1998 Review September Part 3

PALMDALE - Sunday's rollout of the Atlantis space shuttle seemed, on its surface, a case of man bowing to machine, with a crowd of more than 13,000 clamoring to worship a $2-billion, whitewinged god.

Beneath the surface, the gathering outside The Boeing Co.'s Site 1 hangar at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 was a celebration of mankind's spirit of adventure as well as of the imagination, ingenuity, skill, effort and time that men and women are willing to devote to turning dreams into reality.

WASHINGTON - By turns humble and defiant, President Bill Clinton tussled with prosecutors over "the truth of my relationship" with Monica Lewinsky in grand jury testimony released Monday by Congress and broadcast unedited across a broad spectrum of American television.

"It's an embarrassing and personally painful thing," Clinton said in testimony recorded in secret a month ago and now laid bare to the nation.

RENO - For Bruce Lockwood of Mojave, it took battling from behind and a bang on the head, but when the race ended the pilot of Dago Red had his first unlimited gold win at the Reno National Championship Air Races.

"It's a personal victory for me in that it puts the frosting on the cake of a wonderful flying career for me," Lockwood said after Sunday's victory.

The air races at Stead Airport are the one grand-slam event for the sport. Race pilots can win other races but to win at Reno is to be remembered. To win in the unlimited class, where World War II-era war birds are the norm, is to go one step beyond that.

Antelope Valley residents didn't seem surprised by the content of the Monday broadcast of President Bill Clinton's grand jury testimony in the Monica Lewinsky case.

"I don't think it changed my mind or altered my opinion at all," said State Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight, R-Palmdale. "In fact, it may intensify my feelings that he should be impeached."

Knight was puzzled by pundits who spent much of Monday saying the release of the tapes was unfair.
Sept. 23

LANCASTER - Lancaster Community Hospital will cut its $14.4-million annual budget by about 10%, the hospital's chief executive officer confirmed Tuesday.

The cut will spur no layoffs, said John Fidler, the hospital CEO. But it will spur a rescheduling of work hours among all staff.

The hospital employs about 350 people on a full-time basis and another 100 part-time. Some vacant positions may not be filled because of the workload reallocation at the 123-bed facility, he said.

PALMDALE - The state has allocated more than $800,000 to two of Antelope Valley's largest school districts. The money, about $28, or two books, per student is slated for use in Palmdale and Lancaster school libraries.

Public school libraries have taken a beating during the past few years, according to Valley school administrators.

LANCASTER - Marty Skura says he doesn't drive because of combat wounds he sustained while serving in Vietnam more than 30 years ago. A bullet in the knee and shrapnel elsewhere. He is prone to blackouts.

That's why he walks his groceries home in shopping carts he "borrows" from supermarkets.

LANCASTER - The Antelope Valley Board of Trade is scrambling to pay its bills because of expenses incurred in lobbying for legislation to lure joint strike fighter production work, the group's executive director said Tuesday.

The board committed to pay about $24,000 to the Sacramento lobbying firm of Hunter-Ruiz Associates, said Howard Brooks, executive director of the Board of Trade.
Sept. 24

PALMDALE - Efforts to open a Head Start program in an eastside shopping center find the Palmdale School District in the middle of a lawsuit challenging the legality of the location.

While school district officials insist that the new Child Development Center in a former Payless Drugstore building at 47th Street East and Avenue S meets state and local requirements, some business owners argue that the site is legally unsuitable for child care.

PALMDALE - Like a mother goose retrieving one of her goslings, NASA's huge white 747 airliner struggled into the air from Air Force Plant 42 Wednesday, hustling the smaller white Atlantis space shuttle back to its nest at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

At the Cape's Kennedy Space Center, it will rejoin its brethren: Columbia, Discovery and Endeavour.

MOJAVE - The Proteus took off in less than 1,000 feet and when it did, the entire plane virtually lifted off at the same time.

The jet aircraft, with a wingspan of more than 77 feet, took off straight into the air and then proceeded to wow an audience with its quiet engine and graceful maneuvers.

WASHINGTON - The Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. emerged as big winners after U.S. congressional negotiators completed work late Wednesday on a $250.5 billion defense spending package, according to congressional staff and documents.

Among the big winners are funding for the F-22, being developed and tested in the Antelope Valley, and $50 million over the administration's request for funding the B-2 stealth bomber built by Northrop at Air Force Plant 42.

LANCASTER - The superintendent of the Lancaster Public Works Department used General Relief workers - welfare recipients on a "workfare" program - to refurbish his office lavishly, sworn statements indicate.

The refurbishing of Superintendent David Mulkey's office was more a construction project than a redecorating job. Mike Robbins, a former city worker who leveled allegations against Mulkey, said the job took nearly a full work day, every day for at least a month.
Sept. 25

PALMDALE - A gang fight led to the arrest of four Highland High School students Thursday and two nonstudents after one gang member brought a gun to campus. A scuffle with deputies ensued.

An anonymous student initially told school security about the student with the gun, said Deputy Steve Owen of the Lancaster Sheriff's Station gang unit.

LANCASTER - After weeks of rumor, Mervyn's of California ruled Thursday on whether it would close its Lancaster store. The verdict: an emphatic yes.

Employees learned of the decision yesterday at a 7 a.m. meeting. Managers then posted signs on doors telling shoppers the store would not open.

VAN NUYS - Los Angeles County played show-and-tell with its airborne arsenal in the war against wildfire Thursday.

On display were six firefighting helicopters of varying sizes, and two fixed-wing SuperScooper aircraft. The miniature air show ended with thousands of gallons of water being dropped in the grassy median between the runways at Van Nuys Regional Airport.

