1999 The year in review

April 15-30: Stories of teen deaths topped by Columbine shootings

April 16

LANCASTER - Authorities investigating a suspended Desert Christian Schools junior high teacher accused of molesting a former student are looking into the man's relationships with other juveniles, a sheriff's official said on Thursday.

Two felony and three misdemeanor charges were filed Wednesday against eighth-grade teacher Darin Robertson, 32. The felony counts alleged Robertson committed a lewd act with a minor and misused the Internet.

ROSAMOND - Kern County sheriff's deputies are looking for additional witnesses or victims to build a case against a physician's assistant who allegedly repeatedly raped a woman who was seeing him as a patient.

Authorities believe the man is a serial rapist who used his position in a Rosamond clinic to prey on patients.

PALMDALE - Hundreds of grieving young people filled two churches Thursday to bid a final farewell to two of their friends.

Vanessa Nicole Yusi, 17, and John Kenneth Chu, 25, were among five young people killed April 8 in an auto wreck along the Antelope Valley Freeway.

April 17

PALMDALE - Five young people died last week, and Antelope Valley wept. The weeping continued Friday morning as Shaun Michael Perez, the fourth of five victims of a senseless freeway accident, was laid to rest.

LOS ANGELES - Palmdale's 45-day citywide moratorium on multifamily housing projects was upheld Friday, possibly giving the city grounds to extend the ban for another 10 months and 15 days.

According to Palmdale City Attorney Matt Ditzhazy, Superior Court Judge David Yaffe rejected arguments against the moratorium presented by attorneys representing the Amcal Multi Housing Corp. of Westlake Village.

LANCASTER - A Lancaster teenager was critically injured Friday afternoon when he fell from a moving van on Avenue J-13 near 20th Street West, authorities said.

"It appears that the youth (later identified as Jeff Hodge) jumped out of his seat, opened the door and jumped on the running board," said Deputy Chris Henning.

April 18

LANCASTER - The Promise Keepers came back to the Antelope Valley Friday night, bringing a message of reconciliation with them.

At the second annual Promise Keepers stadium-like conference, an estimated 1,500 men - up slightly from last year's rally - filled Challenger Memorial Center at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds.

LAKE LOS ANGELES - Sheriff's deputies Saturday found a car stolen from murder victim Field Terry Simes in the back yard of an abandoned Lake L.A. house.

Simes, 41, was found stabbed to death in a room at the Tropic Motel on Sierra Highway at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.

April 19

PALMDALE - Jammed roadways, snail-paced traffic and smoggy air are three things Valley residents can look forward to during during next 20 years unless plans to prevent them are drawn soon.

By 2020, Southern California's population will grow from 15.7 million to an estimated 22.4 million people, according to projections by the Southern California Association of Governments. About 65% of that growth will come from the expansion of the existing population, and about 35% from people relocating from outside the region.

PALMDALE - A woman died instantly Sunday afternoon after she lost control of her sports car and collided with an oncoming pickup truck along a two-lane stretch of Palmdale Boulevard.

No other people or vehicles were involved in the 2:50 p.m. collision.

April 20

LANCASTER - With the need for air-refueling tankers to assist fighter aircraft in the Kosovo conflict, Antelope Valley residents could be part of a call-up of 33,000 military reservists to active duty.

A number of Valley residents are part of the 163rd Refueling Wing at March AFB in Riverside, said Capt. Ernie Sioson, executive officer for the wing.

April 21

LITTLETON, Colo. - Two students in black trench coats swept through their suburban high school with guns and explosives in a horrifying suicide attack Tuesday that left as many as 25 people dead. Several students said the killers were gunning for minorities and athletes.

It was by far the bloodiest in a string of school shootings that have rocked U.S. communities over the past few years.

PALMDALE - The Palmdale School District board deliberated the fate of its embattled publicist, Diana BeardWilliams, late into the night Tuesday.

The board's decision whether or not to terminate Beard-Williams was not available at press time.

ACTON - A cloud of caustic gas sent nine people to the hospital and triggered an evacuation on Tuesday at Vasquez Junior-Senior High. Three victims of the hazardous materials release were students.

Students speculated the gas release - which prompted a fourhour shutdown at the school - may have been tied to the date, April 20. Some white supremacists and others recognize the day as the birth date of Adolf Hitler. Also, the numbers 4-20 reportedly are a pop culture reference for marijuana smoking.

