The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 113

CALIFORNIA SG latimes.com/california LOS ANGELES EDITION By Joel Rubin Times Staff Writer Crenshaw High School, among Los lowest-performing campuses, lost its accreditation this week, throwing into doubt the worth of the diplomas its future graduates will receive. The Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges, which accredits public and private high schools in California, notified school officials Monday that the campus had been stripped of its accreditation after failing to correct what it found were persistent, widespread problems. In a letter to the school, the accrediting commission said it had rejected the school because of concerns regarding student achievement, the implementation of a curriculum and instructional program aligned with California academic standards, and the capacity of the school to address other critical Los Angeles Unified School District officials acknowledged recent failures, but expressed confidence that ongoing reform efforts at the student campus would lead to reinstatement of its accreditation this spring. our kids who are at stake here," said Doug Waybright, director of secondary education for the local district that includes Crenshaw.

is no choice things need to change." News of the decision underscored the changes the school See Crenshaw, Page B6 Crenshaw Receives a Failing Grade The high school loses its accreditation. L.A. Unified officials say faults can be corrected. he case was so inhuman, the outrage was understandable. A couple of 19-year-old Neanderthals watched a bum-bashing video and then trolled skid row with baseball bats early Tuesday morning, attacking homeless people as they lay sleeping.

At 9th and Wall streets they teed off on Gerald McHenry, who got away with just contusions. Then they went to 3rd and Flower streets and savagely beat Ernest Adams, who ended up in critical condition with head wounds. Vicious and cowardly, said Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton, who spoke at a news conference with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa after the arrest of the suspected bashers William Orantes and Justin Brumfield on charges of attempted murder. happened to one of our most helpless communities because not only homeless but often mentally the chief said.

dehumanizing crimes will not be What is tolerated, however, much prettier. Downtown Los skid row is a spectacle that practically defies description. Police and paramedics can barely keep up with the nightly violence and medical emergencies, and the fire station is not just the busiest in Los Angeles but last year was the busiest in the entire nation, according to Fire Capt. Bill Wells. The attackers knew just where to go for a night of fun.

While skid row is home to dangerous predators and cons, also home to thousands of sick and helpless people who make easy targets. As said before, I often worry about the safety of the schizophrenic musician been writing about this year, especially after spending a night on skid row with Nathaniel Anthony Ayers. Menacing glances follow you everywhere at night, and the man in critical condition after assault was attacked very near one of haunts. had a murder down here in June in which a guy gets stabbed in the chest and dies four hours later in the said LAPD Capt. Andrew Smith of the Central Bureau.

stabber lives in Azusa. a gang member who came here because he likes to hang out and party in this part of town because of the proliferation of drugs and prostitution. 24 hours a day, and they call it is one unforgettable scene after another. called medical hundreds of times, for someone Icame across in my Smith said. see someone with a leg so swollen the skin is bursting at the seams, the kidneys have shut down.

Or see someone got an infection with worms or maggots growing out of it. The mentally ill will sometimes wait until it gets so bad that someone flags us down. my got worms coming out of Firefighter Tim Toledo, 25, said skid Station 9 averages more than 60 runs a day, so barely time to catch your breath between calls. night we went out on a young lady who gave birth right on the sidewalk. unreal.

We get there and the holding the baby in her arms with the umbilical cord still attached, lying in a tent with dirty Toledo said. People by the dozens scoot around in wheelchairs, sometimes with colostomy bags that look like they been changed in far too long, Toledo said. Wheelchairs fit inside the rescue vehicles, Toledo said, and Station 9 deals with so many of them, a private company was signed up to pick up and store the wheelchairs. When patients are released TEVE OPEZ POINTS WEST Inhumanity Has Found a Home on Skid Row See Lopez, Page B5 By Cara Mia DiMassa Times Staff Writer When Los Angeles County supervisors voted to approve a billion project to revitalize Grand Avenue last week, they did so despite their own warnings that the project poses several financial risks for the county. The warnings came in a previously unpublicized report that was obtained by The Times.

Allan D. Kotin, who frequently advises the county on real estate ventures, suggested in a report last month that the county could benefit from a more detailed analysis of the estimated development costs, according to the report. The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 last weekto give the go- ahead to the 25-acre development, which includes a public park, skyscrapers, shopping areas and a movie theater complex. Much of the project is being built on land owned by the county, and concerns underscore those of critics who have said the financing plan for Grand Avenue is vague on exactly how much the county would reap from the development. Under the terms approved by the supervisors, the developer, Related and its investment partners are giving the government agencies $50 million up front as a down payment on the lease of the properties.

