The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 39

U8 ANGELES TIMES METRO NEWS Pasadena Councilman Is Accused of Sexual i Assault Using Cocaine PV- -J5 Compton Turns to Prayer and Persuasion Trials: Community leaders and police enact a strategy for heading off trouble after the King and Denny verdicts are announced afi -if? ft M'l I Eyf i ALSBIB UaAnfttaltaMi i behind him in 1974 Ik: Allegations: A former neighbor tells police that Isaac Richard forcibly kissed and fondled her but declines to press charges The controversial official disputes her account By EDMUND NEWTON TIMES STAFF WRITER In the latest of a series at charges and high-profile public disputes flamboyant Pasadena City Councilman Isaac Richard has been accused by an unidentified woman of sexual assault and cocaine use According to a police crime report released Tuesday by the Pasadena city attorney a woman seek-ing police assistance Sunday near home cm Forest Avenue charged that the councilman had forcibly kissed her and fondled her breasts shortly after he used cocaine But the woman a former neighbor who has known Richard toe mat than 10 years subsequently told police she did not want to press charges Richard would not comment on the allegations which have been turned over to the Los Angeles County district office for possible prosecution except to say: "It happen that Deputy DiaL Atty Carol Rash said Wednesday that she had received the police report and was Investigating the allegations Terrence Bennett lawyer said there seemed to be litUe basis for prosecuting the councilman The police report Bennett said "reflects a situation where there waa some embracing and the woman did not wish to continue She was let go and she freaked out and ran out the But Bennett said he had discussed with his client possible treatment for a "chemical "I'm concerned about his mental the lawyer said "He tells me he has a chemical imbalance that it has been diagnosed and there may be a need for medical During his two years on the council Richard 35 has been a source of controversy lashing out at others in the cause of bringing more city resources to his constituents in Northwest Pasadena many of whom have low incomes The dapper Richard an investment banker for an Orange County firm has accused council colleagues of bring racists When some council members supported an investigation of the city's black police chief on charges that he had abused his wife Richard said they were conducting a and "a coon Richard is also known for his eloquent acorn intimidating conservative political opponents with slashing humor He once contemptuously described city government as hospital for incompetents They collect there like lint in a Last year Richard was arrested in Pasadena for allegedly brandishing a handgun at some teenagers but charges were dropped for lack of evidence Shortly before A dejected Frank Bolton a Monterey Park printer helped install the Bad News 20 Community Papers Disappear at Auction Isaac Richard that incident a majority of his council colleagues censured Richard after he made threatening remarks and cursed city Housing Administrator Phyllis Mueller after a heated debate in the council I I chambers Richard apologized to Mueller And he admitted that he often found it difficult to control his rage "Tlie same fire burns in my as in those who protested during the Los Angeles riots last year he said According to the police report Richard brought the unidentified woman to home on Sunday because she wanted to use his computer to work on a Job proposaL Richard's wife Sharon was in Europe and his 3-month -old son was with relatives in Sacramento The woman told police that Richard used cocaine and then "began fondling her breasts and kissing her on the mouth and When the woman screamed Richard released her from his grasp the report said After flinging a $20 bill that Richard had given her onto the floor the report said the woman left house and began knocking oi doors victim knows that Richard has guns inside at his the report said due to his violent behavior she now thought he wanted to kill As the woman ran from door to door Richard pleaded with her to stop the report said "He told her that this could ruin his family and professional the report said A neighbor summoned police Bennett said them were inconsistencies in the police account including the assertion at (me point that Richard smoked cocaine and at another point that he had lines of cocaine from a plate Several council members expressed concern for Richard Bennett said that Richard had been depressed when he spoke to him Dining the council's meeting Tuesday Mayor Rick dole called for a moment of silence we gather our strength to continue to do the business in public at a time of gnat been clear for a long time that Isaac was deeply troubled" Cole said In an interview "Now frankly it has escalated to the point where all of us are