1999 The year in review

December 15-31

Dec. 15

LOS ANGELES - Just about the time Boeing was rolling out its joint strike fighter prototypes in Palmdale, a team of economic planners was in Los Angeles before the county Board of Supervisors, rolling out a long list of reasons for keeping the JSF's $750 billion contract in Palmdale.

Though Palmdale has the joint strike fighter test contract today, the city, as well as the county and the state, will have to fight to ensure that the multi-role stealth fighter will be in Palmdale when the thing gets built, if ever.

LANCASTER - Immediately after new Antelope Valley College trustee Wayne Woodhall was sworn in Monday night, a new board majority displayed its power and angered two veteran trustees who are now in the minority.

Changing an unwritten rule that goes back decades, trustee Michael R. Adams broke the traditional rotation of board officers by nominating trustee Betty Wienke to fill the position of board president.

PALMDALE - With a bouncy Tina Turner tune titled "Simply the Best" reverberating off giant hangar walls, The Boeing Co. unveiled a pair of twins Tuesday, its shark-nosed test versions of the joint strike fighter.

A cheer roared from the throats of hundreds of Boeing team workers as team leaders rolled the curtain back on the X-32A and X32B prototypes, a pair of sleek, gray test models with twin tails and stealthy weapons bays.

Dec. 16

PALMDALE - Alvina Rankins, a Palmdale woman convicted of felonies ranging from grand theft to arson, acquired a license to operate a day-care facility and ran it here for two years, the Valley Press learned.

During that two-year run, parent complaints mounted, and the child-care center operated from February until the end of November before it was finally closed.

QUARTZ HILL - For the second time this week, classes at a Valley high school campus were canceled and thousands of students sent streaming into the streets because of a maintenance problem.

Nearly 2,500 Quartz Hill High School students were sent home shortly before noon Wednesday after the school lost water service when a valve broke.

WOODLAND HILLS - A federal bankruptcy court judge gave Palmdale the green light Tuesday to proceed with a new plan to revive the Ritter Ranch housing development, City Attorney Matt Ditzhazy said.

LANCASTER - It is not exactly the Treaty of Versailles, but the City Council's vote Tuesday to approve an anti-piracy resolution has officially ended - at least on paper - the bidding wars for businesses between Palmdale and Lancaster.

The resolution prohibits the cities from offering incentives to lure businesses from one municipality to the other, including industrial and aerospace companies.

Dec. 17

PALMDALE - Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies shot and killed a suspected pistol-toting carjacker at the Antelope Valley Mall on Thursday night.

The man was believed to have abducted a woman motorist in Lancaster.

Hours after the shooting, news helicopters hovered above a parking lot where deputies cordoned off an area surrounding the hijacked white Oldsmobile with a shattered rear windshield and a dead suspect under a sheet.

LANCASTER - Antelope Valley Hospital officials will ask Palmdale to provide nearly $1 million to help establish a new medical facility with 24-hour service for residents of southeastern Antelope Valley.

Hospital officials are preparing the request for the Palmdale City Council's Jan. 5 meeting.

The city's assistance would help pay for a $4.4 million medical facility on 25 vacant acres owned by AV Hospital on the southeast corner of 40th Street East and Palmdale Boulevard.

PALMDALE - Negotiations are under way between Palmdale and an Orange County medical organization for the possible construction of a 100-bed, full-service hospital on the west side of the city.

Prospect Medical, which purchased the Sierra Medical Group of Lancaster about two years ago, has proposed building such a hospital near 10th Street West and Technology Drive, according to Michael Adams, Palmdale's director of housing.

Dec. 18

PALMDALE - Municipal officials will spend nearly $3.4 million renovating the City Hall complex at Sierra Highway and Palmdale Boulevard.

The work will be done in conjunction with the construction of two new municipal government buildings south of the existing City Hall complex.

Dec. 19

PALMDALE - State Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight responded to a Stanford Law School professor's study that warned of dire impacts for children of gay parents if the senator's initiative on the defense of marriage is passed.

The study released this week by a Stanford Law School professor on Proposition 22 concludes that the measure's passage would result in harm to the state's children and families.

Dec. 20

PALMDALE - 'Twas the weekend before Christmas and all through the Valley parents were seen scurrying to get their hands on a mouse.

His name is Pikachu and he's all the rage, for children engulfed in the Pokemon craze.

