The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 23

Las, ANGELES TIMES TUESDAY, JULY 18, 1995 B5 Happening Today Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block. Campus Center, 1000 W. Foothill Glendora. 7 a.m. $6 for breakfast.

(818) 914-8825. MINNESOTA FATS: Pool legends Minnesota Fats and Mike Massey will be featured at the Bob Golic Charity Billiards Classic. Bicycle Club Casino, 7301 Eastern Bell Gardens. 6:30 p.m. $25, including dinner.

(310) 806-4646. SPACE TALK: Gary Schnittgrund, project manager for space station systems engineering at Rocketdyne, will speak about future space exploration at a Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Warner Center Marriott, 21850 Oxnard Woodland Hills. 11:30 a.m. $21 at the door.

Information: (818) 347-4737. 'NEPALI AAMA': Author Broughton Coburn will share his experience of living in the foothills of Nepal's Himalayas. California Map Center, 3211 Pico Santa Monica. 7 p.m. Free.

(310) 829-6277. CHILDREN'S SHOW: Towner produce show of songs and wacky humor for children under 5 at the Galleria, Picnic Place Stage, Level 3, 1815 Hawthorne Redondo Beach. 10:30 a.m. Free. (310) 371-7546.

OLDIES UNDER THE SUN: The Tim Seehusen Band will perform music from yesteryear. Pershing Square, 6th and Hill streets, Los Angeles. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free.

(213) 485-5555. BLOCK TALKS: Citrus College forum with NEWSLETTERS if 3 J' San Fernando Valley Film Explores Suburban Life Public television viewers nationwide will get an intimate look at the Antelope Valley tonight in a documentary that focuses on the strains that living in a distant bedroom suburb imposed on two women and a teen-age girl. In "Home Economics," filmmaker Jenny Cool paints a sharply focused portrait of stressed-out suburbanitesone of them her former sister-in-law who pay a steep personal price for homeownership. The documentary, which Cool made as part of her master's thesis at USC's Center for Visual Anthropology, will be broadcast at 10 p.m. on KCET, Channel 28, in the "P.O.V" series of independent "point of view" films.

The film pictures a sea of red and gray tile roofs springing up from the brown desert, beyond colorful billboards urging motorists to pull off the Antelope Valley Freeway and put a down payment on a dream home. But after move-in day, Cool found, many Antelope Valley residents must endure long, stressful commutes to work, leaving them little time or energy for their families. The Antelope Valley has the highest per capita rate of child abuse cases in Los Angeles County. i 1 -If" 12 ft SUZANNE STATES For The Times Exercise buffs running up and down staircase that drops into Santa Monica Canyon upset neighbors. Westside Central Los Angeles Exercise Buffs Give Neighbors a Different Kind of Burn Residents Battle Pawnshop Windsor Hills is a tony part of the Crenshaw district, and to many residents, keeping it that way means getting rid of a pawnshop that opened last month at South La Brea Avenue and Stacker Street.

The county Business Licensing Commission gave the Union Pawnbrokers store permission to sell goods as a retail store, but put off until Aug. 8 a hearing to decide whether to allow the shop to lend money to those who put up their belongings as collateral. Many neighborhood residents have argued that -a pawnshop would draw crime and traffic to the neighborhood, and said they will fight the store's wish to operate as a pawnbroker. 1 "We're going to pack the hearing," said Tony Nichols, president of the United Homeowners Assfl. "We're extremely upset." Official Business i Wachs Rips WP Buyouts, Vows to Limit Others Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs on i Monday criticized a plan that has provided cash incentives to 1,500 Department of Water and Power employees to take early retirement or resign, calling it an overly generous abuse of the system and vowing to limit similar buyout plans in the future.

In a press release, Wachs said he will introduce a motion this week for City Council approval to bar city employees who accept future buyout offers from returning to work for the city for three years unless they repay some of the cash incentive. Wachs also wants to prevent future buyout plans from being offered to any employees whose position must be refilled in the "foreseeable future." Last week, DWP General Manager William McCarley announced the results of the buyout plan, calling it a big success because, although it will cost DWP $43 million, it will save the city-owned utility $80 million in salary and benefit payments annually. Judge Refuses to Delay Trial of Rep. Tucker for 5 Months A judge refused Monday to grant a five-month delay in the extortion trial of Rep. Walter R.

Tucker III, who allegedly took bribes in exchange for supporting a waste incineration project while he was Compton mayor. Tucker, up for reelection in March, asked for the Sept. 5 proceeding to be moved to February so his lawyers could have time to prepare for trial. Prosecutors filed two additional extortion counts against the congressman in June. But U.S.

