Saturday, September 20, 2003
Bones in our backyard
Local fossils go on display at a renovated paleontology center in Buena Park.
NO MEAT, THANKS: The fossilized skeleton of a Shasta ground sloth looks ominous at the Paleontology-Interpretive Center. However this 6-foot, 350-400-pound animal was a vegetarian, dining on yucca, cactus, Joshua trees and mesquite
BY THERESA SALINAS
BUENA PARK – Vertebrae from an ancient horse. Phalanges from a ground sloth. Canines from a saber-toothed cat.
These are just some of the fossils on display at the Paleontology-Interpretive Center at Ralph B. Clark Regional Park, which reopens today after a yearlong renovation, joining several other sites in the county where fossils are on display to the public.
The county spent $80,000 on new paint, carpet and other items for the facility, one of only a handful of facilities in the county where people can see fossils up close.
Developers also contributed $400,000 worth of storage cases and fossils found at north county construction sites over the last three years.
"(The renovation) has given us the chance to freshen up the appearance of the museum and enhance the scientific value of our fossil collection," said Park Ranger Lisa Babilonia.
The public is invited to peruse the 16-year-old center during a free celebration that kicks off with a dedication ceremony at 9 a.m. today.
"These fossils are treasures for Orange County citizens," said John Cooper, a sedimentary geologist and professor emeritus at California State University, Fullerton. "People are interested in them, especially when they come from their own back yards."
Cooper coordinates the paleontology for a new fossil exhibit being commissioned by the county and the Transportation Corridor Agencies.
"Fossils in the Fastlane" will debut next spring at the Old Orange County Courthouse and contain fossils and bones discovered during construction of the Foothill (241) Toll Road.
"Orange County lays claim to some world-class fossil material," Cooper said. "It's important that it be preserved because it's educational for people and holds answers to important scientific questions."
Rally to oppose Prop. 54 is today
Vietnamese-American groups will gather at Westminster's Asian Garden Mall at 10:30 a.m. today to rally against Proposition 54, which would prohibit some state and local agencies from collecting racial and ethnic data. "Prop. 54 is harmful ... because it takes away information that is useful for public agencies and research institutions to understand the health problems that California is facing," said Xuan Vu, President of the Vietnamese American Public Affair Committee. Local Asian-American groups say they are putting out informational fliers and brochures and appearing on Asian radio and TV stations to raise awareness of the potential effect of the initiative. - Katherine Nguyen
Cybercafe killer guilty of murder
A man was convicted of first-degree murder Friday for the slaying of a 14-year-old boy who was shot to death as he and his friends left a Garden Grove cybercafe. Andrew Vu, 20, faces a maximum penalty of life in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 14. Deputy District Attorney Cameron Talley had argued that Vu and several other suspects followed Eddie Fernandez home at 12:50 p.m. June 8, 2002, then shot and killed the eighth-grader. Fernandez's death was one of two fatal attacks that led Garden Grove officials to require cybercafes to close earlier, hire security guards and install surveillance cameras. Two other suspects in the case, Ken Ton and Ron Le, await trial on murder charges. – Rachanee Srisavasdi
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Discovery of practice bombs stops paving of trail
Homes in the area are less than 200 yards from where the bombs were found.
HANDLE WITH CARE: Bomb Squad investigator Kent McBride shows one of two MK 5 practice bombs from the Korean War era that were found today.
MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
By JIM RADCLIFFE AND JENNIFER MUIR
A county crew halted work on a hiking trail through O'Neill Regional Park today after an eighth practice bomb was unearthed.
At least two of the bombs had explosives in them and were destroyed by the Sheriff's Department's bomb squad.
The crew – a private firm hired by the county to compact a 2 1/2-mile stretch of a trail that will someday link the mountains and the sea for hikers, bicyclists and horse riders – came across the bombs that likely were dropped between 1944 and 1956, when a 1,800-acre swath made up the Trabuco Canyon Bombing Range
Five eight-inch-long bombs were unearthed Wednesday as the crew graded the soil to a depth of one foot. Plans call for the dirt to be compacted and then for asphalt to be laid on top of it.
After two more bombs were found about 8 a.m. today, Rancho Santa Margarita Mayor Gary Thompson asked the county to stop work until the area could be raked clean of ordnance. When a third one was found this afternoon, the county decided to stop work.
"I am obviously pleased the county reacted the way they did and as quickly as they did to my request," the mayor said. "It shows they recognize this is an important public safety issue. ....One thing that is important to note is that these practice bombs are big enough that if somebody picked one up or stepped on it, (it) could probably blow up a foot or a hand. And it could possibly kill someone."
All of the bombs were discovered near a trail head off of Arroyo Vista in the county-owned park, adjacent to city limits. Homes are perched on top of the Arroyo Trabuco canyon less than 200 yards from where the bombs were found.
The construction crew was two weeks into the six-week paving project.
County officials will meet and come up with a plan to rid the area of the bombs, Thompson said. County officials overseeing the project did not return telephone calls.
The effort to pave the trail is part of the county's decades-old plan to run a bike path from the Cleveland National Forest to Doheny State Beach. The path has been completed in some areas and will connect with city trails to eventually allow users to go from mountains to the sea.
Kent McBride, an investigator on the Sheriff's bomb squad, said anyone coming across anything resembling a bomb should report it to the local police agency. Because of rust and mud, it is difficult to look at a bomb and determine if it already has detonated.
Sheriff's officials said if such a bomb blew up in someone's hand, the person could die.
Navy and Marine Corps airmen dropped the bombs for practice. The bombs had a one-ounce charge. They were meant to explode when they hit the ground or target so that the servicemen could tell how they were doing.
In November, two other munitions were found on the other side of the Foothill (241) Toll Road. At that time, the city distributed fliers warning hikers against touching or playing with discovered bombs. Following the November find, Thompson approached Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar, for help in getting the Army Corps of Engineers' assistance in ridding the area of bombs.
Before the eight bombs were discovered this week, Rancho resident Mark Cleary had been protesting the asphalt paving, saying locals prefer keeping it a dirt trail. He said he has gathered more than 1,000 signatures opposing the project.
The discovery of the bombs proves that county officials haven't studied the area well enough, the avid runner said.
"I don't know how they can say, 'Well, we kind of expected to see that stuff down there,'." Cleary said. "They are supposed to clean that stuff up."
Killer insane when he stabbed neighbor, judge rules
The Laguna Hills man likely will be hospitalized rather than go to prison for life without parole.
By RACHANEE SRISAVASDI
A Laguna Hills man convicted in the racially-motivated killing of his Taiwanese-American neighbor was insane at the time of the attack and should not go to prison, a judge ruled today.
Christopher Hearn, 22, who is deaf, will be evaluated by county mental health officials, which will most likely recommend that Hearn be admitted to a mental hospital.
In a non-jury trial earlier this month, Hearn was found guilty of first-degree murder for fatally stabbing of Kenny Chiu, 17, outside their homes July 30, 2001. Hearn, who had confessed to the crime, also was convicted of special circumstances of lying in wait and killing because of ethnicity.
The conviction carries a life sentence without the possibility of parole, but Hearn had entered a not guilty by reason of insanity, setting the stage for the trial’s second phase to determine if Hearn was sane at the time of the attack.
A court-appointed psychologist testified last week that Hearn suffered from psychosis, and could not tell the difference from right and wrong.
Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Carlisle-Raines disputed the claim, saying Hearn murdered Chiu because he disliked Asians, and that Hearn was under the influence of marijuana at the time.
But Orange County Superior Court Judge Kazuharu Makino ruled today that Hearn suffered from a mental illness and that it exacerbated his racial views, making Hearn "more and more detached from reality."
"(Hearn) believed it was OK to do,’’ Makino said of the killing. "In his distorted world, that’s what he thought."
Makino also said Hearn’s drug use was not significant.
If Hearn is hospitalized, doctors will evaluate him to determine if Hearn is sane and can be released, Deputy Public Defender Lisa Kopelman said. If doctors recommend release, a second trial will be held whether to let Hearn leave the hospital.
Hearn’s father, Christopher Hearn, cried after the ruling, saying he was pleased his son would get help. He also said: "The Chius have been in our prayers for the past two years, and they will continue to be in our prayers forever."
Kenny Chiu’s father, Christopher Chiu, 54, left the courtroom in silence, and declined to comment.
Korean seniors find their center
FOLLOW ME: In Won Paik, left, leads an exercise Wednesday during the Korean Senior Health Academy session at the La Palma Community Center.
La Palma project aims to fill their social, cultural and health needs.
By THERESA SALINAS
LA PALMA – At 72, Kay Choe feels questionable aches and has concerns about cancer, diabetes and other ills.
Still, the newly retired mail sorter is intent on staying busy and reconnecting to her Korean heritage.
Choe traveled to other cities for programs that fit her needs - until Wednesday, when a trio of agencies created a local option for the Korean immigrants who account for 17 percent of La Palma's population and more than 19,000 residents in the north Orange County area.
The Korean Senior Health Academy Club features an aerobics component and bilingual talks on topics ranging from dental care to back pain. Participants also make traditional Korean crafts, take English lessons, and learn about volunteerism and the American voting process.
"We want them to feel comfortable with us and think of us as a neighbor," said Melissa McLaughlin, executive director of business development and volunteer services for La Palma Intercommunity Hospital.
In all, 20 north-county residents signed up for the club run by the city, the hospital and the Orange County Korean American Health Information and Education Center.
"I love this program," Choe said.
Hospital representatives tout the club as a key component of a new campaign to reach out to Koreans in La Palma, Buena Park, Cypress and other area cities. Koreans constitute about a third of the hospital's patient base.
The facility also has hired a Korean liaison and 45 Korean physicians, and plans to install signs in English, Spanish and Korean to build confidence with the Korean community.
La Palma officials hope academy members will become inspired to learn more about city government and participate in civic activities.
Community activists say the program fills a social need by catering to seniors scattered outside central Orange County, where strong Asian networks typically exist.
"Many people asked us to open something like this in La Palma because there's nothing like it in this area," said Ann Choi of the Health Information and Education Center.
For some participants, like Jaung Kim, 65, the club provides a simple service.
"I need the exercise," said Kim, a Cypress resident who emigrated from Seoul, South Korea, in 1980 to work for a U.S. construction company.
For others, like Choe, it signifies the start of a new, healthy lifestyle filled with support from a tight circle of peers.
"I was anxious for it to start, and now that it has, I hope many others join," she said.
Robbery a possible motive in slaying of Buena Park man
By JOHN McDONALD and PATRICK VUONG
A Buena Park businessman who was shot to death at a Long Beach strip mall was about to buy a new house and may have been carrying a large amount of money, a relative said Wednesday.
Vadilal Patel, 58, was killed outside a store in the 8100 block of East Wardlow Road shortly after noon Tuesday. The two men who accosted Patel have not been found, and a motive for the crime has not been disclosed.
"We’re working with local agencies to determine if there are any connected crimes in the area which could help us with this one," Long Beach police Sgt. Paul LeBaron said.
LeBaron declined to offer details because of the ongoing investigation.
It was uncertain why Patel was at the strip mall, but one theory is that he was photocopying documents needed for the house closing.
"He was moving money into escrow to buy his new house next week," said Rasik Patel, who said he was a cousin of the victim’s wife. "He may have been collecting debts or borrowing money to have enough for the closing."
Vadilal Patel had lived in the United States for about 20 years, his cousin said.
