The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 242

B12 TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1999 VC LOS ANGELES TIMES Regional News 5 Injured by Flying Board During Roller Coaster Ride spect the coaster and see what happened," the employee said. Jack Falfas, general manager of the theme park, said the ride will be examined by two other experts: Gary Gast, a specialist in wooden roller coasters from Knott's parent company, Ohio-based Cedar Fair LP, and Richard Brown, a dynamics expert who has done extensive work for amusement parks. Knott's officials say the entire length of the roller coaster track is inspected each day before the GhostRider begins operations, and bolts are tightened and wood pieces replaced at any sign of weakness. Since the ride opened amid much fanfare last December, no serious accidents had occurred until Monday, said park spokesman Bob Ochsner. The roller coaster incident followed Sunday's fatality at the Drop Zone Stunt Tower in Paramount's Great America Theme Park in Santa Clara.

Twelve-year-old Joshua Smur-phat of Sunnyvale, described as severely disabled, apparently slipped out of a safety harness and plunged to his death. "There is no excuse for someone to die with a safety harness on," said Kathy Dresslar, a consumer lobbyist for Children's Advocacy Institute. The Drop Zone, which opened in 1996, drops riders in a free fall of 129 feet that reaches 62 mph. Sunday's accident was the first such incident on the ride. Knott's has a ride similar to the Drop Zone, called Supreme Scream, but has no plans to shut it down, Falfas said.

The ride is made by a different manufacturer but uses a similar type of restraint system for riders. Falfas said he walked into the park Monday morning before the accident on the GhostRider roller coaster to look at the Supreme Scream and try to envision what had happened in Santa Clara. "Every time you hear of anything like this, you're more acutely aware and you look at yourself," Falfas said. Supreme Scream at Knott's was built by Power Sports in Logan, Utah. The Santa Clara ride was made by Intamin AG, a Swiss company.

There are some mechanical differences. At Knott's, Supreme Scream is braked by air; the Drop Zone is braked by magnets. The two rides have similar restraint systems, with shoulder harnesses and straps between the legs. Please see RIDES, B13 Knott's, Senate panel OKs theme parks. added momentum to support for bill.

"In memory of these individuals and young people who have been killed, we need to try to get this legislation in place," said Torlak-son, the bill's sponsor. The bill now goes before the full Senate, where it is expected to be approved then sent back to the Assembly for fine-tuning. The Assembly already passed the measure but must approve Senate changes before the bill goes to Gov. Gray Davis. Davis has not indicated a position the bill.

The Senate committee vote came hours after part of a 5-foot-long, 2-by-2-inch piece of wood broke 1, Baca, Parks Join Call for County Gun Ban Government: Majority of supervisors are on hand as the law enforcement leaders announce support for the effort to prohibit weapons sales on county property. AftPifl i-Zziz! 4 By NICHOLAS RICCARDI TIMES STAFF WRITER The two top police officials in Los Angeles County announced their support Monday for banning gun shows on county property. Sheriff Lee Baca and Los Angeles Police Department Chief Bernard C. Parks joined a majority of the Board of Supervisors at a packed news conference to praise the proposed ordinance, designed to end what is billed as the world's largest gun show, held four times each year at the county fairgrounds in Pomona. "L.A.

County is not a frontier county anymore," Baca said. Noting that the two North Hollywood bank robbers who pinned down dozens of LAPD officers with automatic weapons fire two years ago bought some of their weaponry at gun shows, Parks added: "The pendulum has swung back in the direction of people wanting the reduction of gun violence." A majority of supervisors announced Monday that they support Crates with equipment for search and rescue team are stockpiled in Pacoima, ready for shipment. A. Rescuers Frustrated from the GhostRider attraction at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, flipped into the air and struck five people riding in two of the roller coaster's cars. GhostRider, billed as the West's biggest roller coaster, opened last December as part of a strategy to boost Knott's appeal by adding new thrill rides.

One of the injured, Shino Shoji, 59, a tourist from Gumma, Japan, was taken to UC Irvine Medical Center, where he received stitches to close a cut on his head. Four youths were treated for minor scratches on their faces, said Buena Park Police Sgt. Terry Branum. Two representatives from Custom Coaster the Cincinnati company that built the ride, left Monday for Buena Park, a company employee said. "They're going out there to in ft ft only with two East Coast teams: Fairfax, and Miami-Metro Dade County, Fla.

Last month, Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Mission Hills) inserted language into the foreign operations appropriations bill (HR 2415) urging the Agency for International Development to also work with two West Coast urban search and rescue teams. "To better respond to disasters in Asia and the Pacific Rim, the committee encourages Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance to contract with two domestic search and rescue teams on the West Coast," said the House bill, which was passed by the House earlier this month. The bill does not specify which teams would be chosen.

