North County Times from Oceanside, California • 10

B-2 Blade-Citizen Wednesday, Febmary 7, 1990 Resistance to Encinitas business registration fades been certificated, Moran said. If the program is not in place, (fire inspectors) are not going to see a certificate What the city came up with was reasonable, Erlandson said. We helped design the program. It was not a surprise. There was a lot of thought put into it." Erlandson said the city will benefit from knowing its commercial constituency.

It helps the city to track tax dollars and make sure it gets back tax dollars due to the city, Erlandson said. For safety purposes, knowing what is going on is good for the city and business community. Jo Moran, the office specialist hired by the city to organize the program, said the first phase was initiated in November 30, 1989, when the city mailed out 1,957 applications to existing commercial addresses. Based on the applications returned, Moran was able to mail out approximately 900 certificates on Jan. 26.

Considering that at least 200 addresses were vacant, well over 50 percent of the businesses receiving applications have complied. I think were doing fairly well, Moran said. It will be a while before were completely on top of it. Im not saying well be completely on line by the middle of the year. The next stage of the program, Moran said, is identifying and mailing out applications to home-based businesses and businesses operating from post-office box numbers.

That stage should begin by early March, Moran said. While non-profit businesses are required to obtain certification, Moran stressed that qualify for a fee exemption. Non-profit organizations that conduct door-to-door solicitations, like cookie and candy sales, are also eligible for the exemption. Those organizations do go to the City Clerks office to find out about the permit process, Moran said. They automatically contact the city and get the paperwork.

Now, Ill send out the applications to them with fee exemptions. Its no big deal. Its not going to be mugging little Girl Scouts. Once the program is fully implemented, compliance will be maintained by the fire department on its regular fire inspections. But Moran said no enforcement policy is yet in effect.

Its not pertinent yet to assume that somebody hasnt By Michael J. Williams Staff Writer ENCINITAS Local entrepreneurs are taking a business registration program instituted Jan. 1 by Encinitas in stride, city officials and business representatives say. Resistance has been minimal, said Encinitas Fire Marshal Ron McCarver said. Were getting calls from people out of town with businesses in town asking for applications.

The program, authorized by the Encinitas Fire Protection District and operated by the citys Fire Prevention Bureau, requires all businesses to receive certification from the city at a cost of $25 per business. Non-profit businesses also must register but are eligible for a fee exemption. After the initial certification, an annual renewal costs $15. Chamber of Commerce President John Erlandson said the chamber worked with the city for nearly two years in designing an acceptable program. According to John Gessel, proprietor of Jerrys Shoes and a member of the Downtown Encinitas MainStreet Association, most of the communitys resistance came from having to pay the fee.

However, the program adopted by Encinitas is reasonable, compared to some cities, Gessel said. I would have opposed it if they made it a percentage of the gross income. But a flat fee was all right with me, Gessel said. In contrast, Erlandson said, Carlsbads registration fee is based on a business revenues. While comparatively inexpensive, the $25 initial fee is 1 0 higher than what some Encinitas business people expected to pay.

The original people who ran for City Council said the business tax would be $15, Gessel said. Thats the only inconsistency I saw. Districts unite in bus ruling appeal Although the state granted school districts the power to charge students for bus rides, that decision was challenged in 1988 in Ventura County when it was argued that the provision violated the states constitutional requirement to provide free education. The decision in favor of the challenge was appealed to the state Supreme Court, which agreed that the bus fees violated Californias constitution. -Arguing that some evidence had not been considered during the decision, some California school districts united in a lawsuit challenging the decision.

The districts lost the lawsuit in Superior Court last month and on Thursday agreed to fight that decision in the appellate court. The attorney for the local district has told San Dieguito district administrators that bus fees may continue to be collected during the appellate process, including the time between the Superior Court decision and the actual filing of the appeal. By Gary Warth Staff Writer ENCINITAS The San Dieguito Union High School District was one of 25 state school districts that unanimously decided Thursday to appeal a decision prohibiting school bus fees. If the local district is not allowed to collect the fees, the board of trustees may have to take a serious look at whether transportation service can continue for area students, said San Dieguito Superintendent Bill Berrier. The district oversees local secondary schools, including Torrey Pines and San Dieguito high schools.

