The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 21

METRO Cos Anoxic (Times Editorial Pages Tuesday, October 2, 1984 CCt Part II Ban on Special Tax Along I. I etro Rail Route Sought Mayor Activates Long-Awaited 91 1 LA. Gets a Line on Emergency Aid By MICHAEL SEILER, Times Staff Writer Mayor Tom Bradley activated the city's trouble-plagued 911 emergency phone system Monday with the flick of a switch on a little black box well, sort of. In fact, the city's 911 system has been in operation in a low-key way since May and the mayor's action in the basement of City Hall East was something of a media event, designed to attract the maximum number of still and television cameras to get the word out to the public. The black box looked suspiciously simple for something that was supposed to be the switch point for a multimillion-dollar system, and cynics among the assembled press were inclined to think that maybe, just maybe, this was a kind of high-tech ribbon-cutting on the entrance ramp to a freeway that has been carrying traffic for months.

Even the mayor, a man not given to gratuitous displays of humor in front of news cameras, sounded as though he had his doubts about the authenticity of this little civic duty. PATRICK DOWNS Los Angeles Times Mayor Tom Bradley, assisted by police telephone operator Gina DeGrandis, takes calls on the city's 911 emergency line. After he and Councilman Marvin Braude jointly thumbed the switch, turning off a small red light on the black box and turning on a green one, the mayor was asked the obvious question: To what, Please see HOT LINE, Page 2 i By FRANK CLIFFORD, Times Staff Writer Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky Monday proposed a City Charter amendment to offset Gov. George Deukmejian's veto of a bill that would have exempted residential property owners in the Metro Rail corridor from special taxes to pay for the subway system. Yaroslavsky; said his amendment, which would require voter approval, would restore some of the city's authority over Metro Rail financing and is needed to hold together the council's pro -Metro Rail majority.

But Councilman Hal Bernson said that Yaroslavsky's amendment did not give back enough of what Deukmejian's veto took away. And for the second time in a month, Bernson called for a citywide referendum to determine the fate of the Metro Rail. 'Time to Speak Out' "I think the time has come for the people to speak out on whether we have a Metro Rail," Bernson said Monday. Nickolas Patsaouras, the president of the RTD board, said he did not think board members would object to the amendment. But board member Mike Lewis disagreed, saying that residential assessments probably will be needed at some point.

"What happens if we need more money on this project? What if the feds cut back? What are we going to Lewis asked. "Does that mean for a few million bucks in residential assessments, we're not going to build a worthwhile project? I think they are making a big mistake." But, according to Yaroslavsky, if the city is not able to prevent the Southern California Rapid Transit District, which is building Metro Rail, from assessing homeowners and tenants along the subway line, council support for the project will erode entirely. Yaroslavsky blamed Deukmejian's veto for renewing political turmoil over the residential assess-Please see METRO RAIL, Page 6 JACK GAUNT Los Angeles Times The RTD sidelined more than 100 of its 415 new Neoplan USA Corp. buses to repair cracks found in their frames. Cracks Force New RTD Buses to Make Pit Stops By JOEL SAPPELL, Times Staff Writer After only three months on the road, scores of buses in the Southern California Rapid Transit District's new fleet have developed structural fractures, suggesting a flaw in their design, transit officials disclosed Monday.

Jack Eich, RTD's maintenance superintendent, said more than 100 of the district's 415 new Neoplan USA Corp. buses were pulled from service during the past few weeks to fix "hairline cracks" discovered in identical spots along their frames. All are back on their routes now, Eich said, with fresh welds and support braces. As a preventive measure, the remaining 300 Neoplan buses also will undergo repairs in the weeks ahead, Eich said. No Disruptions He emphasized that the buses are safe and no service disruptions are expected.

The buses were purchased to bolster the RTD's fleet during the Olympics and to eventually replace the district's older models. The federal government picked up 80 of the $74,426,812 tab. Eich said the cracks were detected about three weeks ago during Please see BUSES, Page 6 GEORGE R. FRY Los Angeles Times Below, the victim's sister, Betty, left, is comforted by a friend, Mary Gilliam, at scene. A stroller lies flattened near a car that crashed into Sandra Murillo and her 1 -year-old son.

Mother-to-Be, Son Killed by Swerving Auto No Quick Action on USC Hecklers Students Who Interrupted Mondale Face Only Reprimand 4 lit 1 By ANDY FURILLO, Times Staff Writer A 24-year-old Los Angeles woman, believed to be seven months' pregnant, possibly with twins, and her 9 -month -old son were killed Monday when a car was clipped by a van making a left turn, swerved out of control and slammed into them as they stood on a sidewalk at a busy intersection in Koreatown. The woman's 10-year-old son was critically injured in the 12:30 p.m. accident at the corner of Crenshaw and Olympic boulevards. He clung to life Monday afternoon at Cedars -Sinai Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said. The dead woman was identified by her sister as Sandra Murillo, a resident of the Pico-Union area.

Police identified the dead child as Louis Rodriquez and the critically injured boy as Melvin Buch. But coroner's officials refused to confirm the identities of the dead, pending notification of relatives. Los Angeles police Sgt. Robert Please see CAR, Page 3 tirely spontaneous. And Dennis said Monday that the preliminary report showed there was "no evidence" to the contrary.