April 22

PALMDALE - A hit-andrun driver nicknamed "Maniac" fled on foot from a three-car crash that killed two people Wednesday afternoon, triggering a manhunt across Palmdale.

Deputies cordoned off neighborhoods from 25th to 30th streets east and Avenue S to Avenue R.

PALMDALE - Palmdale School District trustees voted to fire publicist Diana BeardWilliams, sources in the Antelope Valley's largest school district said Wednesday.

Beard-Williams, a figure of controversy during a suspension of more than three months, now has 10 days to appeal to a personnel commission.

PALMDALE - The Columbine High School shooting spree may have been a thousand miles away, but the gunfire and explosions in Colorado rattled confidence in the safety and security of Antelope Valley schools.

While most administrators view their campuses as safe, the Colorado school violence ushered in a heightened awareness of atrisk students.

LITTLETON, Colo. - Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris hurled insults at Jews, blacks and Hispanics at Columbine High School. But they really hated the athletes, who had power and popularity - everything they didn't.

"All jocks stand up!" one of the attackers yelled during their murderous spree Tuesday. "We're going to kill every one of you."

April 23

LITTLETON, Colo. - The two gunmen in the Columbine High massacre were planning to blow up their school and probably had help from others, investigators said Thursday after discovering a powerful bombs in the kitchen that had been built from a propane tank.

"These subjects were not only on a killing rampage, but they were going to destroy the school," Sheriff John Stone said. "They were going to burn the school up."

PALMDALE - Authorities arrested a student Thursday who allegedly claimed he had bombs, guns and a hit list, and another student who threatened a girl, saying she would become his first victim if he snapped the way the Trenchcoat Mafia killers did at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

The pair of students were arrested at Highland High School and held for investigation of making terrorist threats.

PALMDALE - A 45-day ban on apartment construction will last about 10 months, following action by the City Council.

The ban was extended 320 days on Wednesday. There's a catch, though. The citywide prohibition on multiple housing does not include a low-income apartment complex that sparked an eastside homeowner protest that, in part, led to the moratorium.

PALMDALE - A Palmdale international airport could disrupt military flights at Plant 42 and Edwards Air Force Base, forcing operations to move elsewhere, an Air Force official said this week.

The Air Force official also called unnecessary the Los Angeles World Airports' long-talked about plans to develop an international airport on 17,500 acres of property adjacent to Air Force Plant 42.

LANCASTER - After fighting for his life for nearly a week, Lancaster High School student Jeff Hodge died Thursday.

Hodge was critically injured a week ago today when he fell from a moving Ford Windstar van at Avenue J-13 and 20th Street West. Hodge's death was the latest in a string of teenage deaths to plague the Valley in recent weeks.

April 24

PALMDALE - Highland High School officials reassured students Friday in the aftermath of copycat violence threats, and a trustee from the Antelope Valley Union High School District conferred with Sheriff Lee Baca about campus safety.

Among the discussions were ideas on how to intervene and prevent student violence.

LITTLETON, Colo. - Surveillance tapes from the security cameras at Columbine High may show whether the two gunmen who died in the school blood bath had accomplices, investigators said Friday.

The center of the slaughter - the second-story library, where nearly all of the dead were found - had no cameras.

April 25

CALIFORNIA CITY - A new intersection designed to make it safer for motorists to get on and off California City Boulevard from Highway 14 has some longtime drivers apparently dangerously confused.

Since the project's completion April 14, about 850 drivers have turned left into oncoming traffic lanes, said Jim Bugera, a Caltrans inspector based in Mojave. Incredibly, there have been no accidents, he added.

LANCASTER - A Lancaster woman, whom neighbors described as mentally impaired, was being held for questioning Saturday in the death of her caretaker that morning.

The 42-year-old woman, whose name was not released, reportedly told her stepfather's employer that she had killed the 58-year-old man.

April 26

LITTLETON, Colo. - Thirteen white doves fluttered into the slate gray sky Sunday, over the heads of 70,000 people who filled a parking lot to mourn the 12 students and one teacher massacred at Columbine High School.

Families, friends and strangers clung to each other during a 75minute memorial service. They clutched flowers, blue and silver balloons and Bibles as they wept and wondered why it happened.

