The Signal from Santa Clarita, California • 16

C6 Newnoil Siqnol Souous Enterprise Mondoy, July 20, 1992 AROUND THE WORLD mmuwuni umin iKi iinmwnHnj.im,iijifiw iimwiin Fire races toward national forest hamlet Ground crews were aided by 11 air tankers dumping fire-retardant along the front lines and five water-dropping helicopters quelling hot spots, said Mrs. Hagcn. The fire started about 2:30 p.m. Saturday and quickly raced through the steep, rugged landscape, she saidv There were no arrests. The West was bracing for a busy fire season after a rainy spring ended a six-year drought that killed off much of the chaparral.

Renewed by the rains, much of the new growth is now a brittle brown. In the Idaho community of Banks, 30 miles north of Boise, firefighters struggled during the weekend to tame a forest fire. The blaze was apparently caused by sparks from a car being towed by a recreational vehicle along a scenic highway between Banks and Gardena, officials said. burning southeast toward Hidden Glen, a remote community 30 miles east of downtown San Diego. There were no evacuations.

Two mobile homes, three greenhouses, several sheds and at least two abandoned vehicles were burned, but no homes were burned, the spokeswoman said. Four firefighters were injured: two "chainsaw incidents," another with a cut leg and another evacuated due to heat exhaustion, Mrs. Hagen said. More than 580 firefighters endured temperatures rising to 100 degrees, low humidity, erratic winds and dense thickets of brush that shot up during drought-busting spring rains then died out in the summer heat. "It's very, very dry fuel," said Mrs.

Hagen. At dawn Sunday, firefighting strike teams were called in from San Bernardino, Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo counties. fire officials. The blaze was 35 percent contained, meaning about one-third of the fire's perimeter was surrounded. Complete containment was expected by 6 p.m.

today, but there was no estimate on when the fire would be extinguished. On Sunday afternoon, another brush blaze flared in San Diego County. Fifty acres bumed in a remote, hilly area 60 miles cast of San Diego near the community of Boulevard, said Norm Machado of the U.S. Forest Service. Six air tankers and two helicopters were dispatched to assist 100 firefighters on the ground.

The blaze was reported at 1:30 p.m. and no structures were damaged or threatened, Machado said. The earlier wildfire, which was started Saturday by an illegal campfire near the Loveland Reservoir, was Aircraft, strike teams attack spreading flames ALPINE (AP) Flames crackling through 1,550 acres of brush Sunday headed for a mountain hamlet in the Cleveland National Forest, but firefighters were confident the community could be protected. Aircraft bombarded flames with water and fire-retardant and strike teams from as far as San Luis Obispo, some 250 miles away, were called in, said Audrey Hagcn, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry. Extensive mapping of the fire area after dawn Sunday showed the wildfire had burned about 1,550 acres, down from the nearly 2,300 acres reported earlier by BRIEFS 1 Gang priest leaves parish in despair LOS ANGELES (AP) A Roman Catholic priest who ministers to gang members in a poor East Los Angeles parish is leaving on retreat partly to avoid despair.

The Rev. Gregory J. Boyle will celebrate his final Mass at Dolores Mission Church next Sunday. He is leaving on a year-long spiritual retreat required of all Jesuits before they take final vows. Boyle said it is a necessary step after six years and dozens of deaths in the poorest parish of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

"I'm right at the edge of bumout, and at this point, if I do another year here I think I'll go over the edge," he said. "Before, each death pinched me; it was a pain that would hurt and then go away. The last couple deaths got into the marrow of my bones." Boyle, 38, has buried 26 victims of gang violence. The priest, known as "G-dog" to gang acquaintances, said he will suffer if a gang member he knows is killed during his absence and he cannot attend the funeral. "That will be torture for me," he said.

"But that's part of life here." Boyle's parish includes the Pico Gardens and Aliso Village housing projects and at least eight gangs. Some of the gang members he serves have wept and asked why he must leave; others said they fear an escalation of gang bloodshed with his departure. During his retreat, Boyle's place will be taken by the associate pastor. Father Peter Neeley, who is said to have less rapport with gang members. Boyle has made a strong impression on the largely Hispanic community, even appearing on a neighborhood mural.

He pays more than 60 gang members S5 to $6 per hour to clean up graffiti, keep the church spruced, and perform other tasks. But his philosophy of loving gang members into submission has been a mixed success. Gang homicides in the area have more than doubled since he first came to the area. 1 liJ 0 I 1 111,1 Wit 1 -i -jfeciij'-a! Associated Presi Preparing for protest Members of Act Up dress a mannequin of President Bush for a march Sunday in Boston where about 150 people protested U.S. visa restrictions against AIDS sufferers and HfV carriers.

