The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 532

B2 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1992 LOS ANGELES TIMES Community Briefs VALLEY NEWS SANTA CLARITA Funds OKd to Study Off-Road Park Plan Gov. Pete Wilson has signed legislation to pay for a study of 700 acres of Hume Canyon north of Santa Clarita as an off-road vehicle park. That site was proposed as an alternative to Whitney Canyon, near the interchange of the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways, which had been selected earlier for the facility. "We have tried for many years to finct' a suitable site for off-highway activities in Los Angeles County," said Assembly- man Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), who sponsored the legislation. "I'm hoping Hume Canyon turns out to be the right place." The Whitney Canyon site was opposed by the Walt Disney which has a filming site nearby, and Santa Clarita city officials and local environmentalists because of its proximity to the Angeles National Forest and Placerita Canyon Park.

JULIE TAMAKI LANCASTER Ceremony Will Honor 5 Test Pilots Five test pilots will be inducted into Lancaster's Aerospace Walk of Honor Sunday in a ceremony that will feature a keynote speech by Dick Rutan, pilot of the record-setting around -the-world Voyager flight. The inductees, who will be honored with granite monuments during the third annual event, arc retired Marine Maj. Gen. Marion E. Carl, Air Force Maj.

Gen. Joe H. Engle, Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert M.

White, Robert A. Hoover and deceased pilot Air Force Capt. Iven C. Kincheloe. Carl, Engle and White are expected to attend.

The unveiling ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at the Performing Arts Center in Lancaster. Free tickets on a first-come, first-served basis are available from noon to 4 p.m. today, and after 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the arts center box office.

BLAINE HALLEY ACTON Balloting Today for Town Council Acton residents will go to the polls today to fill five open seats on the Acton Town Council from a field of seven candidates. Balloting will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Acton Community Center, 3748 W. Nickels Ave.

The nine-member council, established in 1989, is an advisory group that has no governmental authority over the unincorporated community. Four of the open seats have two-year terms and the fifth seat is for one year, the time remaining in the unexpired term that was left vacant when newspaper publisher Charles Brink was recalled last April. Incumbents Michael Hughes and Richard Morris are running against challengers Bruce Bell, Jean Chacanaca, Kenneth Malpartida, Richard Milton and Herb Olmstead. Councilman Larry Smith and council President Bill Daniels are not seeking reelection. -BLAINE HALLEY NORTHRIDQE CSUN Gets $300,000 Rockwell Donation Cal State Northridge has received a $300,000 donation from the Rockwell International Foundation to improve the school's automated engineering laboratory, school officials said Friday.

The donation, to be given over three years, will be used to buy 10 computer work stations that will become part of a small-scale automated factory in the CSUN School of Engineering and Computer Science. Over the past two years, CSUN has emerged as Rockwell's biggest source of new employees, school officials said. The school plans to rename its automated engineering lab the "Rockwell International Automation Engineering Laboratory" in honor of the firm's financial support. -SAM ENRIQUEZ NEWHALL Deputies Explode Box, Find No Bomb A suspicious package left in front of a Newhall apartment building Friday by a man who allegedly assaulted a woman who resides there was exploded by a sheriffs bomb squad and found to contain threatening letters but no explosives, sheriff's deputies said. Lt.

Robert Elson of the Santa Clarita sheriff's substation said the woman, whom he would not identify, called deputies to report that she had been accosted by the man, and that he had left behind a cardboard box she thought contained explosives. Deputies evacuated about a dozen residents of the building in the 23700 block of Valle de Oro before exploding the box. Residents were allowed to return to their homes at about 1:40 p.m. Elson said deputies are looking for the man, whom he did not identify, fori questioning. -RICHARD LEE COLVIN Only in L.A.

By Steve Harvey PIT BULL Sftl: fiMMliiiiiii Westside Wildlife: "Please find this bear," says the sign at a Pacific Palisades playground. The creature's described as "blkwht, 9 inches tall, dirty and worn 2-year-old's special friend." Which probably accounts for the amount of the reward offered for the toy: $100. No questions asked. Storybook ending: The Book-of-the-Month Club was surprised when it learned that a Los Angeles woman had left it $5,000 in her will. Why the gesture? "We'd like to believe (she was) a satisfied member.

a search of our database couldn't verify that," spokeswoman Katherine Burkett said. The money will be donated to the L.A. County Public Library's Black Resource Center. Venice Joe: on a sad note, a remembrance will be held Tuesday morning outside the Sidewalk Cafe for Joe Sigler, the proprietor of Joe's Venice Walking Tours. "Joe was a real institution on the phone." She still thinks It pays to get out of bed: You may recall that a Beaumont, inventor announced last month that he was sending his Earth-Quak bed to Caltech seismologist Kate Hutton free of charge.