One son lives in Northern California. His wife, two other sons and a daughter remained in India because they were unable to obtain immigration papers, Rasik Patel said.
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Four arrested in shooting
By JOHN McDONALD
The Orange County Register
Four men from out of state were arrested in Westminster Tuesday night after a garment business owner was found with a gunshot wound in a car with the men, police said.
A witness saw a group of men forcing the unidentified businessman into a car at Hazard Avenue and Hoover Street, Westminster police Lt. Kevin Baker said. The witness called police at 9 p.m. while following the car.
Police officers spotted the car and pulled it over at Euclid Street and Westminster Avenue in Garden Grove, Baker said. The man, who owns a business in the 14300 block of Hoover Avenue, was found in the back seat with a gunshot wound, the lieutenant added. The men surrendered without incident.
The four men were arrested were Hung Ky Kha, 32, and Dung Thanh Tran, 34, both of Seattle, Anthony Ky Kha, 32, of Las Vegas, Theo Duc Tiet, 32, of Portland. The were booked for attempted murder, kidnapping, and robbery. Hung Ky Kha was also held for felony possession of a firearm and use of a firearm.
Police said they are investigating why the men came from three distant cities to target the businessman, who was identified only as a 38-year old man from Westminster. He is recovering from a wound in the leg at UCI Medical Center.
The Special Weapons and Tactics was inspecting the business late Tuesday to make sure it had not been burglarized and to make sure no other suspects were involved.
Thursday, October 2, 2003
Heroics and helplessness
FRUSTRATION: Army Spc. Robert Acosta, 20, of Santa Ana relies on his mother, Patricia, to dress the still-unhealed wounds on his foot. Acosta lost his hand in a grenade attack on his Humvee in Baghdad last July. Sometimes, he says, “I want to give up.”
BEFORE: Spc. Robert Acosta and Pfc. Magdalis Morales relax in a makeshift swimming pool at the U.S. base at the Baghdad airport.
By TOM BERG
The Orange County Register
SANTA ANA – It's not easy being a hero.
Just ask Robert Acosta, 20, of Santa Ana. He can no longer button a shirt or tie a shoe. He can barely walk, even with crutches modified to accept the stump where his right hand once was.
On July 13, a young boy in Baghdad tossed a grenade into the Humvee in which Acosta was riding. It bounced off the windshield and ended up between Acosta's feet. He could've jumped out the door, but that wouldn't have helped his buddy who was driving. So Acosta picked up the grenade to toss it out the window.
"I was thinking, 'I'm dead,' " he said Tuesday from his parents' Santa Ana home, where he is recovering. "I was thinking, 'Please let this be a dud.' "
It wasn't.
The next thing Acosta knew, he was thrown back in his seat, unable to breathe from the thick smoke of the explosion.
"I looked and all this was split open," he said, pointing to his right forearm. "The skin was hanging down. It was black. And about 3 or 4 inches of bone was sticking out."
He came home last week to no particular fanfare, except from his family and friends. He is one of more than 1,700 Americans wounded in Iraq since the war started - an average of eight a day. In that time, 313 Americans have been killed.
For many of the wounded, like Acosta, life becomes confusing. He is no longer sure how he feels about the war.
"Going there, I was all for it," he said. "I'm sure it's for a good cause, but, God, I've seen a lot of people hurt, and I've seen a lot of stuff that, I don't know. It's really confusing."
And he is no longer sure how he feels about his new life:
"I'm glad to be alive to see my brother and sister and parents and friends," he said, "but it's hard because I did lose my hand. There is not one thing in my life not affected by this - from shaving, to brushing my teeth, to opening the door, to eating dinner. Everything is affected. Everything. It's frustrating, because sometimes I don't want to do it no more. I want to give up. I don't want to deal with it or try. Then some days it doesn't bother me. It just depends."
Marissa Lara, 20, of Santa Ana, a friend since junior high, gives him daily doses of tough love.
"When he's mad, then I get mad," she said. "I say, 'You're here with us.' He's going through things, but I'm just happy he's here."
On top of all this, Acosta feels guilty. Guilty because he is home while his buddies remain in Baghdad.
"Look at me," he said. "I'm here. I don't have to worry about anything. I don't have to take showers from a water can. I have running water, food, everything, with my family and people that love me. And my friends are still out there, doing what we were doing when we first got there."
It's hard for him even to watch the news about Iraq anymore.
Acosta joined the Army a month before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He was in basic training when the Twin Towers fell, then served in Germany until April 2003, when he shipped out to Kuwait.
By mid-May, Acosta, an ammunition specialist, was camped at Baghdad International Airport with the 1st Battalion of the 501st Regiment.
Every day, someone from his group drove off base to pick up ice, which they used to cool bottled water in the 120- and 130-degree heat. They didn't have far to go. Iraqi vendors lined a mile-long section of the road to the airport, selling everything from ice to cigarettes to souvenirs.
On July 13, it was a buddy's turn to pick up ice. Acosta had the day off, so went along for the ride. They donned flak jackets, helmets and gear, and carried their M16-A2 rifles.
As they drove past the first vendors, Acosta noticed people staring.
"I don't like this," he said.
It was just a feeling. And he'd done this many times before. But as his buddy turned the Humvee around, another vehicle stopped in front of them. Then a grenade flew in the window, landing on a radio console between Acosta and the driver.
"I remember it bouncing," Acosta says. "I grabbed it, and I don't know what happened, but it fell between my legs."
That's when Acosta became a hero.
The explosion put a hole in the floor of the Humvee. And many holes in Acosta's body. His buddy was unhurt, and raced back to the base, where he carried Acosta to get help.
A few hours later, Patricia Acosta got the call every mother dreads.
She used to turn on the TV each morning to see if any soldier was killed or wounded.
"You'd hold your breath and say a little prayer," she said, "and then if nobody called or knocked on the door that day, you'd say a little prayer for those who were wounded, but think, 'Oh, thank God we made it.' "
On this day, however, it was her turn.
"It was the most devastating thing," she said. "Like the air got sucked out of the room."
For months, doctors pulled out shrapnel, performed skin grafts, set broken bones and replaced other bones with metal rods. Others helped Acosta relearn to walk. And relearn to live.
"Not everyone survives a grenade going off that close," said Patricia Acosta, after changing the bandages on his foot, as she does every day. "So we feel lucky. We're just glad he's alive."
Acosta tries to get out of the house as much as possible - going with friends to the beach, the mall or Knott's Berry Farm.
But he still has nightmares. And no right hand. And memories that occasionally rise to the surface like so many pieces of shrapnel. All of which make it hard for him to feel heroic.
He is reminded that he risked his life to save the life of another - heroism by any definition - but he shrugs.
"People have told me I'm a hero," he said. "I say, 'No, I'm not. I'm a soldier.' There are still people out there. They're the heroes, out there fighting right now."
Tuesday October 7, 2003
Morning outage affects wide area of Anaheim
By OLIVIA MACIEL
The Orange County Register
Businesses and residences throughout an area roughly bounded by Sycamore Street, Anaheim Boulevard, Santa Ana Street and Euclid Street suffered a power outage beginning today around 8:20 a.m.
Within minutes, city crews restored power to about half the affected customers.
By midday, city officials were trying to determine the cause of the outage, and working to restore power to customers still affected by it.
Man dies after Taser jolts
Police use the weapon to subdue the man after he refuses to surrender and appearsl to lose control.
By JOHN McDONALD
The Orange County Register
A man died after reportedly running amok Monday morning at a Yorba Linda shopping center and being subdued by Brea police officers who gave him two jolts of electricity with a Taser weapon, police said.
The incident began just after 8 a.m., when the man, wearing a helmet and black leather jacket, exited a car near the intersection of Yorba Linda Boulevard and New River Road, Brea Police Sgt. Jack Conklin said. The man ran through traffic and jumped a fence to get into the parking lot of the Albertsons supermarket.
He continued running and entered a gas station minimart, where he bought a soft drink, left a $20 bill and ran out. He then obtained a quantity of ice cubes and began throwing them at people, Conklin said.
Police were called to the scene, Conklin said. The man was unwilling to surrender, despite numerous verbal commands, he said. An officer then shot the suspect with a Taser, which penetrates the skin with two slim electrodes and is connected by a wire to a power source. The officer applied one jolt of unknown voltage.
The man appeared to be surrendering, Conklin said, and police attempted to handcuff him. The man revived and began fighting with the four officers on the scene, he said. Conklin said a second jolt was administered to the man, who appeared to go limp. It was discovered he had stopped breathing, and he was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the incident, which is routine in the case of the death of someone police are attempting to take into custody.
CHP identifies car-crash victim
The man who died over the weekend in what officials said might have been a speed contest on Santiago Canyon Road was identified Monday as James O. Wimani, 19, of Fountain Valley.
Wimani was a passenger in a 2003 BMW M3 driven by David Huie, 20, of Huntington Beach, CHP officials said. The accident occurred about 7:30 p.m. Saturday as Huie drove westbound in excess of 80 mph nearing the Foothill (241) Toll Road, the CHP said. The car left the road, hit a utility pole, overturned and caught fire.
Huie and a second passenger escaped the vehicle; Wimani was trapped inside. Huie suffered major injuries, and passenger Jordan Foster, 19, had moderate injuries
Fountain Valley swap-mall plan to be heard
Some residents fear what center at former Kmart site will attract, but others say it's better than an empty building.
By ZAHEERA WAHID
The Orange County Register
FOUNTAIN VALLEY – Dustin Funderburk relishes his serene town home community with its scattered greenbelts and close-knit neighborhoods.
But just next door, a proposal for an indoor swap meet threatens to destroy his charmed suburban lifestyle.
"They're not marketing to the demographic of Fountain Valley," said Funderburk, a school teacher. "I don't see (myself) going over there to buy $10 pots and pans."
Operators of the proposed Fountain Valley Marketplace say Funderburk is mistaken. The business closely resembles a "department store" and will attract the same customers as the previous tenant, Kmart, Les Lederer said.
The two sides will present their arguments tonight to the City Council.
Lederer will ask the City Council to permit him to occupy a 102,000-square-foot building with about 100 vendors in a strip center on the corner on Harbor Boulevard and Lilac Avenue.
He added that it will be modeled after his other operation, the Anaheim Marketplace, which touts itself as "Orange County's largest indoor swap meet."
The proposal was denied earlier this year by the city's Planning Commission, which determined that the marketplace was a swap meet and did not fit into the area zoned for retail business.
Planning director Andy Perea said the use would bring more traffic to the area, and the 322 parking spots were not adequate.
But Phil Schwartze, a consultant hired by Lederer, addressed some of the concerns of the city and residents by saying: "We know we have enough parking, we know we're not going to have outdoor uses and we know we won't have big delivery trucks in the middle of the night."
The building, owned by the Laguna Beach County Water District, has been vacant for almost a year since Kmart closed, and the agency has had trouble drawing tenants.
Margo Brown, who lives on the other side of Harbor in Santa Ana, said the swap meet would likely be an improvement over the vacant building.
"I really feel that they've got to have something there, because it can't just stay empty," Brown said. "It attracts people staying in their car at night ... It attracts people using it for a car-sale lot."
Perea said there are many businesses that would be a better use for the building, including a grocery or apparel store.
"I'd like to see redevelopment," said resident Marion Gahan, who has circulated a petition to oppose the plan.
City to focus on tangle of plans for triangle
Garden Grove on Wednesday will review a dozen diverse plans for development of a 16.5-acre site.