concerned about the By EMILY ADAMS IMCIAL TO THE TIMES Weekly prayer meetings are being held in a hotel A city councilman has taken to playing basketball so he can talk to young men between Jump shots about the need for cool heads Ministers and council members are helping the Brotherhood Crusade set up a food and emergency aid tent and the city held a candlelight peace march last weekend Compton hit hard by last year's civil unrest is hoping these measures wUl head off trouble after verdicts are reached in the federal trial of four Los Angeles police officers accused of violating Rodney civil rights and in the Reginald Denny beating case trying to direct our community to have a nonviolent response to whatever the upcoming court decisions might said Councilman Omar Bradley have forgotten the days of Martin Luther King Jr We want to remind them We need to tell the world that we appreciate what is going on but we going to demean ourselves with said the councilman who has taken to the basketball court to spread his message In the rioting last year two people were killed and 98 businesses and 63 other buildings were destroyed in Compton Police were without a plan to quell the unrest and on the first night of rioting council members and city staff rode along with officers in patrol cars directed traffic and appealed for calm This year the city will not be caught off guard officials sakL developing an extensive plan to prevent another occurrence like last said Police Chief Hourie Taylor who took over as head of the department on the first slay of rioting last year will be well prepared for any eventual- Itty" Like several ministers Taylor is appearing on a local cable channel to appeal for peace While Bradley and others are hoping that flyers prayer meetings and marches will spread the message of peace they are also making preparations for massive civil unrest Danny Bakewell of the Brotherhood Crusade approached Bradley and Council woman Bernice Woods abopt erecting a tent to provide aid to residents in case of a riot The council Immediately agreed "One of 10 Rescue Bakewell hopes to have around Los Angeles County the Compton tent has been set up on the comer of Compton Boulevard and Willowbrook Avenue organisation will stock the tent with refrigerators food soap shampoo and other toiletries It will also hold community to vent concerns Bakewell said causes rebellions is not a trial the conditions we live in that cause it what we're trying to Bakewell sakL The tent will provide shelter for homeless people in case of a Please see COMPTON B8 Jackson Calls Law: He says she should walk LA's streets with religious leaders to foster confidence in the justice system before verdicts are readied in the King case By MATHIS CHAZANOV TIMES STAFF WRITES The Rev Jease Jackson called Wednesday for Atty Gen Janet Reno to help restore confidence in the Justice system by walking the streets of Los Angeles with reli- gious leaders before the Jury gives its verdict in the Rodney King civil rights trial "We need to create confidence in the Justice system he' told a rabbinical convention in Century City "Not react after the fact but act Citing statistics that show only 263 prosecutions out of 47000 com- plaints of police brutality filed with the Justice Department since 1986 he said that religious leaders should pressure the government to follow up on the drawn by the videotaping of the King beating operators The demise of the final 20 would have made interesting reading in the Post-Advocate the Monterey Park Progress the East Los Angeles Tribune the Downey Herald American and the others in the chain if they had lasted long enough to print it But a bank foreclosed on the company when publisher Ric Trent filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after the Fair Housing Council threatened a lawsuit His offense: Hinting an apartment rental classified ad that contained the forbidden words "adults trial was Trent explained Wednesday as he walked through his pressroom for the last time Even if the company had won the case legal expenses could have been $500000 he said watched silently as auctioneer Ray Bleau 1 sold the aainj! eight -unit nrintine press for $250000 The last edition of the paper was still wrapped around its ink-smeared cylinders Sitting glumly on a nearby roll of newsprint was Frank Bolton a Monterey Park printer who had helped install the 25-year-old the first offset pros of its type in California Bolton looked away during the bidding horrible Every time a newspaper goes like sticking a needle in your heart" he said Art Aguilar the executive editor stood quietly in the back of his old newsroom as he PleaM see AUCTION B8 By BOB POOL TIMES STAFF WRITES For 101 years it chronicled the comings and goings in its town Births deaths Club meetings Little League scores The Alhambra Post-Advocate was witness to Just about everything that went on But there