Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California • Page 1

SERVING THE COUNTY SINGE 1856 Draz Sfintine 2. 50 CENTS At Tim Nmssrvsii Santa Can. Cu.ihiknia 147th Ykk. 313 Swn Can he. www.santacruzsentinel.com SC 1290466 092704 01 1 I'S mm EMI IMAGING SYSTEMS 749 STADIUM LN SACRAMENTO CA 93334 1 1 JaJ Due A Soldier's Story Santa Cruz native killed in Iraq taught tolerance City plans another holiday shutdown Libraries join S.C.

in weeklong effort to cut expenses MS poDoce r. i fi ri r-. III if vrrMi V.I tfr 3 case hj) a 1 i 1 City must pay Blue Lagoon $113,000 By DAN WHITE SENTINEL STAFF WRITER SANTA CRUZ City residents needing to check out a book, chat with a building inspector or search public records will be out of luck in late December. Bracing for an expected budget deficit of up to $3 million next year, the city is shuttering most government offices for four busi- ness days next 1 ij ill I By DAN WHITE SENTINEL STAFF WRITER SANTA CRUZ A federal court jury on Monday awardea the Blue Lagoon nightclub I $113,000 dam' ages, three years after the Pacific Avenue hotspot sued the city claiming police harassment. The city has already spent nearly half a million dollars defending itself against the suit's claims.

Councilman month its longest shutdown in recent memory. Last year's shutdown saved the city about $75,000, and this one should save more, estimated Martin Bernal, assistant city manager. The shutdown will run Saturday, Dec. 20, through Sunday, Dec. 28.

The closures on that Monday, Tuesday and Friday combined with the Christmas holiday Thursday, Dec. ,25 mean City Hall will be off-limits to the public for 'We encourage people to address their issues ahead of time. Normally (winter) is a quiet time for those kinds of issues Martin Bernal, city of S.C. i i. ROTKIN Says city must decide whether to appeal Contributed photo Lt.

Kylan Jones-Huffman, center, poses with Iraqi children begin thinking about rebuilding their country. He was killed and men in May while in Umm Qasr. Jones-Huffman had in Iraq three months later, shot dead while he was stuck been speaking to the Iraqis in Farsi, encouraging them to in traffic. cut short Friends, family recall life Mike Rotkin said the full City Council is likely to discuss a course of action, including possible appeal, in closed session next week. A U.S.

District Court jury in San Jose ruled that the city, from 1997 to 2000, violated the nightclub's right to be free from unreasonable search. The jury also ruled "yes" on whether Santa Cruz police Lt. Patricia Sapone More Inside Father reflects on son's life, regrets words unsaid. PAGE AS Friends recall a man with boundless energy, curiosity, intelligence. PAGE A5 1 Ic 'jJ ''-'Sf vvv See SUIT on BACK PAGE Saudi attack changes Muslim take on terrorism By DONNA JONES Sentinel staff writer For years after Dr.

Larry deGhetaldi bought the Aptos home that once belonged to the family of Lt. Kylan Jones-Huffman, he uncovered abandoned toys buried in the front lawn. Much as what deGhetaldi called "little time capsules" revealed a childhood left behind. The memories friends and relatives are unearthing as they console each other in the wake of Jones-Huffman's death in Iraq are bringing to light the man. "All of him, from the lost plastic toy soldiers in my front lawn, to the haiku focused on Iraqi children selling bayonets for food, (teach) me, (teach) us all to remember the core and the vital humanity in our soldiers," deGhetaldi wrote in an e-mail to the Sentinel.

Jones-Huffman, a 31-year-old Santa Cruz native and Navy reservist, was shot and killed Contributed photo Lt. Kylan Jones-Huffman, left, receives a commendation from his commanding officer earlier this year. that entire week. City offices will reopen Dec. 29.

Certain "essential services," such as police, fire, parking, the dump, and water and wastewater plants will operate as usual during the closure. The library schedule will differ slightly from the city closures. Libraries around the county will be open Dec. 20, but will shut down at 5 that night. Most will stay closed until Dec.

29. However, the central branch in downtown Santa Cruz will reopen Dec. 28, a Sunday. Libraries director Anne Turner said the joint-powers library board accepted the closing decision, in part, because public use during that time is lower than usual. Santa Cruz's latest course of action is "not that unusual," said Megan Taylor of the League of California Cities, citing the results of a survey this year in which 25 cities responded, describing their reactions to budget challenges.