Although the district collects more than $100,000 each year from bus fees to provide home-to-school transportation, the district still must budget about $175,000 each year for the program. A cutback two years ago ended some school bus routes in the San Dieguito district, Berrier pointed out. News briefs Fountainhead A blackbird appears to be waiting for someone to turn on the water last week. Rain that might have filled the drinking fountain basin so it can quench its thirst at a fountain at Seagrove Park in Del Mar today has apparently fizzled out, forecasters say. Jennifer Pratt recovery painful, slow Anti-abortion attorney appeals citations SAN DIEGO (AP) An appellate court will consider whether antiabortion attorney Cyrus Zal should spend 90 days in jail and pay a 1 0,000 fine for 20 contempt-of-court citations he received for during a recent trial.

Zal, the general counsel for Operation Rescue, will remain free at least until next Tuesday. He had been scheduled to begin serving his sentence Monday. Municipal Court Judge Larry Brainard imposed the citations on Zal for abortion rhetoric in his questioning of witnesses during a two-week trial for 1 1 anti-abortion protesters. Zal, 42, represented seven of those defendants, each charged with trespassing and failure to disperse during an October demonstration in front of Family Planning Associates in La Mesa. Seven of the 1 1 were convicted and sentenced Friday to jail terms ranging from 10 days to 46 days.

Jurors were unable to reach verdicts in the cases of the other four, who will be tried again. Zal repeatedly made references to abortion in his questions to witnesses, despite Brainard's warnings to restrict his queries to the trespassing issue. The lawyer used similar tactics during a trial in Fresno and received a 16-day sentence for contempt of court, but he successfully appealed that sentence. with brain damage. The family gladly takes whatever hope is offered, no matter how small.

Pratts recovery continues to be painfully slow, with progress marked by minor triumphs as she rediscovers rudimentary skills. Equally frustrating is the investigation of her attack, which occurred April 25, 1987 at 11:55 p.m., as she rode home from a party on the back of a motorcycle driven by her boyfriend, Curtis Croft. A 614-foot wood plank was thrown at the couple from a passing pickup truck on Rancho Santa Fe Road in Carlsbad. The board struck Pratt in the back of her head, sending her into a coma. Despite the work of a private investigator and two appearances on Unsolved Mysteries, there remains no solid evidence to link a suspect to the crime.

By Gary Warth Staff Writer RANCHO PENASQUITOS For the family of Jennifer Pratt, hope comes in small doses. The 19-year-old former San Dieguito High School student made a 6-inch-by-6-inch hook rug this week. On Thursday she completed a Learning Services program at Escondido Community Re-Entry, and this week she may leam whether she can undergo surgery that will allow her to straighten her elbow. Each step, the family hopes, is a step out of the nightmare they have lived for almost three years. Another piece of hope will be grasped on Feb.

II, when the NBC television show Unsolved Mysteries will again air a segment about the unknown assailant who left Pratt in a coma for three months and Detective Richard Castaneda of the Carlsbad Police Department said the last call about the case came about a month ago, but no leads resulted from it. For Pratts mother, Diane Stromm, the past three years have been a test of faith. But there has been progress, and the family clings to signs of improvement. Shes coming along, Stromm said. Its real, real slow, but shes coming along." When Stromm was called to the Scripps Memorial Hospital trauma center in La Jolla, she was told her daughter was clinically dead and was not expected to live more than two more hours.

But she hung on in a coma for three months, curled up in a fetal position. She eventually opened her eyes and mumbled her first words. Today she can walk and commu nicate with full sentences, but her mental and physical abilities remain battered. The latest step in her physical recovery came on Tuesday, when Pratts left elbow was X-rayed to determine if it was strong enough for surgery. A blood clot that formed when she was in a coma left her arm swollen and caused a calcium buildup that prevents her from straightening her elbow.

The condition makes her walk off-balance and prevents her from combing her hair, Stromm said, further restricting her daughters emotional recovery. Her short-term memory also continues to be a hindering disability in her recovery. You can tell something to Jenny today, and two weeks later, maybe shell remember what you said, but today she wont, Stromm said. Obituaries Eva Bray OCEANSIDE Eva Bray, died Tuesday, Feb. 6, 1990, at a local hospital.

Arrangements are pending with Oceanside Mortuary. Sheriff candidates snub contribution suggestion Rail plan could send trains underground Joe Sentero Fierro, Jr. OCEANSIDE Joe Sentero Fierro, 41, died Sunday, Feb. 4, 1990, at a local hospital. He was bom July 14, 1948, in Ontario, and had lived in Oceanside for 30 years.

