The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 80

ORANGE COUNTY Cos Anclcs (Times Tuesday, December 8, 1987 LOCAL AND SOUTHLAND NEWS EDITORIAL PAGES CCtPart II Ex-TV Ad Salesman Awarded $256,000 in Suit Over Firing Yorba Linda Welcomes Library of Native Son By JERRY HICKS. Times Staff Writer which Ford said was in George's handwriting. It said Ford should marry George in the national interest George said Conobre's allegations were a "despicable" bid to ruin his reputation as a moral person. Jury foreman Gary Johnson of Costa Mesa said after Monday's verdict that George "did not do his side any great favors with his testimony. He was loud and to the point but he was just being Wally George." The jury awarded Conobre $181,000 in general damages and By CARLA RIVERA.

Times Staff Writer Long mired in controversy and delays, the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library has finally found a home, near the site of the former President's birthplace in Yorba Linda. But the announcement Monday of a final resting place for Nixon's mementos did not end the debate. That lives on, embodied in the frail but spritely form of 93-year-old Edith Eichler, who said she is not so sure she wants to sell her home to make way for the library complex. It is a home she has lived in for more than 62 years.

The property was bought, ironically, from Nixon's father when the still-sleepy town was a maze of orange and lemon groves. Her property is part of a nine-acre parcel that city officials Monday said they intended to buy for the Nixon library. The nine acres includes the now-vacant Richard M. Nixon Elementary School and one other private residence. Yorba Linda officials had previously announced that they planned only to buy a six-acre portion of the site, where the school is located, from the Yorba Linda School District for $1.3 million.

But at Monday's press conference, they said they would like to acquire the entire nine-acre parcel that made up the original homestead owned by A former advertising salesman from KDOC-TV in Anaheim was awarded $256,000 by a jury Monday in his wrongful-termination lawsuit against the station's parent company, two executives and the station's talk show host, Wally George. Steve Conobre, 66, who was fired three years ago, choked with emotion after hearing the verdict "How do you feel, old boy?" his attorney, Eileen C. Moore of Newport Beach, said with a huge smile. Conobre hugged her and then said: "This is great. not the money; it's just knowing the jurors thought we were right" Conobre said he was fired partly because he refused to use phony viewer ratings in his sales pitch.

He said the false sales pitch was ordered by then-station manager Michael Volpe, one of the defendants in the lawsuit Wally George was included as a defendant because Conobre accused George of trying to get him fired after Conobre complained about George's pursuit of a married female ad executive. George is the right-wing host of the Saturday night show "Hot Seat." He is also host of a radio show in Los Angeles and is a candidate for mayor there. While George played only a minor role in the lawsuit, he was center stage during his testimony two weeks ago. He flamboyantly asserted that the executive, Linda Ford, had pursued him, not the other way around. But Conobre's attorney, Moore, produced dozens of letters and cards that Ford said George had sent her in seeking her affections.

George finally admitted writing at least some of them. Ford testified that George was relentless in pursuing her. One of the cards produced in court was signed "President Ronald Reagan," 'I think this is a message that the community is not going to condone conduct like this from Eileen C. Moors Plaintiff's attorney ordered the TV station's owners, Golden Orange Broadcasting Co. Inc.

to pay him $50,000 in punitive damages. Charles Brack, one of the company directors, and former station manager Michael Volpe were ordered to pay $10,000 each in punitive damages. The jury assessed George $5,000 in punitive damages. George had been present during the trial but was not in court when the verdict was announced at the end of the day Monday. Brack was in court and angrily accused Conobre's attorney, Moore, of misleading the jury.

"The whole scenario she painted Please see SUIT, Page 6 DON KELSEY Los Angeles Times Richard Nixon library complex. It is a home she has lived in for more than 62 years. Edith Eichler, 93, says she is not so sure she wants to sell her home to make way for the 1 State's 1st Program of Kind Drunk Drivers to Do Their Time in Motel By DAVE LESHER, Times Staff Writer 'I don't want to have to move into a retirement home. At 93, you don't transplant very well." Edith Eichler her home is sought Nixon's father, Francis. Only no one told Mrs.

Eichler about the plan, she said. "No one has talked to me about it or even written a letter," she observed as she sat in her favorite chair in the small, cozy home filled with antique plates and crystal she has collected over the years. Mrs. Eichler said she knew the Nixon family well. She recalled that she and Hannah Milhous Nixon, the former President's mother, organized the first Yorba Linda women's club in the early 1920s.

She remembers Nixon as "just another of the boys," who played and ran errands along the rural roads. "I don't want to have to move into a retirement home. I'd like to stay here the rest of my life," she said. "This home, after more than 60 years, has become very comfortable for me. At 93, you don't transplant very well." Yorba Linda Mayor Roland AREA OF i DETAIL BASTANCHURY JL-J YORBA LINDA YORBA LINDA Rl Vn I NIXON iV I LIBRARY (m I SITE BUENA VISTA AVE Bigonger said the city wants to buy the entire nine-acre site and demolish the buildings so that the library will be "located on a site which has historical integrity in terms of the life of the President." Bigonger said it might cost $300,000 more to buy the two parcels.

