The Californian from Salinas, California • 15

Wednesday, April 15, 1992 The Californian Page 1C INSIDE: Classified4C Your winning ways Jose Manuel Camacho of Parents want backup at three intersections By Walter Neary The Californian The Salinas City Council agreed Tuesday night to protect children by placing school crossing guards at intersections that already have signals or lights. To use an COLLINS guards sought by parents at three intersections, according to city traffic engineers: West Laurel Drive and Tyler Street. East Alisal and Wood streets. East Laurel Drive and Towt Street. A hearing will probably be scheduled to consider specific intersections.

Meanwhile, city employees will study ways to pay for more guards. There are 19 guards now. willing to do that. The $6,000 expenditure is good insurance because most of the intersections are accidents waiting to happen, Councilman Jim Collins said. This is money well spent.

The council did approve criteria to place guards for other intersections by a 7-0 vote. And that criteria would apparently OK old adage. Id rather be safe than sorry, Councilman Steve Ish said. But because of the citys tight budget, the council stopped short of actually stationing guards proposed for three intersections. A guard costs about $5,700 per year.

But the city will have a tough time balancing its budget for next year, Councilwoman Anna Cabal lero said. Every $5,000 or $6,000 will make a big difference, she said. The citys written policy only calls for crossing guards at intersections without lights or stop signs. City traffic engineers said placing guards at controlled intersections would break with precedent. Council members said they were KITTY CAPERS 1 Settlement ends engineers ordeal I-' 5.

or I I think employees need to know that there is a place where they can go where they will be taken seriously and they are going to be treated with respect. Michael Stamp, lawyer 1 fi i fT -t i t' 1 1 fW fw 1 I By David Fisher The Californian Monterey County has agreed to pay $94,500 to a former Water Resources Agency engineer because two employees pinned him to the floor and cut his hair last year. In addition, Jaime Bareng will receive a total of $25,500 from former office manager Michael Black and water engineer Charles Meyer, according to an out-of-court settlement signed Tuesday. And the county will hold an affirmative action workshop for the agencys employees within 90 days. Its unfortunate that it had to end up in court, and its unfortunate that the incident happened in the first place," Barengs lawyer Michael Stamp said.

But ultimately, the system worked this time. Bareng, an engineer with more than 31 years of experience, grew his hair long last year to please a granddaughter. Stamp said. Black and Meyer teased him about the hair, according to his lawsuit. Then, on May 1, they grabbed him in the agencys public reception area.

Meyer held Bareng while Black snipped his hair with a pair of scissors, according to the lawsuit and a county affirmative action officers report. Bareng tried to return to work, but he was too humiliated to stay on. He spent several months on sick leave then retired in November. Black was the agencys affirmative action liaison when the haircut incident occurred, according to the lawsuit. The position gave Black responsibility for teaching other employees how to practice racial and sexual tolerance, but an investigation by Affirmative Action Officer Byron Warfield-Graham showed that Black was the source of incessant racial, gender and age-based teasing in the office.

According to Warfield-Grahams report, which was obtained by The Californian last fall. Black nicknamed a thin female employee Bones; referred to an Asian employee as his second favorite rice burner; called another employee Polack; and referred to agency General Manager William Hurst as that old dude. Black and Meyer apologized to Bareng after they realized the haircut upset him, according to Warfield-Grahams report. Meyer was later suspended for three days, and Black voluntarily resigned. The countys settlement papers admitted no wrongdoing, but Stamp said the affirmative action workshop was a key part of the settlement from Barengs point of view.

Among the problems raised by the lawsuit: Bareng apparently did not know that he had a right to take his complaints to the countys Affirmative Action Office until the legal battle was well under way. I think employees need to know that there is a place where they can go where they ill be taken seriously and they are going to be treated with respect, Stamp said. Black's $13,000 settlement and Meyers $12,500 settlement will be paid by their homeowners insurance policies, according to the settlement agreement. The countys settlement figure will cover Barengs legal costs. Meyer, Black and Bareng refused to comment Tuesday.

If 1 Clay PetersonThe Californian for pushing for improved bilingual programs in the Salinas City School District. Marie Tschumperlin of Salinas has received the Golden Poet Award from the World of Poetry in Sacramento. She received a plaque engraved with her poem, July 4. Danette Arneecher, daughter of Ken and Lydia Arneecher of Salinas, has received the General Motors Volunteer Spirit Award for her work as a Washington State University student in promoting American Indian causes. Her award includes a plaque and five shares of GM stock.

Cherie Stock, director of marketing and public relations for Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, has been honored by the Academy of Health Services Marketing. She was cited for her educational campaign called Generation 2000, Healthy Babies for a Healthy Future. Airman John C. Murray, son of Peter and Imelda Murray of Salinas, has graduated from basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Murray graduated from North MURRAY Monterey County High School in 1990.

