The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 10

Business: Shareholders approve Kasler mergerB6 Inland Empire Catharine Hamm Asst. Managing EditorMetro (909 386-3874 Fax (909) 885-8741 The Sun Section Saturday July 10, 1993 East Valley Final Inside: Police seek help in tracking kidnapping suspectB2 Carol -Nk Baker POLITICS CM AND YOl lost a total of $5.6 million invested through a deal with Sanwa Bank worth about $200,000 to several different public agencies, said Mayor Robert Christman. Cannon declined to say exactly what Loma Linda's cut of that settlement would be, and Christman did not know the exact amount. The suit was filed last year against New York-based Refeo Securities which held some of the money Wymer stole, and several other individuals and companies. Attorneys for the city of Big Bear Lake, which would be part of the proposed settlement, were unavailable for comment.

In February, Big Bear Lake got back $1 million of the $2.6 million it lost through an insurance policy. Big Bear Lake, Grand Terrace and Loma Linda were three local cities that Courts Ten of the public agencies are nearing the conclusion of talks to settle the lawsuit they filed against Wymer and several minor defendants after his arrest in 1991, an attorney involved in the case said. The bulk of the suit is far from over, but some of the smaller players sued by the agencies may be willing to settle within the next 30 days or so, said John Cannon, an attorney with Newport Beach-based Straddling, Yocca, Carlson and Rauth, the law firm representing the city of Loma Linda. Cannon would not say how much money would be involved in the potential settlements. Officials in Loma Linda, which lost about $2.7 million to Wymer, will consider The city will probably accept a settlement in its suit against Steven Wymer, though the entire case won't be settled for quite some time.

By Steven Church Sun Staff Writer Loma Linda is close to accepting a settlement in a multimillion dollar lawsuit filed by it and other public agencies victimized by jailed financier Steven Wymer, the city's mayor said Friday. Wymer admitted bilking government entities in three states out of money they had given him to invest. He was sentenced in May to 14 years in prison and ordered to make restitution for siphoning off $92 million invested by small cities in California, Iowa and Colorado. 'We don't know what the facts are. It will take some time before we know what happened because everyone is DENNIS CASEY, Sheriffs sergeant fry.

ft- aak CI i -m at PI :104 Wymer Irvine-based Institutional Treasury Management Inc. Prosecutors said Wymer spent about $29 million of his clients' money on a lavish lifestyle and personal investments. In sworn testimony, Wymer admitted taking $2.9 million belonging to the city of Palm Desert to buy a vacation home in Idaho. He told a congressional committee looking into ways to prevent such fraud that he doubted there was much that could have been done to stop him because he felt he would never be caught. Wymer also told the fihance subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that five securities firms, which he did not publicly identify, assisted his fraud scheme.

Politics Lawmaker apologizes for remark Kathleen Honeycutt said on television she was sorry for an anti-Semitic remark she made earlier in the week. By Jake Henshaw and RaySotero Sacramento Bureau SACRAMENTO Assemblywoman Kathleen Honeycutt will apologize on the Assembly floor Monday for an anti-Semitic remark she made earlier this week. The first-term Republican lawmaker from Hesperia took steps Friday to defuse criticism for using the term "Jew down" in a committee hearing Wednesday. Honeycutt apologized publicly on a live television show in her district. She called members of the Assembly Consumer Protection, Governmental Efficiency and Economic Development, who heard her use the term during a discussion of legislation dealing with the construction industry.

And she made public a letter she wrote to other lawmakers apologizing for her remarks. "I can offer no excuse for what happened," Honeycutt wrote. "I only hope we can get through this incident so we can focus together on the legislative challenges before us." Honeycutt, a 52-year-old conservative businesswoman, upset other legislators when she used the phrase while discussing how general contractors may pressure subcontractors to reduce prices. "The area of most dispute that I'm familiar with on a construction site is the area of change orders, and it gives the contractor great leverage to kind of Jew down the subcontractor if he's going to have to wait for the Honeycutt said. Assemblyman Byron Sher, D-Palo Alto, a committee member, protested the phrase and Honeycutt immediately apologized.

