1998 The year in review

Mullins suspected in wife's murder

PALMDALE - Lockheed Martin's joint strike fighter prototypes are on schedule, within budget and technically strong, said David J. Wheaton, vice president and joint strike fighter program manager.

LANCASTER - It's a small consolation for those surveying flood damage from recent El Nino rainstorms, but local poppy enthusiasts are excited about the possibility of a long, continuously blooming poppy season. The persistent rain has showered the Antelope Valley and surrounding areas with early poppy blooms, which thrive in wet weather.

EDWARDS AFB - Soil tests show four trenches that once stored toxic gas do not pose a hazard to Edwards' personnel moving into a new $11 million dormitory complex, said Dennis Shoffner, an environmental public affairs spokesman.

March 3

LANCASTER - A Valley food supplier refused to comment about allegations that its director of sales bribed a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department official in exchange for lucrative food contracts with county jails.

QUARTZ HILL - For the fourth year in a row Joe Walker Middle School holds the championship in the regional Science Olympiad. The Joe Walker team won the title again at Downey High School, dominating a field of more than 30 other schools by bringing home six gold medals, six silver and five bronze in 20 science events.

March 4

ANTELOPE ACRES - Bio Gro Systems Inc. failed to keep sewage-impregnated topsoil from washing off its property during recent heavy rains, which constitutes a violation of the company's permit to use sludge in its farming operations, water officials said.

LANCASTER - A $10 million Lancaster mail distribution center that could employ up to 200 persons is included in the Postal Service's five-year facilities plan. Preliminary space and design requirements for the new 100,000-square-foot building will be ready within six months, according to William J. Weagley, a U.S. Postal Service spokesman.

LANCASTER - The estranged husband of a 34-year-old Lancaster woman found dead in the California Aqueduct in August has been arrested in connection with her murder. Rosamond resident Scott Glenn Mullins, 35, was taken into custody at his home on suspicion of killing Renee Elizabeth Mullins, whose body was discovered Aug. 13, four days after she disappeared.

March 5

MOJAVE - Child endangerment charges will not be filed against a North Edwards couple whose daughter was hailed a hero in December for walking miles across the desert to get help for her stranded family. Kern County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Mike Lackey of the Mojave Substation said Wednesday prosecutors declined to file charges because the girl's mother has a "long history of mental illness.

PALMDALE - Lead paint found on playground equipment in Los Angeles County parks has prompted the removal of play apparatus from several older parks, including four locations in the Antelope Valley.

AGUA DULCE - A 14-car chain-reaction accident closed the southbound lanes of the Antelope Valley Freeway for an hour during Wednesday morning's commute.

March 6

LANCASTER - A motion calling for an independent audit of Chief Executive Officer Robert Harenski's past salary was rejected Wednesday with a 3-2 vote of the board of directors of Antelope Valley Hospital.

Back in the good old days of cheap gasoline in 1970, a gallon cost only 34 cents. It's now lower than that in real dollars, according to a state agency. The statewide average price for unleaded reformulated gasoline on Monday dropped to $1.10 a gallon, according to the state Energy Commission.

March 7

LANCASTER - City officials toured an abandoned Sierra Highway motel and announced plans to turn the vacant site into an assisted-living complex for senior citizens. The $3.5 million project will transform the former Sand Sailor Motel, also once known as a Quality Inn, into the 96-unit Sierra Retirement Village.

LANCASTER - Civitas Inc. still has interest in building a 158room skilled-nursing facility in Lancaster, the Valley Press learned. Plans for the Highland Care Center call for a skillednursing facility with an anticipated capacity of 300 beds, a retirement residence and a daycare center. A section of the nursing facility would be reserved for Alzheimer's patients.

LANCASTER - A 29-yearold Palmdale woman has been criminally charged with having an affair last summer with a 13year-old boy and allegedly documenting the tryst in a love letter.

March 8

LOS ANGELES - Fifth District County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich has come out swinging at L.A. City Mayor Richard Riordan's backing of a $12 billion expansion at Los Angeles International Airport. In a letter responding to Riordan's published statements in a Los Angeles newspaper, Antonovich said Riordan's "one-size-fits-all solution to our future airport requirements just doesn't fit the facts."

LANCASTER - Political freshman Marvin Crist leads a field of 11 candidates for the greatest amount of money raised to date in campaigns for four seats on the City Council, early contribution reports show.

March 10

LANCASTER - Nine candidates in the April 14 Lancaster municipal election participated in a candidate forum Sunday, debating redevelopment, the proposed fairgrounds move, crime and other subjects before some 50 residents at the Cedar Center Auditorium.

March 11

LOS ANGELES - A Lancaster mother exonerated last year in the arson death of her 9-yearold Down's syndrome son has filed a $5 million federal civil rights lawsuit against Los Angeles County and its law enforcement offices. Catherine "Paula" Fimbres, 37, claims in her U.S. District Court action she was wrongfully charged in the death of her son, Luis Jaime Fimbres, who died from burns he sustained in a fire at the family's mobile home Feb. 3, 1997.

LANCASTER - "Get Jazzed" is the theme for the city's seventh annual California Poppy Festival. The April 18-19 event will feature jazz musicians Stanley Clarke, Stanley Jordan and Earl Klugh.

March 12

PALMDALE - The number of homeless in the Antelope Valley is on the rise; it is much higher than past statistics have shown, according to the Antelope Valley Homeless Coalition. The coalition announced results of a survey conducted by the organization that counted more than 1,600 homeless in the Valley, debunking statistics from a 1990 census survey that showed that only 39 homeless people lived in the area.

LOS ANGELES - County supervisors approved a $4.62 million payout to a developer to resume work on a new Chatsworth courthouse, meaning the stalled Antelope Valley courthouse will likely stay that way for some time to come.

EDWARDS AFB - Unmanned spy drones are staging a comeback with the successful first flight of Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical's Global Hawk Feb. 28.

March 13

SACRAMENTO - A decades-old policy requiring that students with limited English skills be taught in their native language was thrown out by the State Board of Education.

EDWARDS AFB - The innovative X-38 separated from under the wing of a NASA B-52 and landed softly at nearby Air Force Research Laboratories. If tests during the next two years are successful, the X-38 will be the prototype for a new series of spacecraft that would become escape pods for the planned International Space Station.

LITTLEROCK - After overthrowing the old regime, a group of irate citizens removed the final hurdle to a "fresh start" by recalling Littlerock Town Council President Marlene Mallory from her post. Mallory responded by calling the election illegal and charging that those who circulated a petition to initiate the recall had falsely told people she was attempting to get a toxic waste site in Littlerock.

March 14

ACTON - Fighting between a small group of Acton-Agua Dulce residents and incensed parents of children attending the community's school district escalated into a religious war when the two groups came face to face during a board of trustees meeting. A few residents, including some who don't have children attending Acton-Agua Dulce schools, have objected to having a Mormon as principal of Vasquez High School.

March 15

PALMDALE - Heavy rainshowers from a storm circulating over Antelope Valley caused cancellation of several special weekend events. Once again Quartz Hill's annual Almond Blossom Parade was halted before it began.

PALMDALE - Hundreds of Antelope Valley residents braved the weather Saturday morning to line up in front of a temporary office in hopes of snagging one of more than 100 new jobs at electronics manufacturer Senior Systems Technology Inc.