April: Sting raids netted 72 arrests

LANCASTER - Two directors of Antelope Valley Hospital are object to a board proposal they say could give Chief Executive Officer Robert Harenski a bonus of $57,000.
April 2

LANCASTER - Three guys who ran PK&S, a small business boasting it would buy anything, liked to tell clients, "We buy anything we can sell. Avoid hassles, call us first. Instant cash."

Yet the downtown Lancaster area store's clients did run into hassles.

Beginning before dawn Wednesday, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies began arresting 72 of the store's clients in "Operation April Fools Roundup," the closing act to a massive covert sting operation code-named "Project Men In Black."
April 3

LANCASTER - A Los Angeles County probation officer who allegedly sold marijuana to undercover sheriff's deputies was arrested March 27, after he was filmed by undercover deputies during a storefront sting operation.

In all, 72 were arrested as part of the four-month sting operation, in which undercover deputies operated a pawn shop, buying everything from stolen cars to drugs. Those who sold hot merchandise to the deputies were tracked and eventually arrested during dozens of raids Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES - Millionaire developer Marshall Redman has been ordered to stand trial for illegally selling land that wasn't zoned for homes, forcing families to live without water or heat for several years.
April 4

PALMDALE - Residents of a Rancho Vista neighborhood were celebrating after a Lancaster urologist gave up trying to build a gas station, mini-mart drive-through restaurant and carwash complex near 50th Street West and Rancho Vista Boulevard.

LANCASTER - The California State Prison Los Angeles County in Lancaster will play host to inmates from throughout Los Angeles County, converting a portion of the high desert jail into a reception center.

Prison officials have been ordered to convert one of their medium security sections into a reception center, where new convicts will be housed for up to 90 days.
April 5

EDWARDS AFB - An HBO television series beginning tonight will take Antelope Valley viewers on a visual journey back to the early 1960s, when Edwards Air Force Base was in the forefront of the race to put Americans on the moon. The 12-installment series, "From Earth to the Moon," includes re-creations of the lunar landing research vehicle testing done at Edwards. Home Box Office crews filmed here for three days in March 1997.

ACTON - An Acton man fell 150 feet into a mine shaft near Crown Valley Road. James Swensen, 51, and his son, Jason, 22, were working in their gold mine when a rope broke and the elder Swensen fell into an 800foot shaft at about 2:30 p.m. Capt. Bob Goldman of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said Swensen's fall was broken by an 8-foot ledge, preventing his drop to the bottom of the old mining shaft.
April 7

CHINA LAKE - A new threeyear series of test flights began Monday for the Navy's F/A-18 Super Hornet. Intended to be the Navy's premiere strike fighter, the Super Hornet was officially turned over to the Naval Air Warfare Centers Weapons Division.
April 8

LANCASTER - Incumbent Mayor Frank Roberts and challenger Michael Singer went head to head on issues Monday in an hour-long televised election forum. Questions brought out the candidates' differing opinions on such issues as the Lancaster Factory Stores, the Fox Field Industrial Corridor, redevelopment spending and relocation of the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds.

LANCASTER - Inmates at the California State Prison Los Angeles County in Lancaster literally payed a debt to society Tuesday in a $42,000 grant to three Antelope Valley groups serving victims of crime. Prison Warden Ernie Roe presented the donation in recognition of National Crime Victims' Rights Week, April 19-25.
April 9

MOJAVE - Two Long Beach men were arrested in Adelanto an hour after allegedly forcing their way into a Mojave bank and robbing it at gunpoint. However, two other suspects who might have helped dispose of the cash taken from the bank remained at large.

PALMDALE - Assemblyman George Runner visited the birthplace of the nation's space shuttle fleet, collecting information to bolster arguments in favor of his aerospace manufacturing tax-incentives bill.
April 10

PALMDALE - The city will contribute $10,000 to help create a new Valleywide economic development effort, the Community Redevelopment Agency decided. Palmdale's one-year start-up commitment to the new Greater Antelope Valley Economic Alliance will be pooled with other, mostly private sector, investments expected by organizers to reach $500,000 a year for five years.

PALMDALE - Lockheed Martin was selected over rival Boeing Co. for an estimated $2 billion contract to develop and build 2,400 stealth cruise missiles, according to Air Force officials.

PALMDALE - A vote to study the possibility of Antelope Valley independence from Los Angeles County failed in a 2-2 City Council deadlock when Mayor Jim Ledford and Councilman Joe Davies voted against spending the money. Assemblyman George Runner, who is organizing a commission to study the county split, asked Palmdale to contribute between $12,000 and $60,000 to study L.A. County services and assess the benefits of dividing the county north and south.
April 11

PALMDALE - A top-ranking Air Force official said it's possible that some Palmdale-built Boeing North American B-1B bombers will return here for major maintenance and modification. Air Force officials decided several years ago to consolidate the B-1B modifications and maintenance work at Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker AFB, beginning in 1999.
April 12

LANCASTER - Political donors added $76,307 worth of cash, loans and in-kind donations to the campaign funds of 11 candidates running for four seats on the City Council, records show.

New money raised in the most recent campaign contributions reporting period, ending March 28, totaled $172,788. The full story on campaign contributions won't be known until after the election.
April 14

LANCASTER - As chief justice of California's Supreme Court, Ronald George has been in many of the 390 courthouses throughout the state. And none of them, he said after touring the Antelope Municipal Court, is as inadequate as the halls of justice on Avenue J and 10th Street West in Lancaster.
April 15

LANCASTER - Newcomers Michelle Idleman and Andy Visokey joined veteran councilman Henry Hearns in a race to victory for three seats on the City Council.

LANCASTER - Frank Roberts was re-elected to the mayor's job Tuesday, beating longtime political rival Michael Singer by an overwhelming 1,777-vote margin.