The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 19

LOCAL NEWS WEATHER EDITORIAL PAGES SECTION MONDAY CosAngclcoSIitneB JUNE 24, 1996 CCt 52 on Cruise Ship Stricken by Virus HIGHLIGHTS i rn I 1 If it at 1 0 ACCUSED DRUG LORD: The reputed head of a multimillion-dollar crime ring composed of L.A. street gang members is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate in Las Vegas today on drug trafficking charges. Wayne Alfred Day was arrested at a motel on the Las Vegas Strip. Bl BUDGET TALKS: Pressure to boost spending is running head-on into demands from Wall Street that Los Angeles County take firm steps to actually balance its huge $12-billion budget. Bl 11 0 it 11 A spokesman at the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the CDC had been contacted by Carnival lines, but said there was no confirmation of reports that what caused the illness was an airborne virus.

"We have as yet made no determination what the cause was," spokesman Bob Howard said. He quoted the head of CDC's quarantine division, Dr. Peg Tibbie, as saying that Carnival Lines had not requested an inspection. Cruise lines operating out of the United States are supposed to notify the CDC when illness strikes more than 3 of the passengers or when a ship's doctors determine they need assistance. Three percent aboard the Jubilee would have been 57 passengers.

"The ship does not have to wait for it to exceed 3," Howard said. "If it's approaching that, it's quite common that some will call us." He said the CDC was notified Friday. Coast Guard Lt. Stephen LaLonde, who said he had spoken to the ship's doctor, reported that 55 passengers were treated for diarrhea and another 80 reported various Please see CRUISE, B3 Health: One man dies on Carnival liner that docked in San Pedro after Mexico trip. But company officials say the death appears unrelated to outbreak of illness.

By KENNETH REICH and ALAN ABRAHAMSON TIMES STAFF WRITERS Fifty-two vacationers got sick from an unidentified virus aboard a Carnival Cruise Lines ship that docked Sunday in San Pedro after a weeklong trip to Mexico, officials of the cruise line said. In addition, a 52-year-old Berkeley man died aboard the Carnival ship Jubilee. But Tim Gallagher, a spokesman for Miami-based Carnival, said the death appeared to be unrelated to the virus. Passengers said Carnival officials may have underestimated the number of people who became ill. Gallagher said 52 passengers reported to the infirmary with symptoms resembling food poisoning.

ico I Sat' MMiMmt Carnival Cruise Mil i 4 7 -J? Struggling Students 1 -i i A- Photo by CLARENCE WILLIAMS Los Angeles Times A mother and son participate Sunday during the 26th annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Celebration in West Hollywood. Pride and Politics 7 0 11 if" ilY GARY FRIEDMAN Lot Angeles Timet ship Jubilee carried 1,897 passengers. Suspected Leader of Crime Ring Arrested Courts: Federal officials say Wayne Alfred Day leads an organization made up of L.A. gang members. By EDWARD J.

BOYER TIMES STAFF WRITER The reputed head of a multimillion-dollar crime ring made up of Los Angeles street gang members is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate in Las Vegas today on drug trafficking charges, authorities said. Wayne Alfred Day, 40, of Los Angeles was arrested without incident Friday at a motel on the Las Vegas Strip, FBI officials said in a statement. Authorities believe Day is one of the original leaders of the Grape Street Crips, a Los Angeles gang that police say dominates criminal activity in Watts' Jordan Downs housing project. Known on the streets as "Honcho," Day had been sought since May 15 when FBI agents and police officers in Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Minneapolis and Jackson, arrested dozens of his alleged confederates and seized more than $500,000 in cash, more than 40 kilograms of crack and powder cocaine, and five kilograms of amphetamines. Federal officials said 28 of those arrested last month are from Southern California and that the case grew out of investigations of Los Angeles street gangs.

The crime ring sent cocaine and crack to cities in the Midwest and South, reaping millions of dollars to be sent back to Los Angeles, where it was used to buy more drugs from Mexican suppliers, officials said. A federal arrest warrant was issued for Day in Los Angeles last month on charges of distribution and conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base, and possession and conspiracy to possess goods stolen from interstate commerce. After Day and 48 others were indicted, FBI agents in Las Vegas received information indicating that he could be in the Las Vegas area. Several locations were put under surveillance before Day was arrested at the Tarn O'Shanter Motel, agents said. On the streets of Watts, Day was a street gang legend "part of the folklore," Please see DAY, B3 L.

A. County, Wall Street in Budget Conflict Finances: Some supervisors want to tap pension fund. But the approach runs counter to rating firm's recommendation. By JEFFREY RABIN TIMES STAFF WRITER As the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors this week gets down to the business of finalizing a spending plan for the coming fiscal year, pent-up pressure to boost spending is running head-on into demands from Wall Street that the county take firm steps to actually balance its huge $12-billion budget There are moves afoot by some supervisors to tap the county's soaring pension Please see BUDGET, B3 Parade: The annual West Hollywood festivities by gays and lesbians are marked with a measure of urgency. Activists are preparing for a legal showdown in a Hawaii circuit court over gay marriages.

