The Modesto Bee from Modesto, California • 15

The State E3L 1 i Farmworkers win jobless pay reprieve In Brief Phase Two of amnesty begins But EDD officials facing the threat of a CRLA lawsuit agreed Friday to waive all penalties and fines against workers Hernandez said Workers who were paying back the money will not receive a refund however "A lot of these people have been getting unemployment since farmworkers started getting unemployment benefits in 1976" said Hernandez who works with the group's migrant worker project Peter Cooey an aide to Johnston confirmed Monday that the Employment Development Department and CRLA have resolved their differences "I understand now there is no disagreement between the CRLA and EDD on how to go forward" Cooey said Growers urged Deukmejian to sign the bill because they found it in their interest that workers receive unemployment benefits Hernandez said The fines and penalties will only be waived for one year however and the law expires Oct 1 1989 Hernandez said there will be a major outreach effort to let migrant workers know they must apply for amnesty provisions within a year By ROB WELLS The Associated Press FRESNO Non-resident farmworkers who illegally received state unemployment checks before they applied for amnesty won't have to pay back those wages and won't be fined under a new agreement a farmworkers rights activist said Monday "It's a major victory" said Gloria Hernandez of the California Rural Legal Assistance office in Fresno "Some people estimate that $50 million will not have to be paid back" CRLA attorneys reached agreement with the state Employment Development Department Friday over interpretation of Assembly Bill 1669 sponsored by Assemblyman Pat Johnston D-Stockton and signed Sept 28 by Gov Deukmejian she said The bill waives fines repayment of illegally obtained benefits and penalties for workers who received state unemployment checks before becoming legally eligible to work in the United States under the 1986 federal Immigration Control and Reform Act The farmworkers group disputed an interpretation of the bill by the Employment Development Department which claimed farmworkers still would be pe- percent were recommended for acceptance On the first day of the 19th month after a person filed for amnesty he becomes eligible to file for the second phase The more than 20000 in the Western Region who applied for amnesty in May 1987 may apply this month for permanent residency "As in Phase One the applicants must meet certain requirements" Ezell said The key requirement is that applicants pass a test given by INS examiners or register for a 60-hour course in English American history and government and satisfactorily complete 40 of the 60 hours Applicants younger than 16 or 65 and older will receive a waiver from basic citizenship skill requirements United Press International SAN FRANCISCO Phase Two of the federal amnesty program got under way Monday with Immigration and Naturalization Service officials accepting the first applications for permanent residency "This is the most important part of our whole effort over the past 18 months" said Harold Ezell INS western regional commissioner "Today marks the next step on the road to American citizenship for hundreds of thousands of legalized aliens and it is with great pleasure I accept your applications for permanent residency" The INS said 1765 million illegal aliens not including special agricultural workers applied for amnesty and temporary residency between May 5 1987 and May 4 1988 and that 97 nalized 10 weeks for receiving illegal unemployment benefits The department also had maintained that farmworkers should have to pay a 30 percent fine on their illegally obtained unemployment benefits Analyst: State can win coming financial battles tinizing the governor's budget and related fiscal programs and making an impartial analysis She also predicts its impact on state programs She suggested several ways the state could better prepare for the future: "Expand the time horizon" to solve problems By that Hill said lawmakers and governments must do a better job of long-term planning In recent time the Legislature has been concentrating mostly on short-term solutions she said Shift costs to help pay for growth Many fees "dont reflect the value of the services" she said Most valley residents for example pay one flat fee for water no matter how much they use And gasoline taxes don't fully pay highway construction and maintenance costs or help solve pollution problems motorists create Agencies must be creative and flexible There needs to be more partnerships between government and business and local governments could solve problems quickly if they had more money that didnt come with strings attached As an example she cited how a successful pilot welfare program in Stanislaus County expanded statewide this year The county's Greater Avenues for Independence program emphasizes improving the educational and labor skills of welfare recipients as a condition for receiving welfare They finally have some self-esteem" she said By RAY SOTERO Bee Capitol Bureau SACRAMENTO The Legislature's top budget analyst said Monday that growing finance-related problems pose staggering implications for the state's budget and taxpayers But former Modestan Elizabeth Hill told about 150 university students and educators that she is optimistic about the state's financial future She said progress could be made through creativity planning and higher fees that reflect the true cost of services State residents especially those in the booming San Joaquin Valley are increasingly worried about growth pollution maintaining their lifestyles and legislative problems such as political standoffs and property-tax limits she said Hill featured speaker during a scholars