MOJAVE - The Union Pacific Railroad sent two representatives to the Mojave Town Council meeting this week to respond to community anger over train-induced traffic jams and railroad crossings so rough you could lose a tire on them.

Instead of telling people what they wanted to hear, Mike Furtney, who oversees public affairs, and Jim Petersohn, who manages Mojave train operations, did a lot of listening and very little talking.

April 27

LITTLETON, Colo. - The two students who carried out the attack at Columbine High dreamed of an even bigger bloodbath, plotting to kill hundreds of neighbors, then hijack a plane and crash it into New York City, investigators said Monday.

Authorities also questioned an 18-year-old girlfriend of Dylan Klebold about whether she bought two of the guns used in the rampage.

LOS ANGELES - A defense attorney for one of the reputed white supremacists charged with attempted murder in a hammer attack on a black Wal-Mart employee says he wants the trial held in the Antelope Valley.

That's not what the prosecution wants. A deputy district attorney in the case against Shaun Broderick, Christopher Crawford and Dennis Butt says he favors trial in Los Angeles because it is, according to court officials, a highsecurity case.

VAN NUYS - Forty-four pounds. A prosecutor Monday reminded the jury of the weight of a 15-year-old Lake Los Angeles girl when she died, supposedly of starvation at the hands of her parents.

The month-old murder trial of Michael and Kathleen Gentry apparently is heading toward its climax.

April 28

LANCASTER - A week after the killing spree at Columbine High School in Colorado, nerves are on edge at Valley high schools. Students are being arrested amid a flurry of investigations of threats and bad jokes.

Tuesday marked three more arrests of local high school students.

PEARBLOSSOM - A sheriff's SWAT team stormed a motor home Tuesday night, using "flash-bang" grenades to end a tense standoff with a man who barricaded himself with his children, threatening to set off an explosion.

Bomb squad investigators found no bomb, and SWAT deputies took John Vigil, 30, into custody after a nearly five-hour standoff, freeing the two children in the motor home, unharmed.

QUARTZ HILL - Students at local high schools don't like hearing about copycat threats that echo the danger of the Columbine High School violence at secondhand, but school officials say rumor control is a priority.

Two students were arrested last week at Highland High School; Tuesday, another student from Quartz Hill High School was arrested, allegedly for making terrorist threats.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon announced Tuesday it will call 33,102 reservists to active military duty, bringing the Kosovo conflict closer to home for communities from coast to coast. The call-up will begin immediately with 2,116 members of the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard to assist in aerial refueling of NATO warplanes.

The call-up doesn't include any Southern California units, but about 100 reservists volunteered for service from the 163rd Refueling Wing at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside.

PALMDALE - The reported driver of a car that caused the deaths of two Palmdale teens was arrested by Los Angeles Police Department officers who identified the suspected hit-and-run motorist as a fugitive gang member.

Robert "Lil Fluff" Johnson was arrested Monday after being identified last week as the driver who caused the teens' deaths in a fatal car wreck at the intersection of 30th Street East and Avenue R8 on April 21.

April 30

QUARTZ HILL - Tempers flared Thursday night as more than 1,000 concerned parents and students flocked to Quartz Hill High School's large gym to hear how school officials are addressing student safety on campus.

With bleachers filled to capacity and people lining the walls, parents pressed school and district officials to answer the question, "Is our school safe?" The outbursts came in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre in Littlerock, Colo., earlier this month.

WASHINGTON - The Boeing Co., the No. 2 U.S. defense contractor, has uncovered a structural problem in the tail section it makes as a subcontractor on Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F-22 fighter jet, U.S. Defense Department officials said.

Two of nine test-model F-22s have been built with the problem and are flying at Edwards Air Force Base.

LANCASTER - Los Angeles County could provide doctors needed for a hospital in the south Valley if a proposed venture between the county, the city of Palmdale and Antelope Valley Hospital comes to life.

The possibility was broached during a recent meeting with representatives of the county Department of Health Services and the office of 5th District County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, AV Hospital Chief Executive Officer Mathew Abraham said Wednesday.

LANCASTER - The rash of threats and rumors at Antelope Valley campuses triggered by the mass killing at a Colorado high school prompted more local campus security action Thursday, bringing six arrests and about 20 suspensions.

School officials suspended a pair of Lancaster High School ninthgraders who wore backpacks with menacing letters and symbols, and who apparently joked about a rumor that the school would blow up today.