The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 130

B2 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1992 LOS ANGELES TIMES Orange County Focus Anaheim I Placentia Fullerton -A i Yorba Linda Brea La Habra signed a "master" agreement that allowed the city's Parks, Recreation and Human Services Department to use school grounds for city programs. Each school year, the city and the district sign an agreement that spells out the schedule, types of programs and specific school facilities that the city would use. The board approved this year's agreement Monday. Under the agreement, the city and the district will also find ways to generate income to offset the expenses for the use of the facilities. The city charges fees for most recreational programs, with non-residents paying slightly higher fees.

Among the programs scheduled this year at Brea-Olinda High School are gymnastics, swimming, volleyball, basketball, Softball, soccer and the Brea Police Athletic League. Dog obedience classes are scheduled at Brea Junior High tennis courts, Tiny Tots at Laurel School, and Little League at Arovista, Laurel, Mariposa elementary schools and the high school junior varsity baseball field. BERT ELJERA ANAHEIM KDOC-TVtoEnd News Operations Orange County's only commercial television station, Anaheim-based KDOC, will eliminate its local news operation and shut down its production studio at the end of the month. The decision, prompted in part by, a downturn in advertising revenue, will result in layoffs for 11 full-time and 40 part-time employees, according to Sta; tion Manager Chuck Velona. In addition to the nightly half-hour news show, the cutbacks will end the one -hour after; noon music video program, "Request Video." The independently produced "Hot Seat," Wally George's nationally syndicated talk show, will continue to air on KDOC in its regular Saturday night slot but will be taped at another studio.

KDOC, which relies heavily on reruhs such as "Combat," "Hogan's Heroes" and "Green Acres," launched its nightly Monday through Friday newscast in 1989. The program, which now airs at 11 p.m., produces its own local stories, supplemented by foreign and national coverage from CNN. It will cease production Nov. 30. "The current revenue situation that we find the industry in is not great," Velona said.

He said that to stay competitive, the station will upgrade the station's transmission equipment at a cost of $2 million to $7 million over the next several years. It was not possible to do that and maintain the relatively expensive production facilities, Velona said, leading to the cutback decision by the station's board of directors. "The station has made a decision to go ahead and stay in the television business," he said. RICK VANDERKNYFF ANAHEIM Family Seeks Funds for Boy's Treatment Marcia and Edward Harris are typical doting grandparents, happy to do anything to make their grandchild's life better. After their grandson Jordan was born two years ago, the Harrises, who live in Anaheim, figured he needed to live in a house with a yard in a nice neighborhood.

So they bought one for their daughter, Noelle McNeill, and her husband to rent from them in their hometown of Fort Collins, Colo. But Jordan's latest need requires something even more substantial than a house. The little boy suffers from tyro-senemia type 1, a rare liver condition that prevents the body from processing protein. Left unchecked, the disease almost always leads to liver cancer and death. The only cure for the disease is a liver transplant.

The disease was diagnosed in January, after Jordan began losing weight at an alarming pace. When the diagnosis was made, the family went into shock, Marcia Harris said. Soon, frustration developed because of the distance between the grandparents and their grandson. "It has been awful for my parents," Noelle McNeill said in a telephone interview. "I think the reason they have done so much for us is because they aren't here to see him." Although Jason McNeill, Jordan's father, has medical insurance through his job at a produce company, the cost of a transplant is not covered.

Medicaid is expected to pay for the surgery, but the family must still raise $250,000 to pay for Jordan's hospital stay and the follow-up care and medication he will need. Living so far away from her daughter has been nearly unbearable, Marcia Harris said. To compensate, the grandparents have focused on raising money. In July, the Harrises began placing canisters in several businesses in Pla-centia and Yorba Linda. On Halloween, Marcia Harris spent four hours in an angel costume at a restaurant in Placentia, hoping to attract attention to Jason's plight.

Her efforts raised about $70. From the six canisters placed in businesses, the Harrises have raised about $3,000. Combined with other fund-raising efforts, the total amount raised for Jason's transplant is $12,000. But raising the money is only half the battle, Marcia Harris said. The family is in a race against time to get a liver for the boy before cancer develops.

