The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 548

LOS ANGELES TIMES FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1991 METRO NEWS Northrop University to Drop Degree Programs, Cut Faculty other schools after the term ends in June, and a summer session will be offered for those who have nearly completed their degrees, Beljan said. The school will concentrate on its technical courses, including power plant mechanics, helicopter maintenance and avionics, he added. "It was a very difficult decision," Beljan said. "My immediate goals are to be sure we protect the institute, to be sure it is stabilized and on its new course. Perhaps in the future it could re-emerge as a full-service university." He cited financial difficulties and a desire to protect the programs that have been the private school's hallmark since it was founded in 1942 as a technical aviation school affiliated with the Northrop aerospace firm.

Spread over several sites near Los Angeles International Airport, Northrop University became independent in 1953 and added law and business to its engineering and technology programs, leading to certificates or to associate, bachelor's or master's degrees. But in 1989 the university was hit with allegations of financial and ethical improprieties that threat- ened its accreditation. The West-" em Assn. of Schools and Colleges, the agency that monitors Califor- nia colleges, accused Northrop ethical violations involving the re-' cruitment of foreign students) credits and bookkeeping. The university's president of 17 years, B.J.

Shell, abruptly retired' once the controversy broke and Beljan, widely credited with help- ing Cal State Long Beach through' a financial crisis, was hired. Beljan's administration saved school's accreditation by addressing many of the accrediting cy's concerns. The agency alsd 1 recommended that Northrop cials improve its education pro-. gram and financial stability. Officials embarked on a program to consolidate the campus, but financing to tide the school until its surplus properties could be sold fell through recently, Beljan' said.

Because tuition is the source of operating revenues, the drop in enrollment from when the accreditation surfaced to 1,200 now further ag- gravated the school's problems. Political Contributions 4 Mayor Tom Bradley proposed a 10 tax on cable television bills to help balance his proposed budget 0 $3.9 billion for the 1991-92 fiscal year. But the City Council eliminated that measure, and passed a 10 admissions tax on entertainment and sporting events. Bradley has said he will veto it. The entertainment and cable industries have lobbied against the tax proposals.

Both industries have made political contributions to the mayor and the council. Here are the top 10 contributors from 1983 to 1989: ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY Total Contributions $1,380,573 TothoMayor $912,861 To the Council $467,712 The Top lOcontributors: Cosby Waller $92,700 Metropolitan Theatres $63,398 Pacific Theatres $57,152 Creative Artists Agency $56,100 Embassy $45,550 Gene Autry interests $44,500 $38,210 Los Angeles Dodgers $34,288 California Sports $30,000 MCAInc $29,150 MIKE MEADOWS Los Angeles Times Firefighter sprays water on house next to church home for elderly and disabled men. Paramedics treat one of three firefighters injured in the blaze, below, while another waits on stretcher. Compiled by Times editorial researcher Cecilia Rasmussen Education: Financial trouble, low enrollment are cited. The school will focus on technical courses such as avionics and helicopter maintenance.

By JEAN MERL TIMES EDUCATION WRITER The board of trustees of struggling Northrop University has decided to scrap the half-century-old institution's degree programs and lay off about half of its 50-member faculty. President John Bcljan said Thursday. Bcljan cited financial problems as the reason for the action. The decision, made May 1 and relayed to students and staff Wednesday, represents "a radical change for our institution. We've been a full-bore university for most of our 50 years," Beljan said.

Students now enrolled in degree programs, which include aeronautical and electrical engineering, computer science and business, will be helped in transferring to TAX: Clash of Powerful Industries Developing Continued from Bl firm of Manatt, Phelps Phillips to head its lobbying effort. Today, theater owners around the city will begin a petition drive, urging patrons to contact their council representatives. Cable operators are waging a defensive action to make sure the cable tax proposal does not resurface as the council scrambles to find a revenue source to balance the budget, which takes effect July 1. "We would be naive to think that the last word has been uttered on the cable tax," said John Gibbs, president of the Los Angeles Cable Operators Assn. "The issue is not over." As Councilman Richard Alatorre put it: "It's just getting started." Both the cable business and the greater entertainment industry, including movie studios, theater owners and music and sports promoters, arc old hands at working the political machinery.

