The Fresno Bee from Fresno, California • B1

KPhysical Page THE FRESNO BEE FINAL 1 Time Printed 00:20 Composite Logical Page THE FRESNO budget under fire school focus neglects other problems, 2 on Fresno council say. BY YAHAIRA CASTRO Kareem Hilaly prefers to sleep outside of a tent to look at the stars whenever he goes camping. On Mon- day, he saw his first solar eclipse in east-central Fres- no. think he said. something that going to talk to my friends About 400 people attended the Discovery solar eclipse party to watch the first eclipse visible in the area since 1992.

it been a few thousand miles just a little further north, we have been able to see said Randy Steiner, president of the Central Valley Astrono- mers group. eclipse cov- ered about of the sun, creating a crescent shadow because the moon was too far away from Earth to complete- ly cover the sun. The moon began to cover the sun about 5:10 p.m. and finished passing in front of the sun about 7:20 p.m. Organizers said the eclipse was an extra boon be- cause it helped drop the temperature about four or five degrees.

Dr. Steven White, director for the Downing Plane- tarium at California State University, Fresno, said eclipses were feared centuries ago. He said ancient astronomers in China who predict an eclipse were executed. back then were sometimes able to warn if an eclipse was coming, but now we know exactly when and how long he said. Please see ECLIPSE, Page B4 BY PABLO LOPEZ Two Fresno City Council members criticized Mayor Alan Autry for spend- ing too much time on his education platform instead of focusing on prob- lems such as dirty air, urban sprawl and unemployment.

But Autry stood firm on his commit- ment to education during Monday city budget hearing, saying it is key to solving many of the prob- lems. He also said millions have been set aside for neighborhood projects. The council will continue reviewing the proposed $671 million budget and is expected to approve a version this month. The mayor can veto all or part of the budget. The coun- cil can override his veto with five votes.

Council Member Brian Calhoun took issue with decision to re- tain two education liaisons. the budget is far from Cal- houn said, think the city can afford these education But his motion to cut the two posi- tions failed. Council Member Tom Boyajian criti- cized the mayor for fighting with local school officials. He also urged the mayor to work on issues such as dirty air, unemployment and urban sprawl. Council President Henry Perea said the $500,000 commitment to social service groups was too little.

This fiscal year, which ends June 30, the city committed $750,000 to the groups. In the past, the figure was $1 million or more. Perea said the poverty in pockets of the city makes him ashamed that he done more for these groups. He made a motion to move $200,000 for the 2003 Friendship Games to the social service groups. Council Member Dan Ronquillo favored the motion, which makes it eligible for full council discussion.

Perea also vowed to restore $3 mil- Please see COUNCIL, Page B4 Owner asks Fresno to spare her life Woman says pet does not have a history of dangerous behavior. BY JERRY BIER A federal lawsuit that challenged the Fresno Unified School decision to revoke the charter of GateWay Academy was dismissed Mon- day, but the lawyer who filed the complaint said it will be refiled elsewhere in California. be refiling in a different said lawyer Frank Muna, who is representing GateWay. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Fresno in February and accused the school district of revoking the charter because trus- tees disapproved of the Muslim faith practiced by many of the administrators, teachers and students.

Muna said the new complaint would be filed in a federal court in California, but he declined to say where. U.S. District Judge Robert E. Coyle signed the order dismiss- ing the lawsuit after Muna filed a request that it be dropped. Heritage Development parent com- pany, and its superintendent, Khadijah Ghafur, filed the law- suit, which named the school district, Superintendent Santi- ago Wood, the seven trustees and Marilyn Shepherd, who oversees the charter school department, as defendants.

Fresno Unified officials denied the alle- gations, saying the trustees revoked the charter Jan. 16 and stopped the flow of state money to GateWay because of financial difficulties and prob- lems involving employees and safety. District officials said they were frustrated for weeks in their attempts to get information from GateWay. Muna contended the reason for the revocation was because of religion. He said at the time that other districts dealing with revocation issues had worked with charter schools to bring them into compliance.

GateWay took to come into compliance, but the charter was revoked anyway, Muna said. Fresno Unified trustees approved charter in 1998. The school then established satel- lite sites throughout the state, including four cam- puses in Fresno. But a $1.3 million debt triggered an investiga- tion that turned up various problems, such as: Schools operating in buildings without fire inspections. Employees hired without required back- ground checks.

Questions raised about attendance records. School administrators failing to complete an itemized financial report. The reporter can be reached at or 441-6484. Medical supplier pleads guilty to scam Fresno businessman billed Medi-Cal for phony services. WANT LOCAL NEWS ONLINE? SECTIONOBITUARIES 5OPINION 8WEATHER 10 THE FRESNO BEE TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2002 BY PABLO LOPEZ If dog is best friend, then Linda Newsome wants to know why Fresno city officials want to kill her white pit bull, Spanky.

