Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 3

CaliforniaEastern Sierra Tuesday, November 8, 1988 Reno Gazette-Journal 3A Company agrees to pay fine in 'dial a porn' case panies to restrict access of obscene material. The commission also informed Intercambio of San Jose, that it was in violation of the law, and that case is still pending. The FCC determined the material broadcast by the two companies was obscene. Under a Supreme Court's test, material is obscene if it depicts sexual acts in a patently offensive way, appeals to the prurient interest of an average person and lacks serious literary or artistic value. FCC officials estimated Audio Enterprises collected about $250,000 in revenues over a two-year period.

A California firm agreed Monday to pay a $50,000 fine and stop transmitting obscene messages on interstate telephone lines in a case which the government said signals all "dial-a-porn" services that they must act to keep their material inaccessible to children. Audio Enterprises of Mill Valley, and operator Wendy King signed the agreement, entailing one the first dial-a-porn fines imposed by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC informed Audio Enterprises last December that it was in apparent violation of FCC's rules that require com "The $50,000 payment that the dial-a-porn operator will nave to pay to the government shows that there will be a high price attached to failure to obey the law scrupulously in this important area," said Gerald Brock, head of the FCC's common carrier bureau. "This sends a signal there are some teeth in the law," Brock said. Enforcement of the civil penalty was done "quickly and efficiently compared with the alternative of extensive and costly litigation," he said.

FCC officials said Audio Enterprises is effectively out of business. There was no 2 small quakes jolt Southern California EL CENTRO, Calif. A small earthquake hit Monday night near the U.S.-Mexico border, but there were no immediate reports of injury or damage. The quake measuring 3.3 on the Richter scale struck at 8:34 p.m. about eight miles northwest of El Centro, about 70 miles east of San Diego, said Robert Finn of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Earlier Monday, a pre-dawn quake measuring 2.6 on the Richter scale rattled Los Angeles' westside, but no damage or injuries were reported. It was centered a mile southwest of Santa Monica. Probe called witch hunt LOS ANGELES Marvin Mitchelson, famed divorce lawyer for celebrity clients such as actress Joan Collins, called a State Bar investigation of his conduct a witch hunt following a meeting with Bar prosecutors. The conference on Monday was closed to the public and news media. The State Bar is investigating complaints that Mitchelson files frivolous legal appeals and mishandles client finances.

Northern California voters face one of longest ballots in history Detectives trying to learn source of community's extortion threats LANCASTER, Calif. (AP) A week after letters bearing death threats and money demands were sent to hundreds of Antelope Valley citizens, detectives were still trying Monday to find out who's behind the extortion and why. The computer-generated mailing combining personal information with a form letter was mailed Nov. 1 and residents of the Mojave Desert communities of Lancaster, Palmdale and Quartz Hill soon began calling authorities. Since then the number of complaints has topped 230 and authorities say they assume other recipients may have discarded the venomous letters.

The Antelope Valley Press offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever sent the letters, which City Editor Larry Grooms has called "an assault on the entire community." "They seem to be a form letter in that they all seem to be very similar. Some of them have been personalized," said Sgt. Bob Welch, a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department task force investigating the letters. "They're all worded the same. The threat is all the same," he said.

The investigators did not have any suspect in mind and were examining the letters in hope of finding a common thread. The recipients were mostly prominent citizens such as doctors, dentists, lawyers and businessmen. Welch would not discuss the nature of the death threats, but Lancaster Mayor Els Groves, who did not get a letter, said some of the letters he was informed about had references such as "cutting hearts out." ple were actually responding to their emotional assessments of property values. "There is no way you can begin to understand this type of situation unless you look at its behavioral, or psychological economics side," said Robert J. Shiller, an economics professor at the Yale School of Organization and Northern California voters face one of the longest ballots in state history when they go to the polls today to cast yays and nays on a bevy of local issues that in some counties rivaled the length of the 29-item list of statewide propositions.

Local and regional initiatives drew most of the attention during the campaign season, with voters set to decide issues like rent control, local tax increases and transportation improvements. At the top of San Francisco Bay area voters' ballots is Measure 1, a regional proposal to raise funds for bridge improvements by raising tolls on the seven state-run bridges to $1. In San Francisco, voters were set to finally have their say in the years-long debate over whether the city should offer its port as a permanent home to the battleship USS Missouri. Measure was proposed by Mayor Art Agnos and would require that the Navy foot the bill for all homeporting costs, as by gut feelings of value Shiller and Karl E. Case of Wellesley College in Massachusetts reached their conclusions after questioning 1,851 people who purchased homes last May in the four cities.