The survival rate for liver transplant patients is about 80, but if cancer sets in before a new liver is transplanted, the rate drops considerably. The family has been told that once a patient is on the National Donor List, it takes about eight months for an organ to become available. Jordan is expected to complete the screening process to be placed on the list in about two weeks. For now, Jordan is relatively healthy. Vitamin and mineral supplements, at a cost of $500 a month, have improved his condition to the point where he is strong enough to withstand surgery if a liver becomes available.

The improvement in Jordan's health has also made him a typical 2-year-old, active and curious. Discipline isn't easy, his mother said, because his physical condition is always on her mind. "It breaks my heart when I have to discipline him," McNeill said. "I think about the fact that he might not be here with me next year." -DANIELLE A. FOTJQUETTE BREA Merchants to Host Seniors' Health Fair Merchants at the Brea Marketplace will host a health fair for seniors from noon to 3 p.m.

Nov. 13 at the Marketplace. Michael Medical Center and the Brea Community Hospital will conduct free blood pressure testing, cholesterol screening, dental information, hearing tests and glaucoma screening for customers of all ages, according to Nancy Bowler of Lowe Development which manages the Brea Marketplace. Bowler said the fair will be held in cooperation with the 55 Club. A variety of prizes, including 60 certificates for free flu shots, are being offered to participants.

A $100 gift certificate and free tickets to the Curtis Theater will also be given away. Shuttle service will be provided from the Brea Senior Center to the Marketplace during the fair. The Brea Marketplace is on Birch Street, one block west of State College Boulevard, north of the Brea Mall. For information, call (714) 671-2133, Ext. 244.

BERT ELJERA BREA City Signs Pact With School District The Brea-Olinda Unified School District Board of Trustees has approved a request by the city to use district facilities for city recreation programs. For $60,000, the district will allow the city to use facilities at Brea-Olinda High School and four other schools for city-run Softball, basketball and tennis programs. The agreement covers the 1992-93 school year. In 1975, the city and the district i Hi 1 rM jOHtfTOEGToHngeiesTinies Lawrence R. Harris and his trusty bloodhounds, Sable, left, and Duchess.

Being On Track Has Its Rewards Costa Mesa Newport Beach Irvine I Corona del Mar is the cake itself. Their reward is finding the person. They were born to find people." Sara Landa has Sable to thank for finding her after she was kidnaped from her aunt and uncle at a Laundromat in Santa Ana last year. Sable followed the girl's scent seven miles to a third-floor apartment, where the then-2-year-old was safely rescued, Harris said. "I'm so proud of them," said Jean Harris, 58, who is herself a reserve officer in the Newport Beach Police Department.

"I just wish we would have started with the dogs 30 years ago." -MIMI KO Man Missing for 2 Months Turns Up A disabled man missing for almost two months was found over the weekend after he phoned his mother to say hello, his family said Tuesday. William Robert Kent Cousert, 28, of Orange, who suffers from a mild form of cerebral palsy and is described as having limited social skills, had been living and working in San Jose. "I shrieked," said Barbara Morris, Cousert 's mother, of the Saturday afternoon phone call from her son. "I said, 'I hope you know I reported you as missing to the He kept saying, 'I'm sorry, I'm and I said, 'You just don't disappear from someone's life for two months and expect them to do "I had him dead in my head." Cousert was unaware that his family and other relatives had been combing homeless shelters in Orange County. "He didn't even know his picture had been in the papers," said Cousert's aunt, Marilyn Wiersema.

"He just didn't have a clue. He just called to say he had been in San Jose and now he was in a hotel in downtown L.A." Cousert left his Orange boardinghouse Sept. 1 after a dispute with his landlady over the rent, his mother and aunt said. Family members began their frantic search when they discovered that Cousert left almost all his possessions, including a prized computer, behind. "He panics easily," Morris, who lives in Burbank, said.

