1999 The year in review

May 16-31

May 16

LAKE LOS ANGELES - Michael and Kathleen Gentry, a Lake Los Angeles couple accused of starving to death their severely disabled daughter, were released from jail Saturday.

The couple arrived at their home in the small community east of Palmdale at about 12:30 p.m. and went to bed to rest, family and friends reported.

"They were exhausted," said family friend Sharon Toyne.

May 17

PALMDALE - Palmdale Education Foundation members, whose actions last month placed the organization on the road to recovery, have paid longstanding vendor bills and the once-troubled organization still has money in the bank.

The money came from funds left in the bank account when the foundation reorganized after ousting its executive director Diana Beard-Williams.

May 18

PALMDALE - Los Angeles County officials are investigating possible misuse of $227,054 by Autherine Walker, the former executive director of the Oshun Village battered-women's shelter.

A preliminary investigation into Oshun Village's finances began this spring by the Domestic Violence Unit of the county's Community and Senior Services Department. Walker left the shelter's employ in January.

May 19

PALMDALE - "Every generation has a legend . . . Every journey has a first step . . . Every saga has a beginning . . . and I was there to see it all."

Jeremiah Benavente proudly showed off the white T-shirt he made with the black words, colored with imagery advertising the newest Star Wars movie, "Episode I: The Phantom Menace," which opens in movie theaters today across the country.

LANCASTER - Lights. Camera. Movies. And even more movies.

With today's Lancaster Cinemark opening, the Antelope Valley goes from 40 to 62 screens and from 7,000 to 11,400 movie seats - all of them owned by Dallas-based Cinemark Theaters.

LANCASTER - The Antelope Valley Union High School District board will weigh a proposal tonight to run Desert Winds High School year-round.

Desert Winds campuses would operate a year-round school session that would be divided into four quarters rather than two semesters, said Principal Pat Iaccino.

A recent financial report on Oshun Village women's shelter was in such disarray it was rejected by the facility's board of directors earlier this year. Stacy Anderson, a former shelter client who eventually became one of its directors, said the report "didn't add up so we refused it."

May 20

LANCASTER - Antelope Valley College President Linda Spink and a committee of faculty representatives are at odds again.

The conflict comes several months after a consultants' report was issued instructing campus factions to bury the hatchet and learn to get along.

May 21,

PALMDALE - The Imperial Storm Troopers swept in to issue citations to students playing "Wookiee hooky" on the opening day of "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace."

Suddenly, the menace seemed all too real. Students waited several hours in line for the opening day to the most-anticipated movie of the year. Their wait extended after sheriff's deputies cited youths for truancy at the Antelope Valley Mall.

LITTLEROCK - The endangered arroyo toad may soon be named the "radio toad."

Complete with a transmitter and a 3-inch antenna strapped to its back the toad looks like it could star in its own TV series titled, "Bionic Toad."

LANCASTER - The B-2 stealth bomber's strong debut performance in Kosovo has spurred the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday to authorize an additional $187 million for the program.

The additional money brings the total authorized for the program during fiscal year 2000 to $388.8 million. The $187 million will go toward modifying and upgrading the stealthy bomber to state-of-the-art technology.

May 22

LANCASTER - For a decade, city officials in Palmdale and Lancaster declared keen desire to bring a four-year university to Antelope Valley.

Now that the elusive goal appears within sight, the best chance to initiate a four-year educational institution could slip from the Valley's grasp.

May 23

LANCASTER - Among a sea of banners, a crowd of more than 500 people set out Saturday from Lancaster City Park on the fifth annual March for Jesus.

Marchers waved their banners, sang praise music, lifted crosses and proclaimed their faith in Jesus Christ as they joined millions of Christians around the world in the annual march.

May 24

LITTLEROCK - The Littlerock Town Council has officially ousted councilman Dave Cleveland, putting an end to a series of intercouncil battles - for the time being. Cleveland's political demise, which was discovered late this week, allegedly came at the hands of citizens attending a council meeting two months ago.