Newsome went to City Hall on Monday to appeal a ruling that said Spanky is dangerous and should be put to death. During a nearly two-hour hear- ing, authorities provided no evi- dence that Spanky had bitten or hurt anyone. Instead, witnesses, including two police officers, said alleged crime was barking, growl- ing and chasing people in a southeast Fresno neighborhood on April 21. On May 8, the city ruled that Spanky acted aggressively to- ward residents and police offic- ers April 21 in the 4800 block of East Butler Avenue and should be put to death. Newsome ap- pealed that decision.

Fresno police officer Richard Nadeau testified Monday that he fatally shot sibling, a black and white pit bull named Smokey, because the growling animal charged him in a threat- ening manner. Smokey also had killed a cat and a small dog and acted aggres- sively toward residents, Nadeau testified. Spanky also acted aggressive- ly, Nadeau said, but the animal bite or hurt anyone. In- stead, repeated use of pepper spray on Spanky and the sound of gunfire caused the dog to re- treat to his home, officer Mark Moran testified. There Spanky remained until a handler from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani- mals came to pick him up.

The following day, Spanky was re- leased to Newsome because there was no record of vicious in- cidents involving the dog. New- some said Spanky is in Lancaster. Nadeau and Moran said Span- ky should be put to death be- cause the animal exhibited ag- gressive behavior and could do so again. But John Hutchinson, New- friend who argued the ap- peal on her behalf, asked the of- ficers: If Spanky was vicious, then why they shoot the dog? he responded to the Please see DOG, Page B2 Solar Powered Discovery solar eclipse party proves popular. PHOTOS BY KURT HEGRE THE FRESNO BEE ABOVE: Marlene Myatt, special projects coordinator for the Discovery Center, gets a view of the solar eclipse Monday using special glasses as a telescope looms in the background at the center.

LEFT: Reflected images of the solar eclipse are projected on a wall at the center. The next eclipse in the Valley be until 2012. lawsuit dismissed Fresno academy plans to refile complaint in charter revocation. INSIDE Fresno Unified officials are considering opening a community day school for elementary and middle school students this fall. Page B2 BY KERRI GINIS RIVERDALE The last-minute resignations of the two remaining board members of Laguna Irriga- tion District on Monday left about 200 landowners with unan- swered questions about the finan- cial state of the district.

Board President Marshall McKinney and Herman Duin- kerken submitted their letters of resignation hours before they were expected to attend a public meeting. Landowners in the district that strad- dles Fresno and Kings counties had organized the meeting to ask the members about handling of the financial records. The two resignations culminat- ed weeks of speculation about whether the district owes Pacific Gas Electric Co. $2.2 million for electricity the district sold to cus- tomers since 1999. Six property owners asked for the resig- nation during a May 14 meeting, claiming the district never paid for electricity that supplied.

The owners also questioned why the district was involved in five lawsuits with the utility. Three board members Gary Van Groningen, Case Droogh and Duane Pires resigned May 28. McKinney said he would resign once a replacement was appoint- ed, but later recanted. Duin- kerken, who was on vacation, also was expected to resign. He later said that although he thought about leaving, he never told any- one he was quitting.

That all changed late Monday when McKinney and Duinkerken said caused them to reconsider and resign. New board members will be ap- pointed by the Kings County and Fresno County boards of supervi- sors; those appointments likely to be made until June 18. all makes me said McKinney, who served on the Please see BOARD, Page B4 Last two irrigation board members resign BY JERRY BIER The former owner of Medical Supply in Fresno admitted Monday that he cheated the Medi-Cal program out of nearly $250,000. Georgiy R. Sogomonyan, 38, pleaded guilty to five counts of a 16-count indictment that accused him of obtaining the names and iden- tification numbers of Medi-Cal members, a state-federal health-care program for the poor, and then billing the agency for services he never provided.

Sogomonyan, who has been in custody since his arrest in November on other charges, stood before U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger and answered a series of questions as the judge went through a 12-page plea agree- ment. Sogomonyan was first indicted last year and charged with possession of counterfeit bank credit cards, possession of a device capa- ble of creating the phony cards, and posses- sion of a device used to create serial numbers for cellular telephones. He also was accused of illegally possessing a short-barreled rifle.

The Medi-Cal fraud charges were part of a second indictment returned in March by a fed- eral grand jury. As part of his plea deal, government prosecu- tors said if Sogomonyan agrees to also plead guilty to the earlier indictment, they will rec- ommend the sentences run concurrently. Wanger set Aug. 19 for sentencing. Sogom- onyan is facing a maximum of five years and a $250,000 fine on each count, but the sentence is expected to be much less because of his guilty plea.

The indictment said most of the individuals whose Medi-Cal numbers were used by So- gomonyan had never heard of him or Medi- cal Supply, which was on East Shaw Avenue. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stanley A. Boone said the fraud covered the months from Au- gust 1998 to September 1999. In that period, Medi-Cal paid about $241,250 to Sogomon- yan, Boone said, and individual checks he re- ceived from the agency ranged from $10,062 Please see FRAUD, Page B2 Erin column will return..