By KATHERINE NGUYEN
The Orange County Register
GARDEN GROVE – High-rise luxury condominiums. A 25-story building of offices, shops and lofts. More homes. A $10 million Vietnamese cultural center with a library, museum and theater. A 20,000-square-foot Korean cultural center with a banquet hall.
These are among a dozen proposals that city officials on Wednesday will review for the 16.5-acre, city-owned land designated as Brookhurst Triangle, at the corner of Brookhurst Street and Garden Grove Boulevard in the heart of the Korean Business District.
While some in the Vietnamese and Korean communities have been grumbling over which group should have a cultural center, city leaders said they would most likely consider the project that will generate money for the city.
"The problem with cultural centers is that they are nonprofit and won't generate a constant flow of sales tax for the city," Councilman Mark Rosen said.
Since most of the master proposals would use up the 16 acres, the 1-acre Korean center or 3-acre Vietnamese center would have to be incorporated into other plans, city officials said.
Phat Bui, who's lobbying for the Vietnamese Library project, said a cultural center would fit in nicely with homes or any other developments.
"But we would be open to having a Korean Cultural center next to (the Vietnamese center), too," Bui said.
Bui said he would also consider a compromise of an Asian Cultural Center as well.
"We need to promote integration here between the city's two largest Asian communities," Korean community leader Joseph Pak said. "The Koreans and Vietnamese should confer with each other to work something out."
Currently, an office building, a few used-car dealerships, a small shopping center, a tattoo parlor and a furniture shop occupy Brookhurst Triangle. About 7 acres of the land are empty.
One plan calls for a 15- to 20-story high-rise with 402 condos and room for an adjacent hotel and shops.
"What we don't want is something like The Block. We're looking for something with pizzazz, something that will bring in money for the city, and something we won't have to come back to in 15 years to redo," Rosen said.
Friday, October 10, 2003
Anaheim settles Biofem suit for $500,000
City officials agree to payment without admitting to wrongdoing.
By JOHN McDONALD
Anaheim has settled a civil rights lawsuit filed by a former physician who said he was roughed up by police who searched his house in March 2000 during the Biofem attempted murder investigation, city officials confirmed today.
The $500,000 lawsuit by Jerry D. Nilsson, 73, contended that police manhandled him, caused him to have a heart attack and forced him to lose $100 million in business. Nilsson was an associate of Dr. Larry Ford, the Irvine scientist who committed suicide while under investigation for the attempted murder of his business partner.
The city admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, saying its case was hampered by the involvement of other agencies and the fact that the attempted murder case is still an open investigation.
The getaway driver in the shooting of Biofem CEO Patrick Riley has been sentenced to prison. But neither the triggerman nor the person who set up the crime have been found.
After Ford's suicide, 200 of his Irvine neighbors were relocated to a local hotel for several days while police searched his for biological weapons. Guns and some biological agents were discovered on the property but little else.
Biofem, which did not employ Nilsson, was developing a female suppository to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS.
Police believed that Nilsson had weapons of mass destruction in his home when it was searched, said Deputy Anaheim City Attorney Deborah Knefel.
"There was concern by police officer that if they did not take him down before he entered his house, he could release chemical or biological weapons that could kill many people," she said.
Gary Casselman, a Los Angeles lawyer who represented Nilsson said, "The police thought he had a vial that he could use to liquefy a city block, cause a cloud over Anaheim."
"They used a ruse that they were sanitation workers who had had an accident with Dr. Nilsson's car. He came out of the car and to the curb and they jumped him," said Casselman, who handled the case along with Los Angeles attorney Arthur Avazian. He said Nilsson suffered a dislocated shoulder, abrasions on his face and he had to have open heart surgery three days later.
The city anticipated that a trial with a favorable verdict could have cost more than a settlement due to the expenses for lawyers and expert medical witnesses.
Fatal ride was given look
Machinists found nothing wrong with Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain train.
By MICHELE HIMMELBERG and BILL RAMS
ANAHEIM – Four Disneyland machinists inspected the Big Thunder Mountain train and tracks the morning before last month's deadly accident and found nothing out of place, according to Anaheim police documents released Thursday.
The machinists said they performed their regular maintenance – checking bolts, tightening a tow bar and inspecting the track. Everything seemed to be in working order.
But less than two hours after their shift ended, something went wrong. The locomotive that leads Train 2 derailed, decoupled from the rest of the train and struck the roof of Safety Tunnel One. The crash killed a Gardena man and injured 10 others.
This is the second time Anaheim officials released the 66-page report but the first time it revealed interviews with the machinists and other Disney employees.
Anaheim released a report Oct. 2 that had many blacked-out pages later obtained by the Register, including interviews with ride operators. The operators said they heard an unusual clacking noise coming from Train 2 on the morning of Sept. 5 and planned to pull it out of service, but the train crashed before they could do so.
According to the police report, which rules out sabotage, machinists looked for missing or broken fasteners on the trains and checked the wheels. Employee Gary Coleman told detectives that he and another machinist changed the front axle on Train 3, but the accident involved Train 2.
The report also detailed for the first time what it was like for passengers on the final ride. Some felt wild vibrating and jerking. Others heard clanging and a loud crash.
"People were yelling and screaming, then the lights came on and (the passenger) could see the people in front of her were bleeding or injured," the report said.
A passenger made the first emergency call at 11:20 a.m., according to 911 transcripts. Radio communications also were released.
Man dies after being hit by car
An 85-year-old man died Thursday after he was hit by a car on Hazard Avenue in Westminster, police said. Dang Tam Chu of Midway City was walking across Hazard outside of the Magnolia Avenue intersection at 11:01 a.m. when he was struck by a Toyota Camry traveling east, Lt. Kevin Baker said. Chu was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was pronounced dead, Baker said. No drugs or alcohol were involved, and the driver of the Camry, K. Dang, 40, of Westminster, was not cited or arrested, Baker added. "It appears to be an unfortunate accident," Baker said. - Patrick Vuong
Sunday October 12, 2003
Strikers see mixed results at stores
Some customers heed union calls to take their business elsewhere. Others cross picket lines.
By ANDREW GALVIN
STRIKE: Locked-out Ralph’s worker Jennifer Jacques, left, talks with customer Frank Waldrop
It was a scene repeated at supermarkets throughout Orange County on Sunday: Would-be shoppers were greeted outside stores by picketing employees, who asked them to take their business elsewhere. Some people got back in their cars and left; others brushed off the picketers' pleas, crumpled their leaflets and entered the stores.
On the first full day of a strike against Vons and Pavilion stores and a lockout by Ralphs and Albertsons, sign- carrying picketers were on street corners and in supermarket parking lots across Southern California. Some drivers honked their horns to show support for the strikers; many others ignored them.
Picketers asked customers, some of whom they'd known for years, to shop at Stater Brothers or Food 4 Less, which aren't involved in the labor dispute over health benefits, pensions and wage schedules.
Adeline Haas, 75, of Westminster was unaware of the strike until she stopped at an Albertsons in Huntington Beach. She'd just returned from a vacation in Minnesota and needed some milk and bread.
After striking Albertsons employees asked her not to shop there, she drove to a Ralphs in Stanton, only to find pickets there, too. They asked her to cross the street to Food 4 Less, which she did. Haas said she remembered the last Southern California supermarket strike 25 years ago, when the stores "really shafted their employees, and I never wanted to cross picket lines again."
Another customer, Julie Mayrhofer, had a different opinion. She did her shopping at Ralphs despite what she described as harassment by a picketer as she entered the store.
"I'm not on strike, and I need to feed my family," Mayrhofer said after exiting the store and being escorted to her car by an on-duty Ralphs employee.
On the picket line, striker Araceli Guadarrama, 28, denied harassing Mayrhofer. "I tell her only please don't shop here," Guadarrama said. "She said, 'I don't care.' "
In the north and central portions of the county, Ralphs and Albertsons stores were relatively empty Sunday morning, normally a big day for coupon-clipping shoppers. Many customers heeded strikers' requests to shop at nearby Stater Brothers and Food 4 Less stores.
Frank Waldrop, 51, of Garden Grove rode his motorcycle to Ralphs to tell strikers he supported them. He normally brings his coupons to Ralphs on Sundays but said he would shop at Stater Brothers. "I'm pro-union," said the Anaheim parks worker.
At a crowded Food 4 Less in Stanton, some customers said they chose to shop there mainly to avoid the hassle of crossing picket lines elsewhere. "I didn't want to deal with it," said Linda Burton of Stanton.
At a Whole Foods Market store in Tustin, associate manager Jo Bushner noticed a larger-than-usual wave of customers Sunday morning.
"A lot of new faces. We surely hope they will come back," Bushner said, adding that her store had ordered additional supplies to meet the demand.
In the southern part of the county, where supermarkets are spaced farther apart, picketers said they were having less success at persuading shoppers to turn back. "A lot of people think it's not their problem," said Kim Pattison, who was picketing outside an Albertsons in Mission Viejo.
Some shoppers said they don't like unions.
"They should be glad they have a job," Virginia Marosz of Mission Viejo said about the strikers. "Medical costs have gotten out of control, and it's unfair to ask your employer to pay for all of those things."
The 71,000 Southern California members of the United Food and Commercial Workers began striking against Vons and Vons' Pavilion stores late Saturday after negotiations with employers on a new contract broke off. No new talks were scheduled.
Albertsons and Ralphs stores locked employees out Sunday, as they had said they would if the union chose to strike against only one of the three companies involved in the negotiations. The stores are operating with replacement workers and employees shipped in from other regions, but some stores curtailed their hours Sunday.
Monday October 13, 2003
Strikers get locked out
Albertsons and Ralphs take the action a day after union workers start picketing.
MAKING A CASE: A locked-out Ralphs worker talks to shopper Robert Jackson, facing camera, on Sunday in Garden Grove in an effort to persuade Jackson to buy groceries elsewhere, which he did.
Albertsons and Ralphs stores locked their workers out Sunday, a day after unionized grocery clerks began a strike against Vons and Vons' Pavilion stores. Strikers picketed outside stores, which remained open using replacement workers, but some stores curtailed their hours Sunday. Talks between the union and the supermarket chains broke off Saturday night. No new contract talks were scheduled.
BY THE NUMBERS
900: supermarkets involved in the strike or lockout from Bakersfield to San Diego.
71,000: unionized grocery workers affected by the strike or lockout.
16,000: Orange County grocery workers affected.
VOICES
“I feel really bad for the clerks, but I have to have groceries.”
Miriam Williams, of Westminster, as she prepared to cross a picket line to shop at an Albertsons in Huntington Beach
“I saw a checker I know really well (at Albertsons). She asked me not to shop there, and I said ‘OK, I’ll support you.’.”
Christine Shafer, of Garden Grove, as she entered a Food 4 Less, which isn’t involved in the labor dispute, in Stanton
Tuesday October 14, 2003
Wife distraught over husband's arrest
The wife of a former North Vietnamese prison "disciplinary enforcer" who is accused of beating and killing fellow prisoners worries about the fate of her husband and the family.
By ANH DO
Vietnamese refugee Thi Dinh Bui, center, was arrested on suspicion of violating U.S. immigration laws. Witnesses at his immigration trial say Bui tortured prisoners at a re-education camp where they were held after the Vietnam War.
GARDEN GROVE – She clings to the power of prayer when hope is gone.
At any moment of the day, Lien Dinh kneels, sinking deeply into the devotions she has known since she was a child. She asks for strength and protection as the head of the family since her husband's arrest.
