The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 46

GE 0 Local News Editorial Pages Frkii, Noembf 28, 10 Ccs Angeles (Times CC parl II Firemen Report Gaining on Stubborn Indian Blaze ORAM OUNTY By KENNETH F. BUNTING. 7Wi Staff Writer tardant dropped from air tankers combined to hold the blaze. Firefighters also cut a 30-foot-wide firebreak to buffer residences and planned to set backfires if the blaze moved closer. The staff at the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary freed three red-tailed hawks and a coyote Wednesday night and moved the rest of their caged displays of reptiles, rodents and birds to safety.

"We are getting the last pieces of paper out now," the sanctuary's assistant manager, Dan Fenton, said Thursday. "We are going to leave toward the end of the day. We won't be spending the night here." But most Modjeska Canyon residents chose to stay put, with an attentive eye turned toward the head of the canyon. Many packed some belongings, just in case. "Our plans are to stay right here and watch it," said Doris M.

Howard, a volunteer firefighter who lives in the last house at the end of Modjeska Canyon Road. "It is looking good right now." Ironically, the few residents who chose to leave lived farther away from the danger. Shared a Dinner Six families who live near the Howards at the end of the road put their food together to share a big Thanksgiving meal, complete with turkey. But there were no traditional Thanksgiving meals at the O'Neill Regional Park fire camp for the 1,900 firefighters, some of whom had been battling what one official called a "turkey of a brush fire" since it began in Riverside County Monday night. On Tuesday, winds gusted to 60 m.p.h.

as the fire rushed into Orange County, just east of Santiago Peak, and roared across Holy Jim and Trabuco canyons. Some residents left their homes in fashionable Coto de Caza Tuesday and Wednesday, but fire officials were saying Thursday that the danger had passed. Please see INDIAN, Page 12 Weary firefighters feasted on sack lunches Thanksgiving afternoon and savored prospects of potluck box dinners later after they appeared to have gained the upper hand on the stubborn, three -day -old Indian brush fire. Late Thursday, fire officials were claiming 60 containment of the blaze, which has burned across 28,000 acres of sparsely populated, rugged canyon brush land in Orange and Riverside courties. The blaze continued to burn out of control on its southern and western flanks.

But with stilled winds, firefighters were successfully holding it in place. Fire officials also claimed success Thursday in holding the blaze away from the previously endangered residential areas of Coto de Caza and Modjeska. But they had no prediction of when the blaze might end its run of destruction. Burned Through Sanctuary The fire had destroyed seven homes and the National Audubon Society's huge wildlife sanctuary on the Starr Ranch. The fire's swath made it the largest of several brush fires around the state this week.

But county officials said it was also the least injurious and least destructive, with only the seven structures lost and three minor injuries to firefighters. One firefighter dislocated a shoulder when he fell from a bridge and a paramedic suffered a minor eye injury Thursday. Another firefighter sustained only minor cuts and bruises Wednesday night when his bulldozer plunged down the side of a steep slope. For a while Wednesday night and Thursday, the blaze posed a threat to residents in Modjeska Canyon, who remained under a voluntary evacuation alert through the evening. The flames were only a mile and a half away in nearby Bear Trap Canyon, but diminishing winds, fire crews working furiously in the steep terrain and tons of re- names, but said both are from Irvine.

Williams, who is unemployed, said he has been under a great deal of strain since the last burglary. The burglar has called twice, and offered to mail back some of Williams' Two STEVE RICE Los Angeles Times other businesses also were destroyed. About 6,000 chinchillas died as fire 6,000 Chinchillas Perish in Building Fire Santa Ana Warehouse Blaze Also Destroys Two Other Businesses By KENNETH F. BUNTING, Times Staff Writer swept this 80-year-old warehouse. soft, fine-textured fur of the tiny South American rodents goes into expensive garments.

McCandless said the animals which perished in the blaze varied in value. Frozen pelts go for around $30 each wholesale, he said. But some "breeders" are worth more than $200 each. Two Youths Shot: Suspect Says He Feared an Attempted Burglary About 6,000 chinchillas perished and another 2,000 frozen pelts were probably destroyed Thursday in a three-alarm fire which swept through an 80-year-old warehouse near downtown Santa Ana. The furry rodents were in cages, on the second floor and basement of the two -story brick warehouse located directly across the street from the Santa Ana Amtrak station.