WASHINGTON - The House approved a $270.5 billion defense bill Thursday, much of which will pay for aerospace projects in the Antelope Valley such as the B-2 stealth bomber and the DarkStar reconnaissance drone.

Also included was a 3.6% pay hike for military personnel.

LANCASTER - There were smiles all around at the monthly meeting of the Antelope Valley Fair Board of Directors Thursday afternoon. Not only was the 60th annual Antelope Valley Fair successful and in the books; the fair board greeted a new director - Sharon Runner, wife of state Assemblyman George Runner.

Even outgoing director Betty Smith was smiling - "I've enjoyed (serving as director), but I'll enjoy golfing more," Smith said.
Sept. 26

LANCASTER - Mayor Frank Roberts said Friday he holds City Manager Jim Gilley personally responsible for proper handling of an investigation of allegations of on-the-job misconduct by a key Public Works department manager.

"Jim Gilley's responsibility is to make sure that things are done properly by personnel law," Roberts said Friday in a telephone interview.

PALMDALE - The Palmdale School District superintendent's signature on a lease costing the district more than $5 million was a complete surprise to the school board, its president said Friday.

The board learned of district Superintendent Nancy Smith's signature on a lease for a Head Start child center during Tuesday's meeting of the board of trustees, President Fred Thompson said.

LANCASTER - "The XFiles" television series is a hit in the Antelope Valley for more reasons than one.

Besides beguiling viewers by blending science fiction with science fact, the show is bringing Hollywood money to the Antelope Valley.

LITTLEROCK - Those who lost their lives in traffic tragedies on Highway 138 were represented by a blur of statistics surveyed by a group of community activists, law enforcement officials and Caltrans engineers Friday.

Their names and details of their lives were left out of the packages of spreadsheets compiled by Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol that were distributed to the group.

LANCASTER - Land, lots of land, under starry skies above.

It's the reason so many real estate investors come to the Antelope Valley. And, some say, it's the reason so many land-fraud schemes are committed here.

Descend the Soledad Pass heading north and the situation is as clear as the air - boundless tracts of undeveloped land stretch beyond the horizon into Kern County.
Sept. 27

BEVERLY HILLS - While the F-22 test program has made great strides in the past year, two members of the F-22 combined test force cited design problems and Lockheed Martin's need to cut costs as reasons for glitches in the program.

Lt. Col. Steven Rainey and retired Lt. Col. Allen E. Kohn Jr., both of the F-22 combined test force, reviewed the F-22 test program for the past year in a paper presented at the Society of Experimental Test Pilots 42nd annual Symposium and Awards Banquet on Thursday.

LANCASTER - Gary Freeman, senior experimental test pilot for Gulfstream Aircraft Corp., won the Ivan C. Kinoheloe award for outstanding achievement in the conduct of flight testing Saturday at the 42nd annual Society of Experimental Test Pilots Symposium and Banquet.

Freeman won the award for his work with the Gulfstream GV, a program with an intense effort to mark the first 6,500 nautical mile, large cabin business jet capable of high-cruise altitudes.

VALYERMO - Thousands of visitors drove through the San Gabriel foothills past Joshua and Juniper trees Saturday to a small valley and the 41st annual St. Andrew's Abbey Fall Festival in Valyermo.

Under hazy skies and gentle breezes, children rode ponies and played with animals in the petting zoo while parents bought homemade cookies, crafts and paintings.
Sept. 29

LANCASTER - A possible gang fight sparked by weekend party crashers turned into a baseball bat brawl, leaving one man with a fractured skull and his father with a 3-inch slash across his chest.

The Saturday night party near where the fight started was an invitation-only affair, thrown by Jeanie Lawson. The party was reportedly crashed by more than 70 people.

PALMDALE - Gov. Pete Wilson on Monday officially endorsed Site 4 at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale for final assembly of the joint strike fighter, the next generation military aircraft.

Wilson gave his endorsement in the form of a letter to Congressman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, after McKeon requested the governor to urge the 52 members of California's Congressional delegation to join the growing number of supporters pushing to have JSF final work performed in California.

PALMDALE - More than 2,678 Palmdale residents were left without power early Monday, after construction crews working at the Palmdale Water District tank near West Avenue S and Sierra Highway snagged a power line.

An excavator truck was transporting a large pipe around 9:30 a.m. near the nearly finished tank in the 700 block of East Avenue S when the line grounded itself to the pipe, said Bill French, site supervisor for JW Contracting, the firm working on the tank.
Sept. 30

PALMDALE - The Antelope Valley is in competition for 5,000 to 6,000 new, permanent aerospace jobs, a state official said Tuesday at an Antelope Valley Board of Trade function.

Carl Williams, California deputy secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, said a large aerospace company has contacted the state on a blind solicitation to look into three sites for the jobs.

GORMAN - Gorman School District, one of the smallest districts in Los Angeles County, has done what larger Antelope Valley school districts have so far been unable to do.

The 102-student Gorman district became the first in the greater Antelope Valley area to open a state-chartered school.

PALMDALE - An $855,000 grant to study Southern California's aviation needs, including Palmdale, was issued Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The grant to the Southern California Association of Governments commissions a study of regional air transportation needs through 2020.

PALMDALE - Lockheed Martin Skunk Works wants to send business travelers around the globe faster than sound.

The Skunk Works will translate its experience in supersonic fighter aircraft to supersonic business jets in a new partnership with Gulfstream Aerospace. The two companies have agreed to study the technical feasibility, environmental, regulatory and certifications issues for a supersonic business jet.