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The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 15

Location:
Los Angeles, California
Issue Date:
Page:
15
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1992 A15 ANGELES TIMES FLOOD: RV Park Is Rebuilt RIOTS: DeathToll Set at 51 serve as an early-warning system when the river rises to a dangerous level. Everett Millais, director of Ventura's Community Development Department, said Tuesday that if nothing is done to resolve the issues in dispute by Oct. 1, the beginning of the rainy season, he will urge the City Council to shut the park down. It is imperative, Millais said, that the park protects the safety of its residents. "It is in a flood plain," he said.

"It will flood again." Continued from A3 These issues remain in controversy today, although the park has so far avoided closure. The park's owner, Nancy Hubbard, said she is developing plans to conform with the law. Hubbard is the widow of Ventura developer Arnold Hubbard, who died shortly after the flood. She said she is working on installing a computer system linked to county Flood Control District gauges upstream from the park in the Ventura River. The gauges can Scaling Back the Death Toll The Los Angeles County coroner's office on Tuesday reduced its tally of deaths related to the riots to 51 from 60, based on an examination of police and pathologist reports.

An earlier Times analysis had counted 45 riot-related the discrepancy reflects different judgments on whether killings including a number of drive-by shootings would have occurred whether there was rioting or not. These are deaths that the coroner's office now says were not George Alvarez, 42: Died on May 1, the third day of rioting, on North Main Street in Los Angeles. He apparently was a transient who was assaulted by other transients. Harry Doller, 56; Was found dead after a house fire May 1. The coroner's office concluded that he died of a drug and alcohol overdose and that his cigarette may have started the fire.

Kevin Edwards, 35: On April 30, he was shot by a homeowner after approaching a Compton house and claiming, "A dog told me to come to your house." Andres Garcia, 32; Died April 30 of a stab wound to the chest. He was attacked on West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles during a drug deal and street robbery. Jose Garcia, 15: Died in East Los Angeles from a gunshot wound to the chest, reportedly after a fight. The death may have been gang-related. Susan Morgan, 24: Died on East 1 15th Street in Los Angeles on May 1 reportedly the victim of an altercation with her boyfriend.

Hugo Ramlres, 24: Died of a gunshot wound on May 3 in Baldwin Park, outside the riot area. Imad Sharaf, 30: Was set on fire in Mission Hills in connection with an apparent drug deal. His body was found May 3. Edward Travens, 15: Died of multiple gunshot wounds in a drive-by shooting on April 29. The incident was in San Fernando, outside the riot zone, and may have been gang-related.

John Doe No. 90: Unidentified Latino male died of a heart attack at Parker Center on May 3 after his arrest for a curfew violation. Death was attributed to drugs, alcohol and liver disease. INJECTION: Bill Provides a Choice ered a riot case because of the riot-related robbery," the coroner's report says. But Beverly Hills police called the deaths of Darnell Mallory, 18; Jerrel Channel, 26, and Juanita Pettaway, 38, the result of a common street robbery gone wrong.

"Our position is that it is not riot related," Lt. Frank R. Salcido, spokesman for the Beverly Hills Police Department, said Tuesday. "We don't have any evidence that it was related to the riots. It looked like a pure street robbery." Other cases were included in the death count by what even the coroner's office acknowledged were the thinnest of threads.

Coroner's officials say it is impossible to know for sure whether 38-year-old Jimmie Harris' car accident at Avalon Boulevard and Slauson Avenue on the first night of the rioting was connected to the chaos. But the case was included on the list because paramedics, detained by rioting, arrived at the scene late. The death of Vivian Austin, 89, also is on the official list. She suffered a fatal heart attack at her Los Angeles home May 3. "This is considered a riot case because the stress from the riot was well documented and is a contributing factor in death from arteriosclerotic disease," the coroner's report says.

Aaron Ratinoff died in a scuffle with a supermarket produce manager. The employee apparently confronted Ratinoff, who had dropped some corn husks on the floor. Officials termed the case riot-related not because the dispute stemmed from the unrest, but Continued from A3 Even though the appeal was unsuccessful, McClintock advocated giving condemned prisoners the choice of death by injection as a way to avoid similar legal challenges in the future. The legislation was opposed by the Friends Committee on Legislation, which argued that death by injection is not humane. SOURCE: Los Angeles Counly coroner's office "The rest of the county doesn't stop because you have a riot," he said.

"How can you say one drive-by is riot-related and another isn't? This all can get very theoretical. All we're saying is that we feel these 51 are pretty well connected to the riots." Diamonds? Sapphires? Only 4 days left to decide. Fine Jewelry Sale. 25 Off. Ticketed Prices Enjoy significant savings on diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, 14K and 18K gold, one-of-a-kind Estate designs, cultured pearls and so much more.