Yes, those little Japanese cartoon characters with a yellow mouse as their mascot continue to dominate many children's Christmas lists. According to retail stores throughout the Valley, it doesn't matter what the item is if Pokemon is on it - parents are buying.

Dec. 21

PALMDALE - A suspected carjacker shot and killed by sheriff's deputies Thursday in the parking lot of the Antelope Valley Mall has been identified as a 17-year-old Lancaster teen.

Sheriff's officials identified the dead youth as Michael Jaray Culver.

The gunman's name was released Monday after sheriff's officials spent days trying to identify the youth, who allegedly robbed a hotel clerk in Lancaster on Thursday and then stole a hotel customer's car.

LITTLEROCK - Keppel Union School District officials last week shot down a plan for a charter school in the Valley.

Citing concerns about the school's educational programs and whether the proposed school crosses the line between the separation of church and state, the Keppel board of trustees voted unanimously to reject plans for the Rev. Henry Hearns Charter School of Academic Excellence.

Dec. 22

PALMDALE - Two WalMart supercenters may be coming to the Antelope Valley.

Newly elected Palmdale City Councilman Mike Dispenza confirmed Tuesday a report earlier in the day by sources who wished to remain anonymous.

Dispenza said his information came directly from conversations with Wal-Mart representatives, with whom he met with three weeks earlier.

Dec. 23

PALMDALE - SR Technics, a Swiss-based jumbo jet maintenance and repair company, has officially purchased the buildings at Air Force Plant 42's Site 9.

The company plans to hire between 3,000 and 5,000 workers to maintain the SwissAir fleet as well as jets from 13 other airlines.

LITTLEROCK - The campus at Littlerock High School was virtually deserted on a windy and cold Wednesday morning, but the three pastors assembled for a news conference were thinking only about crowded parking lots and a crowded gym this New Year's Eve.

Five Antelope Valley churches are coming together to host a New Year's Eve celebration and worship service in the gymnasium at Littlerock High School.

The event, free to the public, includes a potluck dinner from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and a worship service with music, song and praise from 9 p.m. to the wee hours of the morning.

Dec. 24

LOS ANGELES - A thousand jobs by June. And another 5,000 jobs during the next four years. That's what a Swiss aerospace group says it will bring to the Antelope Valley.

SR Technics, the heavy maintenance arm of SAirGroup, made official on Thursday its intention to open a North American hub at Air Force Plant 42.

Hans Ulrich Beyeler, chief executive officer of SR Technics, said the company will hire up to 1,000 employees by June, and up to 6,000 by 2004.

PALMDALE - Making its mark as final frontier for firms seeking available land and a ready workforce, Palmdale leaders confirmed Thursday the city is in quiet negotiations with one or more major aerospace firms.

Dec. 25

LAKE LOS ANGELES - A family of four lost everything but their Christmas presents, their animals and a few family mementos Friday night when fire ripped through their home.

Daniel Stella, of 41022 162nd St. East, said he left home shortly before 6 p.m. with his wife and two children to have dinner and then visit his in-laws at their nearby home for a Christmas celebration.

Dec. 26

LAKE LOS ANGELES - At noon on Christmas Day, Daniel Stella was not opening presents with his wife and two sons, or watching football on TV. Instead, he was sitting on a Softtail HarleyDavidson motorcycle in front of what used to be his home, near the front yard, surveying the damage from a fire that ripped through the house, 41022 162nd St. East, on Christmas Eve.

WHITEMAN AFB, Mo. - It's show-and-tell time during the 509th Bomb Wing mission briefing, and Brig. Gen. Leroy Barnidge, who is both briefer and boss around here, is smiling like a little kid.

This is his favorite part!

He can't wait!

Senior Airman Polly Busse of Whiteman Air Force Base public affairs just handed the general a stack of poster-sized intelligence photos. They will detail some of the damage his two squadrons of B-2 Spirit bombers inflicted on Yugoslavia last spring.

Dec. 27

LANCASTER - There are supposed to be safeguards for parents who place their children in home-based day cares, and in the Antelope Valley, that safeguard is the Child Care Resource Center.

The Lancaster office assures parents a day care is licensed by the state and, hence, that it is a safe place to send their children.

PALMDALE - Alvina Rankins saw her opportunities and took everything the state and the county gave her.

