most likely to happen is that prosecutors will produce the notice if Black is convicted of a felony and will argue that he should get more time in prison for being in what he was warned was a criminal gang. 'Wearing a Beeper "Hey, come here, Snap," Anderson suddenly yelled at a young man who stepped out the door of a house, spotted police and tried to duck back inside. "You hear about these papers we're serving, the gang terrorism act?" asked Anderson, a boyish-looking officer who has spent 12 years keeping tract of Compton's 36 gangs. Short, and with a beeper clipped to the waist of his stone-washed blue jeans, Snap grinned broadly. Twenty-one Santanas had already been served notices before the gang unit spotted Black and Snap on a late afternoon cruise through Santana turf.

Like most gang members, Snap Please see GANGS, Page 4 tients who are not near death, he said. AIDS activists, while pleased with increased hospice funding from the county, cite the withdrawal of support for Hughes House as an example of the shortcomings of the county's policy of district-by-district allocations. They say it does not take into account the concentration of most AIDS cases in a few areas, especially West Hollywood and Long Beach. John Maceri, president of HospiceLos Angeles-Long Beach, and others have asked that hospice money set aside for one district but not spent, be placed in a pool to provide care in other districts where hospice beds already exist. That point was made by members of the county AIDS Commission last week, when it asked Chief Administrative Officer Richard Dixon to find out how much hospice Please see AIDS, Page 4 JONATHAN NOUROK Police Sgt.

Edward (Red) Mason talks to an alleged gang member about job activity while serving notice of new law. to New and Existing Facilities OK $2.3 Million for AIDS Hospices By DARYL KELLEY, Times Staff Writer PARAMOUNT-The city will set up its first narcotics sobriety checkpoint Friday to seek drivers under the influence of drugs. The checkpoint will be similar to sobriety roadblocks used by police agencies looking for drunk drivers. The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, which provides law enforcement for the city, will operate the checkpoint from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.

on Alondra Boulevard between Gundry and Orange avenues. "The city is making a statement that it wants drugs out of the community," said Lt. Michael Ken-yon of the sheriffs Lakewood substation. Although sheriffs deputies previously have checked for drivers impaired by alcohol and drugs, this checkpoint will be the first to carry signs warning that drivers will be checked for drug impairment, Ken-yon said. Not a Trap' Following legal guidelines, deputies will post signs warning of both alcohol and narcotics checks 200 to 300 feet before the actual barricade, Kenyon said.

"We're not trying to spring a trap on them," he added. Deputy City Manager Patrick West said the checkpoint is part of the city's effort to bring a drug problem under control in one of its neighborhoods. "We want to let people know that the city will not tolerate drug activity," West said. Undercover sheriffs deputies in March arrested 56 people on drug charges in the 15300 block of Gundry Avenue. The charges included possessing, selling and purchasing rock cocaine.

The city closed off a portion of the street by building a concrete storm drain to create a cul-de-sac. Two deputies The County Board of Supervisors has committed another $2.38 million over three years to AIDS hospices, voting Tuesday to support new shelters in Pomona and Willowbrook and to back existing ones in Van Nuys and central Los Angeles. The new three-year commitments, approved amid complaints that the county's AIDS program is moving too slowly, extends hospice funding to mid-1992. The action comes close to fulfilling pledges by the supervisors a year ago to spend $2 million annually on shelters for patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Beds Increased by 16 The funding package increases the number of county-supported hospice beds from 21 to 37 at a cost of about $50,000 each per year, or $1.85 million for 37.

In all, there are about 100 beds in AIDS hospices county wide, most of them paid for by private contributions or the patients themselves. About 6,900 AIDS cases have been confirmed in the county, including almost 4,500 that ended in death, since the county began keeping statistics on the disease. While increasing its support Tuesday, the supervisors extended for only two months its contract with the Padua House hospice in downtown Long Beach. It also withdrew funding from Hughes House in the West Hollywood area, which ran out of money and closed last week. Though both facilities are run by the same organization, the county withheld long-term support for different reasons, said John Schun-hoff, assistant director of the County AIDS Off ice.

A management shake-up at HospiceLos Angeles-Long Beach has left in doubt who holds the lease for.