Use of West Coast teams would reduce the time required to respond to some disasters by six hours, according to the legislation. "It made sense to Congressman Berman that in the event of a disaster, we have superbly trained teams on the West Coast that express their eagerness to help in the event of foreign disasters," said Tom Waldman, press secretary for Berman. "It made sense to us both in terms of their skill and their proximity to certain disasters in Asia and Central and South America that we pursue this in Washington. Joseph Cotten's replacement star noted jazz player, Hank Crawford. I wish I could use that excuse, but have to plead the e-word.

WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT? Mel Mecham of Playa del Rey noticed an ad for a condo with some refined interior features (see accompanying). GET THE ARK READY: Carol Nelson of Northridge received a note from the Humane Society of the United States, which seemed Safety: Hours after accident at bill requiring state inspections at By NANCY HILL-HOLTZMAN E. SCOTT RECKARD andH.G. REZA TIMES STAFF WRITERS In the wake of two recent accidents at California theme parks, including one in which a board flew from a Knott's Berry Farm ride Monday and struck five people in the head, a state Senate committee voted to require statewide inspections of all amusement park rides. Though the committee members did not discuss Sunday's tragedya 12-year-old boy fell to his death at a Bay Area amusement park Assemblyman Tom Torlak-son (D-Antioch) said the incident Body Found 13 Miles From Scene ofHit-Run Crime: Youth with bicycle hit from behind and carried in car after apparently crashing through windshield, police say.

ByH.G. REZAand LOUISE ROUG SPECIAL TO THE TIMES ANAHEIM A driver struck a teenager, then traveled about 13 miles with the victim inside the car before leaving the body by a toll road median, police said Monday. Officials believe the victim crashed through the car windshield, possibly landing in the passenger seat. The driver has not been located. Anaheim Police Sgt.

Joe Vargas said investigators were stunned by the nature of the crime, which occurred at 11:50 p.m. Sunday. John Lee LaBord, 18, had just gotten off work and was walking home with his bicycle, talking to three friends walking alongside, when a black car speeding along East Orangewood Avenue near Rampart Street struck him. "The victim was walking with a 17-year-old boy and two girls, 17 and 18. They were engaging in conversation when a car came from behind at a high rate of speed and struck the bicycle.

The driver never braked, never slowed down, never stopped," Vargas said. The incident happened quickly. LaBord who lived in Orange, graduated from Orange High School in June was to start community college classes today disappeared in front of his friends' eyes, police said. "They looked around and saw the crumpled bike and a sneaker, but not the victim," Vargas said. "We've seen cases where a body is thrown 150 feet or more.

So we had patrol cars, bicycle patrols, dogs, and a helicopter with an infrared device looking for the body." Please see HIT-RUN, B13 Kelley Messina, a Palmdale teacher, encountered a second-grader who was furious because a boy had called her the "e-word." Asked what the "e-word" was, the girl replied: "Idiot." HARRUMPH FOR HOLLYWOOD: Lights. Cut! The new Walk of Fame plaque for Joseph Cotten spells his last name "Cotton" (see photo). His original star had been removed during Metro Rail construction. Thus, the star of "The Third Man" will receive a third plaque. This isn't the first stumble on the Walk of Fame.

Dick Van Dyke received a plaque that said DICK VANDYKE (honorary Hollywood mayor Johnny Grant gave the comic a marking pen at the cer the on Only In STEVE HARVEY Victim State Senate Panel OKs Bill to Halt Area Code Overlays Disaster: County and city teams are unable to help in Turkey. Lack of federal contract precludes them from pitching in. By NEDA RAOUF TIMES STAFF WRITER A feeling of frustration has hung over Los Angeles urban search and rescue team members for the last week as they watched televised images of the physical and human toll in Turkey. The 7.4 earthquake is precisely what both Los Angeles County and city fire department teams have been trained to deal with. But when it comes to international disasters, neither team has the opportunity to display its skills because they are not included in a contract with the federal government.

"It's like we have a tool in our pocket and we know it could be used to help people but we're not called upon to use the tool," said Capt. Larry Collins of the Los Angeles County Urban Search and Rescue Team. The U.S. Agency for International Development, which oversees the nation's office of foreign disaster assistance, has contracts Tamrir MYUNG J. CHUN Los Angeles Times This could save lives." In that regard, Waldman cited disasters such as last year's Hurricane Mitch in Central America and the 1995 earthquake in Ja-.

pan. The teams in Los Angeles understand the importance of quick response because they have been training for such disasters for years. Leo Ibarra, a firefighter specialist assigned to the county's urban search and rescue team, started training even before the county Fire Department formed a team in 1990. Ibarra and a group of others, whom he re-, ferred to as "the dirty dozen," got together in the late 1980s because they could see a need for the skills of an urban search and rescue team, he said. "As we see more media attention focused on these disasters abroad, it's kind of like biting at the bit, so to speak," said Ibarra.

