The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 28

"1 TWf'T B4 TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2000 LOS ANGELES TIMES oun CA A news summary The Local Review The DFORNIA DEVELOPMENTS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY Regional Review fx! i 4 fLmfi je-i t. s- 1 -fntibsaaw I t-S 0 MW i-sC rt If vy 'hv Teacher Who Showed Movie Is Arrested After Defying Order DEVELOPMENTS IN ORANGE, RIVERSIDE, SAN BERNARDINO AND VENTURA COUNTIES 4.0 Earthquake Rocks Orange County ORANGE COUNTY-A magnitude 4.0 earthquake was felt distinctly through most of Orange County Monday afternoon, but there were no reports of damage or injuries, according to Caltech seismologists. The 4:20 p.m. jolt was centered eight miles southeast of Yorba Linda, just south of the Riverside Freeway on the Orange County side of the Riverside-Orange county line. It occurred at a depth of 6 miles.

Shake maps issued by Caltech and the U.S. Geological Survey showed the strongest shaking extended from the epicenter south to Irvine and Tustin. But the quake could be lightly felt as far north as Los Angeles and as far south as Temecula and Oceanside. Sewage Spills Close Stretches of Beach LAGUNA BEACH A stretch of sand in Laguna Beach remained closed to surfers and swimmers Monday after a spill Sunday that released 1,200 gallons of sewage into the water. County health officials closed 2,000 feet of Bluebird Canyon Beach from Cress to Diamond streets as a result of the spill, caused by roots that blocked a main line on Rim Rock Road, said Lloy Thompson, senior sewer service supervisor.

The spill was reported at 2 p.m. Sunday and was ended by 3 p.m., Thompson said. Although Laguna Beach received nearly an inch of rain Sunday, city workers say the incident was not storm-related. The beach closure was the fifth this year in Laguna Beach to be caused by sewage spills, said Monica Mazur, a county Health Agency spokeswoman. Down the coast at Doheny State Beach, another 2,000 feet of shoreline remained closed Monday because of a sewage spill last week, Mazur said.

That spill, also caused by a line blockage, sent 500 gallons of raw sewage into Oso Creek. It occurred Thursday morning at Navalosa and Marguerite Parkway in Mission Vi-ejo. The beaches will remain closed until bacteria levels meet health standards, Mazur said. Girl, 11, Missing in Suspected Abduction LAGUNA HILLS-Orange County law enforcement authorities intensified a search for an 11-year-old girl who got into the car of a family friend while walking to school Monday and vanished, possibly heading to Mexico, police said. Guadalupe Hernandez Vasquez, 11, was leaving her Laguna Hills apartment with her 9-year-old sister Monday morning when the girls noticed a family friend in a parked car in front of the building, her sister, Ana Rosa Hernandez Vasquez said.

Guadalupe walked toward the Toyota Tercel, even as her sister cautioned her not to go. Police and witnesses say Guadalupe left with 21-year-old Asael Perez Celis, a San Clemente construction worker who had lived with the girl's family for 15 months and had recently moved into an apartment in the same complex. The girls' parents were at work when Guadalupe disappeared, at about 8:30 a.m., they said. Guadalupe apparently left with Celis willingly, but the Orange County Sheriff's Department is treating the case as an abduction in light of her age, said Jim Amormi-no of the Sheriff's Department. Council Hears New Plan to Pay Rampart Suits LOS ANGELES A top Los Angeles manager recommended Monday that the city not pursue Mayor Richard Riordan's plan to issue bonds against future tobacco settlement money to pay for lawsuits stemming from the Rampart police scandal.

The mayor's proposal is premature and there appear to be less costly alternatives, said City Administrative Officer William Fu-jioka in a report to the City Council. Fujioka said the city should instead set aside $20 million in reserves annually from the general fund to cover Rampart-related bills during the next few years and then consider issuing special bonds, as required by police lawsuit settlements, against city general fund revenue. Judgment obligation bonds backed by the general fund could save the city 2 in interest and tens of millions of dollars over the proposal to bond upfront against less certain revenue from the city's share of the national settlement with tobacco companies, Fujioka said. "It's a lower interest rate and it's a more secure form of financing," said Fujioka, who has been facing attempts by Riordan to remove him from office. The chairman of the council's Budget and Finance Committee, which will consider the report Wednesday, said he generally agrees with Fujioka's recommendations.

