McKeon, Runner win in primary

Career-oriented programs in area high schools may be keeping Antelope Valley students in school longer than their counterparts throughout the state. During the 1996-97 school year, the dropout rate in the Antelope Valley Union High School District climbed from 1.1% to 2.1%, but remained well below the 3.3% high school dropout rate statewide, and much lower than the 4.6% dropout rate for Los Angeles County.

LANCASTER - Antelope Valley Hospital's chief executive officer, Robert Harenski, could get more than $318,000 a year after retiring under a plan slated for discussion by the board of directors. The amount is based on projections that Harenski will receive raises of 5% a year between now and when he would retire at age 62.
June 3

CALIFORNIA CITY - Residents approved a $75 annual parcel tax to keep the city afloat, according to early returns from the Kern County Election's Department.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block appeared headed for a runoff in his bid to lead the nation's third-largest police agency for a fifth term.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, outspent by millions of dollars and last in the polls just 2 1/2 months ago, surged past two wealthy rivals to capture the Democratic nomination for governor and set up a general election contest against Republican Attorney General Dan Lungren.

LANCASTER - The Antelope Valley is gaining a remodeled emergency room, more than three times the size of the old one, at its biggest hospital. City and hospital officials were on hand to celebrate the opening of Antelope Valley Hospital's new expanded emergency room.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Voters Tuesday soundly approved a measure all but ending bilingual education in public schools but defeated an initiative that would have weakened unions' political clout.
June 4

PALMDALE - Cornered and with no place to go, a 15-year-old robbery suspect barricaded himself in a house on Sumac Avenue, keeping Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies at bay for more than four hours before surrendering.

PALMDALE - Lt. Col. Peter "Pete" Drinkwater is the new Ontario Airport manager. He will run the facility that in September will include $250 million in renovations to triple the size of the airport.

Many Antelope Valley residents know Drinkwater as the former Air Force Plant 42 commander, where he retired from a 21-year military career in January. He served 4 1/2 years at Palmdale's production, assembly and modification facility.

PALMDALE - GOP incumbents Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, Bill Thomas, George Runner and Keith Olberg stomped their opposition during Tuesday's primary election, giving little ground in largely Republican districts.
June 6

LANCASTER - A proposal to research a temporary urgentcare facility in Palmdale got the go-ahead from Antelope Valley Hospital administrators.
June 7

PALMDALE - Failed attempts by Los Angeles County to build a much needed courthouse and to expand Palmdale Regional Airport are two examples why residents should want to create a new high desert county, according to a Republican League president. At a forum Saturday in the Palmdale Cultural Center, Lawrence Hales, president of the Antelope Valley California Republican League, cited the failure of Los Angeles County to take care of Antelope Valley's needs.

LANCASTER - Close to 700 Special Olympics athletes from throughout Southern California participated in the 20th Annual Hi-Desert Classic area games at Antelope Valley College. Medals and ribbons signified excellence; participation made all the athletes winners.
June 9

LANCASTER - High school students could be wearing uniforms and photo identification badges as early as next year, but probably not before, according to Antelope Valley Union High School District Superintendent Robert Girolamo.
June 10

PALMDALE - A plan to buy the former Palmdale hospital site for use as classrooms will likely be scrapped because new structural reports show the building would be too costly to renovate.

LANCASTER - In what Principal Bill Appleton called "the most informal graduation ceremony in history," five 11thgraders became the first-ever graduating class of Lancaster High School. Lancaster High is in its third year of operation and doesn't have a senior class, but five juniors on home study completed enough credits to graduate one year early.

ROSAMOND - With no immediate threat of base closures pressuring other states, the Southwest Defense Alliance failed in an effort to recruit more members at the Western Interstate Conference of the National Association of Counties in Juneau, Alaska. Valley leaders said they will focus on strengthening the argument for the Antelope Valley and the West as a place to pool military resources.

LOS ANGELES - Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich praised the California Transportation Commission's allocation of $35 million for upgrades on the Antelope Valley Freeway but said more improvements are needed to keep pace with the area's needs.
June 11

PALMDALE - Ten of 13 banished members of the Palmdale Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit against the organization alleging it libeled and slandered them by publicly labeling them racists and sexual harassers.

In the complaint, filed by Lancaster attorney A. Donald Long, the 10 claim their reputations were smeared by allegations the chamber made in a written statement made available to the Valley Press and other media.

LANCASTER - In what teachers' union representative Chuck Stoll calls "the biggest administrative shake-up" in his 27 years as a teacher, five of the seven Antelope Valley public high schools will have new leadership next year. Antelope Valley Union High School District officials will submit 22 administrative transfers and 11 promotions for the board of trustees approval.
LANCASTER - The City Council approved an $80.1 million municipal budget, expanding funds for street repairs and recreational facilities and introducing new efforts to halt drugs and street gangs.
June 12

PALMDALE - For the second time in two days, a Valley grocery-store branch bank was robbed.

PALMDALE - The City Council denied support for repeal of an annual 2% tax on vehicle licenses after the move was scathingly criticized by Councilman Joe Davies. Davies was joined by colleagues Terry Judge and David Myers in denying the support. Casting opposing votes were Shelley Sorsabal and Mayor Jim Ledford.

ACTON - While seniors attended "Grad Night" festivities, vandals broke into Vasquez High School and caused more than $5,000 in damage.
June 13

QUARTZ HILL - An elderly couple was killed when a fire, possibly caused by a cigarette, engulfed their house in flames.

PALMDALE - Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department search and rescue teams conducted an extensive search for a Lancaster sheriff's deputy who went for a jog late Thursday night and never returned. John Aujay, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy trained in dog handling, went for a run along a 40-mile trail through Devil's Punchbowl and did not return home.
June 14

CANOGA PARK - At a town hall meeting attended by Vice President Al Gore, a coalition of more than 20 Antelope Valley education and community leaders tried to get financial backing for a proposed Valleywide afterschool program. Gore was present to lend his vote of encouragement to community after-school programs that he said were essential to re-forming the "family atmosphere of our Communities."