In the last six years, the entertainment and sports industries from movie studios to theater operators, concert promoters, professional sports impressarios and movie stars have contributed nearly $1.4 million to Los Angeles politicians, with two-thirds of it going to Bradley. In the same period, the cable industry contributed just one-tenth of that amount $161,324, with about one-third of the funds going to the mayor and the remainder spread among council members. But the cable operators' lobbying prowess has been well established over the years in a series of controversial franchise licensing campaigns that included lavish travel and entertainment for council members. "It's a lot of dough," said City Councilman Ernani sponsor of the admissions tax, referring to contributions accepted by the mayor. "It's spoken pretty loudly before, and it looks like it will again." Bill Chandler, a spokesman for Bradtey, bristled at any suggestion that the mayor's planned veto of the entertainment admissions tax would be influenced by contributions.

"It is outrageous to suggest there were any other factors in the mayor's long-term and unequivocal opposition to this tax. The mayor's negative response was immediate; He did not take a look at campaign records before he made his. L. A. Basin Gets By JOHN KENDALL TIMES STAFF WRITER Light showers dampened scattered sections of the Los Angeles Basin early Thursday as a strong upper-level front moved swiftly across Southern California, producing wind gusts of up to 50 m.p.h.

in the mountains and deserts. During the day, less powerful winds raked metropolitan Los Angeles, blowing sand and dust and whipping trees and power lines. The wind-cleared' skies were sunny and high temperatures moved Into the high 60s and low 70s. Arson Blamed in Fire at Church-Run Home; 3 Firefighters Hurt Fire officials said arson was probably to blame for a blaze in Highland Park that destroyed a church-sponsored home for disabled and elderly men early Thursday. Three firefighters suffered minor injuries as a result of the fire, which occurred about 2 a.m.

at the home operated by the Christ Faith Mission in the 6000 block of Hayes Street, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Michael Hallcttsaid. The five men who lived at the home escaped unharmed, authorities said. The Rev. H. J.

Smith, who heads the mission, said the men were resettled at a mission dormitory across the street. Smith said a transient who recently was asked to leave the property several times is suspected of starting the blaze by setting fire to a sofa on the front porch. There were no arrests, authorities said. Bruce Corwin, president of Metropolitan Theatres and a key Bradley fund-raiser, said he has contacted every council member, urging them to rescind the measure. But Corwin, a longtime friend, supporter and adviser to Bradley, said: "I've had no contact with the mayor." Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said the entertainment industry has long enjoyed preferential treatment in Los Angeles.

"It's'our home industry," Yaroslavsky said. "It's the most favored industry in the city, and we've gone overboard to be accommodating." For instance, the council has placed a $10,000 cap on the city's business tax for motion picture studios based in Los Angeles saving some companies hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Now, said Yaroslavsky, chairman of the council's Finance and Revenue Committee, it is time the industry paid its share. However, Tim Warner, president of the National Assn. of Theater Owners ot California, said it is the poor who will suffer most from the entertainment admissions tax, which would be tacked onto tickets for a wide variety of theater and stadium events.

Warner and others in the business say that movies and baseball games are inexpensive entertainment favored by low-income families. To hit them with a narrowly focused tax, Warner said, is discriminatory and unfair. Bradley agreed. "To be hitwithalO tax just for trying to get a little enjoyment out of life is absolutely unacceptable," the mayor said earlier this week. Cable operators made the same pitch.

Cable programming, they argued, is the preferred entertainment for those who cannot afford to go out. Some council members arc having trouble distinguishing the CABLE TV INDUSTRY Total Contributions $161,324 TO the Mayor $47,749 To the Council $113,575 The Top 10 contributors: United Cable Television $40,150 Valley Cable TV Inc $29,250 Group Cable Inc $23,850 Communlcom $16,950 American Cable Systems $14,700 CopleyColony Communications $8,250 Jock Barry Cable $6,850 Falcon Communications $6,674 Cablevtslon $2,950 Buenavtslon Telecomm. $1,125 "We're taxing those who go out, instead of those who stay home," said Councilman Michael Woo, one of the four council members who voted against the entertainment! tax. Meanwhile, also jumping into the fray are the city's real estate agents, who arc hoping for another chance to defeat the $52-million real estate transfer tax that Bradley proposed and the council approved this week. The industry fell two council votes short of blocking the tax, which would impose a new documentary transfer fee on the sale of real property.