But the committee meeting was broadcast to 2.6 million viewers of the Legislature's cable TV program and a dozen lawmakers sent Honeycutt a letter saying her apology wasn't enough. "How can we expect the people of our state to act to end the evil of racism and hate crimes when leaders are guilty of promoting racism," the letter said. Assembly Republican leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga condemned Honeycutt's remark. "This is a comment I would never make. I don't condone it, nor do I expect anyone to condone it." Brulte, who talked with Honeycutt, stressed that she was contrite, hadn't spoken maliciously and had apologized repeatedly.

"Kathleen Honeycutt is a very, very sincere woman who made a mistake," Brulte said. By Friday it appeared that she was defusing the criticism. After receiving a letter from Honeycutt and talking with her, Assemblyman Richard Katz, D-Los Angeles, said, "I do not think this was a malicious statement. She would like to make amends yid the way to do that 'f to publicly apologize." Survey says politicians not popular Politicians are about as popular as illegal immigrants, judging from results of a survey by state Sen. Bill Leonard on how best to cut the state's budget.

Overwhelmingly, constituents said the offices of Gov. Pete Wilson and Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy should be cut by 20 percent. Eighty-seven percent of respondents said the public should not pay for legislators' cars.

That compares with 88 percent who said they favored eliminating funds for state services to illegal immigrants even if it meant removing children from schools, criminals from prison and patients from hospitals. But you could tell what people really thought about their legislators by the editorial comments scribbled on the sides of the surveys, said Leonard, R-Big Bear Lake. "Some say you guys are all bums. And then there were others that said, 'I didn't realize just how complicated your job was until I sat down with a calculator (to figure out budget Leonard got a couple of hundred responses to his survey sent to 27,000 homes. Not surprisingly, Wilson's proposal for a $2.6 billion property tax shift from local government to fund schools was denounced by a majority (56 percent) of respondents.

"That was so controversial, I was surprised anybody was for it," Leonard said. He voted for it anyway. "In the context of all the other choices, I chose what the governor proposed," Leonard said. The bottom line, Leonard said, was that there wasn't much of a choice. "It was a mixture of bad and bad." Most people were against new taxes to raise revenue.

The exception seemed to target another unpopular group, insurance companies. Fifty-three percent favored taxing insurers on investment income to raise $1 billion in revenue. TaxTug-o-Wan Across the state, law enforcement and counties have begun butting heads over the proceeds of a half-cent sales tax that Gov. Pete Wilson said was meant to blunt budget cuts for public safety. The problem: the way public safety is defined in legislation that extends the surcharge through 1993.

The bill, SB509, describes public safety as including, but not limited to fire, police, sheriffs, district attorneys or corrections. It's a loose definition that just keeps on stretching. One county went so far as to include school crossing guards and the dog pound in public safety funding. In San Bernardino County, law enforcement and sheriffs union officials have warned that the county's first obligation is to keep its citizens safe from crime. The board of supervisors has yet to diwy up the money.

Once an Insider: The Wilson Administration has given a high-level job to a former U.S. State Department employee who was involved in the dirt-grubbing search of President Clinton's passport files at the peak of last year's campaign. Last month, J. Michael Bren-nan was named deputy director of external affairs at the state Department of Transportation, even though he has never worked in the transportation field. The post had been vacant since Wilson took office in January 1991.

The move has drawn heat from legislators and unions. Said state Sen. Quentin Kopp, I-San Krancisco: "It's pure political patronage at a time when there are 22,000 vacancies in state service." But J. P. TremblayofWilson's office told The Associated Press that Brennan is an "outstanding individual" with "extensive experience" handling external affairs lor agencies.

