The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 4

B4 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2015 os Angeles (Times LATIMES.COM Mission statue of Serra sustains damage Images toppled, paint splashed at Carmel site where saint's remains are buried. JL 'f gm GlNAFERAZZI Los Angeles Times A SMALL MEMORIAL stands near where Paul Lesh, 66, was shot and killed in his car in the town of Banning in Riverside County. Police say the homicide was one in a string of violent attacks across the town that left another man dead and three other people wounded. Suspect held in violent attacks Benjamin Johnson, 34, of Banning. A few minutes after that incident, police in nearby Beaumont were called about a man knocking on doors in the 700 block of American Avenue, authorities said.

That call was followed by a report of a man breaking the window of a car in the 1300 block of 8th Street. Officers stopped the suspect's vehicle a short time later. Police arrested Diaz and recovered a weapon from his vehicle, officials said. kimxhristensen latimes.com nor wounds. A witness told police that the suspect was driving a white SUV.

About 11:45 a.m., police responded to another report of shots fired, from one vehicle into another, at San Gorgonio Avenue and Nico-let Street, authorities said. The female driver of the second vehicle suffered minor wounds from shattered glass. She also told police the gunman drove a white SUV. Less than 10 minutes later, officers were dispatched on an assault-with-a-deadly weapon call at an AMPM gas station at 22nd and Ramsey streets, police said. Officers found a male victim who had been beaten, including with a blunt object, as he sat in his parked vehicle.

Video footage from the scene showed a man driving a white SUV, as described in the earlier incidents, police said. The beating victim was treated at a local hospital and later released. At 12:13 p.m., Banning police responding to a report of a vehicle crashed into a wall in the 200 block of East Lincoln Street found its driver dead, and later determined he had suffered gunshot wounds, authorities said. The coroner's office identified the victim Sunday as Man is charged with murder after two people are killed and three hurt in Banning. By Kim Christensen Banning police on Sunday identified the suspect they say shot and killed two people and wounded three others in apparently random attacks as he drove through the Riverside County city a day earlier.

James Paul Diaz, 34, was booked on two counts of first -degree murder, one count of attempted murder, Envisioning skyways, trains to the beach By Kate Linthicum Days after Pope Francis elevated Father Junipero Serra to sainthood, vandals struck the Carmel Mission where the remains of the controversial missionary are buried, toppling statues and damaging gravesites. The vandals, who police say acted Saturday night or early Sunday morning, splashed paint throughout the cemetery and across the doors of a basilica, scrawling "Saint of Genocide" on one headstone. The statue of Serra was toppled and smeared with green paint. Carmel Police Sgt. Luke Powell said his agency was investigating the incident as a hate crime because the vandals targeted "specifically the headstones of people of European descent, and not Native American descent." Serra, the 18th century friar who brought Roman Catholicism to California, has been criticized by many for his harsh treatment of Native Americans.

Despite protests, Pope Francis canonized Serra on Wednesday in a ceremony in Washington, saying the friar "sought to defend the dignity of the native community," and suggesting that his legacy had been misinterpreted. The Carmel Mission had planned an event Sunday celebrating Serra's sainthood. Instead, staff and volunteers spent the morning picking up statues that had been knocked over and scrubbing graffiti from tombstones. Powell said investigators were reviewing surveillance video to try to identify a suspect or suspects. Several security guards were stationed overnight at the mission, he said, but the vandalism went undetected until 7 a.m.

Sunday. The Carmel Mission has seen an uptick in visitors in recent months in advance of Serra's canonization and as controversy about the decision to make him a saint has grown. Serra arrived in what would become California in 1769 and established nine missions between San Diego and San Francisco. The Spanish missionary viewed the indigenous tribes as heathens who desperately needed the Gospel, and baptized thousands of Native Americans. California public school students, typically in fourth grade, have for decades built models of missions and studied the history of Catholicism's spread throughout the state.

In recent years, a more critical accounting of that history has gained attention. The Spanish brought diseases that devastated the indigenous population and were known for flogging those who disobeyed and capturing those who tried to leave the missions. Serra's role in such violence is disputed; the matter has been debated on university campuses and the halls of the state Legislature. Pope Francis led the canonization ceremony during his recent visit to the United States, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. The Pope addressed Serra's history by portraying him as a protector, not an oppressor, of early Californi-ans.

kate.linthicum latimes.com Twitter: katelinthicum i Kill1- I MARKBOSTER Los Angeles Times A BLUEPRINT for San Diego includes up to four new trolley lines for linking people to job centers. one count of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of shooting at a person from a vehicle and one count of shooting at an inhabited vehicle, the Banning Police Department said in a statement. The rampage began about 11:30 a.m. Saturday when officers responding to a report of shots fired in the 700 block of East John Street found the body of a male gunshot victim, police said. The Riverside County coroner's office identified the victim Sunday as Paul Lesh, 66, of Banning.

A second man was taken to a local hospital with mi before, where the region was stretching out, it kind of stretched to the limit now," said SAND AG Executive Director Gary Gallegos. "Now what it is doing is growing up. The reason I think that's important is that as our transportation plans evolve, we need to take that into account." The plan envisions $204 billion in transportation spending, half of which would go to public transit like new light -rail lines, skyways and buses, the plan says. Some $42 billion would go toward highway construction, and in particular, managed lanes. There's $5 billion to encourage biking and walking.