Anonymous note blurs man's disappearance AIDS parade turns out record participants SAN FRANCISCO A record 15,000 people took part in Sunday's 10 kilometer AIDS Walk San Francisco through Golden Gate Park, according to organizers of the event. The walkers, including children, had money pledges from 138,500 individual sponsors, said Craig Miller, spokesman for the 6th annual event. "This year we raised $2.5 million, surpassing the record S2.2 million raised last year," he said. A similar walk is scheduled for Los Angeles on September 20. "We are deeply touched by the tremendous outpouring of support that Bay Area AIDS organizations received today," said Pat Christen, executive director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

The foundation is the main beneficiary of the walk. Prominent TV executive suffers fata! heart attack LOS ANGELES Irv Sepk-owitz, who rose to prominence as a television executive, has died. He was 55. Sepkowitz died Saturday at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank after suffering a heart attack, said Robert Crutchfield, a spokesman for Universal Television.

The Wichita Falls, Texas, native was named executive vice president of administration for Universal Television in March 1990. He was senior vice president of business affairs at Lori-mar and Lorimar-Telepictures from 1978 to 1987. Sepkowitz was director of business affairs for the CBS entertainment division from 1972 to 1978. He also was an attorney and literary agent at Ashley Famous Agency, which later became International Creative Management. Study: Half of large rigs have dangerous brakes DETROIT A federal study said about half the heavy trucks on U.S.

highways have brake problems that pose dangers, a newspaper reported Sunday. Investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board stopped about 1,500 heavy trucks by surprise in five states and ordered 46.1 percent off the road because their brakes were out of adjustment, The Detroit News said. About 10 percent of the trucks inspected had other serious brake problems, the newspaper said. 911 caller put in jail due to computer snafu OXNARD Helen Golc-mon, 52, of Oxnard Shores, who placed two 911 emergency calls to police complaining about rowdy lecn-agers outside her home, was jailed after a computer erroneously showed she never cleared up a traffic ticket. The July 7 episode began when Ms.

Golemon twice dialed 911 around 2 a.m. and asked police to quiet youths drinking outside her home. An officer showed up four hours later. She was arrested, put in the back of a patrol car and taken to the Oxnard police station, where she was fingerprinted, photographed and locked up. Several hours later, she posted her own bail by writing a $188 check.

Compiled from 8lgrwl nwi Mrvicat Rabin: Limit put on Jewish settlements JERUSALEM (AP) Secretary of State James A. Baker III opened a fresh round of Mideast diplomacy Sunday with assurances from Yitzhak Rabin, the new Israeli prime minister, that Jewish settlements on the West Bank will be restricted. "It will make a difference," Baker said of U.S. policy on helping Israel to absorb lens of thousands of immigrants, "We now have a government here that is serious about limiting" settlement activity, he said. And yet, Baker did not commit tlie Bush administration to reversing itself and guaranteeing $10 billion in housing loans Israel seeks from commercial banks for building homes for the newcomers.

"We will continue to have discussions regarding the issue," he said at a joint news conference with Rabin. The meeting followed a decision by the Israeli Cabinet to freeze settlements on the West Bank. Baker appealed to Arabs to match Rabin's conciliatory moves. "We would like to think we could begin to hear some new and different signals from those on the Arab side," he said. Baker will have his first opportunity to take soundings on Monday when he meets here with a group of Palestinian Arabs involved in peace talks that were recessed in late April.

"There is now some new opportunities presented," Baker said as twilight descended on Jerusalem. He will also meet again on Monday with Rabin, whose election has infused new vitality into the peace process Baker set up with nine trips to the area last year. Rabin said they discussed the "content" of the negotiations to be resumed in Rome at a date to be set by the two sides. "I share what I believe is your optimism in regard to the opportunities for moving forward in a positive way," Baker said. Censor minister hit by titillating story LONDON The Cabinet minister who will decide whether to impose legal restraints on tabloid snooping into the lives of public figures himself became the subject of a titillating front-page story Sunday.

The People newspaper on Sunday carried an article saying David Mellor, the minister for national heritage, had an affair with an actress identified as Antonia de Sancha. Early Sunday evening Mellor issued a statement referring to reports "of an incident in private life." He said: "I regret this publicity and what has happened and in particular the effect on my family and colleagues." Mellor added that he and his wife of 18 years, Judith, were experiencing marital problems they hoped to resolve "in private." The Mellors have two sons. Mellor, whose responsibilities include the news media, told newspapers in 1990 that they were "drinking at the last chance saloon," as the government said it was considering introducing legislation to protect privacy. The possible legislation would outlaw physical intrusion, bugging, photographing or tape-recording on private property to obtain personal material for publication. An 18-month probation period for the news media is about to end.

The probation was to determine whether the news media could restrain themselves through a Press Complaints Commission. Mellor then was to decide whether legal measures should be taken, but this month he, said he would wait for a legal expert to make an independent assessment. The expert's report is expected early next year. The People article included long quotations reportedly from Mellor, as if in conversation with Ms. De Sancha.

