The Desert Sun from Palm Springs, California • Page 15

THE DESERT SUN THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012 ley a MUSICAL TRIBUTE The Desert Winds Freedom Band will present "An American Panorama," a concert featuring music from "From Sea to Shining Sea," on Saturday. Page B3 1 Fk 5 Breakina news on vour cell ohone ID! Text DSNEWS tO 44636 (4INFO) TO SUBSCRIBE OR REPORT A DELIVERY PROBLEM, CALL (800) 834-6052 OR GO TO WWW.MYDESERT.COMCS SENIOR EDITORNEWS JIM KELLY (760) 778-4767 or localnewsthedesertsun.com wmm to aftaw mot dd Srefar After public input, city opts to keep, improve pet services does have a higher rate. The city's plan no is to create an ad hoc committee made up of Mayor Pro Tern Elaine Holmes, Councilman Sam Torres and volunteers, that will take the next six months to figure out how Indio should provide animal services. "I'm so pleased to see the tremendous outpouring of care for our animals'. We need our community shelter; we need it for our residents, but we need our community shelter to be well-run," Holmes said, The City Council began to discuss new animal care options last year as it looked at opportunities to provide better and more cost-effective services.

Those talks also started around the time a pet dog was mistakenly euthanized by shelter employees. Since then shelter manager Scott Bramer has been removed from Please see SHELTER, B4 'J'. Vitt -vV' tract and about $40,000 in savings a year came after more than a dozen animal advocates spoke out most against the county option. "I would like to see the city maintain its own shelter and use it as a rebranding tool," said Barbara Klein, a La Quinta resident, who volunteers with various valley animal groups. Though Indio has a higher euthanasia rate than the county, Klein believes the city can work to reduce those numbers.

The euthanasia rates for the county and city were not immediately available, but City Manager Dan Martinez did acknowledge that the city By Xochitl Pefta The Desert Sun INDIO The city of Indio will not contract with Riverside County for animal services and will instead work with volunteers to come up with a plan to provide better services at its Van Buren Street shelter. A standing-room-only crowd erupted intp applause Wednesday night when the Indio City Council voted 5-0 to continue operating the city-run shelter effectively rejecting a city staff recommendation that sheltering services be turned over to Riverside County. The decision to forgo the con Animals like Tripod, a three-legged Labrador, will be able to stay at the Indio animal shelter, since the City Council voted 5-0 at its meeting Wednesday night not to go ahead with a plan to shift its animal services to the county, courtesy of animal care center of indio SEEKING A TREASURE TfKT J. courtesy of nelson racing engines Cancer survivor offers reward for stolen Chevelle Arcieri in the 1980s and 2011 Man who faked his own death jailed for 10 years Neighbors called Arcieri a leader in xommunity Desert Sun staff and wire reports PHOENIX A Thousand Palms man who faked his own death to avoid arrest in the beating of a woman in Arizona has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. A Maricopa County Superior Court commissioner also sentenced Robert George Arcieri, 72, on Wednesday to five years of supervised probation.

Phoenix police caught up with Arcieri in the Coachella Valley last June and arrested him on a 1987 warrant. Police said Arcieri had been living under the alias Frank Roman Reynolds in Tri-Palm Estates, where neighbors called him a community leader who had served as president of the men's golf club and the homeowners association. Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson told The Desert Sun in June that Arcieri's criminal history dated back to the early 1980s and included conspiracy to burglarize a home in Scottsdale, Ariz. During that burglary, a 34-year-old woman who lived at the house interrupted the crime, and "was severely beaten and left for dead," Thompson said.

The woman survived. Arcieri was arrested on a conspiracy to commit murder charge June 26, 1986, but the charge was dismissed. Prosecutors intended to refile the case. On Jan. 18, 1987, Arcieri set off on a fishing trip on the Colorado River.