"People start talking about the market and their expectations about making money rise. They go out looking to buy, and this increases demand. They bid up the prices, and the thing just feeds on Beautiful Fashions Now AT RAGGIO, Attorneys Survey shows some home buyers motivated Home buyers' gut feelings about property values may be as much a factor in residential housing booms as key economic variables, two economists say after a survey in San Francisco and Anaheim, Boston and Milwaukee. While home buyers the economists surveyed offered economic reasons for buying a house at a particular time, the researchers say they concluded the peo POLITICAL AD WOOSTER LlNDELL, LTD. and Counselors at Law current listing for the company in telephone information.

To resume operations, King or Audio Enterprises must tone down the messages and use access codes, credit cards or scrambling equipment to prevent children under 18 from dialing. Such operations will be monitored by the FCC, according to the agreement. The FCC launched its investigation of Audio Enterprises after a mother in California wrote that her 13-year-old son and his friends spent $74 dialing a pay-to-listen 900-number for 211 minutes. Associated Press well as guarantee that 351 promised new jobs would go to San Franciscans. A competing proposal, Measure was backed by former Mayor Dianne Fein-stein and would direct the city to implement a non-binding 1987 agreement with the Navy to host the ship and to pay $2 million for dredging at Hunters Point Naval Station Annex.

Also in the city, five incumbents on the Board of Supervisors raced against 19 challengers for a seat on the six-member governing body. Angela Alioto, daughter of former Mayor Joseph Alioto, was among the challengers. Incumbent Harry Britt was favored to be the highest vote-getter and become president-Measure A would allow the city to issue $109 million in bonds to build a new main library and to improve branch libraries, while Measure would make it city policy to keep the city's popular police mounted horse patrols on the streets. Associated Press itself," Shiller said. Home buyers in San Francisco and Anaheim also cited a healthy regional economy and the desirability of living in their cities as explanations for the dramatic increases in housing costs.

The home buyers were "retreating into cliches and images for explanations rather than citing any concrete evidence," Shiller said. Associated Press P.O. Box 3137 Reno, Nevada 89505 FSLIC COUNTS inad Accepting applications for two attorney positions. 1-5 years civil law experience preferred. Salary negotiable.

Resumes will be kept confidential. Faaklont 4032 Kietzke Ln. Crossroads Center I 825-6611 WdoometDqur newhome office. i MAJORITY LEADER (PRESENT) i FOUR-TERM STATE SENATOR, 1972-1988 i RANKING REPUBLICAN IN THE SENATE i HAS SERVED ON ALL MAJOR LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES FINANCE (CHAIRMAN) JUDICIARY TAXATION COMMERCE AND LABOR GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS TRANSPORTATION NATURAL RESOURCES MINORITY FLOOR LEADER FOUR LEGISLATIVE SESSIONS FORMER THREE-TERM WASHOE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION NAMED OUTSTANDING PROSECUTOR IN THE UNITED STATES BY THE NATIONAL DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION PAST CHAIRMAN OF THE WASHOE COUNTY LEGISLATIVE DELEGATION ADVISORY BOARD, SALVATION ARMY BOARD OF DIRECTORS, NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS GOVERNOR'S TASK FORCE ON CRIME 1 Tiny shrimp key to dispute FAIRFAX, Calif. A tiny shrimp listed as an endangered species in California is at the center of a dispute about how much water should be released into Lagunitas Creek by the Marin Municipal Water District.

Water that some say may be important to the shrimp's survival is being held in Kent Lake because of the ongoing water shortage in the district. Some critics say low flows could be harmful to the shrimp, which was once abundant in coastal streams but now lives in only a handful of creeks in Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties. The female shrimp need higher water to create deep pools that provide shelter while they wait for their eggs to hatch, said Leo Cronin of Fairfax. Wire service reports RENO-SPARKS YWCA ANNUAL ELECTION DAY FOR BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES NOVEMBER 17, 1:00 PM IN ROOM 1 YWCA, 1301 VALLEY ROAD, RENO. CALL 322-4531 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ALL FEMALE MEMBERS 15 YEARS PLUS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE.

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