PALMDALE - A bizarre thunder and lightning storm is being blamed for the death of a 47year-old Palmdale man.

The man, whose name has not been released pending the notification of next of kin, was struck by a lightning bolt while standing in his back yard about 6:45 a.m. watching the storm.

May 25

LANCASTER - A west Lancaster ranch looked like a scene out of Dustin Hoffman's movie "Outbreak" Monday as a hazardous materials team clad in chemicalproof jump suits scoured the area. The hazmat team entered the scene after narcotics deputies, acting on information from an investigation in Palmdale, found a drug-producing laboratory in a trailer behind the Lancaster home.

LANCASTER - John Eliopulos, a decorated veteran of World War II and member of one of the Valley's most prominent families, died Saturday. He was 80.

The son of Greek immigrants, Mr. Eliopulos was born in Los Angeles on Oct. 12, 1918, and came to Lancaster with his family as an infant.

May 26

LANCASTER - A Desert Christian Middle School teacher who allegedly kissed and fondled a former student and sent her a sexy e-mail will have to register as a sex offender after pleading guilty to two felony charges.

Daren Lee Robertson, 32, pleaded guilty Monday to charges of digital penetration by a foreign object and sending an e-mail with the intent to seduce a minor, Deputy District Attorney Chris Estes said.

ACTON - An armored van plunged off the Antelope Valley Freeway about miles south of Palmdale Tuesday night, killing at least two people.

California Highway Patrol was investigating the accident in which the armored truck went down an embankment of the freeway.

May 27

EDWARDS AFB - The Air Force will halt nearly half of all retirements, promotions and separations from its ranks, effective June 15, because of the NATO bombing campaign being waged in Kosovo.

The move will affect 162 military personnel at Edwards Air Force Base, said Sgt. Scott Lewis, a base spokesman.

May 28

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Loaded with supplies for the new international space station, Discovery lifted off Thursday on NASA's first shuttle flight in six months - the longest gap since the Challenger disaster.

PALMDALE - For 3 1/2 hours Wednesday, eastside homeowners and apartment managers offered reasons why a new 200-unit apartment complex should not be built near 42nd Street East and Avenue R.

Mark Vincent, one of two homeowners to file appeals against the project, said, "I am specifically opposed to this particular project because I do not believe that the Planning Commission adequately addressed the crime issue."

May 29

LOS ANGELES - A county investigation into the District Attorney's Palmdale Family Support office shows that personal information on clients was carelessly discarded in open Dumpsters.

The investigation also contends that child support office management used its position to pressure people to testify in favor of the operation at a public hearing on Family Support.

LANCASTER - The day the Valley Press reported a witness' open testimony that a friend confessed to a killing, the judge barred the newspaper from court, skirting a U.S. Supreme Court decision that hearings should be open unless a compelling case to close them is demonstrated.

Judge Steven O. Ogden granted defense attorney Jeffrey Weiss' motion Friday to close the courtroom to the public - including the press - to ensure that his client, Adrian Chaparro, receive a fair trial.

May 30

PALMDALE - The City Council voted 3-1 late Friday to deny an appeal by residents opposed to the construction of a lowincome apartment complex near 42nd Street East and Avenue R.

With member Shelley Sorsabal dissenting, the council voted to allow the project to proceed rather than risk a $20 million lawsuit if it were denied.

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles and Orange counties may try to ease pressure on their overcrowded jails by hauling hundreds of inmates to a private prison in California City.

Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona said Friday that he and Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy Baca had discusseda joint plan to send inmates to a detention center in California City with Kern County officials.

May 31

SACRAMENTO - First it was smoking cigarettes. Now, smoking guns.

When Sacramento joined eight other California cities and counties last week in suing the gun industry for unfair business practices, the dramatic act of war certainly did not come out of the blue.

Uploaded December 20, 1999