The state of California gave her a license to care for children in her 37045 Boxleaf Road home, despite a criminal record of grand theft auto, grand theft property and felony arson. It took two years to shut her down.

PALMDALE - While most people think the hustle and bustle of Christmas ends on Dec. 25, for retailers and shoppers the real shopping had just begun Sunday morning.

Shoppers flocked to Antelope Valley Mall and other retail outlets across the Valley early Sunday morning in hopes of grabbing some post-holiday shopping deals.

LANCASTER - Festive candles and decorations filled the Cafe La Moore coffee shop on Sunday as celebrants gathered to observe the first day of Kwanzaa.

Sunday was the first day of Umoja (oo-MO-jah) - which means Unity. It emphasizes the importance of togetherness for the family and the community, reflected in the African saying, "I am We, or I am because We are."

Dec. 28

LITTLEROCK - The deputies who confronted suspected carjacker Michael Jaray Culver outside the Antelope Valley Mall in December fired 16 shots in the heat of the moment.

Only one of those shots struck the 17-year-old Lancaster teen, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department homicide detectives.

LANCASTER - Taxicab drivers from the Two City and On The Go cab companies picketed City Hall Monday, claiming the city is unjustly ruining their livelihoods.

The cabbies' resentment stems from an ordinance passed by the City Council in August that requires cab companies to be licensed by the city.

Dec. 29

PALMDALE - With a deluge of Armageddon movies saturating theaters, and terrorist threats and Y2K scares giving many the jitters, this is adding up to be an interesting New Year's Eve.

But with impending doom standing at our doorsteps as the clock nears midnight Friday, the question lingers: "Is it all a bunch of hype?"

PALMDALE - Yes, there will be lights at midnight Friday, as well as flowing water, telephone service, natural gas, cash and food for the new year.

But if your lights do go out or your phone relays nothing but a busy signal, don't panic, officials say.

New Year's Eve celebrations always come with their fair share of power outages, and this year will be no different, representatives of local utility companies said.

LOS ANGELES - If and when Palmdale City Councilman Kevin Carney walks into a courtroom to face trial for allegations of sexual misconduct with a 14-yearold girl, attorney Milton Grimes will be at his side.

Although the former Los Angeles County sheriff's sergeant was arrested at the home of the alleged victim on Oct. 29 - two months ago - he has yet to be charged with a crime.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - State parks plan to drop so-called nuisance fees from their admission price after Jan. 1, saying the extra dollar charged to visitors with dogs or small boats generates more complaints than revenue.

Dec. 30

PALMDALE - Declining predictions of the size of the New Year's Eve bash in Las Vegas are creating a bonanza for bargain hunters.

But Valley residents contemplating a last-minute run for the border be warned: Leaving home without a reservation is still a risky bet.

Services have been scheduled for Virginia Lawrence Markham, 89, a vice president of Antelope Valley Newspapers Inc. since 1958, who died Tuesday, Dec. 28, 1999, in West Hills Hospital.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 5, at the Chapel of the Oaks in Oakwood Memorial Park, 22601 Lassen St., Chatsworth.

Visitation will be from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 4, at Praiswater Meyer-Mitchell Mortuary, 5940 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys.

PALMDALE - Three of four firearms dealers in Palmdale city limits were right on target when deputies performed a sting with underage decoys trying to buy handgun ammunition before New Year's Eve.

"The law says you have to be over 21 to buy handgun ammunition, and making three or four dollars on a box of ammo is just not worth it," said Ron Bellville, owner of Santa Fe Gun Galleria, one of the three stores that did not sell to the underage decoy.

Dec. 31

Assemblyman George Runner earned naming and claiming rights as Antelope Valley's 1999 "Newsmaker of the Year" in a year-end poll of Valley Press editors.

The poll was unscientific, and informal, as daily journalism often is. You want exactitude and precision, hire a polling firm. Newspaper people like to schmooze and argue. And schmooze and argue, we did.

It was the Swiss chocolate frosting on Antelope Valley's cake, baked in the heated economy of 1999.

By acclamation, the Valley Press staff has proclaimed the preChristmas announcement that SR Technics, the heavy maintenance arm of SAirGroup, will open a jobcreating aircraft maintenance and repair facility in Palmdale as the top story of 1999.

Uploaded January 3, 2000