Joseph Imwalle, a 1988 graduate of Palma High School, has been named to the list for military excellence at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. The honor goes IMWALLE to cadets with averages of 3.0 or higher in military performance. He is the son of Art and Lee Imwalle of Auburn. Bill Melendez, Joe Cavanaugh and the Alisal Betterment Community have been honored by the California Human Development Corp. for their community work.

White elected mayor of Carmel CARMEL Voters on Tuesday elected City Councilman Ken White as the new mayor of this seaside city. White garnered 949 votes, defeating former three-time Mayor Bernard F. Barney Laiolo, who received 791 votes. White, 57, has been a council member since 1988. He is a teacher and the athletic director at Monterey High School.

White will serve a two-year term. A four-way race for two council seats was won by Philip M. Coniglio 37, a restaurant manager, and Barbara Livingston, 63, owner of an interior design company and founding president of Friends of the Carmel Forest. Coniglio won 1,097 votes, and Livingston received 952 votes. More local news, Pages 2C, 3C OBrrUARlES2C Evelyn Matthews Byrd Gertrude G.

Kirkman Irene W. Meyers Harold Collado Quincy We want news Do you have a news tip or story idea? If so, please call City Editor Tom Lee at 754-4228, or call the TIPLINE at 754-4287, or send items by fax machine at 754-4293. The toll-free number in California is (800) 300-6397. Purrrfect ending Cathy Dean hugs an exhausted cat shortly after it was rescued Monday by the Salinas parks department. The cat had spent 11 days stuck in a 60-foot cypress tree.

She plans to adopt the cat. The parks department trapped the cat in a cage courtesy of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Monterey County. Greenfields police chief cleared Rainfall hits nine-year high The traditional October-to- March rainy season is over, meaning current rainfall statistics are not likely to change dramatically between now and June. The Salinas Airports 11 .80 inches this season is a nine-year high, but still less than the yearly average of 12.52 inches. Although a good year by drought standards, more than a third of this years rain fell in one month, February.

Rainfall (in inches) tims report to police about the burglary was false. He alleged that Romos release of the police report gave the victims time to conceal evidence before a search warrant was served by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. But Flippo said: The report Romo released to the victims wife was the same police report Sanchez himself released 11 months earlier to the victims insurance company. Neither Romo nor any other Greenfield officer knew about the bureaus search warrant before it was served. Padilla said Tuesday that he is not happy with the district attorneys work on the case.

He is not doing his job, he said. Padilla said he has asked the county grand jury to investigate the district attorneys office and its handling of the Greenfield case. bert Padilla, district director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. Padilla brought forward the allegations on behalf of Greenfield police Officer Ruben Sanchez. The investigation, which ended in mid-March, was the second one by the district attorneys office into the 11-officer Greenfield police force.

Last fall, the office looked into several allegations against Romo and Sgt. Juan Ramirez. Its conclusion: insufficient evidence for some charges; for others, a one-year statute of limitation for misdemeanors had expired. Flippo said Tuesday that the second investigation centered on Romos release last November of a police report on a burglary to the victims wife. Guns and money were taken in the December 1990 burglary.

Sanchez suspected that the vic By Ricky de la Torre The Californian Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo said Tuesday that his office wont bring criminal charges against Greenfield Police Chief Joseph M. Romo. A fellow officer and a Latino civil rights group accused Romo of unauthorized release of criminal information and obstruction of justice stemming from a business burglary. Flippo said an investigation into the allegations found no evidence to support any criminal violations by Romo. Theres nothing there, he said.

Romo, 47, a 24-year veteran of the department, has maintained his innocence. They were false allegations. Theres no other way to think about them, he said. Flippo launched the investigation in late February after a series of allegations were lodged by Gil 85-86 i 87-88 91-92 82-83 84-85 86-87 88-89 90-91 Rape trial begins for former 49er -Mt Jui. A 1992 Like many rape cases, the verdict is likely to boil down to a basic question: Whos telling the truth? Cox was a defensive back with the San Francisco 49ers when he walked into Sharkys Club in Monterey to watch a Monday Night Football game on Sept.

9, Assistant District Attorney Charley Keeley said. The 22-year-old woman hes accused of raping was a cocktail waitress in the bar. Cox drank 14 or 15 woo-woos a potent combination of vodka, peach schnapps and cranberry juice with Sharkys owner J.R. Shake and several friends from the Quail Lodge, former Please see COXPage 3C By David Fisher The Calilorman Greg Cox was a drunken, abusive pro football player who raped a Monterey cocktail waitress after she drank with him on Sept. 9, a prosecutor claimed Tuesday.

But Coxs lawyer claimed Cox didnt even have sex with the woman, who was apparently too drunk to remember what happened. Cox, 25, is charged with two counts of rape and one count of forcible oral copulation. His trial started Tuesday after 1 lA days of jury selection. The trial is expected to last two weeks. jut.

ASONDJ A MJ Rainfall- Monthly drought averages (1983-91) Reported by Marty Burleson The Californian Graphics by Mark Bartlsy The Californian gggg i Xlv -1- -i rTj--- If nnrAjiiii 4F.