By JEFF LEEDS TIMES STAFF WRITER riej GAY FESTIVAL: Political undertones marked the 26th annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Celebration in West Hollywood. Activists are preparing for a legal showdown- in a Hawaii circuit court where they will argue that states cannot block their access to such civil procedures as marriage. Bl EDITORIALS SCHOOL REFORM: A new report on the LEARN program is promising, but improvements in the teaching of Latino elementary school students are needed. B4 ON THE RECORD "Just about everyone else on the cruise we spoke to, everyone we sat with, was sick. This was like Dr.

Kevorkian's trip from hell." Sharia Dale, a passenger aboard a Carnival cruise ship that docked in San Pedro on Sunday after 52 passengers fell ill with an apparent airborne virus. Bl Lottery Results For Saturday, June 22 SUPER LOTTO Winning Numbers: 3-4-6-20-34-42 Jackpot: $7 million Winners per Category: No. of PrilM Wlwwrs EmIi 6o6 0 $7 million Sof6 123 $1,654 4of6 1624 $79 THE BIG SPIN Ken Staggs, Toluca Lake, John Farinha, Patterson, Alejandro Alvarado, Port Hueneme, Jose Portillo, Los Angeles, Kathleen LaMarche, Rancho Cordova, $20,000. Lottery regional offices: Santa Ana (714)708-0540 San Diego (619)492-1700 (818)901-5006 Ventura (805) 654-4655 Whittier (310)908-5300 For Sunday, June 23 FANTASY 5 Winning Numbers: 2-7-1 6-22-3 1 DAILY 3 Winning Numbers: 3-3-8 TlmesLlne 808-8463 Super Lotto 5610 Dally 3 5620 Decco Cards 5630 Fantasy 5640 For same-day results, call TimesLine from the 2 13. 310, 7 14, 8 18 and 909 area codes.

From the 805 area code, call (8 1 8) 808-8463, For Results In Spanish (25 per call): Super Lotto A Dally 3 976-5275 Fantasy 5 Decco 976-7275 was clear from the clinkety-clink of the traditional just-married cans strung behind the white convertible. It was clear from the melody of "Goin' to the Chapel," as a singer belted it from atop a flowery purple float. And it was clear even through the crackling static of a speaker, from an intersection where two men were joined in holy albeit not official matrimony Sunday. What was on the minds of many at the 26th annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Celebration in West Hollywood was as complex as election-year politics and as simple as the words "I do" same-sex marriages. In many ways, the parade and festival appeared as flamboyant as ever.

Men wearing studded leather gladiator outfits stepped out in army boots; women in Please see PRIDE, B3 Rene Miranda, left, and Scotty Mosley kiss after exchanging vows. Same-sex marriages were on the minds of many at the event. Writing Wrongs Funding Cuts Threaten UCLA's Composition Courses for The Writing Programs teach freshman composition the only writing course all UCLA students must take and several classes that seek to prepare upperclassmen to write more effectively in their chosen disciplines. But under a "worst-case scenario" unveiled last month, UCLA's 28 full-time slots for professional writing instructors a staff that already has dwindled from a high of 43 in the mid-1980s could be cut again over the next four years to just 15. Some upper-level courses have already been canceled.

And some instructors are worried that the quality of UCLA's 10-week freshman composition course is in danger. UCLA administrators downplay the threats to quality, saying they are now at the beginning of a restructuring process that they hope will result in more and better writing instruction if not by the current nontenured staff, then perhaps by tenure-track faculty or the graduate students who study with them. "We are committed to offering the By AMY WALLACE TIMES EDUCATION WRITER The composition assignment was straightforward: Write about why you are in college. UCLA writing instructor Jeff Smith had read hundreds of essays on the topic, but this one stood out: Its author couldn't spell the word "college." "As I sit here, in my collage dorm room, attempting to articulate why it is I am in collage, I am forced to think back to when I was younger," began the essay, written by a UCLA freshman earlier this year. "Part of the reason I come to collage was to discover and shape my adult self." What followed was a confused string of repetitious phrases, incorrect word choices and odd verb tenses just the kind of flawed and flabby prose that the UCLA Writing Programs were founded 16 years ago to improve.

But today, as the renowned research university struggles to rebuild after years of budget cuts, these programs may be in trouble. richest instruction in writing that we can to our undergraduates," said Pauline Yu, UCLA's dean of humanities. Even if the Writing Programs are not cut, Yu said, "the only way we're going to be able to continue to improve writing at UCLA is to involve more faculty." But writing experts who are familiar with UCLA say it is unlikely that many of the university's tenured or tenure-track faculty who already must juggle teaching and scholarly research will eagerly take on the additional labor-intensive job of improving students' writing. And those who do may not be very good at it. Today, as has been true for years, many smart, accomplished students arrive at UCLA and other elite colleges with bad habits: sentences that don't have a point, overreliance on jargon, disorganized arguments and careless grammar.

Every year, about one-third of the California high school graduates who enter UC as freshmen fail to satisfy the university's writing proficiency requirement Please see WRITING, B3 INDEX Weather B2 Editorials B4 Commentary B5.