"You're kind of gritting your teeth saying we should be there. But we're here, watching it with everybody else." Ibarra's colleague, Brian Le-fave, expressed similar disappointment. "We see the teams that have been over there or are still over there, and we have trained just as much and just as hard as they have," he said. "One of our Please see RESCUE, B13 STEVE HARVEY Los Angeles Times will have to be replaced. to be suggesting a mass shipment of critters (see accompanying).

Actually, "All Animals" is the name of the society's magazine. THEY'RE B-A-A-A-C-K! Every time I return from vacation, it takes a while for my regulars to get back into the rhythm of phoning. I didn't hear from any of them for a few days. But now my answering machine is again picking up messages from the usual lineup: the -Ail -J I I the law barring the sale of firearms on county property, which will be formally voted on at today's meeting. Representatives of Great Western Shows, which runs the event, could not be reached for comment, but in the past have defended the show as legal and safe and vowed to fight the law in court.

"The county of Los Angeles should not be the place you should come to buy a gun," said Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who also is proposing convening a task force to trace the high-powered weaponry used by criminals in Los Angeles. Monday's event not only demonstrates a solid board majority to approve the law today, but also is the latest example of how the issue of gun control has lent historically unprecedented strength to ties between the county's two biggest police agencies. Ever since a white supremacist allegedly shot and killed a postman and sprayed gunfire from a semiautomatic weapon into the North Valley Jewish Community Center Please see GUNS, Bl 3 measure are pressing to have the bill passed and signed by Gov. Gray Davis before the current session ends Sept. 10.

Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles), who introduced the legislation to place stricter controls on area code overlays and splits, such as those proposed for West Los Angeles, the South Bay and the San Fernando Valley, called Monday's Appropriations Committee action a major step forward. "The bill went from going into a midnight graveyard cemetery of a suspense file that can be used to bury a bill silently, to one of the brightest lights in the Senate the conference committee where everything is done in the public spotlight," Knox said. "We have moved a bill and an issue from Please see OVERLAY, B13 involving Bill Gates). miscelLAny: Interruption of traffic by film companies is not new here. In 1927, during the making of "The Jazz Singer," Warner Bros, had police surround its block-long studio on Sunset Boulevard, according to author Scott Eyman Speed of "At a given signal," Eyman wrote, the police "all blew their whistles, stopping traffic" so one actor could sing in the non-soundproof studio.

Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harveylatimes.com and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053. By KARIMA A. HAYNES TIMES STAFF WRITER SACRAMENTO In an unexpected move, the state Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday passed legislation that would force state utilities regulators to adopt number-conservation measures to halt proposed area code changes.

But before the bill moves to the full Senate for a vote, committee members agreed to send the measure to a two-house conference committee to hash out specific provisions, including one to rescind the 310 area code overlay and another to ban future splits and overlays statewide. The committee must come up with a compromise plan and submit it to both houses by Sept. 3, officials said. Supporters of the 1 bdrm and den unit(with floorstiled balcony glorious view. LA.

Was No Grade-A Speller What more could you ask a condo with floors and windows. Dear: HPS. CAROL 6. NELSON THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED GENEROSITY UE ARE PLEASED TO SEND ALL ANIMALS TO MEMBERS UNO KINDLY DONATE 5 OR MORE ANNUALLY. Pets by mail order.

guy who phones with a dirty joke (I only listened all the way through the first time honest), the caller who plays a speeded-up tape of curse words (it's like being insulted by E.T.), the woman who thinks Bill Gates planted computers in her brain, and the person who attempts to send faxes on my non-fax line on 10 straight beep-filled calls (I'm sure THIS is a conspiracy, but perhaps not one emony so he could do some honorary editing). Roddy McDowall was once misspelled MACDOWLL on a replacement plaque. Katina Pax-inou Whom the Bell was renamed KATRINA. The oddest case, however, involved the star for Maurice Diller, who did not exist. The late columnist Jack Smith exposed the sidewalk crasher.

Research revealed the honor was supposed to go to Mauritz Stiller, the Swedish director who discovered Garbo. The Swedish Embassy protested and, before war broke out, the plaque was replaced. SPELL CHECK, PART II: The other day I referred to contributor Howard Crawford as "Hank." A onetime sax man, he said he is sometimes confused with the.