The overall figure includes operating costs. Most of the funds would come from the federal government and state, but 48 would come from local sources. "It does represent a very balanced approach to regional transportation needs," said Jerome Stocks, former Encinitas mayor and former chairman of SANDAG's board. The plan also predicts 53,000 new jobs per year and growth in the gross regional product of $13 billion. The plan, especially for road improvements, depends on next-generation managed highway lanes and smart technology, as well as old-school car and van pools.

"I don't think that what the plan is suggesting is that we're going to build a bunch of new roads, but given the lane-use patterns that we see, and how they overlay, that we can make smart investments, not in whole new freeways, but in extra lanes to increase efficiency and make San Diego an early adopter of new technology," said Charles Stoll, SANDAG's director of land use and transportation planning. Managed lanes help traffic planners to get motorists Blue Line stop to the Coaster, with stops along the way. This would link the two systems and give train riders new options, Gallegos said. "I think our goal has been to provide competitive mobility options for San Die-gans, and that they are smart and will pick things that make their life better," he said. The bike network would extend through the entire county and nearly every coastal part of the region, as well as downtown, UTC and Sorrento Valley.

It should help the city get closer to having 6 of the population commuting by bike by 2020, and 18 by 2035, said Andy Hanshaw, executive director of the San Diego County Bike Coalition. Some critics say it's folly to think such a large portion of people commuting would do so on bikes. Advocates have their own criticism: They say there's no way the city can reach its goals unless the SANDAG plan seriously bolsters resources for bicycle travel. There should be protected bike lanes, traffic control projects and other efforts that convince people that they won't get hurt while riding a bike, Hanshaw said. Ensuring a safe commute is the best way to convince people to get in the saddle, followed by education programs that extol the health and environmental perks of riding, he said.

Critics and fans will have a final chance to give their opinion on the plan when it goes before the SANDAG board Oct. 9. Even still, the plan isn't binding, and officials said the future will certainly deviate from their drafts. joshua.stewart sduniontribune.com Joshua Stewart writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. San Diego planners add the new transit lines in their 35-year vision for the county.

By Joshua Stewart SAN DIEGO The newest route to the beach might come with a bird's-eye view and no risk of tracking sand into your car. A new long-term blueprint from San Diego planners puts skyways and light-rail stations in some of the county's beach communities, making it possible for people who want to get to the ocean to make the trip from most of the county without getting behind the wheel. Beach access is one of the many components of the San Diego Assn. of Governments plan that both reflects the county's growth trend and seeks to shape it. SANDAG's 35-year vision gives a framework for land use and transportation through the middle of the century.

Drafters say it will guide the region as it adds an estimated 1 million people by 2 050, and that many of its ideas will appear in the region's future in some form. The blueprint is built on the assumption that suburban sprawl will be curtailed, and more people will live closer to where they work and along transportation corridors. There will be a significant shift in the number of households in multifamily homes. Neighborhoods will be more densely populated, and it will be easier to use mass transit like trolleys and skyway gondolas. Past plans predicted that a third of the county would be left as open space, but now, forecasts show that 55 could be left as parks, protected habitat or farmland.

"What that means is that in the two or three decades to drive the way they want, with the proper mix of speed and distance between cars. Managed lanes are a way to get people to use roads efficiently, Gallegos said. A smart system will consider the traffic up and downstream and change how cars are admitted onto the highway, and managed toll roads will change their prices to encourage or discourage people to use them and to help prevent traffic jams. Around 100 miles of rail service the driving distance from San Ysidro to Irvine is rolling along. The Coaster and Sprinter trains should both run on double tracks to increase service, and as many as four new trolley lines should also be built to link people to the region's job centers, according to the plan.

The Mid Coast Trolley could begin construction early next year and is a foundation for other new transit projects, including the skyways. The nine-stop extension of the Blue Line would go from the Santa Fe Depot downtown north to University City, to a University Town Center Transit Center. A second new rail line would intersect the Mid Coast Trolley, and links Pacific Beach to Sorrento Mesa. A third line would replace a rapid bus route that stretches from San Diego State University, down El Cajon Boulevard, and down Park Boulevard heading downtown. The fourth line would start at San Ysidro, go up the 805 Freeway to the 15 Freeway to Mission Valley.

From there the line would run north to job centers in Kearny Mesa, and to Sorrento Valley. Some trolley ideas might be derailed in favor of a more unique mass transit system. The plan suggests that skyways overhead gondolas carried by a wire cable could be better than trains in some cases. Skyways are much cheaper than the cost of rail and can climb hills that are insurmountable with trolleys. Three routes are being considered.

One line would connect Balboa Park to the waterfront convention center with possible stops alongthe way. The second would go from Pacific Beach to Sorrento Mesa. Gallegos said the steep grades would require expensive tunnels and bridges to run a trolley inland, so skyways might be cheaper. The third route would extend from University Town Center home to a new.