"I do feel it would be less expensive than the tobacco fund approach," said Councilman Mike Feuer. Riordan is reviewing the report, but stood by his proposal to use the tobacco funds. "The mayor feels good about what he proposed," said Jessica Copen, a spokeswoman for the mayor. The mayor's office has argued behind the scenes that judgment obligation bonds tied to the general fund put taxpayers on the hook for repayment, but that using tobacco money shifts the risk to private investors who would buy the city's right to the $300 million in tobacco funds. Monday's debate over finances is the latest round of bickering over the city's response to the Rampart scandal, in which police officers are alleged to have framed innocent people, beaten others and covered up unjustified shootings.

The city attorney's office has estimated that the eity could face lawsuit payments totaling $125 million on just the first 99 cases. Valley Red Line Gates to Open June 24 NORTH HOLLYWOOD-The long-awaited opening of the Metro Red Line extension from Hollywood to North Hollywood has been set for June 24, transit officials said Monday, and plans are in the works for a major arts festival to greet those who ride the subway system that weekend. Subway stations in North Hollywood, Universal City and HollywoodHighland will open that day as part of a 6.3-mile extension linking the San Fernando Valley with Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles. "We've all been waiting with bated breath for years for this to happen," said Lorretta Dash, president of the Universal CityNorth Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. "We think it will bring many more people into the community and make it easier for people in the Valley to go downtown." The chamber and other groups have set this year's North Hollywood International Theater and Arts Festival for the weekend of June 24 to coincide with the subway opening.

The North Hollywood extension, which includes twin tunnels through the Santa Monica Mountains, is coming in within its budget and six months ahead of the deadline set by the federal government, said Marc Litt-man, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. All 17.4 miles of the subway system linking Union Station and downtown Los Angeles with the San Fernando Valley will be in operation when the last three stations open. In all, adding surface rail lines, the Metro Rail system will have nearly 60 miles of rail in service and 50 stations, including two light Photos by BOB CAREY Los Angeles Times "American Beauty." The movie tells the story of a man experiencing a midlife crisis who falls in love with his teenaged daughter's classmate. Brand said the incident began when Assistant Principal Rosalinda Alvarez and Principal Tony Gaitan tried to meet with the teacher outside class to discuss the reprimand. District policy requires prior permission from the school board to show any movie in class.

"We wanted to be sure that our expectations would be met," Brand said. After the teacher refused to leave her class, Gaitan called Brand and the Santa Paula Police Department, Brand said. weeks. Although many California cities have laws against barking dogs, Erin Maurie of the League of California Cities said she knows of no other city that has extended its party ordinance to apply to dogs. The city of 64,000 residents got about 1,200 barking-dog complaints last year, according to Mike Magdaleno, who is the head of Redondo Beach's code enforcement division.

But Councilman Kevin Sullivan, who was the only one of the five council members to vote against a first reading of the ordinance last month, said treating dogs as if they were parties won't work. "I know that a barking dog can drive you crazy, but it just doesn't' make sense to use the noise ordinance," he said. Sullivan said the city's current method of dealing with noisy dogs, which involves sending dog owners and angry neighbors to mediation, is working well. Shutting a dog up is not as easy as pulling the plug on the stereo, Sullivan said. People need time to train their dog not to bark.

,,1 New Library Opens Doors Jennifer Garcia, 12, looks for a book as Blanca Liveron, 12, leans over a couch to reach a volume at the Washington Irving Branch Library. The library was dedicated Monday. It is at 4117 W. Washington near Crenshaw Boulevard. rail lines: the Blue Line from Los Angeles to Long Beach and the Green Line from Norwalk to El Segundo.

MTA directors have authorized late night subway service from April to September to allow riders to attend events at Staples Center, the Music Center and other venues. The MTA also announced it will premiere its new Metro Rapid bus system on June 24, sending special buses along Ventura Boulevard in the Valley and Wilshire Boulevard to help commuters and others connect with the subway system. To distinguish the service from its regular buses, the specially painted red and white Rapid buses will feature fewer stops and special equipment to extend green lights to speed the movement of the natural-gas powered vehicles. Marathon Mural Defaced; Man Held CARSON A man who told police he is a graffiti artist was accused Monday of vandalizing an L.A. Marathon mural hours before the start of the marathon last weekend.

Ricardo Espinoza, 23, was charged with causing between $5,000 and $10,000 in damage and possession of vandalism tools after he was arrested by California Highway Patrol officers, who found him crouching in the bushes near the marathon mural on the Santa Monica Freeway near Overland Avenue, prosecutors said. "It used to be graffiti etiquette among graffiti artists not to paint over existing murals," said Deputy City Atty. Mitchell Fox. "I don't know if it was the subject the marathon or what, but he went outside that etiquette." Two other people escaped arrest by running away when the CHP patrol car approached at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday.