The inventor had read that Hutton jumped out of bed to take cover from the Yucca Valley quake earlier this year. Either the mail's slow or he's changed his mind about sending the covered structure, which was advertised as temblor-proof. Hutton is relieved. "I don't have any room for it," she said. Guerrilla graffiti: Perhaps a Security Pacific executive is angered over the fact that Bank of America received top billing in the recent merger of the two corporations.

Whatever, readers John Heist and Che Malcolm noticed a Bank of America billboard on La Brea Avenue that has been altered by someone to read: Bankrupting America. Welcome signs of the '90s: a Burbank residence displays a warning Los Angeles Times Trespassers beware: The resident dog Is a mean biting machine. about what sounds like an unusually homicidal mutt. License plates of the '90s: Sara Meric of Santa Monica spotted WHY LA on a passing car. The question is: Does the plate predate the riots? mincclLAny: Possibly the least-known U.S.

gold-medal winner at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics was Lee Blair, who finished first in the watercolors and drawings category. Until 1948, the Olympics offered a series of events in the fine arts competition. STEVE HARVEY Lou Angeles Times The late Jo Sifter, the proprietor of Joe's Venice Walking Tours. Venice Beach Boardwalk," Venice activist Jerry Rubin said of the bearded, blue-jean clad figure. Sigler, 49, who was homeless, died earlier this week from the effects of a seizure and a fall.

An encyclopedia of Venice lore, Joe had his moment of glory when he was featured in a humorous Pacific Telephone ad. It was ironic, Joe said later, explaining: "I don't have a FIREBOMB: D.A. May Join Probe at Ramona Gardens Moratorium on Razing of Residential Hotels Expires 0 ML pi Housing: Council scrambles to pass extension of 1989 measure intended to balance rights of property owners and low-income tenants. By LOUIS SAHAGUN and GREG KRIKORIAN TIMES STAFF WRITERS Up to 163 hotels housing nearly 5,000 low-income residents were rendered vulnerable to demolition Friday when the Los Angeles City Council failed to immediately extend a moratorium protecting the structures. The moratorium was enacted in 1989 as part of an effort to avert possible demolition of such hotels outside of Los Angeles' downtown core until city officials could develop a program to balance the rights of property owners against the need for affordable housing.

The moratorium expired at midnight Friday. Although the council tentatively approved the extension in an 11-2 vote, it needed a unanimous action to take effect immediately. The matter will return to the council next Friday for a final vote and the moratorium will not take effect for another 30 days. In an effort to prevent evictions, however, city housing officials on Monday will ask the Department of Building and Safety to withhold granting demolition permits on grounds that a majority of the council wanted an immediate extension of the moratorium. Nevertheless, Gary Squier, general manager of the city's Housing Department, said the failure to implement the moratorium on Friday could result in "the loss of our most affordable housing units and result in an increase in home- J.

ALBERT DIAZ Loa Angeles Times A spotted owl peers at intruders from his perch under the cover of a leafy branch in the Angeles National Forest, east of Gorman. RANGER: Taking the Forest Trail in Search of the Rare Spotted Owl Monday morning, affecting as many as 100 to 200 low-income tenants in the Mid-Wilshire area and VanNuys. But Councilman Hal Bernsqn; who pleaded with the council to immediately extend the moratorium, said he feared 400 to 800 units could be razed before the renewal, "What we are doing here is sacrificing affordable housing that cannot be replaced," Bernson said. "We will lose a certain number of units. Don't think property owners will not take advantage of this." Over the last 20 years, 20,000 low-income housing units have been lost to commercial and industrial development, number of homeless people in Los Angeles, city housing officials said.

But the dissenters, council members Nate Holden and Joan Mllke Flores, said they opposed continuing the moratorium on grounds that it is unfair to property owners. "I don't want to throw people out on the street," Flores said. "Hopefully, that won't happen. But on the other hand, I don't think it should be the responsibility of rthe few to take care of the many." Holden agreed. "We can't keep saying to entrepreneurs in this city, 'You're going to do business the way we want you to or you won't do business at Beyond that, Holden argued that the moratorium has protected cer- tain hotels along a stretch of Washington Boulevard that have become eyesores and havens for criminals and drug pushers.

Under moratorium guidelines, owners of single -room occupancy (SRO) structures were prevented from demolishing the buildings without proving that they would replace them with equally affordable units, or that they could not afford to bring the buildings up to health and safety standards. If granted exemptions, property owners were required to provide tenants with relocation assistance. Now, Barbara Zeidman, assistant general manager of the city's Housing Preservation and Prpduc-' tion Department, fears that sdme: law-abiding tenants could wind up; living on city streets. "Relocation benefits are not, available for tenants who havener1 been in residence at an SRO hotel for at least SO consecutive days," Zeidman said. Continued from Bl this issue.

