1999 The year in review

February 13-28

Feb. 13

LANCASTER - In one of the most dramatic sequences of a fourhour deposition of Diana BeardWilliams on Thursday, the embattled Palmdale School District publicist shouted at Lancaster attorney R. Rex Parris and complained of a racing heart in an apparent attempt to cut the interview short.

PALMDALE - How does 661 grab you? Get used to it. Beginning today, the 805 area code is history, and 661 is the Antelope Valley's new area code, along with Santa Clarita and nearly all of Kern County.

WASHINGTON - William Jefferson Clinton won bipartisan acquittal Friday in the Senate, concluding a searing national drama that tarnished him forever as the second president to be impeached.

Feb. 14

LANCASTER - Several Valley companies are hoping to croon "There's no business like show business ..." after movie and television producers get their hands on the Desert Sierra Film Guide. The guide features pictorial spreads of film-ready properties covering 10,000 square miles.

Feb. 15

ROSAMOND - A phone survey of Rosamond voters shows marginal support for a school bond for the Southern Kern Unified School District.

Feb. 16

PALMDALE - Differences between the city's first skateboard rink at Marie Kerr Park and a second one planned at Dominic Massari Park will be many, according to plans approved by the City Council. The new rink, if built, will come with locking gates, allowing city officials to stop skaters from using it after hours.

TEHACHAPI - Subsidies to lure energy companies into the wind power business should not end in June, said Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Bakersfield, who introduced a bill to encourage more wind energy investment in the next five years.

LANCASTER - Lyle Norton, the city's Parks, Recreation and Arts director, would probably be the first to admit the squirrel problem at Rawley Duntley Park is a tough nut to crack. It seems the little rodents are burrowing holes in the grass of the park's two softball fields, creating hazards for the players. The city's solution has been to kill the squirrels, sometimes by pumping their burrows full of a cyanide-like gas.

Feb. 17

LITTLEROCK - The second driver in last week's fatal accident on a winding, treacherous freeway offramp has come forward and has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing. Littlerock resident Cappi Carlson, 36, was interviewed by CHP officers Friday, two days after the Feb. 9 accident, in which Llano resident Jesse Eye, 18, drove off the exit ramp and to his death.

LONG BEACH - Licensing for teachers was one of several key proposals fielded Tuesday by Richard Riley, the secretary of education, at an annual state of education address.

Feb. 18

LOS ANGELES - In the case of high-speed rail, having a large number of commuters may help the Antelope Valley for once. It is estimated that as many as 50% of working Valley residents commute to points south - mainly the greater Los Angeles area.

VAN NUYS - The trial of Mike and Kathleen Gentry, the Antelope Valley couple accused of killing their disabled daughter by starving her, will begin March 17, according to defense attorney Lyle Middleton.

CALIFORNIA CITY - A variety of businesses are calling California City Municipal Airport home, and more are on the way. Current tenants include an Internet service provider, a television production company and a cargo carrier, among others, and a forklift repair business is expected to move to the airfield in coming months, said airport manager Tom Weil.

LANCASTER - Two unidentified teenage boys, one apparently upset over the death of his grandmother, stole a van from the Lancaster youth home where they were living and led police on an hourlong chase from Lancaster to Anaheim on Wednesday.

Feb. 19

LANCASTER - The Nemesis air racing plane has found itself a possible home after retirement - the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. While the actual Nemesis retirement may be on temporary hold, both the Smithsonian and Nemesis pilot-owner Jon Sharp want to see the airplane in the aviation shrine.

LANCASTER - Calling it a "dead bang loser," lawyers recommended that the Antelope Valley Union High School board of trustees forego plans to sue the state over alleged discriminatory school funding practices.

PALMDALE - Making what he described as a bittersweet move, Terry Judge will become second in command of the city's sheriff's station on Monday, and will resign from the City Council on Feb. 24.

LANCASTER - Doreen Gutierrez, accused of running down an 8-year-old girl after a dispute with her girlfriend about drinking and driving, will stand trial to answer charges of murder and gross vehicular manslaughter Thursday.

Feb. 20

LANCASTER - An astronaut, television personality Hugh Hewitt and business forecasters at Friday's Business Outlook conference hailed the Antelope Valley on Friday as a great place to live and work in the 21st century, and a probable key locale for a resurrected space race.

LANCASTER - With a $28.1 million school bond election less than two weeks away, Lancaster School District supporters want to assure voters the money will be used to build and modernize schools.

PALMDALE - Planning commissioners postponed a decision on whether to go ahead with approval of a controversial eastside apartment complex that has drawn a wave of neighborhood protest from area homeowners. That property is about 14 acres on the south side of Avenue R near 42nd Street East, where the corporation seeks to erect 13 two-story buildings with 200 two- and three-bedroom apartments for low-income families.