Dennis said that several students involved in the incident have been identified "and whether they will be subject to reprimand or educational instruction (counseling) will be dependent upon the appropriate disciplinary body." In answer to a reporter's question, he defined several as "more than five and less than 50." All would be entitled to due process procedures, including confrontation of witnesses, Dennis said. Reyes said that the Reagan -Bush campaign had provided signs for demonstrators and positioned some students for maximum visibility. "We found a recent graduate (supporting Reagan) who provided signs for demonstrators, but that same person (also) directed students not to interrupt' Dennis said. Dennis' statement at Monday's news conference was based on a preliminary report by Dean of Students Robert Mannes. By JERRY BELCHER, Times Staff Writer There will be no immediate disciplinary action in the student heckling of Democratic presidential candidate Walter F.

Mondale on the USC campus and the maximum penalty would be an official reprimand, the university's vice president for student affairs said Monday. James Dennis, stressing that only a preliminary report had been made on the widely publicized Sept. 18 incident, said that "typically" a final decision would take at least six months if disciplinary action is decided upon. A comparatively small number of hecklers among the 5,000 students at the Mondale rally repeatedly interrupted the former vice president with pro-Reagan slogans. The Mondale campaign has accused the Reagan -Bush campaign of staging the disruption.

Ellis Reyes, an officer of Tau Kappa Epsilon (President Reagan's old fraternity) and a member JAYNE KAMIN Los Angeles Times James Dennis, USC vice president, at press conference. of the Trojan College Republicans organization, admitted after the incident that the anti-Mondale demonstration was "rude" but claimed that the outburst was en Therapist Investigated in Deaths of 4 Patients at Sherman Oaks Hospital By ROBERT WELKOS, Times Staff Writer A respiratory therapist who worked at Sherman Oaks Community Hospital is under investigation in connection with four patient deaths and the near fatal heart attack of a fifth patient he had treated in the hospital's intensive care unit, The Times learned Monday. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office was made aware of the deaths when hospital officials examined patient files and found that Randy Powers, 25, of Encino, had been treating three elderly women and two elderly men who suffered heart attacks last spring. One of the men survived. Powers, who has worked at several hospitals throughout the San Fernando Valley, is currently in County Jail accused of giving a near-fatal injection of the heart drug lidocaine to an 11-month-old girl, who remains hospitalized.

Marc Goldberg, chief executive officer at the Sherman Oaks hospital, said Powers started work there in January and was fired May 21 for an "administrative problem" unrelated to patient deaths. Goldberg said Powers' name cropped up later when patient deaths over a six-month period were routinely reviewed by the hospital's medical staff. "In conducting what we call a 'problem focused review' in respiratory therapy, it became apparent he (Powers) was involved in a statistically disproportionate number of code blues (cardiac arrests)," Goldberg said. "As far as we were concerned, the only thing that was remarkable was the statistic that the same person was present," Goldberg continued. "We felt that we should take that information forward to the authorities, which we did do." Treatment With Machine Goldberg said the patients involved were all over 70 years old and had undergone treatment with a respiratory machine through a process called "intermittent positive pressure breathing." The deaths occurred at the 156-bed acute care hospital between the end of April and mid-May, Goldberg said.

The district attorney's office was informed by the hospital in July. Brian Kelberg, the prosecutor who heads the district attorney's medico-legal section, refused to comment on the case but another law enforcement source confirmed Monday that an investigation of Powers was under way. Powers' attorney, Sammy Weiss, said he had heard of the probe through "courthouse scuttlebutt" but had not been officially informed by authorities. The attorney said he planned to ask the court today to place Powers in protective custody at County Jail because of threats to his client's life by other inmates, who believe he is a child killer. While Goldberg characterized as "unusual" the number of heart attacks occurring when Powers was present, the hospital official pointed out that the patients who died "were all critically ill, older patients with no real chance of recovery." "There was no pattern" to the deaths, Goldberg said, adding that Powers may have treated 50 cases at the hospital.

"The others are fine," Goldberg said. "He was treating a lot of people. That's why I say we have no evidence of wrongdoing. All we have is a statistical aberration that became statistically remarkable." Goldberg said Powers was an "itinerant respiratory therapist," who worked out of registries that supply hospitals with medical technicians whenever needed. "He came to us recommended by them," Goldberg said.

He identified the registries where Powers worked as Professional Staffing of Northridge and Staff Builders Health Care Services of Sherman Oaks. "He's been to most hospitals in the Valley, or at least a lot of them," Goldberg said. Powers has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon and practicing medicine without a license in the drugging of Sarah Mathews of Van Nuys. In Care of Nursery The infant was under the care of a nursery that Powers' mother operated in Encino last month when the baby suffered severe seizures, a 102-degree fever, an ear infection and a puncture wound on the thigh that was thought at first to be an insect bite. While a neighbor drove to Northridge Hospital, Powers held the baby and administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation and inserted an airway down her throat.

Please see THERAPIST, Page 3.