The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 44

2003:01:23:22:49:43 CALIFORNIA OC B11 LOSANGELESTIMES to Wedding RingsJewelers Make Elegant Jewelry SAVINGS of (949) 454-0100 Hours: MON-FRI 10:30 7, SAT 11 6 CLOSED SUN 22641 Lake Forest Drive, Lake Forest (Lake Forest exit, east to Muirlands) on PLATINUM, 18k, 14k Rings Pendants Bracelets Necklaces Bands Loose Stones lems. like them as she said. look out for us as much as we look out for Caret said the university would review its affiliations with all fraternities and sororities. they have parties and get neighbors he said. these fraternities have been a very positive influence on Caret said every effort would be made to determine exactly what happened late Tuesday and early Wednesday, and why.

even conjure up in my mind what it would take to get 60 to 100 students, presumably well-educated individuals, and get them into a gang or of the or pack Caret said. baffling why someone stand up and say, is He said the incident will tarnish the reputation. university president, I hate it when a stigma like this gets put on a campus like ours, because we deserve he said. we will live with it, and we will live with it a long On campus Thursday, several students said they had not heard about the brawl. Those who had said they realized that violence could erupt anywhere.

matter what anyone says, this school is not a safe said CharaGorman, 21. always a Attempts to discuss the incident with members of the two fraternities were rebuffed Thursday. One young man, retreating into the Pi Alpha Phi house, told an inquiring reporter, my Members of family declined to comment. Kim, a member of Lambda Phi Epsilon, worked weekends at his ABC Cellular shop in San Jose. Michelle Vu, 55, who owns the hair salon next door, said the young man was a who earned the respect of the neighborhood for helping out in the store, which has been closed since the incident.

Joon Hee Lee, 24, a former member of the UCLA chapter of Lambda Phi Epsilon, objected to those likening the brawl to a gang fight, saying such characterizations perpetuate stereotypes of Asian youths as gang members. do so much for the community, but no one talks about Lee said. was an isolated Founded in 1857, San Jose State is the oldest institution of higher education in California. Glionna is a Times staff writer; is a special correspondent. Times staff writers Caitlin Liu, Eric Malnic and Teresa Watanabe contributed to this report.

Two Fraternities Suspended After Deadly Confrontation San Jose, from Page B1 Richard Koci Hernandez San Jose Mercury News ON CAMPUS: The day after Alam death, fraternity symbols mark some walkways at San Jose State. another chapter in the delicate and often rancorous balance of power between the elected Board of Supervisors and the appointed county executive. After the county fell into bankruptcy in 1994, there was consensus that the county needed a stronger executive who would be more accountable and provide oversight for the far-flung bureaucracy. But the board has repeatedly clashed with its CEOs over power and control. conciliatory style was supposed to bring an end to this rancor.

When tapped for the CEO post, Schumacher was a 30-year county veteran who had won national attention for his research into youth crime when he headed the Probation Department. But Moorlach said Schumacher appeared intimidated by former Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who gained a reputation for challenging the CEO and asking hard-hitting questions. When Spitzer left in December for a seat in the state Assembly, Schumacher was faced with another challenge: the financial mess at the Planning and Development Services Department. The department was spending more money than it was taking in. It depleted an reserve fund as well as an $8-million emergency loan from the board in August.

To balance its budget, the department laid off one- fifth of the staff and wants to raise inspection fees. The planning department problem was a key source of friction between the board and Schumacher. But it the only one. Supervisors were also unhappy at early retirement benefits the staff negotiated and the board approved in December, sources said. Another factor: The county grand jury recently began investigating problems at the Office of Human Resources.

James Campbell, an aide to Supervisor Chuck Smith, said ouster has as much to do with changing times than anything else. position inherently is going to have to adjust as issues change and as personalities change at the board Campbell said. Asked what he would like to see in a new CEO, Wilson added: not saying the CEO should micromanage the County of Orange, and not saying the CEO should sit back and let managers manage Glenn Koenig Los Angeles Times he would have been a leader it might have been different, but he was ducking and watching the bullets John M.W. Moorlach, treasurer-tax collector, referring to Michael Schumacher, above Next County CEO Will Be a CEO, from Page B1 The case began in 1996, when federal authorities accused her of bringing as many as 30 poor, pregnant women into the United States and then selling their babies to wealthy California couples. Gati insisted, however, that the adoptions were legitimate, and her lawyers said the truth would become known at trial.

Prosecutors at the time alleged Gati provided airline tickets and documents for the Hungarian women to come to Orange County to deliver their babies between February 1993 and June 1996. In court papers, authorities accused her of promising to pay each mother for a baby with dark features and $12,000 for a baby with light Despite the sensational allegations, Gati was indicted only on charges of tax evasion. Prosecutors dropped the criminal complaint after a judge ruled that documents seized from home were obtained illegally. The case gained new steam in April 2001, though, when a federal grand jury indicted the pair on wire fraud and tax evasion. McCurrie said that the wire fraud indictment stemmed from the fact that adoption agency represented that it was legal, that it concealed the fact that parents were paid for their offspring, and that charges were inflated in order to pay for the babies.