LANCASTER - Deputies are investigating allegations that a substitute high school security guard had sex with an underage student while employed by the district. Charles Mayes, 37, was arrested Feb. 9 after parents of the 16-year-old Antelope Valley High School student told Lancaster station deputies about the incident.

Feb. 21

LANCASTER - Alvin John Krueger, better known as "Antelope Al," died Saturday morning in Lancaster. The former Antelope Valley High School and University of Southern California football star was 79.

LANCASTER - Proponents of a $28.1 million Lancaster School District bond issue went door to door Saturday to garner support for the election scheduled less than two weeks away.

Feb. 22

PALMDALE - Members of the City Council rejected an ordinance that would have allowed the sale of Safe and Sane fireworks for the celebration of what some are hailing as the new millennium on Dec. 31.

Feb. 23

PALMDALE - Gasoline prices dropped below $1 per gallon in some areas of the country, but Antelope Valley drivers still are paying at least $1.03 or more for automobile fuel.

PALMDALE - Protests against a 200-unit apartment complex planned near 42nd Street East and Avenue R have Palmdale's elected leaders pondering a moratorium similar to the one enacted by Lancaster a month ago.

LANCASTER - In the first case of its kind for the state of California, a rapist nabbed through a DNA database was sentenced to 94 years to life in prison. Raymond Cruz was convicted in November for the July 1996 attack when his name came up in a DNA database of 25,485 felons put together by the Department of Justice.

Feb. 24

The top news event of the 20th century was written in the ashes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the terrifying power of America's new atomic bomb brought World War II to an end in 1945. That turning point was ranked No. 1 by prominent U.S. journalists and scholars who selected the top 100 news events of the last 100 years for the Newseum, a museum about newsgathering.

SACRAMENTO - A statewide crime reporting program shows that Palmdale School District reported increases in criminal activity in the 1997-98 academic year.

PALMDALE - At least four people have contacted members of the City Council to explore being appointed to a council seat soon to be vacated by Terry Judge. Palmdale Chamber of Commerce board member Al Beattie, Planning Commission chairman John Mayfield, Antelope Valley Union High School District trustee Kevin Carney and Realtor Dawn Charlton each have expressed interest, Mayor Jim Ledford said Tuesday.
Feb. 25

SACRAMENTO - A statesupported group that administers funds to attract space programs to California is advocating Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc as the future launch site for the VentureStar. Although three California areas are seeking the lucrative project and launch site, the group is boosting only one area. The two other locales are in the Antelope Valley.

SANTA ANA - Fourteen years after investigators stumbled onto evidence of a murderous sexand-torture spree at a cabin in the mountains, one of the two men accused in the case was convicted Wednesday of killing 11 people, including a young man formerly from the Antelope Valley. Charles Ng, 38, was found guilty in one of the longest and costliest homicide prosecutions in California history, running up an $12 million bill.

LANCASTER - The City Council on a 4-0 vote extended its ban on new apartments to one year Tuesday despite two advocates for the disabled speaking in opposition, saying the city does not have enough housing for the poor.

PALMDALE - An attempted audit of the embattled Palmdale Education Foundation shows its records so grossly inadequate a proper audit cannot be performed. There isn't enough evidence available to get the job done, according to the Lancaster accounting office of Burkey, Cox, Evans and Manning, in a report turned in Wednesday.

Feb. 26

PALMDALE - The city is one step closer to following Lancaster's lead and banning new apartments after Mayor Jim Ledford asked city staff to draft an ordinance prohibiting multi-family housing. Ledford made his request at the Wednesday night council meeting.

LANCASTER - Mathew Abraham, new chief executive officer at Antelope Valley Hospital, begins his job with a hefty vote of confidence following a lopsided board vote to approve him for the position. Abraham "has done more work in the past two months than (Robert) Harenski did in the last two years," according to hospital board director Deborah Rice.

LANCASTER - In a surprise move Thursday, an attorney for Palmdale Education Foundation President Kathe Duren filed for a dismissal in her case against Diana Beard-Williams. Duren asked for an order preventing Beard-Williams from doing business for the foundation until an independent audit was complete and for her to turn over all the group's financial records to the foundation treasurer.

Feb. 27

LOS ANGELES - State Sen. Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, introduced legislation on Friday that would add at least two or more L.A. County supervisorial districts to the five already in place.

PALMDALE - Political newcomer Steve Cooley said he will challenge District Attorney Gil Garcetti in the 2000 election.

Feb. 28

SACRAMENTO - Assemblyman George Runner has introduced legislation that would allow community colleges to hire more permanent, full-time instructors. Currently, community colleges can only hire for full-time teaching positions for a period of one year, unless the instructor is in line to receive tenure. Runner's bill allows community colleges to hire fulltime instructors to fill positions that are temporarily funded.

Uploaded December 17, 1999