The Los Angeles Times du lieu suivant : Los Angeles, California • 3

Uoo Aiujclco dim co 6 Part II Monday, May I'M. I 1 1 i.i 1 1 1 li i. ii i S.i 1 1 (a l.i i 1 1 .1 'in i i i Fresh Approach Improves Chances for Diamond Lane The feeling seems to be spreading that, so long as we get a new lane, let's take Roger Stanard Head of ffeeway advisory irP--A 1 Tfi ft V' (Sk' iP -IT in The first class of 6 1 sheriff's deputy recruits at Valencia's College of the Canyons lines up after rigorous calisthenics training. Going the Distance Valencia Sheriff's Academy Shapes Up 4 tajC By JAMES QUINN, Times Staff Writer For the third time in five years, state highway officials are proposing a diamond lane for car pools and buses on the Ventura Freeway. When the two previous plans for car-pool lanes were turned down, critics proclaimed final victory over what they denounced as bureaucratic folly.

Yet state officials keep resuscitating the proposal, saying the lane is needed to induce people into car-pooling, thereby relieving congestion. In its latest incarnation, the diamond lane's prospects for implementation appear to be much improved. For one thing, the state Department of Transportation is claiming success for two other car-pool and bus lanes that have begun operating in the past year in Southern California. For another, the latest proposal is backed by the California Transportation Commission, which controls all highway spending in the state. The commission has mandated an eastbound diamond lane, restricted to buses and cars with two or more occupants, as a condition of building one new lane each way on the freeway between the Hollywood Freeway and Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Woodland Hills.

Lanes to Be Narrowed The 13-mile, $5-million project would create the new lanes by narrowing existing ones and using the center divider area. In mandating the diamond lane, the commission has provided an incentive for opponents to hold their tongues. If there is opposition to the diamond lane from either the Los Angeles City Council, a newly created 68-member advisory committee or two regional agencies, the state Department of Transportation would be forced to reapply to the commission for construction funds. "That would involve a distinct risk of being turned down when you reapply," Allan Hendrix, Cal-trans' liaison to the commission, said in a telephone interview from Sacramento. "Every area of the state has a project with a pretty high priority that would want those funds." Fear of losing the extra lanes altogether has compelled many business leaders to support the diamond lane, although others remain opposed or unconvinced of its worth, said Roger Stanard, a Woodland Hills attorney who heads the advisory committee.

The panel is expected to make a recommendation in August. Feeling of 'Let's Take It' "The feeling seems to be spreading that, so long as we get a new lane, let's take it," he said. "Later, if we don't like the diamond lane, we can see about getting the diamonds sandblasted off the pavement." And West Valley Councilwoman Joy Picus, who said she has taken car pools to City Hall for several years, said she will support the diamond lane because it "certainly seems like an idea that is worth a trial." However, state Sen. Alan Rob-bins (D-Van Nuys), a longtime opponent of diamond lanes, said Friday he would attempt to insert language into Caltrans' budget forcing the agency to drop the Ventura Freeway car-pool lane. In a statement released by his office, Robbins, a member of the Assembly -Senate conference com- northern part of the county.

"We need new deputies badly," said Sheriff's Deputy Lane D. Greenberg, one of seven recruiters. "We're always hiring." The large number of openings is attributed to the department's size and the crowded conditions in county jail facilities, where new deputies are first sent. "The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is the largest in the United States," Greenberg said. "Attrition alone leaves us with 350 openings a year." In addition, county jail facilities are expanding rapidly in the north county area.

The Pitchess facility is scheduled to build facilities for 3,000 more maximum- and medium-security inmates by 1989. A 200-bed women's jail will open in Mira Loma in July. The cost of the northern academy is minimal for the Sheriff's Department, which is reimbursed by the state Peace Officers Standards and Training Agency for each deputy it trains. The department pays the college $50 per student in tuition fees, and the college also receives a set amount from the state Department of Education for each day a recruit attends classes. To be eligible to enroll at the academy, applicants must pass written, oral and psy-Flease see ACADEMY, Page 9 mittee formed to put the state budget into final form by mid-June, said he was "displeased with the arrogance" of state officials who say freeway funds cannot be spent "unless we agree to make the freeway lane into a diamond lane." Robbins successfully introduced legislation in 1983 requiring that car-pool lanes be approved in advance by appointed and elected local officials.

Groups Hold Veto Power In Los Angeles, the City Council, the Southern California Assn. of Governments and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission have veto power over diamond lanes. Also, Caltrans has said it will drop the plan if the advisory committee disapproves it. When his legislation was approved, Robbins predicted that diamond lane proponents were vanquished, saying that "sending Caltrans to the L.A. City Council for a diamond lane is like sending somebody to the Pope for a divorce." Robbins contends, as do other opponents, that car pools have already been formed in most of the cases in which they are practical.

Before passage of Robbins' legislation, Caltrans proposed two separate car-pool lane plans for the Ventura Freeway. One plan would have designated two new freeway lanes in Thousand Oaks, one in each direction, for car pools and buses. Those lanes were built and opened for general use instead. Another would have made diamond lanes out of two new lanes for the freeway between Topanga Canyon and Valley Circle boulevards, where the roadway is now six lanes wide. Most of the freeway is now eight lanes or wider from the Hollywood Freeway to Camarillo.