He was an Asphalt Laborer, and was a Veteran of Vietnam. He is survived by his wife, Bertha Fierro of Oceanside; his parents, Joe and Gloria Fierro; two sons, Frankie and Joe Fierro; a daughter, Tanya Fierro; an adopted daughter, Juli Rachel; a sister, Elizabeth Luna; his grandparents, Alphonso and Carmen Senteno; and two grandchildren. Services were held Wednesday, Feb. 7, 1990, at 11 a.m. at St.

Francis Catholic Church. Interment with Full Military Honors took place at Eternal Hills Memorial Park. Arrangements by Eternal Hills Mortuary. SAN DIEGO (AP) Candidates for the county sheriffs office are rejecting a call by Sheriffs Capt. Jim Roache to refuse financial contributions from members of the department and other county employees.

Roache, one of the five seeking the office, has asked candidates to adhere to what he calls a hands-off fairness policy to replace a Sheriffs Department rule that had prohibited deputies from contributing to candidates for sheriff. That policy was reversed Jan. 30, the eve of the deadline for candidates filing their first round of financial disclosure forms. But the request was quickly turned down by the other candidates, including Assistant Sheriff Jack Drown, Sheriff John Duffys handpicked successor, who has received much of his financial support from the Sheriffs Department. Roache, who announced his plan Monday, has criticized Drown for collecting $2,700 in campaign money from sheriffs employees or their wives.

That money was collected last year, in spite of the sheriffs policy against such contributions. Roache said he is concerned that under the policy reversal, some employees may donate money to favorite candidates in return for special treatment. The potential for creating an obligation or encouraging employees to seek favorable treatment, is just too great, he said. Drown, however, said he welcomes support from all sections of the community, including the Sheriffs Department. for one, am frankly not at all ashamed or embarrassed by the fact that 1 enjoy the support of a lot of people in the Sheriffs Department and county government, he said.

Drown said Roache is asking all candidates to refrain from soliciting or accepting money from county employees because, I dont think Jim Roache enjoys a great deal of support from the Sheriffs Department, and he realizes that I do. Its a safe move for him, Drown said. Ray Hoobler, a former San Diego police chief who is also a candidate, said he also will not agree with Roaches request. The only reason hes against it now is that he hasnt been able to tap the well, and Drown beat him to it. Jemes Oliver Lewis VISTA Janies Oliver Lewis, 54, died Sunday, Feb.

4, 1990, at a local hospital. Arrangements are pending with Oceanside Mortuary. By Liz Swain Staff Writer DEL MAR A proposed commuter train may someday travel under Camino del Mar to circumvent potential erosion of bluffs now crossed by railroad tracks, according to a study. Del Mar Mayor Brooke Eisenberg said Monday she did not object to the rerouting, which was proposed in the draft environmental impact report for the Oceanside-to-San Diego commuter rail line. It may be the best idea ever, but when will it be studied? Ten years from 1989? the mayor asked at the Monday night City Council meeting.

It was not examined in great detail its disconcerting. Rail service is expected to start in late 1992, and the EIR called for a study of track removal from the bluffs during the first 10 years of the project. Eisenberg termed the EIR a flawed document and voted against certification of the report when it was reviewed by the North County Transit District board; however, the EIR was approved by the majority of directors. But Del Mar may again protest the document during the 30-day challenge period, which started Jan. 25.

The city may be joined in the protest by the Miramar Naval Air Station, an entity that also opposed the EIR. I believe the Navy will be challenging the EIR, and I put Fred Pierson (the Miramar representative) in touch with the Del Mar Planning Department, Eisenberg told councilors Monday. Pierson was out of town Tuesday afternoon and could not be reached for details about a possible challenge of the EIR. Del Mars reaction to the EIR will be discussed at the Feb. 12 City Council meeting.

The city had objected to the EIRs perceived lack of study of the impacts of double tracking. I Dorothy Msgroz CARLSBAD Dorothy Megroz, 93, died Sunday, Feb. 4, 1990, in Carlsbad She was bom in New York, on Aug. 18, 1896, and had lived in Vista for 30 years before moving to Carlsbad in 1982. She was a homemaker, and a member of All Saints Episcopal Church of Vista.

She is survived by her husband, George Megroz of Carlsbad; two sons, Jacques Megroz of Maroneck, New York; and Pierre Megroz of Larchmont, New York; seven grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. No formal services are scheduled Interment will take place at Eternal Hills Memorial Flrk. Arrangements by Eternal Hills Mortuary..