The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 21

8 Part IISaturday, July 21, 1984 Uofi Anfldco Gluneo National City Forces Out Its 'Laid Back' Attorney By NANCY RAY, Times Staff Writer "ji NATIONAL CITY-City Atty. Donald F. McLean resigned under pressure Friday after the City Council threatened to fire him. The 4-1 council vote against McLean, a 17-year veteran in the post, stemmed from what one National City councilman called "his laid-back attitude." According to several city officials, McLean often appeared in City Hall wearing jogging suits, tennis shoes and, sometimes, shorts. National City Mayor Kile Morgan called the action "a mistake," and said he had voted against removal of McLean at a Tuesday night executive session following the regular council meeting.

Morgan praised McLean's performance as city attorney, saying, "He has guided us well through all the legal tangles of a growing community and has performed well." "We have some very heavy lawsuits coming up right now, and this is a very bad time to be losing an experienced attorney," Morgan said Councilman Jess Van Deventer said that the split between the city attorney and council "came basically over the philosophy of how the City Council wants the city attorney to operate." Van Deventer said that McLean is a "very knowledgeable attorney" but that "you have to operate in certain ways in National City, different than you do anywhere else. We on the council, mostly businessmen, were not satisfied with his (McLean's) manner of operating." National City sources said that one major factor, besides McLean's casual dress, was the attention paid to his private practice, which he operated with his wife, Gloria. Gloria McLean serves as city attorney for Santee and Lemon Grove. Van Deventer said McLean earned "somewhere in the and we felt we should have had a full-time attorney for that kind of money." Councilman George Waters, whom other council members said was the leader in the movement to oust McLean, would not comment on the reasons for the council's action, but denied that the attorney's dress code had anything to do with it. Waters did, however, confirm that the council had accepted McLean's resignation Friday by a 4-1 vote, with Mayor Morgan dissenting.

Councilmen expect to appoint an interim city attorney next Tuesday. SCOTT FLYNN Lus Angeles Times Mounted police waiting for a traffic light downtown. Horsemen have been assigned to patrol Olympic and tourist areas. Downtown L. A.

Polishing Image for Olympic Visitors Horse Patrols Ride Herd on Transients L.A. Asks National Guard Aid in Securing Vital Points for Games By EVAN MAXWELL, Times Staff Writer By KEVIN RODERICK, Times Staff Writer LOS ANGELES-Two top Los Angeles law enforcement officials have asked Gov. George Deukmeji-an for an unspecified number of National Guard troops to provide so-called "vital-point security" during the Olympic Games, which begin next Saturday. Such security involves guarding public buildings, utilities and other non-Olympic facilities that might be vulnerable to terrorist attack. A spokesman for the governor said Friday that the request, made by Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F.

Gates and Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block, is currently under discussion with leaders of the Legislature. Some legislators have objected to the use of National Guard troops for law enforcement during the Games, citing philosophical differences with the idea of having armed soldiers in civilian neighborhoods. However, the Legislature has already approved the use of National Guard helicopters and more than 1,000 troops for air support to local police agencies during the Games. Kevin Brett, a Deukmejian press spokesman, said the new National Guard task would involve providing security personnel for the mammoth Piper Technical Center in downtown Los Angeles, the nerve center of the Olympic security apparatus. It was not clear, however, if the Guard would be used to protect other public facilities.

Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Cmdr. William Booth said the National Guardsmen would be used "as vital-point security at selected locations." However, he refused to discuss the numbers that might be needed during the Games, citing security considerations. Booth said conversations had been held the last week with officials in Sacramento, "and we understand that there is no opposition from elected officials to the plan." SCOTT FLYNN Los Angeles Times Street people are among those targeted by the police campaign. Many transients have apparently relocated. town areas where Olympic visitors are expected to gather Chinatown, Little Tokyo, the Civic Center and around the large hotels.

The Biltmore, adjacent to Pershing Square, is headquarters for the International Olympic Committee and will be closely watched, police officials said. A main role of the equestrian units, which began patrolling in force last weekend, is to awaken drunks found sleeping on sidewalks and in alleys and to keep as many as possible from the busy tourist areas, Deputy Chief Lew Ritter said. An extra Wagon," the enclosed trucks used to transport drunks to jail or a detoxification center, will be added to the area and "kept as busy as possible," he said. "We want to give the impression that we are omnipresent," said Ritter, who oversees all central-city police activities. "We're going to strictly enforce the law.

Some of those who are borderline cases are going to be stopped more often." Social workers and attorneys familiar with the homeless population said the increased police activity has helped to disperse the transients. More transients than usual have been around Union Station and south of downtown, and fewer around City Hall and other busier areas. "The horses serve to fan the paranoia that is already here," said Bob Jacobs, an attorney with the Inner City Law Center. Last week, attorneys for the center filed more than a dozen claims against the city charging police with illegal search and seizure in raids earlier this year. Police spokesmen denied the charges.

