Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California • Page 1

ITJESDXr' 'i1''" 11 1 1 11 1 "ni -1) iroslhoDre-oBD "ffaKDnDnlty cyirbs K'd By JOHN ROBINSON Sentinel staff writer LOS ANGELES Opponents of offshore oil drilling and local officials are claiming a major victory after a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled Monday in favor of local ordinances restricting the development of onshore facilities for offshore oil drilling. The ruling followed a lawsuit against 13 coastal city and county governments, including Santa Cruz City and County, brought in August 1987 by the Western Oil and Gas Association. WOGA claimed that the 18 ordinances, including Measure violated several federal regulations, were un "It means that the oil companies' effort, which was really an attempt to divest local governments of their authority over land use and deprives the people of the right to vote on local land use, was denied," Beers said. WOGA, however, is expected to appeal the decision, according to its attorney, Philip Verleger of Los Angeles. "The questions involved are not questions that are likely to be decided at the district court level," Verleger said.

"They (the opposition) have more cause to be happy than I do, but whether it's a major victory or minor skirmish, time will tell." The ruling does not affect offshore oil constitutional and economically hurt the association's companies. Roger Beers, a San Francisco-based lawyer hired to represent the coastal governments, countered that the lawsuit was premature and should be dismissed because if a project were denied, its backers could automatically appeal to the Coastal Commission. U.S. District Court Judge Consuelo Marshall, according to lawyers from both sides, ruled in favor of the local governments in all but two of the ordinances, reportedly saying that the legality of two San Diego ordinances would have to be tried in court. Her decision was mailed to the attorneys Monday.

leases or federal policies, but Dan Haifley of Save Our Shores, who worked with the city and county against the WOGA suit, claimed a significant victory. "I thought we wouldn't make it on this, not because of the merits (of the case), but because of the resources WOGA has at its disposal. It may have the effect of causing the oil companies to look twice, and they may see that there is not a For Sale sign on the coast." The lawsuit had a turbulent history that pitted local and state authorities against federal government agencies. Please see CURBS A8 'Whether it's a major victory or minor skirmish, time will Philip Verleger, WOGA attorney Copyright 1988 Santa Crui Sentinel Publishers Co. 132nd Year No.

100 Tuesday, April 26, 1988 Santa Cruz, Calif. 25 cents Killer sentenced v. Officials race to contain oil save wildlife I t-. it Victim's mother lashes out LWrh Costa east to Ryer Island, coating between 100 and 200 birds in a life-threatening mantle of goo. The leaked oil was first spotted about 2 p.m.

Saturday by workers at the Tosco Corp. refinery, upstream from Shell. Overflights by Coast Guard spotter planes, six vessels with oil skimmers and 16 vacuum tank-trucks raced to capture oil to save the wetland animals. Oil booms, floating barriers, were placed in an effort to keep the oil away from wildlife areas. Coast Guard spokesman Ken Massey estimated it could take until next week to clean up the spill.

Shell Oil acknowledged blame for the spill, traced to a damaged drain on a tank on the west side of Interstate 680, used to store thick crude from the San Joaquin Valley. Please see SPILL A8 MARTINEZ (AP) In Shell Oil worst spill in 73 years, state officials planned Monday to "sacrifice" a section of wildlife-rich Suisun Bay marshland to save hundreds more acres of wetlands. "We're trying to keep new areas from becoming oiled," said Brian Hunter of the state Department of Fish and Game. "We're willing to try and capture as much oil as we can in 20 acres of marsh." Hunter said the acreage to be sacrificed probably will be immediately east of Interstate 680 to the bottom of so-called "Shell Marsh" in Suisun Bay. Approximately 21,000 gallons of thick, unrefined crude gushed Saturday from Martinez' Shell Refinery holding tank, 30 miles northeast of San Francisco.

It spread a slick of current-sloshed oil that by Monday morning stretched 10 miles from Port Photos by Bill Loveioy The 3-year ordeal of waiting for justice ended for Mrs. Pat Ferrell on Monday. By MARK BERGSTROM Sentinel staff writer SANTA CRUZ A slain man's mother lashed out at the court system Monday, saying defense attorneys were allowed to engage in "legal masturbation" for almost 314 years while she and her family waited for justice. Pat Ferrell made her remarks before her son's killer, Mark William Cunningham, was formally sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. In February, a jury found Cunningham, 28, guilty of murdering Mark Ferrell, 20, on April 23, 1983, and Hon Lee, 30, and Ying Chen, 29, of San Francisco six weeks later.

The jury then imposed a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole. The three killings went unsolved until the start of 1985, when Cunningham's girlfriend, Lynn Bohnen, broke down and told her new boyfriend, Steve Walker, that she had been with Cunningham when he shot and killed Lee and Chen on a north coast beach trail. Earlier authorities had matched the bullets taken from Ferrell's body with those removed from Lee and Chen. Bohnen told sheriff's detectives that Cunningham was broke the day he chose Lee and Chen at random to rob and murder on a trail leading to Laguna Beach. There are no known witnesses to the murder of Ferrell on East Zayante Road, but Chief Deputy District Attorney Jon Hopkins says he believes robbery was the motive then, too.

Ferrell, a West Valley College Anti-bias ruling to be reviewed Court will look at suits by minorities student, worked nights at a Santa Clara County electronics firm. He was almost to the driveway of his family's home when Cunningham got him to stop. Ferrell's body was found by firefighters, who had responded to a report of a car on fire in a turnout on East Zayante Road. An autopsy revealed that Ferrell had been shot five times. "Mark loved life.