lecture program at Sacramento State University cited a host of problems during a talk titled "California at the Crossroads" Those looming problems she said include an increasingly clogged road and highway system that planners have been able to expand by only 100 miles in the past eight years a public school and higher education enrollment rate that's left the state $4 billion behind in providing needed classrooms the financial drag on county governments of 52 million state residents who dont have health insurance and the personal and financial costs of an AIDS virus that's expected to The Associated Legislative analyst Elizabeth Hill a former Modestan In file photo legislative analyst since the non-partisan post was created in 1941 and her 41 analysts make recommendations to the Legislature concerning state revenue and expenditures In short Hill is responsible for scru infect 365000 Californians within four years "It's no wonder many people feel their lifestyle is threatened" Hill said "The result of all this is a frustrated public" Hill named in 1986 as the first woman Gang shooting VICTORVILLE Two reputed Los Angeles County gang members are being sought in the fatal shooting of a man at his 10-year-old son's birthday party in rural San Bernardino County officials said Monday The shooting occurred late Friday at Jose Gonzalez's home in unincorporated Hesperia south of Victorville and about 75 miles east of Los Angeles sheriffs Lt Mike Stodelle said Gonzalez 40 and his wife had invited several friends from the Downey-Lakewood area of Los Angeles County to their 10-year-old son's birthday party Stodelle said During the party Gonzalez's pistol disappeared from his bedroom and one of two reputed gang members identified as Joseph Avalos and Raymond Ramirez pulled out the gun and shot Gonzalez and the two then fled in a car parked outside Stodelle said Kids care backlog OAKLAND A staff shortage has left a health care service for children with a seven-month backlog its director said Monday "We have sick kids and we're blocking them from getting care when we have the money to pay for it" said Twila Brown director of California Children's Services in Alameda County "It's incredible I can't believe it's happening and I'm in the middle of it" County Supervisor John George said it is ridiculous that a program with $24 million in benefits is being hobbled because of a shortage in administrative funds Marcos in San Jose SAN JOSE Imclda Marcos wife of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos arrived here on a jet belonging to tobacco heiress Doris Duke and spent the night at her daughter's mansion before returning to Hawaii Monday officials said Marcos who arrived at San Jose International Airport Sunday night had been staying with Duke in New Jersey since pleading innocent to racketeering charges in US District Court in New York last week LA earthquake LOS ANGELES A pre-dawn offshore earthquake rattled the west side Monday but no damage or injuries were reported The temblor at 5:27 am measured 26 on the Richter scale and was centered one mile southwest of Santa Monica said Robert Finn a spokesman for the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena Arson charge denied NEVADA CITY Gary Wayne Parris a 39-year-old transient pleaded innocent Monday to a felony charge of starting the 49er fire that burned more than 33000 acres and scores of homes in September Trial is scheduled to begin Dec 6 in Nevada County Superior Investigators said Parris burned toilet paper Sept 1 1 in a brushy area and the flames quickly spread out of control in the tinder-dry Sierra Nevada foothills McMartin testimony LOS ANGELES A former defendant in the McMartin Pre-School molestation case who taught at the nursery testified Monday that she never saw anything unusual occurring in the classroom of defendant Peggy McMartin Buckey "She had a gift with children" Mary Ann Jackson said of Buckey who is on trial with her son for allegedly molesting students at the now-closed Manhattan Beach preschool "She loved them and cared for them She was just a good marvelous teacher" Long fall SAN ANDREAS A Sacramento man fell 90 feet down a gold mine shaft in this Mother Lode county while exploring the area with friends over the weekend authorities said Steven Poole 22 was treated at a hospital and released after rescuers pulled him from the abandoned shaft a Calaveras County sheriffs dispatcher said The accident occurred just after dark Saturday near isolated Chili Gulch along State Route 49 Whiting said Wrong-way deaths BURBANK A car fleeing from police the wrong way on the Golden State Freeway collided head-on with a truck-trailer rig early Monday killing three people in the car including the driver authorities said Two police officers on patrol attempted to stop the car at about 3:20 am after it rounded a corner "practically on two wheels" but the driver tried to speed away Sgt Len Doran said The car turned onto the Burbank Boulevard offramp of the Golden State Freeway and drove southbound in the northbound lanes with the police officers in pursuit along the shoulder of the freeway Sgt Rick Madrid said The officers ended their chase getting off the freeway at the Orange Grove Avenue ramp but the car continued on and smashed into the truck Madrid said All three men were pronounced dead at the scene Mass mailing of death-threat letters baffles officials in the tiny town north of Lancaster on Highway 14 because all the valley's mail is processed there Lying between the craggy peaks of the San Gabriel Mountains and the Tehach-apis the valley is accustomed to being rocked by the sonic booms of supersonic jets and space shuttles but not the fear of mass extortion Lancaster population 80000 and Palmdale population 33000 have until recently mainly