Through Woodland Hills, it narrows to six lanes. Construction of two new lanes in that area is to begin in August and be completed in 19 months. Neither of those two plans was submitted to local officials for consideration because Caltrans found that "traffic conditions did not warrant a diamond lane at the time," said David Roper, deputy director for Caltrans' Los Angeles district. "We also decided it would be premature in terms of community support." But the study initiated for the two earlier plans indicated that a diamond lane could be effective in reducing congestion west of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Roper said, thus laying the groundwork for the current proposal. In 1984, when Caltrans submitted its proposal for new lanes east of Topanga, the transportation commission agreed 6n the condition that the eastbound lane be a diamond lane.

Roper and Hendrix said the car-pool lane was not recommended by Caltrans staff members Please see FREEWAY, Page 8 Steven Freiwirth strains in workout on college football field under the supervision of Sgt. Karen Tanigawa, below. By MAYERENE BARKER, Times Staff Writer It could have turned into a nightmare for recruiters in an agency that's always hiring. At the least, the move of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department training academy from East Los Angeles to Whittier in 1984 was no selling point in the agency's drive to attract new deputies from the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys. A round -trip commute of up to 250 miles is not something that appeals to job -seekers.

But before the distance caused too many headaches, the department came up with an answer to the recruiters' dilemma. If new recruits wouldn't go to the academy, the academy would go to them. In March, a new sheriff's training academy for northern Los Angeles County opened at freeway-close College of the Canyons in Valencia. Now, halfway through an 18-week trial program, prospects are good for establishment of a permanent North County Sheriff's Academy at the college. 1st Class Prepares to Graduate The first class, which has 61 recruits, will be graduated from the academy in July.

Because of the favorable response, college and Sheriff's Department officials have decided to offer a second 18-week academy session at the campus beginning Oct. 14. "Everything looks good for it to continue," said Sgt. Karen Tanigawa, a 14-year Sheriff's Department veteran who oversees the new academy's instructional program. "Enrollment is not that heavy here.

We've had no problems with the regular students disrupting our training. At first, they stared a lot. Now, nobody pays much attention. We've blended in very well." Indeed, the rural setting of College of the Canyons seems ideal for a sheriff's academy. Physical agility training two hours of rigorous calisthenics three times a week takes place amid rolling hills under sunny and usually smog-free skies on the quiet field of a football stadium.

Lectures are held in a well -equipped, air-conditioned hall. A shooting range for target practice and weapons training is nearby at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho, a county jail in Castaic. Even a sack lunch from home tastes better when eaten beside the campus swimming pool. 'Has Been Fantastic' "The college has been fantastic to us," Tanigawa said.

"They give us as much as they can." But there are more concrete reasons for the new academy's success. The department has 600 openings, and about 40 of its 6,500 deputies cdme from the 1 jw. i-: xSS y-, 1 Photos by BOB CAREY Los Angeles Times Might On th6 Line Sherman Oaks Residents Play Host to Hands Across the Valley By PAMELA MORELAND, Times Staff Writer Mike Gillard knew that hundreds of participants in the Hands Across America event would be standing in front of his Sherman Oaks home. So he invited his parents and some friends over for Sunday breakfast, and when it was time for everybody to hold hands, they all joined in. Cecelia Rogat, however, was in the dark about the whole thing.

"It was just about 11a.m. and I decided to go to the market to pick up some food for a party I'm having this afternoon," Rogat said. "When I saw all the people, I knew immediately what was going on. But I was surprised. I didn't know they were going to be here," she said, adding that she had no trouble getting to the market.

Because Gillard's and Rogat's homes are among a handful of single-family residences that front Ventura Boulevard, their experience of Hands Across Ventura freeways after the event. "They were shoulder -to -shoulder in an unbroken chain along Ventura, and there were some people out there who weren't holding hands," said a police spokesman. Most of the participants were residents of surrounding Valley communities. But there were also celebrities along the route, most of whom met at the Sportsmen's Lodge Hotel for last-minute instructions before they fanned out along the line. Director Steven Spielberg and actor Stacy Keach stood with handicapped, abused and poor children who occupied a one-mile stretch of spaces that were all sponsored by Spielberg.

Martha Davis, lead singer for the rock group the Motels, led the singing in the group she was standing with. Billy Moses, a star of the television series "Falcon Crest," held hands with his girlfriend, Tracy Nelson, the actress daughter of the late pop singer Rick Nelson. And a group of children who said they were fans of television's "Sesame Street" squealed with joy when actor LeVar Burton, who often appears on the program, joined their group. But for the residents of the 20 houses that face Ventura Boulevard along a three-quarters-of-a-mile stretch between Fulton and Van Noord avenues, the real stars were the anonymous hundreds who politely lined up in front of their homes. "I had planned to go to the beach today, but when I found out that the Hands Across America line was going to right in front of my house, I changed my plans so I could be a part of it," Carrie Morrow said.

"Yeah, I just held hands with 6 million people I didn't know," Tom Waisanem said. "This was truly inspirational." America was up close and personal. The line, which stretched across 6.2 miles of Ventura Boulevard from Sepulveda Boulevard on the west to Cahuenga Boulevard to the east, passed 20 Sherman Oaks homes. Some residents were surprised. They did not know the mass demonstration that was organized to raise money for the nation's hungry and homeless would be at their front doors.

And while having hundreds of strangers in the neighborhood was somewhat unsettling, most of the residents said they were happy to have the visitors around, and they took the opportunity to get in line and join hands. Los Angeles Police officers estimated that 75,000 to 100,000 people stood along the San Fernando Valley route. No disturbances were reported, but traffic was congested along the San Diego and.