The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 270

jr'rnT-'g -1iyijpjMBa ff, yiy lyn f''a lt ai ii, iiyi-p-y ai a) f) rB4 FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 1996 VC LOS ANGELES TIMES 9JT' 11 fypi yygr Cyy jTjryi" Action Over Loans Raises Fear MissingEntrepreneur Left More WE' Mystery: Businessman, ex-bassist FYI -for Iron Butterfly owed $30,000 to jajmily friend, complaint says. "A A 7 JLA1 1 SCOTT HADLY TO THE TIMES hen Philip "Taylor" Kramer inexplicably disappeared a year ago he not only left oemna a wire, iwo smaii wandering the streets homeless, or had simply run away. His disappearance has also baffled the family friend who filed the complaint, according to her lawyer, Melissa Cohen. Cohen said her client, Leanna Keane, and her husband, Co-nejo Valley dentist John Keane, were friends with Kramer. John Keane, who died of a heart attack in early 1993, had loaned money to Kramer for unspecified reasons in 1990, 1992 and 1993, court records show.

Some Philip "Taylor" Kramer is 6 feet, 5 inches tall, 220 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. He was last seen driving a hunter green 1993 Ford Aerostar van with California license plate 3E-BU024. Anyone with information can call (800) 385-5011, a number the family established, or Ventura County sheriffs detectives at 494-8200. Campaign Calendar Upcoming Events Saturday: League of Women Voters of Ventura County 'will sponsor a forum on Measure a county wide referendum on a $51 -million outpatient clinic planned at the county hospital, Poinsettia Elementary School, 350 N. Victoria Ave.

10 a.m. Information: 654-1294. Sunday: County Supervisor Susan Lacey, who is seeking reelection, will host a barbecue fund-raiser at John Taft Gardens in Ojai, 2162 Baldwin Road, noon to 4 p.m. Suggested donation, $25. Information: 650-6455 or 644-4284.

Sunday: John Birke, a Democratic candidate in the 19th state Senate District, will host a wine and hors d'oeuvres fund-raiser at a private home in Thousand Oaks, 2482 Chaucer Place, 3 to 5 p.m. Suggested donation, $25. Information: (818) 348-2675. Sunday: County supervisorial candidate Kathy Long will host a fund-raiser reception at a private home in Santa Paula, 635 Shasta Drive, 2 to 5 p.m. Admission, $15.

Long will also host an evening coffee reception at a private home in Camarillo, 1337 Ramona Drive, 5:30 to 7 p.m. Information: March 15: Candidates in three county supervisorial races' will participate in a forum sponsored by the National for the Advancement of Colored People and the Black American Political Assn. of California, Solid Rock Christian Center in Ventura, 5105 Walker 7 p.m. Information: 485-6006. March 23: Congressional candidate Brad Sherman will host "a pancake breakfast sponsored by the Democratic Club of the Conejo at the Cameron Center in Newbury Park, 288 Greenmeadow, 9 a.m.

to noon. Admission, $10. Information: 499-3414. March 23: The Black American Political Assn. of California will hold its fourth annual dinner dance at the Radisson Suite Hotel in Oxnard, 2101 W.

Vineyard 6 p.m. to 1 a.rii. Guest speaker will be U.S. Rep. Julian C.

Dixon (D-Los Angeles). Tickets are $55 per person. Information: 484-9410. March 23: The Ventura County Bar Assn. will present a public forum on several local and state ballot initiatives.

Measure a referendum on a $51 -million outpatient clinic proposed by the county hospital, and Measure an initiative on a proposed Weldon Canyon landfill, are among the measures to be discussed. Ventura College of Law, 4475 Market a.m. to noon, Information: 650-7599. Fax Campaign Calendar submissions to 653-7576 or mail to 93 S. Chestnut Ventura 93001.