"He just drops things and runs." Why Cousert chose to go to San Jose remains a mystery, family members said. Cousert apparently found temporary work in San Jose as a flagman for a construction company. When the job came to an end, he took a bus back to the Los Angeles area. "He held up a sign saying 'will work for food' and got some odd jobs that way," Morris said. Wiersema said the flagman's job was the first employment Cousert had in more than three years.

Cousert, who was looking for a job in Los Angeles, could not be reached for comment. Family members said they hope to get Cousert enrolled in a program for disabled adults and into a supervised living arrangement. HELA1NE OLEN Fbr the Record Presidential graphic A chart Sunday incorrectly reported political party registration in California. The 1992 statewide registration was 49.1 Democratic, 37.0 Republican and 13.9 other. COSTA MESA New Airport Offices Plan Gets City OK The City Council has approved a county plan to build new airport administrative offices on the site of an abandoned restaurant near John Wayne Airport.

In a 5-0 decision Monday, the council agreed to allow the county to acquire RW's Crab Hideout, also known as McCormick's Landing, at 3180 Airway Ave. Because the property is located within city limits, council approval was required. The size of the building and how much traffic it would generate raised some concerns among council members. However, county officials assured the council that it would only be used by airport staff and if any changes to the operation occurred, by law, the county must notify the city. The county has also assured the city that the plan will not cause increased airport traffic.

The airport leases four office suites in an office complex one block west of the airport. The acquisition of the restaurant property would allow the consolidation of the airport staff and give it direct access to the airfield for convenience and during emergencies, officials said. LYNDA NATALI It's midnight and the phone rings, awakening Orange County sheriff's reserve Lt. Lawrence R. Harris.

He is being summoned to help out on a case. It could be almost anything: a lost child or a possible kidnaping or an escapee. Harris, 64, grabs his uniform. As he dresses, his wife, Jean, picks up a map book and outlines the area he will search with his two bloodhounds, Sable and Duchess. Harris departs quickly into the unpredictable night, his dogs in tow.

The scene is repeated night after night for the retired McDonnell Douglas engineer, who, according to the Sheriff's Department, puts in more hours on the job than a paid deputy. He is on call 24 hours a day. For the past six years, he and his bloodhounds have lived this life, and they love it, Harris said. "The most natural high you could possibly acquire is to find a lost child," he said, giving his dogs all the credit. Bloodhounds have a purpose in life, he said.

They are meant to find people, and that's what Harris wants everyone to know. Harris was recently accorded the highest honor in the state for a reserve officer when he was given a Meritorious Service Award for outstanding performance in his 32 years of volunteer work. Clocking in 2,157 hours of service in 1991, Harris exceeded the average full-time paid sheriff's deputy by more than 100 hours. And he does it for free. "He's absolutely tremendous," Sheriff's Lt.

Dick Olson said. "It's a tremendous benefit to the taxpayers of Orange County to have him with us, especially with the expertise that he has with the bloodhounds." Harris started as a reserve captain in the California Department of Fish and Game in 1960. In 1968, he became a reserve officer at the Newport Beach Police Department. He moved to the Orange County Sheriff's Department in 1983. Three years later, he took in a purebred bloodhound from the county's jail, where inmates used to care for it.

It was then that Harris realized his calling. To do their job, Harris said, bloodhounds need to bond with their handlers. Since the day he decided Duchess and Sable would live with him and his wife, they became part of the family. Their portraits adorn the walls in the Harris home next to the pictures of the kids and grandchildren. Their droopy mugs fill the pages of the family albums.

Helping to solve a case by finding a missing person or fleeing suspect gives Harris great pride in his dogs. But he also wants to spend more time telling people about what his bloodhounds can do. "They can't perform miracles," he said, "but last year, they solved 32 of the baffling missing persons calls they were sent on. "Finding the person is the icing on the cake," Harris said. "So many times it's what the dogs contribute to the case that "From staff's point of view, it conversion would comply with the General Plan," Donald Lamm, deputy city manager, told the council.

The plan calls for demolishing the restaurant and building a two-story building to house airport staff. AURELIO JOSE BARRERA Los Angeles Times Hard Rock Image Boyd Allen of Young Sign Co. installs guitar-shaped sign at Hard Rock Cafe in Newport.