He was involved "in no violations we could see." Politics and You, by The Sun's political writer, appears every Saturday. Send comments or Ideas to Carol Baker alThe Sun, 399 North San Bernardino, 92401 Fay (909) 885-871. DAVID CREAMERThe Sun Hesperia on Friday. The home is at the intersection of 7th Street and Wells Fargo Road. death of pair kills self Crime Sgt.

Dennis Casey said. A Hesperia sheriffs deputy who responded to the call was shot at by the suspect, who was standing in the driveway outside the neat stucco and stone house in the 15600 block of Wells Fargo Road, Casey said. The deputy shot back and the suspect fled in a white Ford dual-axle pickup truck, driving through a fence as he fled toward town. The deputy was not injured. A neighbor, Elroy Jansen, 76, watched from his bedroom as a Ford pickup roared into his driveway, then turned back toward a house two doors away where the shooting occurred.

"I was just getting ready for bed when I heard about 10 rapid shots," Jansen said. "Then the pickup turned into my driveway and I heard more shots." Backup officers followed the fleeing sus Update si, pect, who continued firing during the 20-minute pursuit that reached speeds of up to 100 mph, Casey said. The suspect led officers into the desert, where he abandoned the truck and escaped on foot through a screen of dust raised by traffic on the unpaved roads. Deputies, joined by the sheriffs SWAT team, surrounded a Wilmot Road home where they believed the suspect was hiding. Hours later, at 2 a.m., a single shot was heard, officials said.

After deputies made several attempts to talk to someone in the house, tear gas was fired inside, sheriffs homicide Sgt. Pete Ortiz said. After the gas cleared, deputies entered and found the suspect dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. "We don't know what the facts are," Casey said. "It will take some time before we know what happened because everyone is dead." This day in history JULY 10 I ONE YEAR AGO: State budget constraints have California State University, San Bernardino, scrambling to find ways to save money and avoid layoffs.

I 10 YEARS AGO: San Bernardino County supervisors consider almost tripling disposal fees. I 20 YEARS AGO: The Central Valley calls its first smogalert as oxidant levels in Fon-tana remain above .50 parts per million for more than 15 minutes. I 50 YEARS AGO: War bonds purchased by Colton citizens total $25,700 for one week. Compiled by Kar.i White Investigators work the scene of a homicide in Suspect in After leading police on a 20-minute chase, the man apparently fired a gun upon himself. By PRISCILLA NORDYKE The Sun's High Desert Bureau HESPERIA A man believed to have shot a couple to death outside a Wells Fargo Road home led deputies on a 20-minute chase, then apparently committed suicide while barricaded in a Phelan house, investigators said Friday.

The volley of shots that killed Ellen Esther Smith, 25, of Hesperia and Todd Adams, 31, of Victorville was reported by neighbors in the rural area of south Hesperia at 9:45 p.m. Thursday. The suspect was identified by coroner's officials as Robert Taylor Miller 33, a transient who formerly lived in Lancaster. Deputies said the shooting might have been motivated by a dispute over an unpaid debt. "We do know it was not a love triangle," Lottery FANTASY 5 4,8,24,28,32 DAILY 3 9,0,3 DECCO Picked Friday 9 03 9 Lotto Information (909)938-4545 (English) (909) 938-4565 (Spanish) (619) 492-1720 (English) (619) 492-1742 (Spanish) Last July was month of 1992 motorists, could be again this state traffic safety warned.

"People are and driving more," Peter O'Rourke, the slate Office of Safety. "There is drinking and younger, more drivers school and on the July may be deadly on roads the deadliest for California and it year, officials on vacation said director of Traffic more driving and inexperienced are out of road. Last year, 526 people were killed in traffic accidents in July and 33,203 people were injured. Drivers are advised to buckle up, not to drink and not to allow themselves to be distracted, said O'Rourke. "A driver who is reading a map, eating, or disciplining the children in the back seat might not have time to react when the driver ahead slams on the brakes.".