That arrest occurred in August when immigration officials nabbed Thi Dinh Bui as part of a crackdown on foreign nationals living in the United States who are suspected of human-rights abuses overseas. Authorities accuse him of torturing fellow prisoners - and killing two of them - in a re-education camp after Saigon fell to the communists in 1975.
The Garden Grove man came to California in 1994 under a U.S. State Department program that allowed former political prisoners to immigrate. Bui settled near Little Saigon, and though he and his wife rarely ventured there, the community - filled with thousands of men and women like him, jailed at the end of the Vietnam War without formal charges or trials - is paying close attention to his case.
Bui's trial on charges of violating U.S. immigration laws began last month and resumes today. The United States and Vietnam have no extradition agreement, so Bui's fate is unclear if he's convicted of the immigration charges.
But his wife worries that she and her family could be deported. So she prays before breakfast, after breakfast, before lunch, after lunch and so on at a simple altar graced with images of Jesus.
In her first interview since her husband's arrest, Dinh was at times distraught, at times determined. Sitting near a picture of "The Last Supper," she talked openly about her hopes for her family's future - of the dreams she nurtured in Vietnam that were shattered, rebuilt and now shattered again.
When Bui brought his wife to America, seven of their kids accompanied them. Two remain in Vietnam.
"When I thought about life in this country, I thought of the chance to live freely without communism. We didn't look for anything grand, just the ability to exist day to day," Dinh said quietly, recounting loneliness and starvation while her husband toiled in jail.
"All I want is peace, not war," she said. "Never war."
Thi Dinh Bui initially found work as a tailor and from 1996 to this past August delivered newspapers as an independent contractor for The Orange County Register. His wife earned a small income ironing at a knitwear company. Here, in their apartment with sagging twin mattresses, Dinh worships with her youngest daughter, Tiffany.
"The Lord is where you find peace," she says. "I find reason for our burdens."
What Bui earned, he used to pay rent and send donations to Vietnam for orphanages and the needy.
"We felt so good being able to help others. We want to keep doing that," Dinh said. "We thought we were stable until this situation started all over again."
The situation she refers to involves former inmates from Thanh Cam camp verbally attacking Bui after the release of a memoir written by Le Huu Nguyen, a Catholic priest who remembers Thi Dinh Bui beating and hurting him during their years behind bars.
Nguyen is among the government's key witnesses in the trial, according to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which plans to call at least five other ex-inmates to testify.
Bui, 62, had worked as a "trat tu vien," or disciplinary enforcer, at the prison. He maintains his innocence and is being detained on Terminal Island while his wife waits at home for his calls.
"No one can help me - not my family, my relatives or my friends," Dinh said. "Food is no comfort. Neither is sleep. I just pray."
Dinh now fears strangers knocking on her door. When INS agents picked up her husband, they arrived right before dinner. Bui was wearing shorts when authorities led him away. Daughter Tiffany, a college student, ran after them, pleading: "Please let me go with my father. Please. He doesn't speak English. He won't know what to do."
Officials told her to return home, and once inside, mother and daughter collapsed, later turning to benedictions. Bui's 3-year-old granddaughter sobbed and cried, "Grandpa, grandpa," and asked what had happened to him.
Dinh got a telephone number for a public defender, but unable to understand the public defender, she asked her children for help. They have little money, but the older ones, spread out in Chicago, New York and Orange County, pooled some savings to hire a lawyer.
Nguyen, the priest, had visited her family years before her husband's arrest, proclaiming his forgiveness.
"I do not know what happened in jail, but when he was here, he gave us his blessing," Dinh recalls. "Father Le told us this was over."
She believes now that only God knows the truth.
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Teen killed, friend hurt in wreck with bus
High school junior was a passenger in car driven by her best friend when they collided with OCTA vehicle in Anaheim.
16-YEAR-OLD GIRL KILLED: Erin Tanamachi died when the Mustang convertible she was riding in plowed into an OCTA minibus, nearly cutting it in half at 4:40 a.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Ball Road and Euclid Street in Anaheim, according to police.
By CINDY CARCAMO
LA HABRA – Erin Tanamachi was known for her smarts and shy demeanor.
The Sonora High School junior had hoped to go to college like the older sister she admired. She often tutored her younger cousins and this past weekend tackled the SAT after long hours of studying.
That's why it's difficult for her cousin, Silvia Calito, and friends to grapple with the circumstances of her death.
Tanamachi, 16, was out late on a school night and in a speeding convertible Ford Mustang when the driver, her best friend, crashed into an OCTA minibus, Anaheim police Sgt. Rick Martinez said. She died on impact.
"I don't know why things like this happen," Calito said Tuesday afternoon. She gripped a copy of Tanamachi's high school transcript, decorated with rows of A's and B's. She said, however, that she didn't know what her younger cousin was doing out so late. Other relatives wouldn't talk.
The crash occurred at 4:40 a.m. at the intersection of Ball Road and Euclid Street in Anaheim. The Orange County Transportation Authority bus, built to seat 17 disabled passengers, was westbound on Ball when it was broadsided, Martinez said. The bus was nearly sheared in half, wrapped around the Mustang.
Investigators are trying to determine which vehicle ran a red light. Both streets have a 40 mph speed limit.
Martinez refused to release the drivers' names. He said investigators don't know where the two teens were heading to or coming from.
The crash is under investigation and no one has been charged, Martinez said.
Tanamachi's best friend suffered serious injuries and was taken to a hospital.
The bus driver, who did not have any passengers, suffered minor injuries. He had just started his shift when the crash occurred, OCTA spokesman Ted Nguyen said.
"Had there been passengers inside the bus it would've been a terrible situation made worse," Nguyen said.
Tanamachi and her best friend, known by neighbors as the teenage girl with the new Mustang, were inseparable, neighbor Heidi Huntley said. Huntley's brother, Jeff Ospital, said the teens often sunbathed on the front lawn of Tanamachi's La Habra home and washed their cars out front.
The friend often gave Tanamachi lifts to Sonora High School, which will have counselors on campus today to help students cope with the loss.
Huntley said it would be difficult to find pictures of Tanamachi for a collage she wants to craft for the girl's memorial. Tanamachi, a member of the swim team and the baby girl in a family of three children, was so shy she often ran from the camera, Huntley said.
"We're all trying to figure out what she was doing that late at night," she said. "She was never a party girl."
Erin Tanamachi
Friday, October 24, 2003
Orange man killed, 3 hurt in two-vehicle collision in Anaheim
The crash occurred at 3:38 a.m. when a 1982 Mercedes apparently ran a red light on Orangewood Avenue at State College Boulevard.
ANAHEIM – A 37-year old Orange man died and three other people were injured early Thursday in a two-car accident, police said.
The crash occurred at 3:38 a.m. when an eastbound 1982 Mercedes apparently ran a red light on Orangewood Avenue at State College Boulevard. The car smashed into a 1999 Chevrolet S-10 pickup traveling south on State College, Anaheim Sgt. Rick Martinez said.
The Mercedes' two passengers, a 38-year-old woman and an 18-year-old man, both from Orange, suffered minor injuries. The pickup's driver, a 33-year-old man from Costa Mesa, also had minor injuries.
The accident remains under investigation.
The identity of the driver who was killed was withheld pending notification of his relatives.
Police did not disclose the names of the other victims
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Anaheim man dies in brawl
POMONA – An 18-year-old man fatally stabbed in a fight between two groups at a Pomona restaurant was identified today.
Hamzeh Hassan of Anaheim died from injuries suffered at Tacos Mexico about 2:30 a.m. Monday, according to police and the coroner’s office.
Witnesses told police they heard gang slogans before the clash.
Pickets attacked at supermarket
Bat-wielding youths assault them outside an Albertsons in Laguna Niguel.
By MARIE EKBERG PADILLA and BILL RAMS
LAGUNA NIGUEL – Six teens armed with baseball bats screamed racial slurs during an assault on supermarket pickets at Albertsons that ended when an armed security guard fired a warning shot, witnesses said Monday.
"I was happy he had a gun because they were coming at us with baseball bats," said Nathan Gutzwiller, a picket who was hit twice in the face by attackers' fists. "But I hate that it had to resort to this kind of thing."
Ellen Anreder, a spokeswoman for the United Food and Commercial Workers union, called the incident "deplorable." One picket was left bleeding and suffering from a concussion.
"It is outrageous that this type of intolerance and racism exists," she said.
Sunday night's attack, the most violent since the strike began four weeks ago, wasn't the first confrontation between the teens and the pickets. The teens allegedly used racial slurs aimed at Latinos and African-Americans at least three other times during the past two weeks.
"I feared the racial stuff," said Justin Jemison, a Ralphs picket who is half Latino and half African-American. "That can't be good."
Two teens were arrested on suspicion of assault and battery and released to their parents, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Each was described as 16 to 18 years old.
Three others were spotted outside the Street of the Golden Lantern Albertsons on Monday about 1 p.m. They allegedly drove by the store in a Jeep Cherokee and, hands shaped like a gun, pointed at the pickets.
They drove away before deputies got there.
"I felt threatened," said picket John Torrance, who also heard them shout, "Get a job!"
Dan O'Brien, United Food and Commercial Workers Union representative, called 911 twice from the Laguna Niguel store Monday.
"It seems like it's racially motivated and it's awful," he said. "But this can't stop us from doing what we're out here to do, and we're confident that the police will catch all these individuals."
Sheriff's officials said they were unaware of the racial comments.
"We're not disputing it," said Jim Amormino, department spokesman. "We'll certainly look into it."
Gutzwiller and others said the teens confronted pickets last Tuesday and Wednesday and yelled "White power!" "We are the supreme race!" and other insults. They also allegedly tried to run them over with a truck.
Pickets hit the truck with their signs.
On Sunday, armed with baseball bats, the teenagers attacked the pickets from three directions, witnesses said.
They rushed up to the six pickets and two security guards, saying they were looking for Latino and American Indian pickets, witnesses said.
A security guard called 911. The argument intensified and a fistfight broke out.
Two security guards tried to separate the two groups. The attackers spit several times in the face of Michael Gallagher, a 21-year-old Ralphs picket, before punching him on the side of his head, witnesses said. To protect Gallagher, security guard Tom Taylor said, he smacked his flashlight on the head of the attacking teenager.
Then the attackers turned to their baseball bats.
"Once they came towards us, the security guard pulled out his gun," Gutzwiller said. "The attackers screamed, 'Come on and shoot me! I want to die!' "
The other security guard, a retired Orange County sheriff's deputy, fired a shot into the air. He was not identified.
Suddenly, a black Ford truck pulled up, and the driver yelled to the teenagers to take off. Before the attackers ran off across the parking lot, they smashed chairs, tables and a CD player next to the store, witnesses said.
About a minute later, deputies arrived. A deputy nearby found two teenagers hiding at a nearby apartment complex, while the rest escaped.
The assault left Gallagher battered and with a concussion. He was taken to Mission Hospital.
His mother, Andrea Gallagher, said she was relieved that her son was feeling better after being released from the hospital Monday.
"You have to count your blessings," she said. "He looks good – it doesn't look like he's been through a war."
She said she hopes "somebody takes care of the kids" that attacked her son so "they won't hurt somebody else."
Each Albertsons store employs unarmed security guards, company officials said.
After the picketing started, the company dispatched armed guards – off-duty or retired police officers – to stores that had problems, said Stacia Levenfeld, a company spokeswoman.