District Judge Consuelo Marshall did agree to consider a two-week delay if the opposing sides meet this week, trade information and determine that they could not be ready for trial in seven weeks. Woman to Be Charged Today in Slaying of Half-Sister, 3 Murder and assault charges will be filed today against a West Covina woman accused of killing her 3-year-old half-sister, prosecutors said. Elvira Moreno Valencia, 32, is expected to be arraigned this afternoon in Citrus Municipal Court on one count of murder and one count of assault resulting in the death of a child under 8. The recommended bail is $1 million. Valencia is accused of fatally beating Perla Valencia, whose body was found in a plastic trash bag in Angeles National Forest on Friday, two days after Valencia had reported that the girl had been kidnaped.

Valencia claimed the child was taken from her car in the parking lot of a Target store in the City of Industry. Man to Be Tried in Slaying of Boy, 1 2, Judge Rules An Altadena man was ordered Monday to stand trial on murder charges in the death of a 12-year-old boy hit by gunfire after he stepped off a bus near his home, After a half-day preliminary hearing in Pasadena Superior Court, Judge Phillip Argen-: to ruled there was enough evidence for prose-; cutors to proceed with their case against Enrol 25. Superior Court arraignment was set Aug. 1. Third Jury Fails to Reach Verdict in Palmdale Slaying A mistrial was declared Monday after a jury deadlocked on murder charges against a Palm- 0 dale man whose first two trials in the killing of his wife also ended in hung juries.

A hearing in San Fernando Superior Court was set for Wednesday on whether a fourth j' trial will be sought for Jeffrey Dale Peitz, a court clerk said. Peitz is accused of shooting 37-year-old 1 Terry Lynne Peitz in the head Aug. 12. Neighbors are in a huff about the crowds of spandex-clad exercise nuts who throng the steep stairs leading down to Santa Monica Canyon. No pain, no gain, is the mantra of the fitness freaks, who gather on the grassy median at the north end of 4th Street in Santa Monica, then dash, trudge or stumble up and down the 189 concrete risers, most of which actually lie in the city of Los Angeles.

But residents say the outsiders are using their high-priced neighborhood as if it were a public park or worse. They tell of discarded water bottles, runners who help themselves to garden hoses and the guy who fired up a barbecue. Having people shower on his grass is not so bad, says Paul Tsou, a stair-runner himself, "but it gets old pretty fast." He ended up fencing his front lawn. The runners, understandably enough, are not all sympathetic. "It may be because the neighborhood is exclusive that they rebel against strangers," says Jordon Hollis.

"It's not like the people who come here commit drive-by shootings or murders." That may be, but Santa Monica police warned last month that they would start writing tickets for littering, trespassing, disturbing the peace and blocking traffic. Since then, not one has been issued. Says police Sgt. Gary Gallinot: "We expected voluntary compliance because mostly it is nice people coming to exercise. WISE MOVE: UCLA plans to begin cutting down 33 trees this week, and one owl family is not sticking around to watch its neighborhood go downhill.

The family of owls two parents and two owlets- were living in the grove that the university plans to remove. Some of the trees are diseased, officials at the Westwood campus said, and others must be cut down to allow workers to earthquake-proof a building and enlarge a sculpture garden. Many students and the office of state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) have banded together to try to stop the cutting. Sandy Brown, Hayden's deputy chief of staff, said she is concerned that UCLA is cutting the trees unnecessarily.

Brown lives in the neighborhood and has participated in other save-the-tree campaigns. The protests have not swayed Charles Oakley, UCLA architect, who says the tree-cutting will begin this week. When school officials stuck by their plan to take down the trees, the students took the baby owls to a rehabilitation center in Simi Valley. As for the adult owls, they're rarely seen on campus anymore. Wise owls they got out before construction noise begins.

GOLDEN GARBAGE: Recycling is paying off for more than the environment. Culver City officials credit revenues from the city's recycling program for a drop in trash pickup rates this year. At a time when most taxes are rising ever higher, Culver City lowered the cost of residential trash pickup last week to $17.61 a month, down from $18.59 last year. The city expects to receive about $225,000 from recycled trash, about $175,000 more than anticipated, said Mark Gauerke, city sanitation manager. "The resale price of corrugated cardboard skyrocketed." he said.

San Gabriel Valley Face-Lift for Police Building Azusa's Police Department building leaks when it rains. The air-conditioning seems to work only in the dead of winter, and the heat only on hot summer days. "The biggest problem is the overcrowding," Sgt. Samuel Fleming said. "People are stepping over each other.