People editor Bill Ha-gerty said his newspaper had tapped no phones but refused to reveal the source of the report. after he disappeared. Addressed to "The family of Thomas Roche," the letter contained a driver's license, a credit card and a piece of Roche's jewelry. The letter described meeting Roche at a topless bar and planning to kill him after luring him to a prearranged meeting. "He fell for it and we arranged to meet on Friday the 13ih," the letter said.

"I must assure you that it was neat and quick. I do not think he suffered at all." In an apparent reference to Milwaukee serial killer Jeffrey Dah-mer, the letter said news about Dah-mer rekindled desires suppressed since serving in Vietnam. "Those were the happiest days of my life. I felt such a rush whenever I had a confirmed kill that it was hard to switch it off when I came back to the states," the letter read. "This Jef-ferey Bchcmer thing really got to me and I wondered it I could still do it." Thieme said Roche has no criminal record and had deposited a paycheck in a bank the day he disappeared.

"He had nothing about him that you would think would make someone run away," Thieme said. "It is just one of those absolute no-clues things." Miss Rondeau, 32, said she and Roche grew up together in Rhode Island and had been living together eight years when he disappeared. "I don't want to believe the letter, but Tom wouldn't have done this on his own," she said. BURBANK (AP) The disappearance of Thomas Roche appeared routine until an anonymous letter surfaced from a person professing to be his killer. Police say the note has proved more puzzling than helpful.

"I am suffering a great deal of guilt right now about what I have done and I feel it is necessary to write about it for my sake and yours," begins the letter mailed to Roche's apartment. "You don't know me and hopefully you never will but I am the one who killed Tom Roche." Roche, a 37-year-old machinist, disappeared Sept. 13, 1991, leaving behind his longtime girlfriend, a new job and his cherished Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Police said they expected Roche to turn up in a few days, as do most people whom loved ones have reported missing. Instead, a letter surfaced from someone who wrote of an uncontrollable need to kill after serving in Vietnam.

"Either this is a legitimate disappearance and the person who wrote the letter had something to do with it, or Tom Roche disappeared on his own and had it done to cover his tracks," Burbank Detective Cliff Thieme said. "The more lime goes by, the more credence I have to give to the authenticity of the letter. I have to look more strongly on the possibility that he may be dead," Thieme said. The letter arrived at the apartment Roche shared with his girlfriend, Barbara Rondeau, six days Families skeptical about new information on POW photo WASHINGTON (AP) The Pentagon has obtained a reproduction of a 1923 photo of three Soviet farmers that may be the original of a controversial picture purportedly showing three U.S. servicemen still being held prisoners in Indochina.

The New York Times reported Sunday that Pentagon officials say they're convinced the source of the photo of the Vietnam-era servicemen was the 1923 photograph. But the daughter of one of the servicemen said she has been told by Defense Department officials that they don't have enough information to draw such conclusions. "To my face, what they say is 'We have not found an original yet. We don't have enough information to make a statement But what they say to the press is different," said Shelby Robertson Quast of Oakton, Va. A Pentagon spokeswoman, Lt.

Col. Jean Frcitas, said Sunday that she had no knowledge of the latest picture. The 1923 picture of the farmers was found in the December 1989 Khmer-language of a magazine called Soviet Union. A copy of the magainc arrived at the Pentagon a week ago from Phnom Penh, where it was reportedly found in Cambodia's National Library. The three farmers arc posed like the three supposed Americans, only they have mustaches.

The farmers arc holding a "To my face, what they say is 'We have not found an original yet. We don't have enough information to make a statement But what they say to the press is different. Shelby Robertson Quast banner praising collective farming, while the message on the sign held by the servicemen indicates captivity, according to The New York Times, which obtained a copy of the pictuic. Quast, the daughter of one of the servicemen, Air Force Col. John L.

Robertson, said she saw the magazine at the Defense Intelligence Agency after it arrived at the Pentagon on July 1 1 She said Pentagon officials can't find the original picture, and that the magazine lacks a cover page and the name of a publisher. Although the Soviet Union magazine is printed in 22 languages, her contacts in Moscow and Southeast Asia say Khmer is not one of them. A translator told her that the article accompanying the picture is about communist doctrine and makes no mention of the photograph. The printing is fuzzy and not magazine-like, she said. And other language versions of the December 1989 edition of the magazine did not carry the picture or article, said Quasi.

She said she was surprised that the picture had just been found at the National Library in Phnom Penh, which she visited during seven weeks in Cambodia. She said the library is very small and there's "not a whole lot in it." "It raises too many questions," she said Sunday. "Like whether the picture came first or the magazine came first. This is a case a lot of people would like closed; our family's just really trying to find' the truth and there arc simply not cnoiij'h facts yet." Members of her family and the other two servicemen 's relatives are planning a news confcence Thursday outside llu-Pentagon to raise questions about the picltue. The other men in the earlier photo were identified as Maj.

Albro L. Lundy Jr. of the Air Force and Lt. Larry James Stevens of the Navy. The Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, said Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams, "is salisificd now that we have found the source of the The New York Times reported.

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