2000 The year in review

January 1-17: Y2K Bug a millennium bust

Jan. 1

PALMDALE - About 2,000 brave souls endured near-freezing temperatures at Palmdale High School to usher in the end of the 1900s and cheer on a 22-minute millennial fireworks display. that rocketed shells skyward in what was said to be the biggest show in California. The feared Y2K Bug was a bust.

Jan. 2

LANCASTER - Stephen and Tabatha O'Neal smiled as their 20month-old son, Stephen II, bent over and kissed his new baby sister, Olivia, who rang in the New Year at 1 a.m. Saturday.

Jan. 3

LANCASTER - Timothy Navarro, a 24-year-old Lancaster man, became the first Valley resident slain in 2000 when somebody shot him at close range inside his west Lancaster apartment early Sunday.

Jan. 4

LANCASTER - Yet another member of Antelope Valley law enforcement - the third in as many months - was accused of sexual misconduct with a child., following a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department internal investigation. Brian Douglas Mills, 33, a patrol deputy at the Lancaster Sheriff's Station, was charged with two counts of lewd acts with a minor and one count of making terrorist threats.

LITTLEROCK - Highway 138 - often called the Antelope Valley's "Deathway" - claimed its first victim of the new year Monday.

Jan. 5

PALMDALE - The criminal investigation of Palmdale City Councilman Kevin Carney's alleged sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl is drawing to a close, with a chance that charges could be filed against the veteran sheriff's sergeant as early as today.

LANCASTER - One of the Antelope Valley's largest developers wanted the Antelope Valley College board of trustees to cool its heels before deciding the fate of college President Linda Spink.

R. Gregg Anderson, president of Rancho Vista Development Co., asked the trustees in a letter on Tuesday to "go slow" and "treat the college's resources as if they are your own."

Jan. 6

LANCASTER - Palmdale Councilman Kevin Carney dropped out of sight Wednesday as the Los Angeles County District Attorney filed 18 felony counts of child sexual abuse.

LANCASTER - An outburst in the waning moments of an Antelope Valley College women's basketball game triggered an internal investigation into head coach Jackie Lott's actions.

Jan. 7

LOS ANGELES - Palmdale Councilman Kevin Carney, wearing dark glasses and a grim expression, walked into court and surrendered himself Thursday, pleading not guilty to 18 criminal child-sex counts.

PALMDALE - Highway 138, the Valley's deadliest stretch of roadway, claimed a second life less than one week into the new year. Eladio M. Galindez, 54, of Llano, was killed instantly when his 1979 Chevrolet Monte Carlo crashed head-on into a 1999 Nissan Altima on Highway 138 near 185th Street East.

Jan. 8

LANCASTER - Former Quartz Hill High School student Erin Shelley attributed some of her success on the all-important Scholastic Assessment Test to the tests that came before the SAT. Shelley was among the nearly 850 Valley students who took the SAT last spring. But unlike other students, Shelley scored a perfect 800 on the SAT's verbal section. She also did considerably better than her peers on the math portion, scoring 710.

Jan. 9

LOS ANGELES - In a letter dictated from within the Los Angeles County Men's Central Jail, suspected child molester Kevin Carney informed the citizens of Palmdale that he would resign his post as city councilman.

"I would rather wrestle a grizzly bear than write this letter," Carney said as Lancaster attorney R. Rex Parris scribbled Carney's words.

PALMDALE - The city was trying to prepare the ground near Palmdale Airport in preparation for the arrival of a Swiss airline maintenance giant and the thousands of jobs expected to come with it.

Jan. 10

PALMDALE - The place where the nation's fleet of B-2 Spirit bombers once took shape may soon be home to the building of sub-scale Firebee aerial targets. Northrop Grumman Corp. announced Monday it received a $13.6 million contract to build 32 BQM-34 Firebee sub-scale aerial targets for the U.S. Air Force.

LANCASTER - The Antelope Valley College board of trustees took no action on the contract of college President Linda Spink on Monday night.

Following a closed session, board President Betty Wienke told those in attendance that the board had decided to "withdraw 'conference with legal counsel.' " Instead, the board will set objectives with Spink "to work together in furtherance of the goals of the district."

Jan. 12

PALMDALE - For the second time, Sandy Corrales was in danger of being bumped out of a City Council seat she said she both earned and deserves. But Corrales was not willing to be bumped out quietly.She sent a letter to each of the council's four remaining members urging them to select her as the replacement for Kevin Carney.

PALMDALE - Five Desert Christian Middle School students were in fair or good condition Tuesday after a harrowing weekend auto accident sent them to area hospitals with serious injuries.

Eleven-year-olds Adam Wolley and Ben Sparling, as well as 12year-olds Ryan Peverell, Kurt Rentchler and Cody Bustos, were injured when a Volkswagen Beetle spun out of control and jumped a sidewalk Sunday afternoon near Marie Kerr Park in west Palmdale.

Jan. 13

With just over two months remaining before his job was to be challenged in an election, Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti maintained an almost eerie silence., one that has been heard by his opponent.

"I challenged (Garcetti) to debates when I first announced my candidacy (in October) and we have been deafened by the silence in return," said Steve Cooley, the current head of the district attorney's welfare fraud section and a former Antelope Valley prosecutor, who is vying to replace Garcetti as the county's district attorney.

LOS ANGELES - There was a time when heart disease lopped the most years off the lives of Antelope Valley residents. Now, with the results of a new study in hand, the Los Angeles County Health Department said alcohol abuse is our Valley's top health risk.

Jan. 14

MOJAVE - It was back to business, but not business as usual, at the National Test Pilot School in Mojave. The school was effectively shut down last week by the U.S. State Department when officials in Washington learned the school had no license to teach foreign pilots.

PALMDALE - Cherie Bryant, marketing and promotions director for the Valley Press, was promoted to vice president of marketing and advertising, William C. Markham, president and publisher of the Antelope Valley Press, announced.

Jan. 15

LOS ANGELES - More than a dozen of Kevin Carney's friends and relatives showed up in court Friday morning to support the former Palmdale councilman at his bail hearing. But it wasn't enough to sway a judge to reduce Carney's $2 million bail set on Jan. 5.

LANCASTER - Antelope Valley school officials suffered a narrow defeat last November with their $91 million bond campaign, but their chances of getting a future bond passed may improve after the March election.

Administrators hoped a state initiative designed to make passing bonds easier will win voter approval on the March 7 ballot, paving the way for another bond election.

Jan. 16

PALMDALE - Earthquake research is ongoing, but Scientists cannot predict when or where the next severe earthquake will hit, but they do know one thing - it's only a matter of time. "After the tragedy of lives lost, property damage and injuries in an earthquake, there's the tragedy of not being prepared," said Fran Stewart, executive director of the Antelope Valley chapter of the American Red Cross. "Your survival during and after an earthquake is up to you. Being properly prepared could mean the difference between life and death."

Jan. 17

PALMDALE - Dreaming is fine, but action is better. Dreams - seeds of knowledge planted in fertile minds - must be cultivated to fruition by active hands.

"We must do more than dream. We must act so that (Martin Luther King's) dream becomes the fabric of reality," said Reena EversEverette, daughter of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers.

LANCASTER - People from across the Antelope Valley continued a weekend-long celebration Sunday in honor of civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King Jr. More than 50 people attended the city of Lancaster's 11th annual commemorative celebration of King's birthday at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center.

Uploaded December 18, 2000