We don't need to incite or inflame things. I want to put an end to this too." The Aug. 30 firebombings, which targeted two of the housing project's seven African-American families gutted two apartments, forcing those families out. Since then, two other black families also have moved out of the housing project, reportedly fearful that the attackers may target them as well. Authorities and the only victims to speak out say they believe some residents know who threw the firebombs, but are afraid to step forward for fear of retaliation by gang members.

The Los Angeles Police Department, which normally investigates crime in the city's housing projects, says it is not investigating the case because arson falls under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Fire Department. However, the battalion chief in charge of the Fire Department's arson section said earlier this week that the case was "inactive" because of a lack of witnesses. Late Friday, Assistant Fire Marshal Dal Howard said he knew of no major break in the case, but stressed that it was still open. He appealed for any witnesses to come forward. On Thursday, Deputy Dist.

Atty. Frank Sundstedt, whose criminal conspiracy section oversees the prosecution of hate crimes and riot-related arson cases, told The Times he will look into the seemingly stalled investigation. The district attorney does not enter most cases until investigations are completed. "Because nothing's been referred to me, no review of this case) by the D. office has ever taken place," he said.

"But I'd be tremendously interested in evaluating whatever evidence there is and offering the D.A.'s Bureau of Investigation to assist in an investigation." The Rev. Carl Washington, an activist who works with the Ministers Coalition for Peace, had already scheduled a press conference Friday to ask the district attorney to intervene because he was afraid of possible retaliation from some African-American gang members. "I was told from some of the young gang members! that they would retaliate if something wasn't done in terms of finding the people who were responsible for the fire-bombing," Washington said. He said he also plans to ask the City Council to offer a reward for information about the incident. By all accounts, there has been little racial discord at the largely Latino housing complex.

However, because racial tensions between Latinos and African-Americans have escalated citywide since the riots, media reports of the fire-bombings have prompted fears of racial violence inside and outside Ramona Gardens. Some Latino residents are said to have received calls from relatives in Mexico urging them to move out for their own safety because of media reports there that they interpreted as suggesting retaliation by African-American gangs. After his press conference Friday, Alatorre told a reporter he had met with 50 youths from Ramona Gardens Thursday night to ask what they knew about the incidents. "I know how it happened, OK?" he said. "This was not a racial incident.

I now know it was one or two people who were loaded." Alatorre said he will talk with investigators next week. The incident has struck hard at the spirit of the city's oldest housing project, which has attempted to improve life for its residents with community programs, job development and anti-drug programs. "We have lived in harmony for many years," said Isabel Ayala, president of the Ramona Gardens Resident Advisory Council. "Our children have grown up together. The problems we face in the housing development are countless, and we do not need to add racial conflict to the list." Ayala and others including Clifford Warren, whose family of nine lost virtually all their possessions in the late-night firebomb-ing said the publicity has unfairly tarnished hundreds of Latino families who were shocked at the events.

But because the incident happened in the context of citywide tensions, Ayala said some residents felt "it was like someone spilled a little gasoline and everybody's waiting for the spark." Continued from Bl The project has been going on for two years now. About 180 of the sites have been surveyed, and pairs or single owls have been found in 75 of them. With another 170 sites to check most of them in the ruggedest parts of the forest the work could take another five years. "Most of the sites left aren't near the roads," Heinig said. "It's taking a lot of hiking, most of it in places where there aren't any trails." That was the case last week, when Heinig led a couple of observers up a steep, wooded canyon about 18 miles east of Gorman.

After 10 minutes or so, he stopped, cupped his hands to his mouth and coughed out a soft series of low notes that sounded something like a small dog barking. "That's the four-note locater call," he said. "There was a mating couple up here the last time I checked. They're territorial, and generally, if they hear a call, they'll respond." But this time there was no answer, so Heinig continued up the gulch, pausing every two to three minutes to repeat the calls SUU no response. Heinig's companions began to give each other knowing looks.

"Maybe I can spot one," he said. It was rapidly getting dark, and with a mottled canopy of foliage overhead, the odds seemed against it. "Look," Heinig said. "Up on that limb." There, 60 feet overhead, was the unmistakable shape of an owl. Officials estimate that there are no more than 250 spotted owls in the entire forest, and Heinig had just found one of them.

"I'm getting pretty good at it," he admitted with a grin. For the next half-hour, Heinig tried a variety of calls, but the owl wasn't interested in chit-chat. It just sat up there, alternately napping and eyeing the humans below until they eventually headed back down the canyon. Heinig said he would log the information gathered that evening, adding it to the growing body of data about the owls. "The biologists will use the data in their studies of the owls," Heinig said.

"That's not my job. My jotais to find 'em." Paul Lee, director of litigation for the Los Angeles Legal Aid Foundation, called the dissenting votes on the measure a "cavalier response to a severe problem" because it "opens a window of opportunity for property owners to demolish buildings that people depend on to stay off the streets." City housing officials anticipate that at least three appUcationsrfor demolition will be filed as early as.