Police were told he fell off the dock into the river and died. Police never found his body, though, and didn't believe the story, Thompson said. Arcieri was indicted April 28, 1987, and a warrant for his arrest was issued. After the cold case homicide squad tracked him down and arrested him last year, Arcieri agreed to fly back to Phoenix. AT A GLANCE HOW TO HELP Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Ed Carter's 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle can call Detective Juan Jimenez at the Palm Springs Police Department at (760) 323-8129 or Ed Carter at (510)325-6842.

SEE THE CHEVELLE IN ACTION Photos and video of the car can be viewed at www. nelsonracingengines.com under the "cars and projects" link. almost as shocking as when he was diagnosed with throat cancer. The car was stolen from his mechanic's garage on March 2. And because the car is so important to him, Carter is offering a reward of up to $20,000 to get it back.

"I just lost it. I was so upset," Carter said. Carter had taken the car to James Madison at Line Up Engineering in Palm Springs. Madison had been working on the car on and off since Carter bought it in December 2008. Everything about the repair went fine until Madison handed Carter the keys.

Carter walked out of the shop to get the car, but it was gone. There were no signs of a break-in no broken glass, no discarded car parts lying Please see CHEVELLE, B4 By Tamara H. Sone The Desert Sun INDIAN WELLS Every time Ed Carter slid behind the wheel of his cream-colored 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle and fired up its powerful engine, he was reminded why he loves cars so much. The 74-year-old Indian Wells resident who's battled several different forms of cancer in his lifetime, spent more than $69,000 getting his prized car just the way he wanted it. Even though the Chevelle was Carter's baby, he loved driving down Highway 111 to show off its twin turbo-charged 388-cubic-inch engine, chrome-adorned dashboard and black leather bench seats.

But a minor repair to a door has led to a major loss in Carter's life, one he says is 1M Hearing set for today in fatal police chase Community briefs B2 Lottery B2 Obituaries B6-8 Opinion B9 Public safety briefs B2 Weather B10 clared dead at the fry STRANGE DELIVERY A stained package delivered to Joshua Tree National Park may have sickened 1 1 workers. B2 CHARGES FILED Indio man charged with felonies following weekend incident in Palm Springs. B2 scene. Gray also crashed, and he and his passenger had to be hospitalized. Gray is charged with second-degree Speak your mind: Send letters to lettersthedesertsun.com Gray murder, causing in By Kate McGinty The Desert Sun INDIO A judge will decide today if the man charged with killing Cathedral City police officer Jer-maine Gibson will go to trial.

Durjan Gray, 35, has pleaded not guilty to murder in Gibson's March 19, 2011, death. Prosecutors say Gray was high on methamphetamine and marijuana when he led three police officers on a chase late March 18. Gibson tried to pull over the driver of the speeding Ford Mustang about 11:30 p.m. that day but ended up chasing the car through the city and into Palm Springs. Gibson lost control of his squad car on Palm Canyon Drive and crashed into a palm tree shortly before midnight.

His car burst into flames, and Gibson, 28, was de- jury whiledrivingun-der the influence of drugs, causing injury while evading arrest and participating in a criminal street gang. Gray remains jailed at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on $1 million bail The preliminary hearing is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. A judge will decide whether there is enough evidence against Gray to go to trial. Kate McGinty can be reached at (760) 778451, lcateixgrtyethedesertsun.ccn, or TDSKateM.

CORRECTIONS INCORRECT CROSSWORD: The New York Times crossword puzzle published Wednesday repeated the clues from Tuesday. The correct puzzle and clues appears today on Page B5. MISSPELLED NAME: The photo caption for the story headlined "Funeral rites a sign of evolving tradition" on Page A1 in the March 21 edition misspelled Jane Augustine Potencio Cemetery. We correct errors of fact promptly and courteously. If you have a correction or clarification, please contact Senior Editor Jim Kelly at (760) 778-4767 or at jim.kellythedesertsun.com Desert Sun reporter Brian Indrelunas and The Associated Press contributed to this report..