1998: Screenwriter's body in aqueduct

PALMDALE - The best location for future shuttle modification work is Palmdale, not Kennedy Space Center, according to a NASA inspector general's report obtained by the Valley Press.
July 2

ROSAMOND - More than 800 acres of dry desert brush burned in a blaze battled by units from Los Angeles and Kern county fire departments.
LOS ANGELES - Three Antelope Valley skinheads were ordered to stand trial for the beating death of a black transient behind a Lancaster fast food restaurant around Thanksgiving 1995.
July 3

PALMDALE - The head of an organization representing all the nation's major airlines has recommended against bringing passenger service to Palmdale Regional Airport to solve the overcrowding problem at Los Angeles International Airport. Instead, Carol Hallett, president and chief executive of the Washington, D.C.-based Air Transport Association, said the overcrowding problem should be solved by expanding LAX.
July 4

PALMDALE - Youths drawn to the city's new skateboard rink at Marie Kerr Park are causing minor problems but no major ones, according to residents and merchants who remain in a " `try and see what happens' kind of phase."
PALMDALE - In the opinion of those who use it, the one thing wrong with the new skateboard rink at Marie Kerr Park is this: There's only one. "They need one on the east side," said skateboarder Cory Hedwell.
July 5

LLANO - An Antelope Valley firefighter used an innovative method to rescue a young girl from drowning after the car in which she was riding plunged into the California Aqueduct. L.A. County Fire Department Engineer Ron McFadden from Littlerock Fire Station 79, donned breathing apparatus used by firefighters to enter smokefilled buildings and dove into the swift-moving waters to rescue the girl.

PALMDALE - Palmdale School District board members bent the law when they sacked an Australian astronomer-teacher, a school board member said.

After the board unanimously approved hiring and training John Shobbrook last year, board members last week voted to dismiss Shobbrook and reopen applications for the director's position.
July 7

APPLE VALLEY - Happy trails, Roy Rogers.

The singing cowboy and one of the last of the white hats from the golden era of Hollywood Westerns died Monday in his Apple Valley home at age 86.
July 8

PALMDALE - A man in prison for the Antelope Valley's most brutal home-invasion robbery has been named the leading suspect in as many as six unsolved murders, including the February 1995 stabbing death of an Antelope Valley College student. Longtime gang member Richard Nieto, 30, is under Suspicion of committing four murders in the Los Angeles area dating back as far as 1993. In addition, sheriff's homicide detectives say Nieto possibly murdered 19-yearold Ruth Barneond, an AVC student.
LOS ANGELES - A controversial composting facility gained final approval in a 3-1 vote from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Bio Gro Systems Inc., which owns a 640-acre ranch northwest of Lancaster, asked the county five years ago for a use permit to allow operation of a sewage-sludge and green-waste composting facility on 67 acres of its property.
July 9

PALMDALE - The yearlong search for missing screenwriter Gary Devore ended when authorities, acting on a theory from an independent sleuth, pulled Devore's body and his sport utility truck from the California Aqueduct.

LANCASTER - When she goes home for the first time Friday, 3 1/2-month-old Ana Maria Baca will be the smallest baby ever to be born at Antelope Valley Hospital and survive. "All babies are a miracle, but she was definitely an extra special miracle," said Valery OrtizBaca, Ana Maria's mother. "She is definitely a gift from God."

Ana Maria was born March 28, about 15 weeks premature and weighing only 15 ounces, after Ortiz-Baca developed lifethreatening complications with her pregnancy.

PALMDALE - A six member Lockheed Martin team hosted a private meeting with about 150 officials from 18 states to discuss requirements for a "spaceport" for the VentureStar spacecraft.

LANCASTER - The Antelope Valley will undertake a multi-front attack in the war to expand Palmdale Regional Airport, developer R. Gregg Anderson told the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce. He said expansion at Palmdale will occur only if officials in the city of Los Angeles are forced to recognize the folly of keeping all future air service centralized at Los Angeles International Airport.
July 10

PALMDALE - Two out of three potential California launch sites for the VentureStar nextgeneration space shuttle are in the Antelope Valley, based on recommendations from the state Office of Trade and Commerce. One site is in the vicinity of Edwards Air Force Base in Los Angeles County and another is in the vicinity of the base in San Bernardino County.

The third site is Vandenberg Air Force Base on the coast in Santa Barbara County.

LANCASTER - Claiming Antelope Valley Hospital's board of directors breached his contract, hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Harenski is demanding a bonus, a supplemental retirement program and the return of money deducted from his paychecks since January.

LANCASTER - The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office concluded it lacks sufficient evidence to prosecute Lancaster JetHawks pitcher Patrick Dunham, who was investigated for an allegation of sexual assault.

"I reviewed the case presented to me by investigators and determined that a successful prosecution would be unlikely based on interviews of the victim and the suspect," Deputy District Attorney Myron Jenkins said.
July 11

LANCASTER - Citing unresolved "contentious" issues, directors of Antelope Valley Hospital voted 5-0 to place hospital president and CEO Robert Harenski on administrative leave. Chief Financial Officer Bob Anderson was named as the hospital's acting chief executive.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Remains found in a car submerged in the California Aqueduct were identified through dental records as those of screenwriter Gary DeVore, who had been missing for more than a year.

SACRAMENTO - A bill that could save taxpayers in Lancaster and Palmdale millions of dollars spent on costly bidding wars between local governments to attract giant corporations passed the Assembly. Assemblyman George Runner's Assembly Constitutional Amendment 10 would authorize local governments to enter into sales tax revenuesharing agreements by a twothirds vote of the local governing board of each participating jurisdiction on site-by-site basis.
July 12

PALMDALE - The city's planning director announced that she will resign and move to Big Bear Lake. Molly Bogh, the city's planning director for seven years, said she will take the planning director position in Big Bear Lake after her last day, July 24.

APPLE VALLEY - Thousands gathered at a church in Apple Valley to bid "Happy Trails" one last time to Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys.
July 14

LANCASTER - Antelope Valley College President Linda Spink will continue as president until at least June 30, 2001. The AVC board of trustees, on a split vote, extended Spink's contract for one-year and 10 months.
LAKE LOS ANGELES - Construction could begin by the end of the year on a convent, childcare center and retreat near 180th Street East south of Avenue P. The project, planned by the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, gained approval from the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission.
July 15

SACRAMENTO - Los Angeles County squandered millions of dollars and needlessly delayed construction of the Antelope Valley courthouse for a decade, which will now cost more than $90 million, according to a longawaited report released by the state auditor. The report showed the county mismanaged courthouse construction funds and spent $18.6 million in preparations for five courthouses that may never be built.

LOS ANGELES - Failure to expose the state's unfair tiered system for courthouse funding is a glaring omission in the State Auditor's report released Tuesday about Los Angeles County's misuse of courthouse construction funds, according to 5th District Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

Antonovich called the omission a whitewash of the state's responsibility for delayed construction of the Antelope Valley courthouse and others.

PALMDALE - A school for juvenile felons proposed for a residential neighborhood is alarming residents of a westside community near the Antelope Valley Mall. The county last fall approved the school, which will be housed in Faith Community Church on 10th Street West. The county used a law exempting it from local city zoning ordinances and any public hearings.

LANCASTER - The state awarded a $1.5 million grant to the city of Lancaster to fund a multi-resource gang suppression effort.
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