Thirteen cities reported some kind of holiday closure to save money. Among them. La Habra, which has initiated closures for several years; Morgan Hill, which has had some furloughs even before the latest downturn; and Gilroy. Palo Alto implemented a "voluntary work furlough" in 2001. Aug.

21, while a passenger in a sport utility vehicle stalled in traffic in al Hillah, southern Iraq. A specialist in the Middle East, he was based in Bahrain and had traveled to Iraq to brief incoming personnel. DeGhetaldi watched Jones-Huffman, whose family moved to a home nearby, grow up, and so admired the boy that he named his first son, now 18, after him. "We found in him a model for what we wanted our own children to be: poise, kindness, honor, an unquenchable thirst for learning, respect and that immediately recognizable spark that really bright young people have," deGhetaldi wrote. Jones-Huffman carried those qualities into manhood, where they impressed friends, teachers and colleagues.

Karl Funderberg, a Navy reservist called to active duty during the war, served with Jones-Huffman in Bahrain. The lieutenant possessed an "uncanny ability to read and digest lots of information in a short amount of time," Funderberg said. "Then he would turn around and teach the rest of us what he learned in terms See SOLDIER on PAGE A4 'We found in him a model for what we wanted our own children to be: poise, kindness, honor, an unquenchable thirst for learning. DR. LARRY DEGHETALDI, APTOS By NEIL MacFARQUHAR THE NEW YORK TIMES RIYADH, Saudi Arabia The bombing last weekend of a residential compound housing an almost entirely Arab and Muslim population has appalled Saudis far more than other terrorist attacks, evaporating expres More Inside sions of sup- port for Osama Killing of U.S.

bin Laden and friend makes his al-Qaida enemies in network that Baghdad were either vaguely whis- "J00 pered or occa- PAGE B12 sionally even shouted over the last two years. "They lost their support on the street," said Ehab Al-Khiary, 27, a computer security specialist standing on a broad avenue packed with cars during the typical 10 p.m. to midnight rush hour of Ramadan. "They are killing people with no cause." "The street was divided before," he added, talking about similar attacks against three compounds in May that killed numerous Americans and other Westerners. See HOLIDAY on BACK PAGE Corralitos Scouts prepared for everything but this: tent thief their mission has always been." Donations can be sent to Troop 515, care of Don Hagerty, PO Box 1810, Freedom, CA 95019-1810.

Deputies ask anyone with information on the theft to call 454-2311. Contact Cathy Redfern at credfernsantacruzsentinel.com. By CATHY REDFERN SENTINEL STAFF WRITER Talk about cold. Someone swiped 17 tents and other camping equipment from a Corralitos Boy Scout troop Thursday, just as the boys planned to head to Mount Madonna to camp this weekend, said Don Hagerty, troop committee chairman. raising." Deputies are unsure how the thief broke into the locked building behind the Corralitos Cultural Center, but are investigating.

"It's unsettling when somebody decides to steal from a program such as the Boy Scouts," said deputy Kim Allyn, sheriffs spokesman. "It's just so contrary to what spot at large scouting events, Hagerty said. The green tents are marked with the troop's number, 515. The teens held rummage sales and did cleanup work to raise the money to buy them, Hagerty said. "We haven't decided how to approach it," he said.

"The boys were very disappointed. They worked hard on fund The tents, valued at $1,600, were bought less than a year ago, Hagerty said. Four tarp-like shade coverings were also taken from a locked shed on Hames Road. Some of the 30 troop members, ages 10 to 18, have tents for the group's year-round camping trips, but the boys decided to buy tents to ensure they had enough, and to make the troop easy to See BOMBING on PAGE A14 INDEX WEATHER -7 Mostly clear, sunny and pleasant. High temps "A SPORTS A numbers game Cabrillo women's basketball coach Tom Gussner is better off than last year, when he was constantly short on players.

But this year, he's short on experience. PAGEB1 INSIDE today NATION Get a flu shot Live longer The inexpensive flu shot may be medicine's most powerful preventive against heart attacks and strokes, topping cholesterol-lowering drugs in saving thousands of lives each year. PAGE A8 Best Bets M0 Obituaries 14 Business B4 Opinion 015 Classified B6 Sports Bl Comics M3 State A7 Crossword A13 Stocks B5 Local A2 Style A10 Lottery A14 TV listings A12 Nation A8 World B12 CTi 00 in the upper 60s; lows in the mid-40s. BACK PAGE j-iirintrrir ii Wb'iij nV-.