He loved nature. He loved his family," Pat Ferrell told Superior Court Judge John Mario. "Mark was intensely interested in science. He was working and he was making a contribution, unlike the man who took Mark away from us," Ferrell said. Please see killer A8 Mark William Cunningham was given life sentence.

The New York Times WASHINGTON In an extraordinary action, the Supreme Court decided Monday to reconsider the rights of minorities to sue private parties for racial dis-' crimination under a post-Civil War statute. The court's five more conservative justices, over bitter dissents by the other four, agreed to consider overruling an important 1976 decision that had expanded such rights. If the court decides to overrule the 1976 decision, which several legal experts said was likely but not certain, it would be the first time in modern history and perhaps ever that it had overturned a major precedent expanding the rights of racial minorities. In an unusual but not unprecedented step, the majority ordered the lawyers in a case the court had already heard to make new arguments this fall on an issue none of the parties had raised: whether to overturn the earlier ruling. The majority dismissed arguments by four dissenters that Monday's order was an unwarranted instance of the "activism of judges." That issue is whether the court Liberals fear high court is conservative Page D6 erred in its 7-2 decision in 1976, in Runyon vs.

McCrary, that a civil rights law Congress passed soon after the Civil War was intended to bar racial discrimination by private schools, employers, and other parties in deciding with whom they will contract, or do business. The statute, which some justices have traced to the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and others have traced to the Voting Rights Act of 1870, provides that all people have the same right "to make and enforce contracts" as "is enjoyed by white citizens." It is now codified as section 1981 of Title 42 of the United States Code. The immediate ruling in the 1976 decision was that black people could sue private schools for denying them admission on racial grounds. But the broad reasoning of the Runyon decision also applied to racial discrimination in private transactions generally. One major effect was to give victims of job discrimination broader protections and more potent rem' Please see COURT A8 Singleton's whereabouts unknown But Singleton also has friends "I think he is very dangerous and unstable.

I think he's operating under a delusion (of innocence)," said Donald Stahl, Stanislaus County district attorney. "I think for most of the time he's adjusting himself pretty well, but I don't know what will happen when the pressure gets to be too much or if he falls off the Singleton, who drank heavily the day of the attack and acknowledges he has a drinking problem, has not had alcohol during his imprisonment or parole, officials said. where," he said. Singleton, 60, was convicted of abducting a teen-age hitchhiker, raping her and then hacking off her forearms with an ax near Modesto, 45 miles east of San Francisco, in 1978. He was under no obligation to tell officials where he planned to go when his year of parole expired, and gave only noncommital answers when asked, Gore said.

Singleton served eight years of a 14-year sentence, but the case continues to arouse public anger. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Rapist-mutilator Larry Singleton took off without having to tell authorities where he was going Monday on his first day of complete freedom in nine years. "He was a free man according to law at 12:01 today, and he just simply walked off parole from the place he was located," said Bob Gore, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections. "We have no legal right to follow him any further and no statutory means of requiring him to go some and supporters who, while not accepting his claims of innocence, believe he is no longer dangerous if he is let alone and can stay with people who care about him. "While we can't forget (the crime), can't we forgive?" said Bob Plath, a Marin County lawyer and member of an inmate support group that befriended Singleton during his parole.

While he said he knew where Singleton planned to go when his Please see RAPIST A8 Business owners want action U.S. forces may return to limited action in Gulf Opinion A7 i i i wSzz. Group calls on Santa Cruz council to halt economic slide Vital statistics A6 MARA qaura "I think we're seeing a consensus arts- discuss economic problems and son Business D3-5 Classified B6-C7 Comics B4 Entertainment B5 Features D1-2 waiiy Tracing sentinel staff writer ing that's not conservative or pro- tions, and the city's future gressive," Brezsny said. "It's just a whole The meeting was attended by members group of people saying that there's got to of the Progressive Business Network, the be a middle ground where we don't have Eastside Business Association, the Down-to sacrifice our services and quality of town Association, the Chamber of Coin-life" to a sagging economy. merce, the Beach Area Business Assocla-Financial crisis isn't just a headache tion and several others.

Mo Reich, chalr-for city bureaucrats the city's sinking man of the city Planning economy and looming budget deficit has moderated the session, gotten local business owners worried, "There was a real cross section of too. interests there," said Scott Roseman, dl-. Stocks move ahead The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials climbed 22.21 points to 2,037.30. Page D3 Patchy morning fog Highs 60s Lows 40s Page A8 WASHINGTON (AP) President Reagan's spokesman suggested Monday that the administration wants to return U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf to the limited rules of engagement that existed before last week's shooting with Iran.

While emphasizing that no decisions have been made on how American naval power will be used In the wake of last Monday's exchanges with Iran, spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said, "Everybody acknowledges that we need to move back to some more limited set of rules." SANTA CRUZ A group of mainstream and progressive business owners is calling on the city to take an active role in supporting local business and halting the economic "slide" that Is weakening the Santa Cruz economy. The call was issued in a preliminary report issued this week. "You get the sense that the city is grasping for straws In trying to solve their economic woes," said Tom Brezsny, executive director of the Santa Cruz Area Restaurant Association. "A sense that they're running out of options. rector of the Progressive Business Network and owner of the Westside Com-, munity Market.

"I think the differences' Please see BUSINESS A8" In an unusual round-table meeting, representatives from almost every corner of the Santa Cruz business world sat down with city planners last month to 3 Please see GULF AH.