Security guards can carry firearms if they pass a 14-hour class and pay an application and fingerprinting fee costing up to $214. About 30,000 security guards are licensed to carry guns in California.
She and other officials wouldn't comment on when it's OK for them to fire their weapons.
Amormino, the sheriff's spokesman, said it is appropriate to use a weapon if the guard fears for his life.
Investigators are looking into whether the unidentified guard violated any laws by firing the round, he said.
On Monday, many of the pickets said the recent violence had left them afraid to work the picket lines after dark.
"I feel fine coming during daylight, but after dark it's a different story," said Phil Williams, a Ralphs picket from Mission Viejo. "It's getting out of hand."
Gilberto Ruvalcaba, who was one of the six pickets attacked, said he was scared.
"I won't be here at night," he said.
ON THE LINE: Grocery-union picket Nathan Gutzwiller, 18, makes a call from the picket line Monday at a Laguna Niguel Albertsons, where pickets were besieged Sunday night.
INVESTIGATING: A sheriff’s deputy checks out two unidentified young men Monday in Laguna Niguel after pickets called police to report suspicious characters mingling in the picket line.
Man arrested in hit-run death
STANTON – A 62-year-old Anaheim man was arrested early Monday in the death of a man who was hit by a car as he crossed a street hours earlier, the Orange County Sheriff's Department said.
Eun Kil Lee was being held as the driver of the Toyota Matrix that sped away after hitting a 37-year-old man at about 8 p.m. Sunday as he crossed Beach Boulevard between Orangewood and Katella avenues.
The dead man's name was not released pending notification of his family.
Man denied bail in bomb plot
A federal magistrate has denied bail for a Baldwin Park man facing extradition to Thailand to face charges of trying to blow up the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok.
In a decision released Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Game determined that no "special circumstances" exist to justify the release on bail of Van Duc Vo, 43.
Vo was arrested in October 2001 at John Wayne Airport. An extradition hearing was held last December, but a decision has not been made.
His attorney, Michael Mayock, argued that Vo's release, among other things, could allow him to see his father, who has cancer.
Mayock said the device was rigged so it would not go off. He said it was placed as a "message" on "the date that represents the founding of the army of South Vietnam."
- City News Service
Friday, December 12, 2003
Vietnamese trade delegation protested
Meeting with local businesspeople and officials draws some 36 demonstrators.
By MARTIN WISCKOL
SANTA ANA – Some three dozen demonstrators, carrying South Vietnamese flags and an effigy of Ho Chi Minh, protested the meeting Thursday of a Vietnamese trade delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Khoan Vu with local businesspeople and officials.
Although the United States normalized trade relations with Vietnam in 2001, the county's large population of Vietnamese immigrants is often adamant in its anti-communist sentiment toward the country's leaders.
"We don't want them coming here, staying here or doing business here," said Vietnamese radio host Kiet Huyn, who participated in the protest at the county Hall of Administration.
Protesters specifically complained about the lack of religious freedom in Vietnam and said that increased trade would be unlikely to help the average Vietnamese.
The visit was a part of a nationwide trade mission by the delegation, including talks Saturday with Secretary of State Colin Powell. Thursday's meeting was arranged by county Chief of Protocol Joanne Sokolski, who said trade – not politics – was her sole concern.
"We're just hyping Orange County, telling them that we're a great place to do trade with," she said. "There are 30 businesses here who are doing business with Vietnam or want to do business with them."
County Supervisor Chris Norby of Fullerton talked with protesters, telling them, "Orange County doesn't want to overtly support a communist government."
He said later that although he sympathized with the protesters, federal law made it clear that businesses could do as they pleased in terms of Vienamese trade. He said supervisors did not approve trade meetings set up by Sokolski
Fire razes condo in Anaheim Hills
A three-bedroom condominium in Anaheim Hills caught fire Thursday night, destroying the unit and slightly damaging an attached condo, authorities said. Firefighters from Anaheim, Orange and Orange County were called at 6:30 p.m. to the Singingwood Hill community, at Singingwood Drive and Canyon Rim Road. The fire was controlled about an hour later. The cause of the fire was under investigation, said Maria Sabol, spokeswoman for the Anaheim Fire Department. The residents of both units were not home when the fire broke out. No one was injured.- Cindy Carcamo
Friday, January 9, 2004
Former premier's return to Vietnam criticized
Anti-communists in Little Saigon say Nguyen Cao Ky betrays their ideals by visiting his homeland for Tet.
By PATRICK VUONG
The former premier and vice president of South Vietnam will celebrate the Lunar New Year in his homeland, sparking outrage and debate in Little Saigon.
Nguyen Cao Ky left Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday after receiving permission from the Vietnamese government. The flamboyant ex-general who commanded South Vietnam's air force against the communists 40 years ago will revisit his native land for the first time, marking a softening in Vietnam's view of its former enemies.
The announcement topped the headlines and broadcasts of Orange County's Vietnamese-language media outlets, provoking people to call in to radio programs and log on to Internet bulletin boards to express their displeasure.
Critics fear Ky's trip will legitimize a government they consider oppressive.
Peter Tran, a Fullerton pastor and former South Vietnamese air force captain, objected to Ky's trip, calling it stupid and unacceptable.
"His attitude to go back to Vietnam is naive, selfish," said Tran, 58. "He's betraying the (democratic movement), betraying refugees all over the world.''
However, Ky's daughter, Ky Duyen Nguyen, said her father's monthlong trip is not about politics or struggles between democracy and communism, but about a civilian returning to his birthplace.
"He's the most recognized face from the Vietnam War era, but within the Vietnamese-American community he's not politically active," she said. "He retired a long time ago. A man in his 70s; what more can he wish for than to revisit his country, where he has grown up and loved?"
She added that the criticism is unwarranted because her father's New Year trip is not unlike those taken by thousands of Vietnamese-Americans who revisit the communist country ever year.
Nguyen Cao Ky could not be reached for comment.
History professor Charles Wheeler of the University of California, Irvine, said Vietnam's approval of a visa for Ky is unprecedented, "a watershed moment" three decades in the making.
"For a long time people of his stature have been persona non grata," said Wheeler, who specializes in Vietnamese history.
Allowing someone of Ky's magnitude to return could open the door to other dissidents, he added.
Wheeler said that while political attitudes are slowly changing and emotional scars are healing, the majority of first-generation refugees will protest Ky's trip.
"Given what he represents, it's a very big deal, and I think he's probably going to receive a tremendous amount of flak," the professor said. "It could be very hostile."
Ky's homeland visit reverberated in the Bay area. (San Jose is another Vietnamese enclave.)
Oakland-based Thai-Anh Nguyen-Khoa, who is known for his anti-communist writing, said he's disappointed in the nature of the public outcry.
"I'm very sad for the Vietnamese community's state of affairs," said Nguyen-Khoa, 46, who is also a high-school teacher of American politics and economics. "We're all anti-communist, but to be so closed-minded and accuse Ky of being too communist is going too far."
Westminster community activist Ken Nguyen called Ky's trip to Vietnam irresponsible, because the former vice president represents the anti-communism sentiment.
Giap Ngo, president of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force Veterans Association of Central California, said he understands Ky's longing for his native land, but disagreed with his former commander's Tet trip.
"I think it'll benefit the Vietnamese communists more than opening the doors to international relations," Ngo said in Vietnamese. "He was the top anti-communist, but today he's traveling to the communist nation. "They will use that to say, 'See he used to be anti-communist but now he's returning to his homeland, so the anti-communist sentiment no longer exists.'"
Nguyen Cao Ky, former premier and vice president of South Vietnam, in 2002 photo.
Sept. 8, 1930: Born in Son Tay, North Vietnam
1954: Graduates from Marrakech Air Force Training School, Morocco
Nov. 1, 1963: Premier Ngo Dinh Diem assassinated
Dec. 16, 1963: Ky becomes acting Vietnam air force commander
Aug. 12, 1964: Becomes full commander of VNAF
June 1965: After military coup by Nguyen Van Thieu, Thieu and he gain control of South Vietnam, Ky serving as prime minister
September 1967: Ky elected vice president, South Vietnam
1971: Ky outmaneuvered in effort at taking presidency from Thieu; retires
April 29, 1975: Ky flees Saigon
by helicopter; rescued by USS Midway; travels to United States
April 30, 1975: Independent Socialist Republic of Vietnam formed
1976: Has first book published, "Twenty Years and Twenty Days"
1992: Appeals to U.S. government to lift trade embargo against Vietnam; offers to act as liaison for Vietnamese people
2002: "Buddha’s Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam," written with Marvin J. Wolf, is published
Monday, February 16, 2004
Vietnam visit by Ky called betrayal
O.C. Vietnamese gather in Garden Grove to protest ex-premier's return trip to homeland.
By PATRICK VUONG
GARDEN GROVE – They once called Nguyen Cao Ky the embodiment of anti-communism.
As a flamboyant premier, vice president and air marshal, he commanded South Vietnam's air force against the communists 40 years ago.
But on Sunday, more than 1,500 Vietnamese-Americans flooded into a vacant lot in central Garden Grove to protest his first visit to their homeland since the fall of Saigon, saying his lunar new year trip legitimizes a government that continually violates human rights and oppresses its people.
Ky, 73, a former Orange County resident, has been in Vietnam since January, visiting family and friends in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and his hometown of Son Tay. He has said the number of people opposing his visit is very small. Ky believes most people want to open up friendly relations. His move from anti-communism to promoting reconciliation has enraged many in Little Saigon.
"He has betrayed his country and its people, especially the hundreds of thousands who sacrificed their lives," said Tu Van Le, 73, a former South Vietnam army general and president of an anti-communist association made up of expatriates, Vietnamese and American veterans, and local politicians.
"He's betrayed the people who have been imprisoned, tortured and killed, and the 56,000 U.S. soldiers who died helping us."
Le and the various Vietnamese groups that organized the event branded Ky a traitor.
But not everyone agreed with the outcry. World-renowned Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, who will visit Orange County next week, said prior to the protest that the expatriates should focus on humanitarianism, not hatred.
"That kind of talking doesn't make sense," he said. "If (the protesters) talked about improving human rights in Vietnam, that would be better.
"These people who are protesting are those who suffered under the communist regime and I can understand their suffering, but that's not to say that's the best political strategy," Asian studies professor Jeff Brody said prior to the demonstration.
"They have a right to protest," added Brody, who teaches at California State University, Fullerton, "and by all means they should be allowed to protest."
On Sunday, Ky's critics hanged his effigy by the neck next to one depicting Vietnamese communist founder Ho Chi Minh. They waved South Vietnamese and American flags and roared with cheers after each speaker, who included local politicians and leaders from the Arab, Laotian and Korean communities.
Garden Grove Mayor Bruce Broadwater called Ky the Benedict Arnold of Vietnam.
Westminster Councilman Kermit Marsh had this message for the communist regime: "Give us the right of free vote and we'll give you Nguyen Cao Ky."
LITTLE SAIGON SEETHES AT KY’S VIETNAM VISIT:Veterans of the South Vietnamese military hold photos of generals reportedly killed since 1975 by the communist government in Vietnam.
A shadow of a figure is cast on a giant South Vietnamese flag displayed at the protest.
PROTEST POINT: Nhan Ly of Garden Grove wears homemade “underwear” with a photo of Ky at a protest Sunday against the former South Vietnamese leader’s visit to Vietnam.