Please include contact name and telephone number. ebildren and a struggling computer business, he ko apparently left tens of thousands of dollars folinpaid loans, court records show, jj pow, a widow whose late husband made four loans to Kramer totaling more than $30,000 has tiled a complaint in Ventura County Superior jCdurt asking that the loans be repaid with tnferest. it could turn out to be the first of many attempts by people who made thousands of jjojlars in loans to Kramer to get their money jtefck, according to Chuck Carter, a private inyestigator hired by Kramer's family to find trim. And it might ultimately fall on Kramer's wife, Jenifer, to come up with the money to repay those outstanding debts, Carter said, starter, a former officer with the Los Angeles Police Department and federal Drug Enforcement Agency, was hired by Kramer's family and has been working on the case on and off since the Thousand Oaks resident disappeared 13 fconths ago. 'I don't know of any other specific loans out there, but there will be others," he said.

i2'This might have been one of the factors in JuS disappearance," Carter said. "He probably had well over $200,000 in unstructured loans out there. He very well could have felt bad because he just couldn't pay them back. I don't riow." fJCathy Kramer, who has helped coordinate hf search for her 43-year-old brother, said she found out this week about the complaint and doesn't know if there will be others. "I just want Jfijind my brother," she said.

jjhilip Kramer's disappearance has baffled his JK family and friends since he vanished on his Lot Angela Times Philip "Taylor" Kramer's disappearance Feb. 12, 1995, has baffled family and friends. effect the claim might have on her sister-in-law, Jennifer Kramer. In their desperate search to find Philip Kramer, Kathy Kramer estimates that friends and family members have spent more than $75,000, and still they don't know if he is dead or alive. Meanwhile, Jennifer Kramer has been trying to cope with the day-to-day struggle of holding down a job as a real estate agent while raising the couple's 5-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son without her husband, Kathy Kramer said.

They spent months trying to get out from under the obligation to pay for the Ford van that Kramer was driving when he disappeared. The finance company eventually forgave the loan. "This is a real problem," said Kathy Kramer. "It's just horrible for Jennifer. She is in a living legal hell.

According to the courts, someone is either dead or alive. There's no in between. And everything she has is community property, so she can't make any moves on anything." Kramer's sister still hopes her brother is alive, and she keeps working to find him. But she said she is worried what might happen if more people come forward asking for repayment of loans. "This is the only one we know about right now," she said.

of that money may have gone into Kramer's struggling company, Total Multimedia, or TMM. TMM had come out of bankruptcy protection at the end of 1994, said private investigator Carter. Kramer friend and business partner Dan Shields speculates that they were all personal loans that Kramer took out because he wasn't drawing a paycheck from the company. "Taylor was making a good salary at TMM, but at certain times during our tenure with the company it had money and certain times it didn't," Shields said. According to Keane's attorney, Keane took charge of her husband's estate upon his death.

She had to file the complaint repayment now or her claim to the money would become void, her attorney said. "He's been missing now for a year and I don't think anybody knows if he's dead or alive, but Mrs. Keane cannot prejudice her rights and must file if she ever wants to reclaim that money," Cohen said. The complaint was not meant to be a hostile action, she said. After Kramer disappeared, Leanna Keane who declined to comment on the matter joined dozens of his friends who went out and searched for him.

"She's a widow," said Kramer's sister, Kathy. "I'm sure she didn't want to do this, but she can't eat that kind of a loss." Kathy Kramer worries though about what jvay back from the Los Angeles airport Feb. 12, Obituaries t995. fThere has been unending speculation about jwhat happened that the man, a bassist in the with the rock group Iron Butterfly, had lotnmitted suicide, or had gone mad and is i Florence G. Evans; County Personnel Specialist Settlement May Delay Water Rate Increases for Years JD Resources: It ends stalemate involving ranchers, firms Evans, were avid bowlers, and she was an active gardener.

Mead Evans died in 1968. 7" She is survived by her sister, Mary Randig, and her niece, Dorothy Wilkins, both of Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in The Rev. Jim Wells will officiate. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura.

Florence G. Evans, a longtime Ventura County employee, died recently in a Stockton convalescent home. She was 90. The Armourdale, native worked for 26 years as personnel specialist for the county, retiring in 1969. She was a member and two-term past president of the Business and Professional Women's Club of Ventura.

She was also the past president of the district club. She and her late husband, Mead i and agencies that pump water from Santa Paula Basin. By TRACY WILSON TIMES STAFF WRITER VENTURA-Multimillion-dol- ilar water Droiects that would have required steep rate hikes could be put off for years as a result of a ettlement reached with more than ranchers, companies and public which infuriated dozens of farmers and companies that depend on the basin, which stretches 12 miles from Kimball Road in east Ventura to the eastern edge of Santa Paula. Fearing that Ventura would deplete the ground-water supply for that area, the United Water Conservation District filed suit The district regulates water pumping in much of the Oxnard Plain and up the Santa Clara River Valley through Piru. A few months after filing the lawsuit, about 60 ranchers, corporations and public agencies including the city of Santa Paula-joined in the lawsuit as the Santa Paula Basin Pumpers Assn.