Sale ends Saturday, August 15th. Sale does not Include Designer Collection. Aah about the No-Finance Charge feature at our Fixed Payment Plan Continued from Al and autopsy reports in the 60 fatalities. They found 14 cases that needed follow-up and contacted detectives for more information. Eventually, one person who died a few weeks after the riots was added to the list and 10 people were removed.

The previously uncounted fatality was Wilson Alvarez, 40, who authorities said was assaulted while throwing rocks at looters May 1. Alvarez died of head injuries at County-USC Medical Center May 23. Among the cases judged unconnected to the riots were several gang-related shootings, a drug deal gone awry and the death by heart attack of an unidentified man arrested for a curfew violation. Citing evidence of a drug and alcohol overdose and liver damage, the coroner's report says that in this case, "death would have occurred whether or not the riot had taken place or a curfew had been) imposed." A separate review of the riot fatalities conducted by The Times June found that 45 of the 60 "deaths were riot-related; detectives investigating the cases said they could not find a riot connection in the other 15 deaths. The discrepancies are a matter of interpretationand a sign of how difficult it is to categorize deaths in a city where violence is such an entrenched part of life.

For instance, the coroner's office labeled riot-related the deaths of three people killed in a car accident April 29 after they stole a wallet from a pedestrian on the outskirts of Beverly Hills. "This is consid SMOKING: 30 Continued from A3 classified in the final report. But studies over the past two decades have documented health hazards of secondhand tobacco smoke that include increasing the nonsmoker's risk of lung cancer, heart disease and a range of respiratory illnesses. The recent study was part of a larger, state-funded survey on tobacco use. In the survey, conducted in 1990, 7,162 adult, nonsmoking, indoor workers were asked whether they had been exposed to smoke in the workplace within the past two weeks.

Pierce and his colleagues found that 30 of the respondents said they were protected by a no-smoking ban in their workplaces, and 17 were protected by bans on smoking in their immediate work areas. "Everyone else has less than that," Pierce said. "And if you're not banning smoking in the work you're not doing anything Fcrional Secretary 11 The of State's Workers Exposed to Risk, Study Finds against smoking exposure." The study found that nonsmok-ers working where there was a ban applied to work areas but not elsewhere in the building were more than 2.8 times more likely to be exposed to environmental tobacco smoke. Where smoking was not banned from work areas, workers were eight times more likely to be exposed to environmental tobacco smoke. Overall.

29.2 of the respondents reported exposure to tobacco smoke at their indoor work sites. The problem of exposure to secondhand smoke is particularly acute in workplaces with fewer than 50 employees, Pierce said. Moreover, young Latino men reported more exposure than did other ethnic or racial groups, possibly because many Latinos work in those smaller companies that lack smoking regulations, the researchers suggested, wan 10-day money-back guarantee, Backers of lethal injection contend that the method is faster, cheaper and less painful than cyanide gas, which blocks the uptake of oxygen essentially asphyxiating the prisoner. Using the alternative method, the prisoner is given an intravenous injection of a drug that brings on unconsciousness along with other drugs that cause death. machine.

1 even work during power outages. I take up no extra space because 1 work with your phone. in all ai I 4s iHj ftft more clear for us how to target workplaces." According to Jimenez, companies with a large number of employees are more likely to offer health insurance and advocate a smoke-free environment in order to reduce the costs of smoking-re-latcd illness. Even in workplaces designated as "smoke-free," more than 9 of the respondents said they had been exposed to tobacco smoke in the previous two weeks. "It's a major change for smokers not to smoke at the work site," Pierce said.

"But that noncompliance) might disappear over time." Pierce said the number of workers exposed to environmental tobacco smoke may be underestimated in the study because many employees are not aware that smoking and nonsmoking areas, while separate, often share the same ventilation systems. The answer 1 can let you know that today is Uncle Jim's birthday. I can remind you that it's your anniversary. 1 can al that answering machine. because Ratinoff, 68, never would have ended up at Bob's Market in West Los Angeles had the store where he normally shopped stayed open during the rioting.

Dambacher acknowledged that interpretation played a role in determining the death toll. Statistics also showed that Latino men in Los Angeles were at higher risk for exposure than those elsewhere in the state. "Los Angeles does not have the policies in place," Pierce said. "There are just not the smoke-free regulations there." The study has come under the scrutiny of the Los Angeles County Tobacco Control Program. Officials there say the new data will help them target workplaces that require more smoking-cessation services.

The Tobacco Control Program promotes smoke-free environments and smoking-cessation programs but has no authority to mandate smoking regulations in businesses. "There are many more Hispanics who are working in areas that are not likely to have any smoking policies or bans at all," says Armando Jimenez, director of the evaluation unit of the Tobacco Control Program. "This makes it on 7 you compare it to Personal Secretary I even take messages, when you 're to the answering I can be programmed up to one year in advance. Set ice may not be available wake you nothing for Sam to make )vu ,0 repair 7am flight replace, i 1 JL I tsap mm' tt I take messages. the line.

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