The Fresno Bee from Fresno, California • 12

P3 Monday October 11990 THE FRESNO BEE i Valley digest Bakersfield man may gat new top position A Bakersfield native has been named manager of a state prison under construction at Delano and Ukefy will be named warden when the facility opens Lewis Jones 51 will oversee construction of the $186 million prison and will recruit employees He formerly served as chief deputy warden at Avenal State I Prison looking forward to returning to the area where I grew up" Jones said Following Corrections Department tradition Jones probably will be named warden when the prison opens in October 1991 he said Tax Increases for Modestans MODESTO To keep pace with new fees from the county Modesto City Council approved $115 million in tax increases Council members last week adopted several tax hikes or new fees to balance the city budget in light rtf new jail booking fees and tax collection fees from die county i The package includes a utilities tax increase from 5 to 6 percent which will generate about $703000 a 3 percent cable television tax which will generate about $320000 and a plan to raise the city tax on entertain- ment tickets from 3 cents a ticket to 5 percent of the ticket price which will generate about $104000 City officials said they face an extra $950000 in county fees this year after the state Legislature authorized counties to charge cities for jail booking fees and tax collection Kern prison sections reopened BAKERSFIELD Sections of Lerdo Prison in Bakersfield have reopened after being shut down for two years Medium and maximum security areas at the Lerdo facility reopened last week and inmates moved back in pnsoa officials said The two areas house about 364 inmates Officials said the downtown Bakersfield jail will soon close for four months for renovations Preparing for take Trying to get a view through the crowd of more than 5000 runners Howard Works of Visalia perches in a tree hoping to catch a glimpse of Off his friend before the 10-kilometer Cross-City Race which kicks off activities at the Big Fresno Fair each year The race began early Sunday morning at Roeding Park and finished at the Fresno Fairground The race also included a two-mile event Story photos on Page C2 Bee staff and news services Yosemite celebrates 100th birthday today Naturalist John Muir sparked movement in 1860s to preserve gem of Sierra Seven more die in LA shootings Bee Metro staff and newt services Aseodated Press for use as a public park and recreation area John Muir a naturalist first saw foe area in the 1860s and his enthusiastic reports of the beauties of the region aroused interest in preserving Yosemite Now some 34 million people visit the park each year During the past century Yosemite has seen controversies and battled natural disasters Developers and concessionaires have fought with environmentalists who fear too much commercialization and congestion are destroying the natural surroundings The fight has resulted in the Wilderness Society attempting to buy out the current concessionaire the Yosemite Park Cuny Co It is the first time a non-profit organization has attempted to buy out a national park concession Yosemite has also survived a bout with Mother Nature as recently as August when fires raged through the park blackening 23000 acres YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK After much-awaited anticipation Yosemite will celebrate its 100th birthday today millions of years af-lar glaciers tore off rocks and -Carved out U-shaped valleys to cre-'ate the majestic gem of the Sierra -The 748542-acre park was created by Congress on Oct 1 1890 26 years after the federal government gave Yosemite Valley to California rise on increasingly deadly warfare among competing gangs Of the seven homicides reported during the weekend at least three were thought to be gang- related police said The Hollywood drive-by shooting marked the 10th gang-linked homicide this year in the film capital Only three people died in gang violence in all of 1989 but police say crackdowns in other areas of the city have forced gangs to look for new turf -s And gangs are attracted bright lights and bustling night life "Just the mere feet that this is Hollywood attracts all types of people" said police Sgt Paul Anderson said "I wish the gangs weren't one of them but they are More gangs are just sprouting up and a problem" Youth gangs have always been present in Hollywood but their combat hasn't always been so 1 lethal Anderson said used to have street fights Now they get right down to the nitty-gritty and just start shooting each other" he said LOS ANGELES Another deadly weekend bloodbath on Southern California streets left at least seven people dead and 10 injured many the targets of feuding gangs Among the dead was an 18-year-old youth gunned down in front of a Hollywood apartment building in a gang-related attack that left five others seriously wounded In still more street violence but with no apparent gang connection four people were wounded when an off-duty police officer fired repeatedly into a vehicle after one of its occupants allegedly punted a weapon at him The weekend's death toll underscores a sharp increase in violent crime throughout Los Angeles County Going into the weekend the coroners office reported 1628 homicides through August a 20 percent increase over the same period last year Last total the worst on record was 2091 Authorities blame much of the and dosing the valley to tourists for 11 days But the park that includes El Capital! Half Dome Yosemite Falls one of the tallest waterfalls has survived its granite rock faces and tall trees reaching ever upward "We believe seen 100 years of preservation and working hard to insure that the next 100 years are even going to be better for the visitors and the Yosemite Supt Michael Finley said in an interview prior to the ceremony Maddytohead hearing on dings alcohol