Revelations about operation were heart-wrenching for the parents in the United States who had adopted the children. Federal officials on Thursday declined to provide details on the status of those children or whether the government plans an additional action in their cases. kids be ripped out of their homes in the next McCurrie said. want people to get that Pleas End Adoption Inquiry Plea, from Page B1 By Daryl Kelley Times Staff Writer City councils from Santa Paula and Fillmore have vowed to save the Santa Clara beleaguered community hospital, while also pointedly demanding more financial information from the Tennessee company that runs the tiny medical center. In a rare joint meeting, the neighboring councils said they would do whatever it takes to keep the 39-bed Santa Paula Memorial Hospital open.

But they also said some employees trust hospital administrators and wonder what has happened to money the Santa Paula community has raised in recent years to keep the hospital afloat. Council members said, as well, that they may beinterested in setting up a special healthcare district in their farming valley, merging the hospital with a larger one or even selling the 41-year-old facility if that is necessary to keep it open. one here thinks this hospital is going to go said John Procter, mayor of Santa Paula. are the type of community that simply allow Firm resolve was mixed with tough questioning Wednesday evening in a 3 1 2 -hour meeting at the Santa Paula Community Center attended by about 100 people, including many hospital employees. Residents wanted to know how the hospital, facing a $3-million-plus operating loss this fis- cal year, would finally break even and halt a cycle of desperate fund-raising.

The hospital announced last month that it needed to raise $600,000 in 90 days or it might be forced to close or downsize. The meeting Wednesday was punctuated by council and audience demands that the community-owned hospital, which has not turned a profit since 1988, open its books to show how much money the Quorum Health Group gets for overseeing it. Quorum has operated the center since 1994. After arguing that management contract was confidential, hospital Chief Executive Mark Gregson finally acknowledged that Quorum was paid $498,000 out of a budget of about $15 million to manage the hospital in the fiscal year that ended in 2002, an amount he described as The money paid salary and benefits, those of a chief financial officer and additional fees to Quorum, which, with more than 200 facilities, is the biggest U.S. manager of nonprofit hospitals.

Gregson said the value of services provided by Quorum far exceeds the cost of its contract. The hospital saves about year in purchasing alone, he said, because Quorum is so large it gets hefty discounts by buying in bulk. Phillip Romney, chairman of the volunteer board of directors and Santa Paula city attorney, said the hospital saves twice the value of the Quorum contract each year by having the company as its manager. hospital have survived this without Quorum, Romney said. But several council members said heard concerns and questions about hospital operations, especially from employees.

fearful of good money chasing said Santa Paula Councilman Richard Cook. They are concerned, he said, about home and vehicle leases for Quorum administrators, and that the hospital has not made an employee retirement payment for months. They also want to ensure that $75,000 netted from a Christmas fund-raiser goes as promised toward improving the emergency room. Romney and Gregson said administrators meet regularly with employees, but would do more to open lines of communication. They said home and vehicle leases for Gregson and financial officer Dan Jessup and plane flights back to their home states when they were hired permanently, at different times in the last 18 months.

Money from the Christmas fund-raiseris still earmarked for the emergency room andem- ployee retirement payments are current, even though the date of payment was changed. Gregson said the hospital needs only four more overnight patients a day, up toan average of 21, to break even. your doctor sends you somewhere else, ask Gregson said. running four patients a day, But some council members faulted the past out- reach to the community, saying many residents even know it exists. The hospital needs a hot line so potential patients can call when their doctors tell them they have to go to another hospital.

The community and staff also need to know the specifics of the survival plan, they said. Fillmore Mayor Evaristo Barajas said: hospital is needed, but we really need to get out there and lay everything on the Some residents and council members liked the idea of a health-care district, a possibility the hospital evaluated a few years ago but failed to embrace, partly because it would not raise enough money to eliminate the deficit. Such a district would be funded by parcel taxes and would require two-thirds approval of voters within its boundaries. County Supervisor Kathy Long said back the district if the city councils decide the way they want to go. She also said that push to have the health system work with the Santa Paula hospital, which recently became a partner in the Healthy Families program for the poor.

Wally Bobkiewicz, city manager of Santa Paula, noted that voters in northern Sonoma County and the city of Alameda recently formed health-care districts when their faltering community hospitals needed support. 2 Cities Vow to Save Ventura County Hospital Spencer Weiner Los Angeles Times RED INK: Santa Paula Memorial Hospital has not turned a profit since 1988, and operators last month said they needed to raise $600,000 in 90 days or face closure or downsizing. Santa Paula and Fillmore officials join in an effort to keep struggling facility open. They consider forming a health-care district to provide tax funds. add worldly taste to your morning cup.

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