Ukiah Daily Journal from Ukiah, California • Page 3

-THE UKIAH DAILY JOURNAL- FRI. MAY 1 -SAT. MAY 2,1992 3 San Francisco rioting prompts all-night curfew SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Demonstrators angry about the verdict in the Rodney King beating case set fires, blocked freeways and looted some of the city's best-known stores, prompting an all-night curfew and hundreds of arrests. "We are going to use whatever methods needed to stop the looting and stop the property damage," Mayor Frank Jordan said Thursday night as vandals smashed store windows and set street fires that sent smoke through the city center. Several demonstrations, including a march that halted traffic on the Bay Bridge, were held in the San Francisco Bay area in protest of Wednesday's acquittal in Simi Valley of four white police officers in the beating of King, a black motorist.

While most of the Los Angeles has been under siege from looters and arsonists since the verdict was read, violence did not break out in San Francisco until Thursday night, after about 1,000 protesters rallied at a state building then spread through city streets. Stores were looted, cars were overturned and scores of small fires were set before Jordan declared an emergency and imposed a curfew until 6 a.m. today. Thefts were reported at upscale shops on Union Square including Macy's and Nordstrom. It was believed to be the first curfew imposed since the 1906 earthquake when looting prompted the measure.

"Yeah, it's gotten out of hand, but society has gotten out of hand," said David Boyce, 26, in the midst of the confusion downtown. "All this is a manifestation of all that pain and suffering. This is as permissible as what happened to Rodney King on the streets." Denny Alms, visiting from Hawaii for a gourmet food show, called the atmosphere "crazy." "I've seen a lot of stuff I can't believe. I've seen stores being looted, cars being stomped on," he said. "They're wild." Police Chief Richard Hongisto called the disturbances "rather like the Desert Storm situation.

There's a lot of anger." Police said more than 900 people were arrested by Thursday night. Five police officers were injured, according to Jordan, but the extent of their injuries were not available. Police in historic Fisherman's Wharf shot a suspected looter in the leg after he refused to drop a baseball bat, Jordan said. Donald Soffer's store was repeatedly looted Thursday by vandals who made off with valuable ceramics and electronics equipment. Soffer estimated the damage to his store at $150,000.

"I was born in Baghdad, Iraq," he said. "I've seen some things but never anything like this." Earlier in the day, 400 demonstrators took to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge at about 4 p.m., closing the westbound lanes for about three hours and causing a massive rush-hour traffic jam. The Bay Bridge group began their protest in Berkeley, making their way onto Interstate 80 before heading for the bridge. Police and CHP officers cornered marchers on the upper deck of the bridge before making arrests. About 300 other protesters from San Francisco State University blocked northbound traffic on Interstate 280 for at least two miles and 65 people were arrested.

In a first-ever move, the California Department of Transportation pull all toll collectors from the bridge as the demonstrators approached. "Rather than burning buildings and killing people the way they are in L.A., this is a better step to take," said Lisa Thomas, 23, a political science major. In Berkeley, high school students walked out of class and marched to the police station accompanied by their principal. LA firefighters wage losing battle as city burns LOS ANGELES (AP) His city was burning around him, building by building, and firefighter Mike McRea could do nothing to stop it. Well, almost nothing.

As fire destroyed the Koreatown restaurant in front of him, McRea turned to see flames licking out from a nearby market's window. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and rushed over to douse the small blaze, set minutes earlier by a Molotov cocktail. It was one of precious few victories for firefighters caught in a nonstop nightmare of arson blackening the City That Glitters into a hell resembling war-torn Kuwait City. "We're just going fire to fire. We get done with one and there's another one already burning.

It's been like this all day," McRea said, his face grimed with smoke, his eyelids sagging. He'd been on the job for 10 hours. He had 14 more to go. The story was the same for firefighters throughout the city, from this fiery block of Koreatown to downtown, from Hispanic neighborhoods to predominately black areas. Looters would carry off what they could from stores, then throw a match or Molotov cocktail into what was left.

There weren't enough firefighters to keep the fires from getting out of control; there weren't enough police to keep more from being set. County and city officials reported nearly 1,300 fires since Wednesday afternoon. Targets included furniture stores and corner delis, supermarkets and post offices. Thirty-six teams of firefighters from cities around California were en route to help the county's 1,750 firefighters now on the job, said Capt. Steve Valenzuela with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

"Manpower is on its way, so we can continue to have fresh troops," Valenzuela promised. But on the streets, exhausted firefighters saw only the flames before them and plumes of smoke in the distance, signaling their next assignment. Stray gunfire and rocks hurled at trucks made firefighters even more edgy. By Thursday night, three firefighters had been injured by gunshots, officials said. "I'd feel a lot more secure if they gave me a rifle," McRea said, still clutching his fire extinguisher.

"There's been gunfire all around. It makes you pretty nervous. Stray bullets can get anyone." Police such as LAPD Officer Todd Cataldi could do little but make sure bystanders stayed clear of buildings already burning. As he watched a seafood restaurant burn, Cataldi looked behind him and shook his head. Another fire was springing out of a Radio Shack store 100 yards away.

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Just consider it one way for you to stay independent. Call me for more information, The Company You Neelam Salmen C.L.U. 370 S. Main St. Ukiah, CA 95482 462-5551 Mother's Day Safe NOW THRU MAY 10th Save on All Women's Shoes Sandal 8 Save On All Dress Shoes For Women Limited to stock on hand ART SHOW MAY 3rd JUNE 30th featuring paintings by ALICE WOTAWA She paints in oils, mostly landscapes with an occasional floral Artist Reception Sunday, May 3rd, 1-4 pm 462-WINE TASTING ROOM GUT SHOP- GALLERY Lake Mcndocino exit off Hwy 101 Truck driver's beating shows mob cruelty; rescue shows kindness LOS ANGELES (AP) Mob cruelty nearly killed Reginald Oliver Denny, but the kindness of strangers saved his life.

The 36-year-old gravel truck driver was pulled from his truck and brutally beaten by an angry mob at a South Central Los Angeles intersection. Denny was bleeding and incoherent on the pavement after he was attacked. Four strangers drove him to Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital, where he was stable in critical condition early today, hospital officials said. "He's responding to some simple commands like 'nod your He's still on life support," said administrator Peter Bastone. "Those people didn't even know him and risked their lives to aid him," said Don Kelley, 28, Denny's roommate.

"If no one had helped him, he would be dead." Denny, who is white, was dispatched from a quarry in Asuza just as the Rodney King trial verdicts were announced. He was going to deliver sand to an Inglewood cement mixing plant, so he headed south on a freeway and got off at Florence Avenue. "He's John Q. Public," said Charles May, his boss at Transit Mixed Concrete, which has established a trust fund for Denny. "It was unfortunate that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time." But four black strangers came to Denny's rescue, two of them moved by the images of his beating on television, transmitted by hovering news helicopters.

"We were watching TV at home," said T.J. Murphy, 30, an unemployed aerospace engineer. "'Somebody's got to get that guy out of we said to each other." The Tour Cars Are Coming! Northwest Racing Promotions presents: THE UKIAH SPEEDWAY 50 The First of Four Season Point Events For Tour and Sportsmen Type Cars PLUS! JALOPIES AND MINI STOCKS! Sat. May 2 nd 1992 Redwood Empire Fairgrounds Gates Open: 5:00 p.m. Qualifying: 5:30 p.m.

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