were few witnesses mi hand Wednesday to marie the end as the Port-Advocate and 19 other community Newspapers from San Gabriel to Cerritos unceremoniously disappeared beneath an hammer Assets of the largest hometown newspaper the defunct Southern California Community Newspapers were sold right down to the press and the dusty cabinet holding microfilm copies of the 1931 Huntington Park Daily Signal a sad state of affairs The history of a lot of communities is said Dm Algie who traveled to the South Gate sale hoping to find bargains in office furniture for his own independent paper the 88-year-old Gardena Valley News The Community Newspapers chain created in the 1980s by an amalgamation of 31 small papers abruptly shut down in January About 100 reporters editors press workers and advertising salespeople lost their Jobs By then several of the papers had been taken over by other Reno to Help 10 Disabled Children Among 14 Hurt in School Bus Crash The bus was driven by an employee of the Cardinal Bus Co which is under contract to transport students A spokesman for the company would not comment on the accident County Fire Inspector Devin Trone said the children escaped mqjor injury because they wore seat belts or were sitting in wheelchairs secured for safety Because of their special needs most of the 500 students at Peres are transported to school by bus News of the accident caused concern among parents "This is the first time anything like this has ever happened" said Cecilia Guzman assistant principal By JOHN MITCHELL TIMES STAFF WSITEB Fourteen people suffered minor injuries Wednesday morning when school bus carrying disabled and mentally handicapped children crashed into a parted Pacific Bell utility truck in East Los Angeles officials said The accident occurred about 8:15 am aa the bus was traveling north on Ford Boulevard near 1st Street carrying students to nearby Pries Special Education Center The impact of the crash pushed the truck into a second Pacific Bell truck occupied by two workers authorities said On Atty Gen "We must first rabbi go together to the Justice he said to delegates at the annual meeting of the Rabbinical Assembly which represents 1400 Conservative rabbis from around the world "We must ask the attorney general to walk the streets of Los Angeles with Jackson has had his critics in the Jewish community where his use of an epithet for Jews during the 1984 presidential campaign and his statements of support for the Palestinian cause have not been forgotten But he has been trying for years to repair the breach visiting synagogues speaking with Hafos Assad and Mikhail Gorbachev on be- 1 half of the Jews of Syria and the former Soviet Union marching against neo-Nazis and praising Zionism as a "liberation He was given three standing ovations Wednesday by the rabbinical assembly delegates whose three-day annual meeting ends today Sane of the 380 delegates even hissed when Rabbi Martin Levin of La Jolla challenged Jackson to work on moderating anti-Jewish feeling! in the African-American community If he did Levin said he would win more support not here seeking the two-time presidential candidate responded asking you for understanding and to be part of a coalition for your own interest Doit do me no favor These cities are going to explode unless we have racial Justice for During the meeting Jackson and leaden of the Rabbinical Assembly recalled the partnership of black and Jewish groups during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s They also announced plans to invite President Clinton to a conference of social Justice to be held later this year or early in 1994 Jackson criticized the Clinton Administration for continuing the blockade of Haitian refugees comparing the plight of the escaping Haitians to that of Japanese-Americana held in internment camps and Jews who tried to flee Nasi Europe oily to be turned away by US authorities during World War IL "Last year when Bush turned Haitians back to sea without a hearing Clinton said It was immor- aland Jackson said Rev- Jesse Jackson talks with doing the same thing still Rabbi Gerald Zelizer before ad-immoral and it's still illegal" dressing Rabbinical Assembly a The employees were hospitalized with minor head injuries and 12 people in the bus including the 10 students ages 5 to 11 also were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries The cause of the accident is under investigation by the Califor-nia Highway Patrol SgL Paul Go- lonskisaid "For some reason the bus veered to the right and rear-ended the first truck pushing it into the' second For the Record IHridan An article in Wednesday's Metro section incorrectly riled real estate records as showing that mayoral candidate Richard Riordan made a profit of $1-5 million on property he owned for less than a month In fact records show he owned the property for a little more than six months 4 1 part ma raw.