1999 The year in review

March 8-14

March 8

PALMDALE - Pins came crashing down as pro bowler Walter Ray Williams Jr. came to town for a Pro Bowling Association tournament at Brunswick Vista Lanes on Sunday. Armed with cameras and videotape recorders, bowling fans watched with excitement as the six-time PBA Player of the Year took to the lanes for tournament play.

March 9

PALMDALE - Auditors on Monday night continued their examination of Palmdale Education Foundation financial records, purportedly contained in the office computer assigned to the foundation's embattled director, Diana Beard-Williams.

Beard-Williams, who was notified twice of the computer search, did not appear while the auditors did their work.

LANCASTER - A half dozen e-mails sent to the 14-year-old girl's computer last year were sexually explicit, with the sender calling the young teen his "love muffin" and saying he was bothered when "his girlfriend did not write back." The lawyer for the man accused of sending the e-mails say his client, 38-year-old Thomas Ryan Nault, was simply a trusted friend for the girl. The two, the lawyer claims, would talk about feelings and thoughts she could not share with her family.

March 10

PALMDALE - Lockheed Martin Skunk Works machinists ratified a new labor contract Tuesday, with less than five hours before a strike deadline and by less than 100 votes. The vote averted the first strike at the Palmdale plant since 1977.

PALMDALE - A search of the Palmdale Education Foundation executive director's computer Monday night turned up no new financial records that could better explain the organization's disordered finances.

March 12

LANCASTER - The beleaguered and much-maligned Lancaster Factory Stores outlet mall is in escrow, city officials confirmed Thursday, but the buyer remains a mystery.

PALMDALE - Palmdale Education Foundation directors Thursday night voted 10-6 to release Diana Beard-Williams from her position as foundation executive director.

MOJAVE - Completing a month of whirlwind activity, the first KC-135 air refueling tanker scheduled for modifications arrived at Marconi Flight Systems on Thursday morning. The arrival ushered in a new area of work for Marconi, Mojave Airport and the east Kern County area.

March 13

PALMDALE - After being ousted as the Palmdale Education Foundation's executive director on Thursday, Diana Beard-Williams threatened school district trustees who must decide her fate as district publicist in the coming weeks.

ACTON - Angry protests by students, parents and teachers over the dismissal of a popular Vasquez High School teacher forced the Acton Agua-Dulce School District board of trustees to reinstate Daniel Williford, who teaches world history and is a coach for three of the school's sports teams.

March 14

PALMDALE - The home of Fred and Patty Strasburg was filled to capacity Saturday with the friends who came to pay tribute to a historian and educator whose Antelope Valley connections go back more than 50 years.

Fred Strasburg died March 6 at the age of 56.

LANCASTER - Lancaster planning commissioners will consider Monday whether to prohibit the spreading and stockpiling of sewage sludge within city limits.

The action would prohibit sludge-based commercial composting operations such as the one planned by Bio Gro Systems near Avenue A and 140th Street West.

Uploaded December 17, 1999