Another attorney, Nancy Min-tie, said Skid Row people have been hearing threats over several months that large-scale arrests are planned before the Olympics. If that occurs, she said, the attorneys will go to court and seek injunctions against the police. However, Wedgeworth said, LOS ANGELES police have added 30 horse-mounted officers downtown and stepped up their stopping and questioning of Skid Row homeless in an effort to clean up the city in time for the Olympics. Sidewalks and green areas where transients usually congregate on the fringes of Skid Row have appeared relatively clear in recent weeks. Many of the homelessmost often drunks, the mentally ill or others down on their luck have apparently relocated to other downtown areas to escape the police pressure.

"We have increased the intensity of everything we do," said Capt. Billy R. Wedgeworth, commander of the department's central area. "We're trying to sanitize the area." The increased law enforcement, which has drawn fire from attorneys who represent the transients, coincides with a major push by local officials and private groups to spruce up the city for the onslaught of out-of-town visitors. Gaily colored banners have been hung on more than 100 miles of city streets and more than 1,000 youths have been employed cleaning up roadside trash and graffiti, which is viewed as a serious blot on the city's image.

Police began their downtown campaign with raids that officials refer to as "hype sweeps." On such operations, squads of narcotics officers stop and search groups of people on Skid Row to locate drug users. Wedgeworth said the sweeps have been successful in thinning out the number of narcotics users, who frequently commit other crimes such as theft and assault. Last week an operation in Skid Row a run-down section of old hotels and rescue missions a few blocks from the Civic Center led to 46 arrests of suspected narcotics users. The 30 equestrian officers, who patrol in pairs, have been assigned to ensure a high police profile in Skid Row and in down THREE HOURS WITH THE STARS AUGUST 7 mm, mass roundups would be illegal as well as impractical. Jail space is limited, especially for drunks.

Ordinary drunks who are not breaking any other laws must be separated from other prisoners, and the police central jail has only 39 beds for them. The Weingart Center, a privately run detoxification center where street drunks can be taken, has about 50 spaces for such people. Citywide Problem While not as costly in human terms, the graffiti problem has spread citywide into a plague as bothersome to some as traffic or smog. Occasionally whimsical, as in one downtown message, "La Brea Women: Out of the Pits and Into the Streets," graffiti more often signals street gang activities or tells of the despair some experience in trying to get by in the country's second biggest metropolis, as in the three-foot-high words scrawled in a forgotten section of the warehouse district: "You Are Alone." The many foreign tourists who will drive west from downtown on Olympic Boulevard and other main thoroughfares to Olympic sites will see more glaring examples. In Koreatown, the first neighborhood traversed, many liquor stores and shops are covered with street gang writing.

Indecipherable to even most locals, it is usually spray-painted by younger gang followers to proclaim territory, and often lists the gang's members. Farther west, the gang writing is joined by political slogans urging the United States to stay out of military involvement in Central America. Visitors from some countries may be shocked to find swastikas sprayed on the wall bordering Fremont Place, a gated community near Hancock Park where many celebrities live. Graffiti cleaning is being undertaken by a mixture of public agencies and private groups. On Tuesday, August 7, at the First Baptist Church of Van Nuys at 7:00 p.m., you can see and hear in person, the thrilling stories of the world's greatest athletes.

Carl Lewis, Hershel Walker, Gayle Sayers, Willie Gault, Jumping Joe Ward and a host of Olympic stars will be speaking that evening. Admission is free. First Baptist Guirch of Van Nuys 14800 Sherman Way at Kester Van Nuys If lU.IIWiHim'JIiM WIDTH PRICE I UP I 28'. I 38 4 1 48 58 68'. 78 LtST TO 28 TO 38 TQ 48" TC 58 I TO 68 TO 78 TO 88 Tow- $13 $20 $24 $321 $37 $42 $52 to 44" 16 23 27 l36L41" 4T 5 to 54 18 25 29 39 45 51 62 T064 22 30 35" 46 j53 60 72 TQ74 25 34 40 53p51 70 82 TOB4 I 27 37 I 43 I 57 65 74 87 Si7es available up to 126" long and 142' wide CUSTOM MADE WINDOW COVERINGS fTYv.

i i OFF Mini-Blind ORANGE COUNTY 3710 Westminster Ave SAN GABRIEL VALLEY 18339 Colima Rd. Rowland Hts. (818) 964-6901 FREE VcottfOf tonsil a'i or FREE How Mpjmj" I Harbor Bfetl Santa Ana (714) 848-5338 San Fernando Valley Area (818) $06-7029 or (805 257-2732 Ontario-Upland Area (714) 980-7670 INLAND EMPIRE 6617 Magnolia Ave. SCOTT FLYNN Los Angeles Times A mixture of private and public groups are working to clean up graffiti before visitors arrive for the Summer Olympics. Riverside (714) 359-5168.