But that money is expected to be poured back into the development, mostly to fund street improvements and the 16-acre public park between the Music Center and City Hall. The plancalls for the county to get additional revenues in the future, based on rents for the apartments and stores. Kotin, who was hired by the county to analyze the Grand Avenue economic plan, said the arrangement puts the county at risk if the project goes over budget or if the downtown real estate market cools. If the costs significantly increase, he wrote, the county could be required to provide subsidies or the park might not be built. definitely not a revenue- maximizing plan for the he wrote in the report.

County Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen, whose office commissioned report, defended the Grand Av- Genaro Molina Los Angeles Times GRAND PLANS: Part of the downtown Grand Avenue revitalization area as seen from the headquarters of the Department of Water and Power. Included in the plan are a public park between City Hall, center, and the Music Center, in the foreground. Grand Ave. Questions Raised Supervisors approved the 25-acre development despite a report stating that it may pose financial risks for Los Angeles County. See Grand Avenue, Page B7 By Hector Becerra and Monte Morin Times Staff Writers Jeffrey Tymich said he would never forget the last time he saw his 6-year-old or what they were doing moments before she disappeared from their Hyde Park neighborhood.

It was 11 years ago, and he said his sister and his two brothers were throwing peaches over the roof of a house to see who could throw the farthest. Tymich, who is now 20, said he and his brothers ran home when they heard their grand- mother calling them. The family was planning to watch the movie Lion When the boys looked back, their sister was gone. disappearance June 30, haunted this close- knit Southwest L.A. neighborhood for more than a decade and remains a mystery to authorities.

But the case of the missing girl was revived in dramatic fashion Thursday when more than 100 Los Angeles Police Department detectives, FBI agents and Los Angeles County personnel swept into the neighborhood and began searching the crawl space of a house directly across the street from home. The search at Brynhurst Avenue and 60th Street appeared aimed at unearthing the re- mains, but investigators came up empty-handed. A collection of bones discovered was from fish, cows and dogs, authorities said. Although authorities declined to publicly link the search to disappearance, members of her family said they were told several months ago that the department had reopened the case giving new life to the old mystery. Joyce Green and her daughter were among the scores of residents who pressed up against the police tape Thursday to catch a glimpse of the grim search.

Green, 50, rushed to the scene after she saw face flash on the television screen. never forget her little face. Icame down here, and I was hoping they found her, because at Allen J. Schaben Los Angeles Times STILL HOPE: Jeffrey Tymich, 20, brother of Crystal Tymich, shows photos of his sister at age 6 and an image of what she might look like now, upper right, and photos of a mystery teen. South L.A.

Search Fails to Find Evidence of Long-Missing Girl Only animal bones are found in Hyde Park, near where a 6-year-old vanished in 1994. See Crystal, Page B5 By Daryl Kelley Times Staff Writer First came the guardhouse, then the guards and now the gates. The view up Serra Road these days looks more like a high-security entrance to an exclusive compound than a reception area for a public park. The security measures are intended to keep trespassers and looky-loos out of a bucolic canyon dotted with multimillion- dollar estates, including those of Hollywood celebrities and at least one billionaire. But they havecaught the eye of state coastal and park officials, who say Serra Canyon homeowners have violated agreements with both agencies by denying public access to Malibu Lagoon State Beach hiking trails through the same Serra Road entry.

issue here is excluding the public from public said Pat Veesart, a California Coastal Commission enforcement officer. when you drive up Serra Road you see aguardhouse and guards and swing-arm gates. The strong visual message the public receives is: come in here; not In the latest twist in a 15-year dispute, the commission is preparing a citation against the Serra Canyon Property Owners Assn. for allegedly violating a Visitors to Park Are Told Not to Take a Hike Coastal Commission and Serra Canyon residents are at odds over public access to Malibu Lagoon trails. See Park, Page B6 Fire Razes Church Suspect blaze levels picturesque Ventura County landmark.

B3 City claim to name heads toward political showdown. B4 WWII Ace Dies Roy Voris, who formed Blue Angels, was 85. B8 B4 B10 B8 B12 INSIDE By Eric Malnic Times Staff Writer An knife attack on a guard at Calipatria State Prison on Thursday afternoon escalated into a series of riots that left one prisoner shot dead and at least 16 correctional officers and about 25 inmates wounded, officials said. Asecond prisoner who suffered a gunshot wound was airlifted to a San Diego hospital, and five inmates were being treated for severe cuts, bruises and possible internal injuries at PioneersMemorial Hospital in nearby Brawley. Also being treated at the hospital in Brawley were two guards, one of whom was the target of the initial attack.

The two officers, both of whom suffered head wounds, were expected to be re- leasedtoday. It was the second riot this month at a state prison. Last week, about 40 inmates were injured at San Quentin in the largest riot at that facility in 23 years. Order at Calipatria, in the sweltering Imperial Valley, was restored by evening. But the fa- 1 Killed, 41 Injured in Prison Riots See Riots, Page B6.