The basin is the only source of water for the city of Santa Paula and numerous ranches. Association Chairman Jack Dickenson said Thursday the settlement will protect the water rights of those individuals and businesses who have historically tapped into the basin. "This agreement addresses the protection of a valuable resource that is relied upon by both urban and agricultural interests," Dickenson said in a prepared statement. The settlement also calls for a committee to monitor the amount of water pumped from the basin and to analyze water quality. Representatives of the city, United and the ranchers' association will serve on the committee.

A settlement between no less than 60 parties was cited as remarkable by city leaders and plaintiffs in the case. They said the agreement will hopefully create better relations between the basin's many users. "Everybody in the region can benefit from better water relations," Bennett said. "We will all have a more reliable water system because we won't be using lawsuits to go after each others' water supply." gencies that pump water out of he Santa Paula Basin, city off icials paid Thursday. Eckerman, Mary Ann, 76, of Thousand Oaks, retired nurse.

Pierce Brothers Griffin Mortuary, Thousand Oaks. Locke, Charles "Chas," of Ojai, painting contractor. Clausen Funeral Home, Ojai. Miller, Homer William "Bill," of Canoga Park, retired fire chief. Joseph P.

Reardon Funeral Home, Ventura West, Virginia Brandt, J6, of Thousand Oaks, retired executive secretary. Sunset Plan, Westlake Village. Ventura County obituaries are. pub-j llshed free of charge as a public service to readers. Obituaries are based on Information provided by mortuaries.

GMMiHBQiiiiB supplies, which include Lake Casi-tas and the Ventura River. "When things are dry, we double our production," Calkins said. "And when things are good, we let it rest." The agreement comes eight months after the city secured another significant water source. In July, Ventura agreed to spend $900,000 a year to buy 6,000 acre-feet of water from the Casitas Municipal Water District. The arrangement provides a key source of revenue for Casitas to build a long-awaited water-treatment plant.

In turn, it provides a source of clean water for the city. Between the Casitas agreement and the Santa Paula Basin settlement, expensive water projects-such as a desalination plant and a pipeline across the city become less necessary, officials said. And that means rate hikes' needed for the plant's estimated $33-million to $55-million construction could be postponed for years. "We have dramatically reduced the future rate increases that were only a few years ago predicted," Councilman Steve Bennett said. "We have come up with a way to get a better water system through agreements not through big capital projects." The lawsuit was filed in 1991 the last year of a six-year drought after the city of Ventura began pumping increased amounts of water from its wells in the east end of the city, which draw from the Santa Paula Basin.

Ventura officials also proposed sinking new wells in the basin, MAR. 9 10 VENTURA CO. FAIRGROUNDS OVtRAllS BANS SHOWS MISSIS, ETC I fib fl OFF Adm II VST With This AOl I I Ra-Admllon $6 1 0 West Harbor Blvd. South 1 01 to California St. North 101 to Ventura Ave.

For Information Cad: (800)708-5555 The settlement ends a five-year stalemate among the city, the bnited Water Conservation District and an association of ranchers and (businesses who who have wrestled pver water rights to the basin. I And while the agreement gives jthe ranchers' association the lion's hare of the water supply, it still secures a much-needed water source for the city to tap in drought years. "The settlement is one more step towards a consistent, reliable waiter supply that will ensure that we an get through the next drought without hardships in our community," Public Works Director Ron Calkins said. Filed in Ventura County Superior Court on Thursday, the Settlement states that during the next seven years, no more than $0,500 acre-feet of water can be fawn from the basin each year. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, or enough water to serve a family of four for a year.

Under the agreement, the city can tap 3,000 acre-feet of water nnually. But during a drought, it Can take twice as much. That water should supplement the city's other Limited time offer: buy one item and set the second item of same or lesser value at half-price! P2 Company, Booth E1 1 Woodland Hills 6701 Vfcriel Ave. (S ba w. of DcSoto Mwn VktecytVanowen)) (818) 340-9120 UUQUgmolGOTTRUa UV OPEN FRIDAY, SATURDAY ft SUNDAY 10 am to 4 pm lAlWB pa crriwr.

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