The fee would add $900 to the sale of an average $200,000 home. Lobbyist Lynn Wessell, who represents the agents, said: "The bad news is we fell two votes short. The good news is it is coming up again." The council has until June 1 to present the mayor with its version of the budget. Bradley then has five days to accept or veto it. It would require 10 council votes to override a mayoral veto.

Real estate agents are hoping to flood the council offices with letters from irate constituents. But the heaviest push is likely to come from entertainment industry officials and cable operators. The cable industry is expected to keep up the pace of its well-financed, but largely grass-roots approach. Council members expect entertainment industry representatives to rely more on their existing contacts with council offices and to work through heavy-hitter lobbyists, such as lawyer Specht. Milnes, of the producers alliance, said many studios will use their in-house lobbyists and existing political contacts to run a largely behind-closed -doors campaign.

"The city is going to be in financial trouble for some time," said Milnes. "We need to send a message that this is not an acceptable form of taxation." predicted sunny skies and slightly cooler weather for today, with highs in the upper 60s in Los Angeles. He expects the weather will be much the same through the "We're looking forward to a decent weekend," McKewon said. The weather front that moved through Thursday was spawned in the Gulf of Alaska, traveled south to southeast, then moved inland, McKewon said. He expects another cold front to arrive Monday.

McKewon said that for the present he does not foresee any more late-season ruin. Ex-San Diego Car Dealer Arrested After Murder-for-Hire Indictment Light Showers and Heavy Winds Ruscitti and the others had been been cheated on their commission checks because the dealership's owners had systematically altered factory invoices and other figures, bilking salesmen out of an average of $125 commission on each car they sold. At one point, lawyers for the salesmen contended, the dealership owed $2.9 million In back commissions, interest and penal-tics. Attorneys representing the defendants in the lawsuit declined comment Thursday. Ruscitti had worked with Nix for years at three Southern California dealerships and at times they were close friends, the victim's wife, Barbara Ruscitti, said Thursday.

Nix is scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in downtown San Diego today. Authorities said they will ask that he be held without ball at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center. Under federal sentencing rules involving murder for hire, Nix faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if he is convicted. with Nix's arrest.

He was charged with federal crimes because the two hit men were recruited from Mexico and had crossed the international border to commit murder, Assistant U.S. Atty. Larry Burns said. The victim, Sal Ruscitti, was fatally shot four times in the chest and head Sept. 17, 1988, by two men who came to the front door of his Leucadia home.

Ruscitti was one of the lead plaintiffs in a 1986 class-action iawsuit representing more than 300 people who had sold cars for Center City Ford and, later, Kearny Mesa Ford after the San Diego dealership changed ownership and name. The lawsuit, which is still pending in San Diego, alleged that For the Record Officer's rank It was reported Incorrectly Thursday that a Los Angeles police captain invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination during testimony in the Dalton Avenue police vandalism trial. The officer's rank, in fact, is that of detective. Homicide: He is accused of recruiting two Mexican hit men to kill a one-time friend and salesman who had sued the company. By TOM GORMAN TIMF.S STAFF WRITER SAN DIEGO A former executive of a San Diego car dealership was arrested Thursday after a federal grand jury charged that he hired two hit men from Mexico to kill a onetime friend and salesman who sued the dealership.

William Wayne (Will) Nix who more than six years ago was the general manager of what was then Center City Ford, was arrested without incident by the FBI and San Diego County Sheriff's Department detectives at his home in Upland, U.S. Atty. William Braniff said Thursday in San Diego. Most recently, Nix, 37, owned the Will Nix Ford dealership In Pomona. He sold it late last year.

Nix was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Diego last Friday on charges of murder for hire and conspiring to hire for murder. The indictment was unsealed Thursday Winds fanned a blaze that gutted a -two-story home in Cerritos, causing an estimated $300,000 damage and scorching the shake-shinglc roofs of three nearby homes, the Los Angeles County Fire Department reported. For the most part, the showers Thursday did little but water lawns and flowers. No precipitation was recorded at the Los Angeles Civic Center, but residents of other areas, including Pasadena, reported downpours. Meteorologist Marty McKewon ot WeatherData which provides forecasts for The Times,.