Fire officials were investigating the possibility that the blaze may have been intentionally set. But Capt. Matt McCalla, a Santa Ana arson investigator, said a definite determination might not be possible before this morning. Fire Raced Through Structure The fire was discovered at 2:40 p.m. Shortly thereafter, it had raced through the structure.

A portion of the outside walls of the building buckled and and fell to the ground. Part of the second-story floor also collapsed. "When we walk through there," said Capt. Frank Scotti, pointing toward a side door, "we can look up and see the sky." Fire officials said they had the blaze contained by 4 p.m., but the remains of the wooden floors and walls continued to smolder Thursday night, causing periodic flare-ups. Building Housed 3 Firms The building housed McCandless Chinchillas, a household moving company and a small general feed store, according to its owner, Charles McCandless.

He said he had walked through the building between 10 and 11 a.m. Thursday because the security guard had taken the holiday off. Fire Marshal Jim Montgomery gave a "very preliminary" damage estimate of $170,000 for the practically destroyed building, not counting its contents. The total figures to be much larger. The Irvine Woman Found Slain Aboard Family Cabin Cruiser in Newport Beach By JERRY HICKS, Times Staff Writer An Irvine man whose home was recently burglarized has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after he shot two juveniles early Thursday, reportedly because he feared a second burglary attempt.

The youths, ages 16 and 17, were reported in good condition at Santa Ana-Tus-tin Community Hospital. Police were still investigating late Thursday and said they did not know whether the youths were actually involved in a burglary attempt. Feared the Youths Arley Williams, 44, who said he feared the youths were breaking into his pickup truck, told The Times he fired a borrowed pistol into the air to try to stop the youths from leaving. Then a second shot went off by accident, he said, because he was unfamiliar with handling an automatic pistol. Williams said he and his wife were awakened about 12:30 a.m., by a noise in the parking lot of the condominiums where they live on Driftwood.

He took a 9 m.m. automatic pistol with him to investigate, he said, and saw the two youths near his truck. Williams said they talked briefly, then "They multiply pretty fast," he noted. The old building originally housed a moving and storage warehouse, McCandless said. His three businesses had been at the location seven years.

The building, on the eastern fringe of downtown Santa Ana, had two floors and a full basement. the two tried to leave by car after Williams said he was going to call the police. "I fired into the air to scare them, but when I brought the gun back down, it went off again," he said. It is now known whether the youths were hit by the same shot. One was hit in the back, the other in an arm, police said.

Williams insisted that only one other shot was fired besides the one into the air. Williams said his home was burglarized Halloween night, and several important papers were taken, including the titles to his two vehicles. He said he feared the burglar was returning, so he took a borrowed gun out to the parking lot with him. 'No Intention of Shooting' "I had no intention of shooting those boys," he said. "I was just going to hold them for the police." Williams wife called the police after the shooting.

The youths' car was impounded by police. Police would not release the youths' Peaches the cat keeps cool Even a Cat Can Have a Fine Feathered Friend papers, but none have arrived, Williams said. Williams was booked at the Newport Beach City Jail but was released on bond later in the day. There was evidence on the boat that she had put up a struggle with her assailant, an official said. Robbery was a possible motive for the murder, the official said.

Several Newport Beach police investigators worked through Wednesday night and all of Thanksgiving Day tracking down possible leads. A friend of the Nesbitts said they had kept their boat at Marina Dunes, just north of Pacific Coast Highway on the Newport Back Bay, for several years. The boat was for sale. Police said Mrs. Nesbitt was supposed to have shown the boat to a buyer in mid-afternoon.

More than 100 boats are anchored at Marina Dunes. A few people live on their boats. The Nesbitts did not live aboard their boat but kept a telephone on the boat and used it frequently, friends said. A friend with a boat moored near the Nesbitts said, "This has been tragic for all of us. Judy was a wonderful woman." Several people on their boats at the Marina for Thanksgiving Day were unaware of the murder.