State Sen Ken Maddy R-Fresno will chair a hearing on "Drug and Alcohol Prevention in Schools" at an open meeting in Fresno from 9 am to 1:30 pm Tuesday in the State Building The hearing win feature testimony from local and state experts on the problems schools face in dealing with drugs and alcohol Issues discussed will range from file naming of high-incidence areas to the extent of drug and alcohol abuse in the schools Students specialists from the Fresno Police Department and representatives of the Department of-Alcohol and Drug Programs will be among the guests The meeting will be held in Room 1036 of the State Building 2550 Mariposa MalL Man injured in hit-and-run A man suffered serious head injuries when he was struck in a hit-and-run accident Sunday afternoon the Fresno Police Department repotted The unidentified man believed to be in his 50s was rushed to Valley Medical Center after the 12:15 incident a police spokesman id Eyewitnesses toM police that the victim was crossing at Ventura Avenue and Fourth Street when the driver of the car described as a man in his early 20s struck the pedestrian while traveling west on Ventura The driver along with two other male passengers in the car fled on foot The three men are being sought by police a spokesman said 0ur Valley Heritage AMERICAN INDIANS iTheir history The San Joaquin Vatey is richly blessed with cultural and ethnic diversity the legacy of the some 00 cotrtnes and peoples roproaontod in txx communities In this series The Bee wi explore that divereity wifti brief looks at the countries of our origin FUtore segments wi cover iterature arts and refigion aid phtoGophy- pioneers were really the Indians men and women who traveled by foot across an ice bridge from Siberia to Alaska 20000 to 50000 years ago These people of Mongoloid stock pursued the wild te they lived upon into North America when the great ice age connected Asia and North America The Indians developed into many distinct regional cultures based on the type of environment in which they settled They had more than 300 different languages Archaeologists divide the early history of American Indians into the Paleo-Indian period of 50000-1000 BC when they developed big-game hunting skills the foraging period of 5000-1000 BC and the formative period of 1000 BC-AD 1000 when American Indians developed pottery stable village life trade and agriculture Europeans who began colonizing North America in the early 17th century had a variety of policies regarding native Americans The Spaniards tried to Christianize them use them for manual labor and relocate them to specific areas while the French were primarily interested in fur trading Eariy British legislation prohibited confiscation of Indian land and the Proclamation of 1763 appropriated the entire area west of file Appalachian Mountains to the Indians But beginning with the Indian Removal Act of 1830 a series anti-Indian policies were adopted by the United States Racism and westward migration prompted by the discovery of gold in California in 1848 nullified a number of the land claims Many bloody wars ensued including the infamous Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 in which Gan George Custer and his command were annihilated by Dakota and Cheyenne Indians By 1887 most American Indians had been forced onto reservations often land nobody else wanted The Dawes General Allotment Act that year took away about 134000 square mOes of land from file Indians The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 helped to establish programs to aid Indians but a large percentage of Indians today live below the poverty level and require government assistance There are more than 15 million American Indians in the United States representing more than 500 major tribes half live on reservations The San Joaquin Valley has some 10000 native Americans most of whom are members of different Car accident kills man FxTT Briefly told FIVE POINTS One man was killed and another injured Sunday night when the car they were in drifted to the side of the road sending the car rolling the California Highway Patrol reported The driver Haitians Singh 50 of Mendota suffered minor injuries He was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving the CHP said The deceased was identified only as a 45-year-old Live Oak man Local politics The Hospice Volunteer Training Program in Visalia has scheduled four training sessions in October The sessions Oct 9 16 23 and 30 will be from 7 to 9 pjn at file Hos-ice Training Room 208 Main There is no fee for the daises For more information call 733-0642 Community Hospitals of Central California will offer a free "Leg health screening 10 am 4 pm Saturday Oct 20 at Manchester Center Blackstone and 'Shields avenues Fresno The screening developed by the National Council of Aging Inc is designed to detect peripheral arterial disease Details: 221-5628 it it Merced Community Hospital will offer a breast health update class pm Oct 17 at the Old Care Review Room at the hospital The class win illustrate the proper technique for breast self-examination and discuss early warning signs of breast cancer as well as the impor-' tance of mammography 385-7054 Former Olympic champion' and" alley native Bob Mathias has joined members of the Valley Medical Center Foundation to invite the public to partidpate in the first "Champions for All" golf touma-' ment Oct 8 at the Sunnyside Coun- try Club in Fresno Proceeds wilt benefit the VMC trauma center for purchase of a paramedic radio sta- tion Oyer 30 sponsors have donat-ed prizes for the event For-registration or sponsorship informa-1 tion call 688-2201 or 453-4941 The Committee Against the Recall will hold a fund-raising reception for Fresno Unified School District Trustees Mary Curry Ruth Gadebusch and Darlene Laval from 5-8 pm Saturday at the home of Ray and Jean Williams 3300 Kearney Blvd Information: 227-6441 or 431-4837.