served the needs of nearby Edwards Air Force Base local aerospace plants and travelers crossing the Mojave Desert on Highway 14 In recent years however the valley has changed as the population pressure of metropolitan Los Angeles grew and urban sprawl vaulted the San Gabriels some of the letters he was informed about had references such as "cutting hearts out" The letters demanded amounts between several hundred dollars and $600000 according to Welch but no one was known to have complied with the demands The money was to have been delivered to various locations or to people named in the letters Although the personal information was apparently intended to make the recipients believe the extortionist was well aware of the victims some of that information was inaccurate or out of date and some letters were sent to wrong addresses Welch said All the letters bore a Mojave postmark but that does not mean they were mailed sent the letters which City Editor Larry Grooms called "an assault on the entire community" "They seem to be a form letter in that they all seem to be very similar Some of them have been personalized" said Sgt Bob Welch a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department task force investigating the letters "They're all worded the same The threat is all the same" he said Investigators do not have any suspect in mind and are examining the letters in hopes of finding a common thread The recipients are mostly prominent citizens such as doctors dentists lawyers and businessmen Welch would not discuss the nature of the death threats but Lancaster Mayor Els Groves who did not get a letter said The Associated Press LANCASTER A week after letters bearing death threats and money demands were sent to hundreds of Antelope Valley citizens detectives were still trying Monday to find out who's behind the extortion and why The computer-generated mailing combining personal information with a form letter was mailed Nov 1 and residents of the Mojave Desert communities of Lancaster Palmdale and Quartz Hill soon began calling authorities Since then the number of complaints has topped 230 and authorities say they assume other recipients may have discarded the venomous letters The Antelope Valley Press offered a $10000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever Defense contractor pays first part of fine for faking test results ley pleaded guilty earlier to the scheme to submit untested pressure transducers to the government for two systems that perform underwater tests on torpedoes and for the HARM missile The transducer measures the depth of underwater targets The indictment also said some of the transducers went into the Navy's HARM missile but the company itself did not plead guilty to those counts of the settlement: $66666 to the government and $3333 to Gibeault Another $50000 is due in three months and the remainder is payable by the end of Genisco's five-year probation Gibeault 37 of Granada Hills will ultimately get about 25 percent of the $525000 restitution for helping bring the fraud to light prosecutors said Three former officials of Genisco's transducer products division in Simi Val United Press International LOS ANGELES A La Mirada defense contractor Monday paid the first installment of a $725000 settlement in a case charging it with faking test results on key components of the military's weapons testing systems Genisco Technology Corp pleaded guilty Oct 11 to one count of conspiracy and three counts of making false statements for claiming that critical parts of systems used to test military torpedoes met contract specifications In exchange Genisco agreed to pay $200000 in fines and $525000 in restitution to the US government and Roland Gibeault a former Genisco calibration technician who filed a whistleblower suit against the firm Moments after US District Judge A Andrew Hauk approved the settlement Monday Genisco paid the first $100000 Manson cult figure Krenwinkel denied parole again it wsm The Associated Press FRONTERA Manson Family member Patricia Krenwinkel convicted in the Sharon Tate-La Bianca murders was denied parole Monday for the seventh time by the state Board of Prison Terms "This degree of barbaric violent behavior has no equal" Commissioner Rudolph Caspro said in announcing the board's decision Throughout the two-hour hearing Krenwinkel 40 showed little emotion staring out a window The Board of Prison Terms deliberated 45 minutes before denying parole Krenwinkel who was convicted in seven of said Krenwinkel shows little remorse for the crimes "She's probably the most cold-blooded murderess I've ever met in my 21 years in the DA's office This is a person without a heart and without a souL" Kay said "She has no remorse Her only remorse is that she got caught" Actress Sharon Tate 26 then eight months pregnant was found stabbed Aug 9 1969 at the Beverly Hills home she shared with her movie director husband Roman Polanski Four others with her were stabbed and shot A night later the bodies of wealthy grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary were found in tieir Los Feliz hdSbe eligible for parole again in another year The board commended Krenwinkel for good prison behavior but recommended she participate in individual therapy should it become available at the prison and urged her to develop a job skill A recent psychological evaluation found Krenwinkel is no longer a threat to society But the board called the report inconclusive and said Krenwinkel requires more rehabilitation Krenwinkel's attorney Wendy Parks criticized the board for recommending individual counseling as a condition for parole when it is unavailable at the prison Stephen Kay the deputy district attorney who prosecuted the Manson case Patricia Krenwinkel use Vsiuuics maiiauu iuu aiayuigs wui.