People know everybody on their dock, one man said, but Please see WOMAN, Page 12 Olympic TV Rights Priced High, Says Japanese Official By KENNETH REICH Timet Political Writer The director of Japan's largest television network has told a Tokyo news conference that in preliminary talks in Los Angeles on the sale of 1984 Olympics television rights the initial price asked of the Japanese was an unexpectedly high $43 million. This would be more than four times the $10 million Japanese interests agreed to pay for television rights at the Moscow Olympics. Takeshi Tanaka, the director general of the big NHK network, said the price was so high that negotiations may last months. Los Angeles sources close to the recent preliminary round of negotiations between Olympic organizers here and Japanese representatives said that no dollar figure was put on what Los Angeles is asking. But the Japanese were told that since Japan rieane OLYMPICS, rage By JERRY HICKS, Times Staff Writer An Irvine woman was found murdered aboard her family's boat in a Newport Beach marina Wednesday evening, a few hours after she had shown the boat to a prospective buyer.

Judy Nesbitt, the mother of four, was found by her husband, Fred Nesbitt, aboard their 36-foot cabin cruiser, the Fe-licidad Four, moored at the Marina Dunes Yacht Anchorage, about 7 p.m. Police said Nesbitt had become concerned when his wife had not returned home on time. Mrs. Nesbitt was shot once in the head DON ELS F.N Ua Anf Ttnwt head as Beauregard the bird sits on it. 4 4 i (J By JERRY HICKS, Times Staff Writer This is a story about a couple of cats who either do not understand ancestry and tradition or else have a private cache of catnip that keeps their minds foggy.

Peaches and Kiki, like nearly all cats, love to chase birds in the backyard and would gladly wolf down any they could catch. But, remarkably, they leisurely mingle with a couple of cockatiels, two parakeets and a parrot at Paul and Penny Hile-man's beautiful Capistrano Beach home. The cockatiels in particular seem at ease as they plop their wrinkled toes through the cats' fluffy backs while searching for food scraps or just enjoying the morning sun. Only when a claw gets too near the eyes do the cats show any irritation. Mrs.

Hileman, who started adding birds to her small menagerie two years ago, says Peaches and Kiki do not look upon the Hile-mans' feathered pets as birds, but rather as members of the family. The cats apparently don't watch Sylvester and Tweetie. And they obviously don't buy the axiom that if it looks like a bird, runs around with other birds, and goes "chirp, chirp," it is probably a bird. Dogs, Cats, Snake and FUh Pets are an important part of the lives of the Hilemans' and their two children. They also have two dogs, a third cat, a guinea pig.

a rat, a five-fool-long gopher snake and 30 tropical fish. "I'd have a goat and three pigs if we had the room," said Mrs. Hileman. "I just love animals." But the Hilemans had no idea just how well the cats and birds would get along. They found out by accident about six months ago, just after they got the cockatiels.

"We didn't know Amy (Peaches' formal name) was in the kitchen, when all of a sudden Beauregard (a cockatiel) walked across her back to get to a seed. Now we turn the birds loose and we all have breakfast together." Friendship 'Defies All Logic' If you are not a cat or bird owner, all this may not impress you. But Barbara Belden, owner of the Cat's Meow in San Juan Capistrano, and Jack Butler, a pet store owner in San Clemenle, agree it is bizarre. "It defies all logic," Butler says. "Cats and birds are natural enemies." Even the three cats who live permanently in his pet store, surrounded by dozens of birds in cages, snap their teeth any time one of the birds gets out and is potential prey.

"I think the answer is In the owner," Butler says. "It's the kind of atmosphere Penny has created In her home that creates this kind of compatibility." Not all is perfect, however. Buster, the third cat and still young, insists the indoor feathered creatures look like birds, and will act accordingly if not watched carefully. And the dogs, who have eaten one cockatiel between them, must be kept outside. But what really bothers Mrs.

Hileman is that the cockatiels don't talk. It takes a little glamour away from the cat-taming act, she must figure, if they can't brag about It. I.