2000 The year in review

February 17-29

Feb. 17

PALMDALE - You wouldn't be able to tell Army Staff Sgt. Andrew Ramirez that he's a hometown hero, but that's just what a crowd about 200 of the former Kosovo POW's new best friends did anyway. In town at the invitation of the Palmdale Chamber of Commerce, Ramirez told what it was like to be a POW, with his hands and feet tied and his head hooded.

PALMDALE - Alvina Rankins, the convicted felon who ran Castles in the Clouds child-care center, was arrested Wednesday at her Boxleaf Road home on suspicion of welfare fraud against Los Angeles County.

Feb. 18

WOODLAND HILLS - Assemblyman George Runner said that the size of Los Angeles County's districts makes for distant government, so he wants to increase the number of county supervisors from five to at least nine.

Feb. 19

LANCASTER - Antelope Valley residents paid much more in transportation taxes than they got back in transportation improvements, and the region's politicians had a few ideas about how that can change.

Feb. 20

LOS ANGELES - Two dogs got loose Wednesday, and on Saturday, their child victim was still in the hospital, her body bandaged, with antibiotics and painkillers being administered for her injuries.

Feb. 21

PALMDALE - Following gas prices was becoming a wild roller coaster ride for U.S. Gas and MiniMart cashier Nick Kai.

"The prices keep going up, down, up, down every week," Kai said. "Nobody likes it."

Feb. 22

PALMDALE - An Alaskan winter storm that pounded Southern California on Monday dumped about an inch of rain on the high desert, flooding roadways and clogging mountain passes with snow.

Feb. 23

LANCASTER - Superior Court Judge Steven Ogden ruled Tuesday that mayoral candidate David Abber must go to trial on charges of stalking and possession of marijuana for sale. Abber, a purveyor of tickets for entertainment events, contends his arrest and legal woes are a "setup," a concerted attempt to frustrate his political challenge against incumbent Frank Roberts.

Feb. 24

PALMDALE - At 18, Michelle O'Keefe had looks, brains, talent. She was driven, and she had big plans for the future. But those plans were cut short when she was shot and killed Tuesday night at a Palmdale park-and-ride lot.

Feb. 25

PALMDALE - Palmdale School District trustees delivered a widely unpopular decision Wednesday night, one that shocked many parents, when they opted to change the district's calendar from a five-track system to three tracks.

Feb. 26

PALMDALE - Homicide detectives scoured murder victim Michelle O'Keefe's car Friday, trying to piece together the minutes leading up to the 18-year-old's death.

Feb. 27

When a child dies in a Los Angeles County foster home, nobody blames a politician. The blame will fall to the county's Department of Children and Family Services, because that's the agency that took the child from its parents, placed the child in a foster home and failed to recognize that the child might die there.

Feb. 28

PALMDALE - Just ahead of sunrise, on Oct. 29, 1999 - a Friday - sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Carney left his home near the Antelope Valley Mall and whipped his Dodge Ram pickup through the west side of Palmdale, racing at speeds in excess of 80 mph.

That truck, and its contents, would become a significant component of evidence in the criminal complaint against Carney for the alleged sexual abuse of a 14-yearold girl.

Feb. 29

LANCASTER - Pink pastel roses adorned Michelle O'Keefe's closed silvery-white casket; photographs of the bright and vibrant young woman were scattered about the Lancaster Baptist Church sanctuary.

Uploaded December 19, 2000