Saturday, February 14, 2004
The freedom to press on
By PATRICK VUONG
The Orange County Register
WESTMINSTER – The painting of America's founding fathers hangs high on the wall, overlooking all who walk by.
In the mural, George Washington, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson draft the U.S. Constitution while Abraham Lincoln announces the abolition of slavery at the steps of Congress.
The patriotic image is found not in a museum or a local city hall but in the lobby of Nguoi Viet Daily News, the oldest and most influential Vietnamese-language newspaper in the United States. For the publication's founder, Yen Do, the oil painting is a daily reminder of the U.S. Bill of Rights and his responsibilities in embodying those principles through freedom of the press.
As he prepares to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Nguoi Viet on Sunday with 300 journalists, scholars and business leaders, Do continues to instill the American journalism principles of objectivity and fairness into Little Saigon's media - an industry known for its partisanship.
In the largest enclave outside of Vietnam, Orange County's 135,000-plus Vietnamese Americans have devoured the flood of information from three daily newspapers, dozens of magazines and weeklies, four TV stations and half a dozen radio stations.
"Why there's a proliferation of media in the Vietnamese-American community is directly related to the fact that there was no freedom of the press in Vietnam," said Jeff Brody, a communications and Asian American studies professor at California State University, Fullerton.
"When the refugees came here, they could express their views and wouldn't be imprisoned or be censored. So there was a flourishing of free expression."
But out of that freedom grew biased journalism that reporters were accustomed to in Vietnam, where media was controlled or funded by political parties, government agencies or business leaders.
Do, 63, has slowly changed that by presenting all sides to every story, providing readers with more facts and teaching reporters about libel.
Last year, Do - who learned investigative and objective journalism by following foreign correspondents during the Vietnam War - organized a conference that drew about 100 reporters from across the country to talk about raising their professional standards.
"When anyone asks where the roots of Nguoi Viet's journalism comes from, I say it's in America's First Amendment," Do said. "The challenge with a freedom like that is you have to make your reporting accurate and fair every day, so that you uphold that freedom. Saying you'll do that is easy, but it's not easy."
It's never been easy for Do.
Before his newspaper grew to the biggest Vietnamese publication with more than 70 employees and a 16,500 daily circulation, Do acted as publisher, editor and circulation manager of Nguoi Viet, which was then a four-page weekly.
He designed each page and wrote accents on each word by hand. He delivered 2,000 copies door to door.
Then came the vandalism by political fanatics who felt Nguoi Viet wasn't anti-communist enough and who wanted to censor any news that spoke of reconciliation with Vietnam. And there were the death threats and the firebombing of a delivery truck.
But Do never folded Nguoi Viet, which means "Vietnamese people."
Inside his newsroom, graphic designer Hop Thi Nguyen painted the 8-yard-long mural in the paper's lobby. Nguyen, who took a month to research and paint the artwork, said she was quite nervous when asked by Do to create an image depicting the First Amendment.
"As I painted, I felt better and I began to enjoy the process," she said. "When we hung it up, I was quite emotional."
The newspaper's melding of the two culture's journalism styles has resulted in Nguoi Viet 2, a weekly section of English-language articles that is edited by Do's daughter, Anh Do, who also writes a column for the Register.
Nguoi Viet 2 includes reprinted Register stories, through a content partnership.
Yen Do said the new section will not only help the first-generation immigrants learn English, but also get their children to check out the main section and pick up Vietnamese.
He predicts that in another 25 years, the county's Vietnamese community will use newspapers to not only get updates of their homeland, but to understand American society and history.
"For example, many readers right now don't understand the court scandal involving Martha Stewart, because all their lives they'd never heard of her," he said. Some of his current readers likewise aren't informed about other current issues, such as the budget deficit, election process and military intelligence, he said.
"Our goal is to act as an information source and explain what's going in society and with the government," Do said, "Our goal is to explain but not criticize."
SILVER MILESTONE: The Nguoi Viet Daily News Employees started as a four-page weekly but has grown into the largest Vietnamese publication with more than 70 employees and a 16,500 daily circulation.
Newspaper employees and workers from L&L Graphic Printing hang a large sign behind a stage at Nguoi Viet’s community room.
SIGN OF FREEDOM: Yen Do, who published his first edition of the Nguoi Viet Daily News 25 years ago, laughs in front of a mural in the paper’s lobby.
TOGETHER: Thanh Nguyen, 36, a lighting and sound technician, right, shares a laugh and lunch with fellow staffers at Nguoi Viet. It is a tradition for the employees to eat lunch together.
ACCESS TO WORLD NEWS: Yen Do reads several local and international newspapers in his newsroom. Do said that his eyesight is failing him so he reads less, but he is a huge fan of the Internet and being able to read newspapers from around the world.
Tuesday, Feburary 24, 2004
Santiago Canyon Road reopens after crash
Orange Register
Santiago Canyon Road reopened after a four-car crash shut it down for more than an hour, officials said.
The crash occurred around 9 a.m., shutting down traffic in both directions near the entrance of Irvine Lake.
The road reopened at 10:15 a.m., officials said.
At least two people suffered moderate injuries, including an off-duty Orange County Fire Authority paramedic, said a California Highway Patrol spokesman. Both are being treated at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.
The accident involved a Lincoln Navigator, a black Acura and two other vehicles. Two of the cars overturned, said CHP officer Ken Yoon.
Teen hit by pickup in critical condition
Police search for driver who fled after hitting girl, 13, outside of Knott's Berry Farm.
By GREG HARDESTY
Orange County Register
BUENA PARK – A teenage girl remained in critical condition Monday after she was struck by a pickup Sunday while walking with friends outside Knott's Berry Farm, police said.
Police were looking for a white or light-yellow GMC or Chevrolet truck that may have damage to the front-left corner.
Alina Zapata, 13, was struck in a crosswalk at about 9:15 p.m. Sunday as the pickup traveled north on Beach Boulevard at Crescent Avenue.
Knott's Berry Farm had been closed for hours when the teen, who lives at a nearby motel, was hit, Sgt. Jim Banks said.
"She was with a group of friends and had fallen behind in the intersection when she was hit," Banks said.
Witnesses told police that the group had been crossing against the light.
Zapata suffered head trauma, a mangled right leg and punctured lungs, Banks said. She was taken to UCI Medical Center, but Banks said she might not survive.
Her mother, Carla Zapata, told KABC-TV/7 that her daughter is brain dead.
"So, it's in God's hands right now," she said. "He's either going to take her or let me have her some more.
The teen's friends got a glimpse of the full-size truck, believed to be a 1980s model.
Witnesses were unable to say whether the driver was male or female or whether anyone else was in the truck. The truck apparently did not slow after hitting the girl, Banks said.
Investigators don't know whether the truck was speeding in the 45-mph zone. The busy intersection is not known for having a lot of accidents, Banks said.
Neighbors and friends described Zapata as a hyperactive eighth-grader who was constantly out with friends.
Angela Marx, 14, said Zapata was always giggling and running around.
But she also had a serious side.
"If you have a really good conversation and sit down with her, you can tell she has potential," said another friend, Roy Wigginton, 16.
Teen critical after being shot in Anaheim
By CINDY CARCAMO
The Orange County Register
ANAHEIM – A teenage boy was shot in the upper torso during apparent gang-related gunfire Monday night, police said.
The boy, whose name was not released, was shot at about 7 p.m. in the 300 block of Bush Street, near Sycamore Street, Anaheim police Lt. Joe Vargas said.
The boy was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was in critical condition.
It wasn't clear whether he was shot from a passing vehicle or whether he is a registered gang member, Vargas said.
The neighborhood has a history of gang activity, Vargas said.
No one was in custody.
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Orange County briefly
The Orange County Register
Teen arrested after hitting 3 police cars in Santa Ana pursuit
SANTA ANA – Police arrested a 17-year-old boy Tuesday night after a chase in which three police cars were damaged and a stolen vehicle was pocked with bullet holes from police gunfire.
Nobody was injured in the confrontation, which began about 10 p.m. when police were called to North Jackson Street on a report of gunshots. Officers saw a Chevrolet Suburban, which they believed to be stolen, and tried to stop it.
The teenage driver rammed a police car, and one officer fired several shots at the vehicle as it sped away.
The driver apparently lost control at the intersection of Newhope Street and McFadden Avenue and rammed two police cars when they approached. He was arrested without further incident.
Man dies after friend runs over him
ANAHEIM – A man was killed Wednesday when his friend accidentally drove over him, police said.
The 19-year-old driver was leaving a Gilbert Street apartment complex as the victim ran alongside the car about 5 p.m., Anaheim Sgt. Rick Martinez said.
The friend, also 19, somehow became trapped beneath the vehicle and died at the scene, Martinez said.
The names of the two men were not released.
Man may have fired shots in two cities
FULLERTON – A man was arrested Wednesday as a suspect in a random shooting and may have shot at a van in Garden Grove, police said.
Saul Delgado, 24, of Santa Ana, allegedly fired at least two rounds while standing at Valencia Drive and Balcom Avenue about 2 p.m. One bullet struck a house a block away.
Delgado's breakup with his Fullerton girlfriend might have prompted the random shooting, police said.
Officers are investigating whether Delgado shot at a van at Harbor Boulevard and 17th Street in Garden Grove.
Friday, February 27, 2004
Driver, 23, mourned
Friends and family grieve over death of young man who lost control of car in heavy rain.
PATRICK VUONG
The Orange County Register
SIGNAL HILL – Friends and relatives remembered Matthew Christopher Dodge as a multitalented artist who loved to mix his own tracks as a hip-hop DJ.
Sharing hugs and tears, they gathered Thursday afternoon at his single-story home in a quiet neighborhood of Signal Hill, recalling his outgoing personality and great sense of humor.
Dodge, 23, was killed when his 2003 Nissan Altima suddenly veered off a rain-soaked southbound lane of the San Diego (I-405) Freeway in Irvine, plunged into a drainage ditch and washed away about 5:30 a.m. Thursday, the California Highway Patrol said.
His was the only reported death linked to the heavy rains that drenched Orange County on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
Daniel Ramirez, a friend, was devastated by the news.
"I've already had family members pass away, and it's kind of rough. He's really close, and I considered him like family," Ramirez said. "He's a great guy - a piece of our lives that will always be with us."
The two shared several passions, including going to clubs with their buddies and attending hip-hop concerts. They were particularly into underground hip-hop crews like Visionaries and Living Legends, Ramirez said.
When Dodge wasn't spinning wax as a DJ or out clubbing, he could be found playing video games with Ramirez and friends on their PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles.
"He was always cracking jokes and loved being with the guys," Ramirez said, adding that Dodge was energetic and took life one day at a time.
"He's one of those guys who would get us amped up about getting together and doing stuff," Ramirez said.
Born and raised in Signal Hill, where his family has been for 70 years, Dodge attended St. Anthony High School and Long Beach City College, said his uncle, Vince Driscoll.
He described Dodge as a good kid who worked hard at an Irvine medical supply company.
Driscoll commended his nephew for braving the early morning commutes from Signal Hill, a small city inside Long Beach, to Irvine.
"How many (20-somethings) get up at 4 a.m. to go to work every day?" he said.
Other relatives declined to talk to reporters and instead gave a prepared statement.
"Needless to say, my family is in shock and in mourning," the statement read. "The traumatic events that have occurred today will take some time to process."
Driscoll told a reporter that he was angry there wasn't a retaining wall or guardrail along the freeway to prevent drivers from plunging into the drainage channel. A chain-link fence was the only barrier.