A lot of the equipment is ready for the junkyard." Trouble is, fixing it up would cost $2.5 million, and the city has little money to pay for the project unless residents can stomach a big jump in their assessments. The City Council is considering an increase in annual fire service fees from $79.20 per household to $168.20. The money from the fees would pay fire service costs and allow city officials to free up funds in the city's general budget for the renovation. A grant from the city-owned utility company also would go toward construction. South Bay Parents Take Aim at Police Firing Range, Seek to Muffle It Southeast Metrolink Station Opens Metrolink opened its newest station Monday in Norwalk along the popular commuter rail route that runs from Downtown Los Angeles to Oceanside.

The first of eight trains a day pulled into the shiny $10-million station at Bloomfield Avenue and Imperial Highway during the morning rush hour. The station, Metrolink's 42nd, features guard-attended parking and amenities such as shuttle service to and from work sites. It will also have a shuttle to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Green Line after that rail line opens next month. On most days, the peace that hangs over western Torrance is disturbed only by lawn mowers, leaf blowers and the occasional bad muffler. But now and again, gunfire echoes along these landscaped streets a sound that some residents call entirely unsuited to their suburban neighborhood.

The gunfire emanates from an open-air pistol range in nearby Redondo Beach, operated by the city police department. Here, officers practice their aim in a range surrounded by 10-foot-high walls but lacking a roof. The noise can be heard just across the city line at Torrance's Towers Elementary School, which has some wondering why children are being educated in the sound of real-life guns. "I just don't want the children to become numb to hearing gunfire," said Principal Diana Murphy. And some parents gathered more than 200 signatures on petitions asking for the range to be upgraded.

"Basically, put a roof on it and soundproof it," said parent Pete Lawrence. But police call this not a matter of sound, but of public safety. The 40-year-old range on Beryl Street is a critical part of officer training, said Capt. Steve Murdoch. And building a roof would prove extremely costly, requiring ventilation systems because of lead in the air, he said.

So police are discussing building 25-foot-high walls to muffle the sound. "We want to be good neighbors," Murdoch said. But he noted that officers practice only about three times a month. As for the effect on children, he said: "I'd imagine they hear more gunfire from television than they do from our range." Only in LA. BY STEVE HARVEY 1 EjfE.e .11 'kz3-- If you've lost your way In Southern California and are looking for a better one, here are three promising possibilities.

Does this make you feel older? When Disneyland opened in 1955, Tomorrowland was described as a futuristic vision of the world in the distant year of. .1986. Tomorrowland has been spiffed up a bit since then. Among its first exciting displays were Kaiser's Hall of Aluminum Fame, the Dutch Boy Paint Color Gallery Future in and the immortal Crane Bathroom of Tomorrow. Yesterdayland: Walt Disney originally wanted to put Mickey Mouse Park (as he first called it) in Burbank.

But there was opposition from the City Council, including one member who said: "We don't want the carny atmosphere in Burbank." Disney also considered turning an old railroad yard in Downtown Los Angeles into the Happiest Place on Earth. But he for their reaction. One young man told Berglund he had no reaction because he'd never heard of Smith Corona. Then he added, by way of explanation: "I don't drink." Bartender, make ours a double. miscelLAny: An ESPN special on baseball broadcasters, "Voices of the Game," credits L.A.

fans with originating a custom. (No, it wasn't the ritual of leaving games early.) It can be traced to (1) the emergence of an electronics product in the 1950s, (2) the speaking skills of Vin Scully and (3) the large number of terrible seats in the Dodgers' first L.A. park, the Coliseum. The custom: Bringing transistor radios to the ballpark. settled, of course, on Anaheim.

It was a dream come true for Orange County, which figured to always prosper until its economy disappeared into the Crane Bathroom of Tomorrow. SPEAKING OF THE FUTURE: One of the questions we hear most often from readers in these troubling times is: "Steve, what is the way?" We're not sure. But we can suggest three roads to take, courtesy of sharp-eyed Sal Lombardo of West L.A. (see photos). Easy Way and Old Fashion Way are in Anaheim, by the way.

ANALYZING THE CRUMBS: OK, so we've established there was no truth to the urban myth about a Neiman Marcus customer being tricked into paying $250 for a cookie recipe in Dallas. That was the reason the alleged Neiman Marcus recipe has been appearing on the Internet the victim supposedly was getting her revenge by giving it away. But what about the recipe itself? Teh-han P. Chow of Northridge writes: "I decided to try it out. It tasted nothing like the ones sold in the posh department stores." This disclosure undoubtedly will be seized upon by those who say the Internet should be regulated.

No more inferior cookie recipes! IT JUST DOESN'T COMPUTE: After the typewriter company, Smith Corona filed for bankruptcy, KCAL-TV's Cary Berglund interviewed Angelenos.