He said the city intended to contact Mrs. Eichler when all the paper work is complete, adding that he expected no trouble in acquiring the property. "We certainly would offer a fair and equitable sum for the land," he said. "I think everyone will agree eventually." While the property on which the two homes sit might not be needed for the complex, the agreement reached with the Richard Nixon Presidential Archives Foundation stipulates that all three parcels be acquired by the city for the foundation's use. Monday's formal announcement brings to full circle the search begun nearly five years ago by supporters of the former President, during which time Yorba Linda was considered then rejected as the site to house the papers of one of this nation's most controversial leaders.

Aides have said that Nixon originally wanted the library built next to the small, wood-frame house where he was born, but the land was unavailable in 1983, so a site in San Clemente was chosen instead. The foundation has agreed to restore the home where Nixon was born in 1913 and open it to the public. Foundation executive director John C. Whitaker did not attend Monday's press conference, but in a telephone interview from his Washington office he said Nixon supporters were relieved that final negotiations for a location have concluded. "We went through a long and frustrating negotiation in San Clemente that took so long that other alternatives had to be considered," Whitaker said.

"But Under a program that officials believe is the first of its kind in the state, Orange County on Monday began moving convicted drunk drivers from a branch jail into a Buena Park motel. Five of these minimum-security inmates were transferred Monday from the James A. Musick branch jail to the motel, which for two years has been used as a halfway house for prisoners serving the last few weeks of their sentences. Officials said the unusual new policy would save the county some money and would slightly ease chronic jail overcrowding. Over the next two months, officials plan to move up to 80 inmates, all drunk-driving offenders, into 40 rooms at the 188-unit Commonwealth Manor Motel at 8550 Commonwealth Ave.

in Buena Park. The motel housing will be available only to inmates who are serving sentences for drunk driving and who are on the county's work-furlough program, under which prisoners are released to go to their jobs during the day and incarcerated at night. The program, approved by the Board of Supervisors in October, will be operated by a private corporation, Orange County Halfway House under contract with the county. "These are a very low-risk type of individual because they are already contributing members of the community and they have a lot to lose" if they violate terms of their work furlough, said Rex J. Castellaw, chief deputy probation officer.

"They know that, and we have better than a 95 success rate." The motel has been the site of a county halfway house, also operat-Please see MOTEL, Page 6 Los Angeles Times now, we're off and running and on our way to getting this done. Please see LIBRARY, Page 14 DIGEST liSSll CALENDAR WEATHER 7 SOUTHLAND 8 AIR QUALITY 14 The Rams and a Wild Card Though it would seem impossible, the Rams do have an outside shot A at making the NFC playoffs. i Mission Conference Expands The Mission Conference adds five South Coast teams to become a 1 6-school football conference. PREP SCHEDULES 7 PREP BASKETBALL 7 jfefc 1.. Orange Comtiy index A Guide to Local News in All Sections of Today's Times BUSINESS Western Digital Expands Western Digital has agreed to pay $80 million for Tandon's hard-disk manufacturing business.

Room for Investors Investors are being sought to pull the Registry Hotel in Irvine out of bankruptcy proceedings. ((fern CO II ORANGE COUNTY '60s Revisited Mike Merrif ield attended a Saddleback College rally reminiscent of the '60s. 3 5 A Happy Humbug Hal Landon Jr. acts like the dickens as Scrooge with South 1 Jj Coast Repertory. I Nureyev Applauds Center Rudolf Nureyev praised the Performing Arts Center where his Paris Opera Ballet will perform.

Hall to Head Chorale William Hall will conduct the remainer of the Master Chorale of 1 1 Orange County's 1987-88 season. I I Susan Jaffa Returns Recovered from illness, Susan Jaf fe returns as Aurora in ABT's "Sleeping Beauty." WHAT GOES ON 9 MOVIE GUIDE 10 Compromise Sought City of Orange has decided to seek a compromise with county over Theo Lacy jail expansion. Welcoming Gorbachev Reps. Robert E. Badham and Robert K.

Dornan will welcome Mikhail Gorbachev. Cardis Chief Resigns Jack I. Salzberg has resigned as head of the financially troubled Cardis Corp. of Buena Park. 3 6 BUSINESS BRIEFCASE Amnesty for Orphans Amnesty process is begun for children orphaned when father killed their mother, himself.

3 Workers Injured Three workers were burned when fire erupted in a power switch at an Irvine construction site. 3 5 VIEW Huge Development OKd Santa Ana City Council approves plans for a $60O-million project at MacArthur and Main. Safe Campuses Orange County's public schools have one of the lowest crime rates in California, a report says. Titans Having Troubles With Henry Turner sidelined, the Fullerton basketball team looks to gain some experience in a hurry. Magic Kingdom Jobs Disneyland has the help wanted sign out for full-time as well as holiday jobs.

3 6 14 Classified Advertising, Part II, Pages 9-11 7.