"He was a good kid who died in an avoidable accident," Driscoll said. "If he hit a retaining wall, he would have walked away. But if you put the car into the water, you don't walk away. No chance."
Witnesses saw Dodge's Nissan lose control about 5:30 a.m., plow through the fence and overturn in the flood-control channel, the CHP said.
Rescue workers found the empty four-door Nissan about a half-mile downstream from where the car went into the ditch. The car had been swept up by a 12-foot-wide, 3-foot- deep torrent that flowed about 30 mph. The vehicle was stopped by a concrete piling near Jeffrey Road, said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Miller.
Investigators determined that Dodge was not wearing a seat belt, the CHP said.
Dodge's body was found in a retention basin near East Yale Loop and Greenmoor, about a quarter-mile from the car.
An autopsy was planned for today.
Ramirez said Thursday evening that he was just getting over the shock of hearing the news earlier in the day.
"This is the type of person that you would never think this could happen to," he said.
Asked to share his fondest memory of his nephew, Driscoll said there were too many.
SEARCH: Orange County firefighter Greg Highberg signals to other firefighters to lower his rope as he looks for anyone still trapped in Matthew Christopher Dodge’s car after it landed in an Irvine flood-control channel early Thursday, killing Dodge
Matthew Dodge
DEADLY AFTERMATH: Orange County Fire Swiftwater Rescue team from Station 6 in Irvine wait by Matthew Dodge’s car alongside a flood-control channel on Thursday in Irvine.
19 vehicles collide on rainy freeway
By JOHN McDONALD
The Orange County Register
DANA POINT – Nineteen vehicles collided in a series of pileups on rain-slick pavement during this morning’s commute on the southbound San Diego (I-5) Freeway, injuring four motorists, the California Highway Patrol reported.
The series of collisions occurred shortly before 8 a.m. just south of Camino de Estrella. Weather stations in the area reported that an estimated .04 of an inch of rain fell in the area between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.
The CHP had entered a "weather condition" advisory on its Web site at 7:18 a.m.
First two cars collided, then within two minutes, three to five other accidents occurred, each involving two to four cars, CHP Officer Christopher Goodwin said.
The road was wet at the time, but it was not raining, and it was uncertain whether that contributed to the chain of mishaps, Goodwin said.
The injured were taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries. The collisions closed one lane of the freeway for about an hour.
The causes of the accidents are under investigation.
2 dogs killed by bee stings in Cypress
Swarm of insects might have been more aggressive Africanized strain.
By PAT BRENNAN
The Orange County Register
CYPRESS – Two small dogs were stung to death by bees in Cypress this week, and experts say the bees might have been Africanized. It was unclear Thursday whether the bees will be sent to a laboratory for analysis.
The dogs, one a Yorkshire terrier, received multiple stings Wednesday afternoon outside their Lolina Lane home. Orange County Animal Control officials summoned by a neighbor found one dead dog and one severely injured, spokesman Ryan Drabek said Thursday. The dogs' owner apparently was not home at the time. The terrier was taken to veterinarian Claudia Horvath at Los Alamitos Animal Hospital but died soon after it arrived. The dog had been stung hundreds of times.
"The one brought to us was covered with bees, head to toe," Horvath said. Most of the bees were dead, but "a few were still buzzing," she said.
Africanized bees, considered more defensive and dangerous than domestic strains, have been known to deliver mass stings to animals and people who disturb them.
Domestic bees, also known as European honeybees, are considered more docile. But they, too, can deliver mass stings, said entomologist Nick Nisson of the Orange County Agricultural Commission.
There is no sure way to distinguish the two without DNA analysis or careful laboratory measurements.
But the bees that attacked the dogs might have been Africanized, Nisson said. Released in Brazil in 1957, Africanized honeybee strains steadily pushed north, finally arriving in California in 1994.
Orange County was declared fully colonized by Africanized bees in 1999.
There have been few attacks in California since the bees arrived. Among the victims was a Garden Grove maintenance worker who suffered minor injuries in 2002.
Nisson said bee-sting cases aren't officially tracked. If someone brings him bees involved in a major attack, Nisson said, he could forward them to the state Department of Food and Agriculture for analysis, but only for research.
Horvath said she would contact Nisson and might send him some of the bees.
Tape in gang-rape case altered, defense says
Lawyers want video excluded from trial of Haidl, 2 friends.
By LARRY WELBORN
The Orange County Register
The amateur videotape that allegedly shows the son of an assistant Orange County sheriff and two other teenagers raping an unconscious 16-year-old girl has been altered and should be excluded as evidence, defense attorneys contended Thursday.
Defense attorney Joseph Cavallo, who is representing Gregory Scott Haidl, 18, the son of Assistant Orange County Sheriff Don Haidl, said two experts can prove that "at least" 17 minutes of videotape is missing from the original version.
Defense attorney John Barnett, who represents co-defendant Kyle Joseph Nachreiner, 18, said the experts can show that the tape was "substantially altered" after it came into law enforcement's hands.
But Deputy District Attorney Dan Hess said Thursday that the videotape has not been altered and is in the same condition it was when two people turned it over to authorities a few days after the July 2002 get-together in the senior Haidl's Corona del Mar garage, where police say the gang rape took place.
"The tape has not been tampered with," Hess said. "All we do is press play, and there it is."
The 21-minute videotape shows Gregory Haidl, Nachreiner and Keith James Spann, also 18, sexually assaulting a teenage girl on a pool table while loud music blares in the background, according to prosecutors. The boys made the tape when the girl showed up at a party in progress, the prosecutors say.
Cavallo said he will file a motion to exclude the videotape, contending that it is not a reliable depiction of all that happened in the Haidl garage.
"The tape is a piece of junk," Cavallo said. "They took out parts that show the complete story."
Cavallo, who repeatedly has argued that the sexual activity depicted on the tape was consensual between the girl and the three boys, said, "Even with the videotape, they don't have a case. But without it, their case is done."
This will be the second time defense attorneys have attempted to exclude the videotape from the trial. In a motion late last year, the defense team contended there was improper government intervention in the confiscation of the videotape. That motion was withdrawn before a judge could rule on it.
The trial of the three teenagers was scheduled to begin with jury selection Monday. If convicted of all charges, each could be sentenced to more than 55 years in prison.
Tuesday, March 9, 2004
Kamikaze crow causes commuter congestion
The black bird’s blackout lasts nearly one hour, officials say.
By JEFF COLLINS
FULLERTON – A crow shorted out power lines in north Fullerton this morning, snarling morning traffic and knocking out electricity across a broad swath of the city, a utility spokesman said.
The bird typically weighs just a few pounds at most, and measures less than 20 inches.
But it caused an outage that cut power to about 2,400 customers and blacked out traffic signals at about 15 intersections, officials said.
The outage began at 7:41 a.m. on Mimosa Place. It lasted nearly an hour from Rolling Hills Drive to Commonwealth Avenue, from Harbor Boulevard to State College Boulevard, said Paul Klein, a spokesman for Southern California Edison.
"If a crow gets on the line, they (sometimes) spread their wings and touch another wire," Klein said.
This morning’s outage darkened signals along Brea and Harbor boulevards, Banstanchury Road, Rolling Hills Drive and Lemon Street, forcing motorists to treat blacked-out lights as four-way stop signs, police said.
No accidents were reported as a result of the outage, which reportedly ended about 8:45 a.m., said Fullerton Police Sgt. Bonnie Clanin.
All but 50 customers had their power restored by 9:30 a.m., Klein said.
Saturday, March 13, 2004
Suspect arrested in teen's stabbing
An Orange man suspected of stabbing a teenager March 6 in an apparent case of mistaken identity was arrested Thursday.
Police spotted Ashoob Oluomi, 22, in a parking lot at The Block at Orange and arrested him after a short chase, Orange Sgt. Dave Hill said. Oluomi was booked into the Orange County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder.
Oluomi approached the 18-year-old man, who was sitting in a convertible in the 2500 block of North Canal Street, and challenged him to a fight, police said.
The suspect realized that he mistook the victim for someone else, police said. He punched the man anyway and stabbed him several times, Hill said.
- Jit Fong Chin
Man injured in motor-home fire
A Placentia man suffered third-degree burns over 90 percent of his body Friday in a gasoline-fed fire. Police and fire teams responded to calls about a motor home on fire shortly after 10:30 a.m. in the 100 block of Borromeo Avenue. The man, in his late 30s, was found lying next to the motor home, Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Miller said. The man was taken to UCI Medical Center. His name was not released. Investigators are trying to determine the fire's cause. A suicide attempt was not ruled out. "We don't know if it was accidental or intentional that gasoline got on him and ignited," police Sgt. Jerry Zamora said. - Heather McRea
Home burglar gets nine years
A Placentia man pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of burglary and receiving stolen property. Martin Mario Esquivel, 37, signed a plea agreement in exchange for a nine-year prison sentence, Placentia police Detective Corinne Loomis said. His official sentencing is set for April 16. Esquivel entered an Alta Vista Street home in April 2003. He fled with jewelry after a female resident came home. She later identified him in a police lineup. A cellular phone stolen from a car at California State University, Fullerton, led police to Esquivel. He pleaded guilty to first- degree burglary and two counts of receiving stolen property.
- Heather McRea
3 plead guilty in ATM robbery
A former ATM technician and two men who helped him steal thousands of dollars from a cash machine nearly a year ago are headed to prison after pleading guilty to felony charges, police said Friday.
Thanh To, 23, of Midway City, Phylen Pen, 22, of Westminster and Peter Nguyen, 23, pleaded guilty March 5 to kidnapping and armed robbery, Newport Beach police Sgt. Steve Shulman said.
Shulman said the three stole "tens of thousands of dollars" on March 16, 2003, from the machine at a Bank of America in the 4100 block of MacArthur Boulevard.
Police began to suspect that someone had inside knowledge of how ATMs work because the thieves apparently got the machine to generate an automatic report that it needed servicing.
Another technician went to check the machine and was blindfolded and tied up. He managed to get free and call police.
The investigation led detectives to To, who had worked for the ATM service company that dispatched the technician and who had knowledge of the machine.
A search of his home revealed diagrams and instructions for the robbery. Fingerprints of To and the two other suspects linked them to the crime, Shulman said.
The three were arrested and pleaded guilty. Superior Court Judge Daniel McNerney sentenced To to four years in prison, Pen to three and Nguyen to two, Shulman said.
All three are expected to face prosecution on at least one other case, Shulman said.
Man facing trial in shooting re-arrested
Jeffrey West, who accidentally shot and wounded his daughter in 2002, is accused of stalking in a separate case.
By LARRY WELBORN
A Dana Point man facing a second trial for accidentally blowing off his daughter's arm with a shotgun blast was re-arrested Friday when he was charged with trying to dissuade a witness in a separate case. Jeffrey Alva West, 35, also was charged with a second felony, stalking the witness – his girlfriend's mother – and with making harassing phone calls to her, a misdemeanor. He arrived in a Santa Ana courtroom Friday to get a new trial date on the child-endangerment case. The first trial ended in a mistrial last year when the jury deadlocked at 11-1 for acquittal.
After Judge Patrick Donahue set April 19 as the date for the second trial, Deputy District Attorney Karen Schatzle announced that she had filed a new case against West in the Laguna Niguel courthouse and that a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
West was handcuffed and placed in a holding cell while his ex-wife watched from the courtroom gallery. Genielle West had wanted her ex-husband to go to prison for badly injuring their daughter Madison, 8, in September 2002. Jeffrey West had been free on his own recognizance in that case.