The graffiti marred a 54-foot-long, 7-foot-tall section of the Santa Monica Freeway mural, which was painted in 1984 and depicts runners in the inaugural L.A. Marathon. "Espinoza claimed he and the others are graffiti artists," Fox said, "and he just got caught up with them doing the mural." CHP officers confiscated 13 cans of spray-paint and two backpacks they found at the scene. Espinoza's hands were stained by the same kind of yellow paint used in the multicolored vandalism, Fox said. Teacher Sentenced in Net Extortion Case LOS ANGELES-A Hollywood schoolteacher was sentenced Monday to 60 days under house arrest and forced to give up his home computers after attempting to extort money from an ex-girlfriend by threatening to release nude pictures of her on the Internet, authorities said.

Brian Keith Bailey, 45, of Tar-zana posted the pictures online after the woman refused to pay him $8,000, according to Loren Naiman, head of the high-tech crime unit at the district attorney's office. Bailey pleaded no contest to a felony count of attempted extortion. In addition to the jail sentence and a $5,000 fine, Bailey will not be allowed to have a computer in his home while he is on probation, a period that could last up to five years, Naiman said. The sentence, rendered in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Van Nuys, could be reduced to a misdemeanor after 18 months, and the probation period could be reduced to three years, authorities said. Bailey has worked as a teacher at Le Conte Middle School in Hollywood, according to school district officials.

He said Monday in a telephone interview that he committed the crime because his ex-girlfriend refused to repay $5,000 he had loaned her. He said that the photographs were taken about 10 years ago and that he has since married another woman. "I realize I made a really bad mistake," Bailey said. "I was only trying to get back what was owed to me, and I think I went about it in a really bad way." Bailey said he got the idea for the scheme after reading about a 1998 case involving radio personality Laura Schlessinger, who lost a court battle to keep nude pictures of her from being released online. Insurer Settles Fraud Case for $20 Million NORTH HILLS-An affiliate of the Farmers Insurance Group has agreed to pay $20 million to settle a suit filed by owners of a condominium complex who claimed the insurer balked at rebuilding their homes after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, attorneys said Monday.

"I think in a way we showed the insurance industry that the little man can win," said Myron Mikkel-son50, president of the homeowners association for Nordhoff Town-homes. "We took on a giant, and we beat him with a stick." The association alleged bad faith, fraud and intentional concealment against Truck Insurance Exchange, part of the Farmers Group, for its handling of the claim. The homeowners alleged that Farmers, through Truck, had "unjustly" refused to pay to tear down and rebuild their earthquake-damaged building, said North Hollywood attorney Bernie Bernheim, who represented them. SANTA PAULA-A Santa Paula High School English teacher who was reprimanded last week for showing an R-rated movie in class was handcuffed and arrested in front of her students Monday after she refused to leave the classroom for a meeting with school officials. Mary Louise Rawn-Peterson, 41, was taken into custody by police on trespassing charges after district Supt.

William Brand suspended her for defying his order to leave the classroom, he said. Rawn-Peterson, a first-year teacher at the high school, was reprimanded Friday for not obtaining permission from school officials to exhibit the film During the trial, Bernheim presented a videotape from a former Farmers insurance adjuster who testified that he was given a target dollar figure for the claim by a Farmers supervisor who had never seen the damage to the 50-unit complex. Farmers fired the man, Kermith Sonnier, who sued and was recently awarded $9 million in punitive damages and $1.46 million in compensatory damages. On Thursday, after deliberating for three days, a jury agreed with the homeowners. On Sunday, two days before the case was scheduled to move into the punitive phase, both sides reached a settlement agreement, according to lawyers on both sides.

Kurt Peterson, the lead attorney for Truck, said the company decided to settle after the jury, in the first phase, awarded the association $3.98 million in compensatory damages "exactly what the association was asking for." New Law May Put Bite on Barking Dogs REDONDO BEACH-City Council members tonight are expected to give final approval to a controversial dog-barking ordinance that would treat loud pooches the same as wild parties. Under the proposed law, after neighbors complained about a dog, police would visit the barking residence, listen to make sure the dog barked for a full five minutes, and then would give the owner a warning, along with tips on how to make the dog stop barking. If the dog got a second noise complaint within 24 hours, the owner would be slapped with a $78 fine, which would increase to $98 if not paid within two Los Angeles Environmental Education Fair Saturday March 11, 2000 9.00im-4.00p Tlit Arboretum of Lei Angeles County 301 North Baldwin Ave. Arcidii California CHRISTOPHER NANCE Weathercastei NBC 4 EXHIBITS and DISPLAYS LIVE ENTERTAINERS YOUTH GROUP ACTIVITIES Additional support provided by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works 1.