The new charges accuse him of making a series of angry phone calls in February to his girlfriend's mother.
The woman says West slashed her car tires and that he reportedly called her to try to dissuade her from testifying against him, Schatzle said.
Rob Harley, West's attorney, said there is a history of animosity between West and his girlfriend's mother.
Harley said the tire-slashing case was dismissed in February for lack of evidence and that West should not have been charged in the new case.
In September 2002, West accidentally fired his new 12-gauge shotgun as he was practicing loading and unloading it. The blast tore Madison's arm off above the elbow and damaged her kidney. She now lives with her mother.
As West was being led from the courtroom, he said he was surprised to be re-arrested. "I just want all of this to be over," he said. "I have a temper, and I probably shouldn't have made those phone calls. I was just frustrated because she was telling lies about me."
He will be arraigned in the new case next week.
Shooting at Cypress club leaves 1 dead, 4 wounded
The motive for the gunfire is unclear, police say.
CYPRESS – A gunman who shot up a nightclub in Cypress, killing a young woman and wounding four other people, remained at large today.
The motive for the 1:30 a.m. shooting inside the Fifth Wave Cafe at 4300 Lincoln Ave. was unclear, Cypress police Lt. Ed Bish said. A detailed description of the gunman or the getaway vehicle was not immediately available.
The club wasn’t known as a "problem place," Bish said.
The names of the dead and wounded were being withheld, he said, because detectives felt it was too early in the investigation.
All five victims are in their 20s, he said.
One victim was reported in critical condition at UC Irvine Medical Center, police said. Two other young people were taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, and the other went to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, police said.
Monday, March 15, 2004
Missing teen girls surface
By JOHN McDONALD
SANTA ANA – Two 15-year old girls who have been missing for more than three-weeks returned home Sunday night saying they had stayed away from their families voluntarily, police said.
Relatives of Cristine Chacon and Gissela Flores had publicly criticized police for not making more of an more effort to find the youngsters.
Police had earlier concluded that the girls were runaways, but the families of the girls disputed that conclusion.
Chacon and Flores, reportedly went to school Feb. 20 but did not return home, family members said. Pictures of the Santa Ana High School ninth-graders have been distributed throughout the city and as far south as Ensenada, Mexico, said Eliseo Hernandez, Flores’ father, in an interview last week.
The family received a tip on Sunday evening that the girls had been seen outside of a restaurant in Buena Park. A family member went to the location and brought the girls home at about 6 p.m. on Sunday, said Santa Ana Police Lt. Alan Caddell.
Caddell said the girls had reported staying away voluntarily and became too frightened to return when they learned that their families had gone to the police. He said they purposely tried to avoid police by staying with friends in several local communities.
HOA official reports assault
Man upset with association over renovations is accused of beating 78-year-old woman in Dana Point.
By ALDRIN BROWN and RACHANEE SRISAVASDI
DANA POINT – A condominium owner who had been feuding with his homeowners association over renovations to his property was arrested on accusations of beating and choking an elderly member of the panel, sheriff's officials said Sunday.
Charles John Mineo, 47, an accountant, was being held in Orange County Jail on charges of attempted murder and burglary Sunday, a day after the reported attack in the 33900 block of Amber Lantern Street.
The victim, Lucy Deabreu, 78, was taken to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, where she was expected to survive injuries to her face and head, sheriff's Lt. Larry Abbott said.
On Saturday afternoon, Mineo allegedly went to the board member's home, two doors from his, to confront her about his renovations. There were no witnesses to the discussion, but investigators said the conversation escalated into the beating.
About 4:15 p.m., a next-door neighbor heard Deabreu calling for help and found the injured woman lying in her back patio. She told investigators that Mineo attacked her.
One neighbor was shocked by the allegations.
"He is a very nice person," said Vera Oblatt, who lives next door to Mineo's unit. "He's one of my best friends."
Police declined to give details, citing the investigation.
Mineo often spent weekends and summers at the Dana Point condominium, Oblatt said. He had owned the unit for about three years and performed extensive renovations on the interior.
For months, the complex's homeowners association had urged him to obtain a permit for construction he had done to expand his master bedroom by 5 feet.
More recently, neighbors said, there had been a dispute over responsibility for a leak into Mineo's first floor.
Oblatt said Mineo was sitting on his front patio reading an Architectural Digest as late as 3 p.m. Saturday. Sometime after 4 p.m., she heard banging on his door. It was the police, who found no sign of Mineo.
Officers put out a countywide alert describing the suspect's 1985 Jeep Cherokee and set up surveillance at his other home in the Canyon Crest community of Riverside.
He was arrested there late Saturday.
"He's not the type of person who would do something like this," Oblatt said. She described him as a friendly and helpful neighbor, who loved to play with his cat, Bruiser.
Oblatt said she asked Mineo to come to the beach house this weekend to help him forget about Bruiser's death this month.
Mineo was being held on $800,000 bail. He declined a request for an interview at the Orange County Jail on Sunday.
Orange County briefly
Orange County Register
Mini-bike rider killed in Huntington collision on PCH
A mini-bike rider died Sunday after being struck by a car on Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach.
The man, whose name was not released, was riding a motorized mini-bike through the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Brookhurst Street when he was struck by a white van headed east on PCH at about 10:50 p.m. Saturday, Lt. Craig Junginger said.
The driver of the mini-bike was taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, where he died Sunday morning, Junginger said. Coroner's officials did not release the rider's identity Sunday because his family had not been notified.
The driver of the van, Derek Vanderpoleg, was not hurt or cited. Police are investigating.
Garden Grove man stabbed to death
A 31-year-old Garden Grove man was killed early Sunday by an acquaintance whom he fought with earlier that night, police said.
Police discovered Bang Thanh Bui stabbed to death in his apartment, in the 13400 block of El Prado, at about 1 a.m., Sgt. Scott Watson said.
The suspect, Luong Nguyen, 28, of Westminster, was arrested nearby without incident after police broadcast a description of him and his car.
A large group of friends attended a party in the apartment complex on Saturday night, Watson said. Nguyen got into a fight with several people there, allegedly hitting someone on the head with a beer bottle.
The fight ended and everyone left, Watson said. Bui returned to his home, in the complex, and was awakened at 1 a.m. by Nguyen, who was yelling Bui's name and pounding and kicking the door, Watson said.
When Bui opened the door, Nguyen immediately stabbed him once in the torso, Watson said. Bui continued to struggle with Nguyen but then died.
Nguyen was booked at Orange County Jail on a homicide charge.
Watson said investigators do not think the attack was gang-related.
A wrong turn sign leaves driver wondering
By HEATHER LOURIE
Q: Here's one for grins and giggles. Going northbound on Bolsa Chica at Westminster Avenue, why is there a left-hand turn bay two deep with a green arrow and a sign posted across the street that says "No Left Turn"? Is this an oxymoron? - Eric P. Hearn, Huntington Beach
A:certainly is! I talked to Jake Ngo, a traffic engineer for Westminster. After the city resurfaced Bolsa Chica Road from Westminster Boulevard to the San Diego (I-405) Freeway, a contractor put up the wrong sign. What was supposed to go up was an "R7" sign, which tells people there is a raised median at the intersection. Instead an "R17" sign went up, which tells people "No Left Turn." "We went out immediately and put a cover over it," Ngo said. But someone ripped down the bag. That's when you must have seen it. The city removed the sign Thursday.
The other day I was getting onto the I-5 north freeway in the car-pool lane and some irresponsible, angry driver decided to be the "police" and try to run me off the road because he thought I was alone and cheating the system. However, I just had a baby one month ago and she was in her infant car seat and not visible to this driver, even though I did place a sign saying "baby on board." I'm sure this driver felt very foolish and reckless once he realized I had a baby in the car. Should I stop using the car-pool lane for fear of another scary incident? - Jinny Bang, Irvine
A: No. But I would avoid confrontation and do everything you can to avoid further contact with and individual that is upset. If you feel threatened, get off the freeway or change lanes. If you feel your life is in danger, call 911. You have every right to drive in the car-pool lane with a child.
When they rebuilt the El Toro "Y" a few years ago, there was talk about the street Ridge Route being built to go over the freeway. What ever happened to that idea? It sure would ease traffic on El Toro Road as well as on Lake Forest Drive. - Ralph Poirier, Aliso Viejo
A: Extending Ridge Route over the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway was not included in the plans for the El Toro "Y" improvement project, which was completed in 1997, because it was an enhancement to a local street, not to the freeway, according to the Orange County Transportation Authority.
Although an extension of Ridge Route across the I-5 is part of the county's Master Plan of Arterial Highways, the city of Lake Forest and OCTA currently have no plans to construct a bridge at that location.
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Pedestrian killed in Huntington Beach accident
Westminster man struck crossing Beach Boulevard.
By JOHN McDONALD
The Orange County Register
HUNTINGTON BEACH – A 33-year-old Westminster man was killed Monday night when he was struck by a car while crossing Beach Boulevard, police said.
The victim, whose identity was withheld pending notification of his family, was walking westbound across Beach near Taylor Drive at about 10 p.m. when he was hit by a car. The driver of the vehicle, Elda Carballo of Huntington Park, saw the pedestrian and applied her brakes but was unable to stop before hitting him.
The victim fell over the hood of her car and shattered her windshield. She was unhurt.
Police said there was no crosswalk at the site of the accident, and Carballo is currently not suspected of violating any laws.
The victim died at the scene of head injuries, police said.
Man still critical after club shooting
Three are being sought in attack that killed a woman Saturday morning in Cypress.
By JOHN McDONALD
The Orange County Register
CYPRESS – A Cerritos man remained in critical condition Monday, a victim of a weekend shooting that left a woman dead and three other people wounded, police said.
Three males are being sought.
The attack occurred at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday at the Fifth Wave Café, a Korean restaurant and nightclub at 4300 Lincoln Ave.
Police said two men entered the cafe, walked up to a table where the victims were sitting and asked which gang they belonged to. The men left when the victims said they didn't belong to a gang.
A third man walked up to the table, drew a handgun and began shooting, police said. One victim fled out the back door but was chased down and shot in the parking lot.
None of the victims is a known gang member, police said.
The dead woman, Venus Hyun, 21, of Cerritos, was shot in the back.
The 26-year-old man who remains in critical condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange was shot in the abdomen.
A 23-year-old Cerritos woman, a 23-year-old Irvine man and a 26-year-old Cypress man were treated for gunshot wounds and released.
Police did not release their names out of fear they may remain targets.
The gunman was described as 20- to 25-years-old, 5-foot- 7 and 135 pounds. He wore a dark baseball cap and a dark, possibly plastic, jacket that hung below the waist.
One of his accomplices is 20- to 25-years-old, 5-foot-10 and 140 pounds. He had short, black spiked hair and wore a white T-shirt and blue jeans.
The third man is 20-25, 5-foot-9 and 135 pounds. He had a short, dark buzz cut and was wearing a white T-shirt and long pants.
Mini-bike crash victim identified
The Orange County Register
HUNTINGTON BEACH – Coroner's officials Monday released the name of a mini-bike rider who died over the weekend after he was struck by a car.
Daniel Barry, 20, of Westminster was riding a motorized mini-bike at Pacific Coast Highway and Brookhurst Street when he was struck at about 10:50 p.m. Saturday. He died Sunday at Western Medical Center–Santa Ana.
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