1999 The year in review

November 14-27

Nov. 14

LANCASTER - A dormant tax-exempt corporation formed by Antelope Valley Hospital will return about $1 million to the parent medical facility under an agreement being hammered out by attorneys on both sides.

The affiliate, Valley Healthcare Systems, was created in 1986 with the name Antelope Valley Health Ventures. Among its undertakings were a dialysis center, a home health-care business and a self-insurance venture on behalf of AV Hospital.

Nov. 15

PALMDALE - The Palmdale Regional Airport, if it is developed, could be a more efficient location to fly out of than Los Angeles International Airport, even for many county residents who live closer to Los Angeles than Palmdale.

According to a study by the Antelope Valley-based Los Angeles International Airport Expansion Task Force, someone who lived an equal distance from both airports would save an average of 35 minutes by going to Palmdale, given the congestion likely in Los Angeles.

LAKE LOS ANGELES - Three people are dead after a three-vehicle collision on Sunday at 170th Street East and Avenue S.

Marcos Rodriguez, 38, Trinidad Rodriguez, 60, and Matilide Cisneros, 88, died instantly after their Honda Accord spun out of control and flipped over after hitting a Ford pickup truck.

LANCASTER - A self-promoting letter soliciting personal injury business for local attorney Steve Fox - the elected head of the board of directors of Antelope Valley Hospital - rides the razor's edge of professional ethics, two legal ethicists have opined.

In sending such a letter - an attempt to drum up business for his Lancaster law practice - Fox "walked to the edge of the cliff, but I don't think he stepped over," said Robert Pugsley, professor of legal ethics at the Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles.

Nov. 16

LOS ANGELES - Gov. Gray Davis was in Los Angeles on Monday to commit his help to revitalize California's ailing aerospace industry.

The governor spoke for about 20 minutes during the luncheon portion of a daylong conference on aerospace.

PALMDALE - The city is considering denying admission to the Marie Kerr Skate Park to skaters not wearing the proper protective gear and requiring skaters to sign liability waivers.

Palmdale's city ordinance prohibits skating at city parks without protective gear and warning signs are posted at the skate park, yet sheriff's deputies continue to write tickets to youths skating without helmets or knee pads.

LOS ANGELES - U.S. Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon said he plans to introduce a bill requiring the Department of Defense to study the cost of building the joint strike fighter in California rather than at sites in other states.

McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, said the bill is aimed at producing an in-depth, neutral cost analysis of having final JSF assembly performed in Palmdale.

LANCASTER - After three days of deliberations, an Antelope Municipal Court jury decided Monday that 39-year-old Tom Nault was not trying to seduce a 14-yearold girl when he sent her sexually explicit e-mail last year.

While the jury found Nault not guilty of felony charges, they did convict him of three lesser crimes - misdemeanors for sending harmful matter to a minor.

Nov. 17

LOS ANGELES - Palmdale's bid for a regional airport got a lift Tuesday from 5th District Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

The Board of Supervisors passed Antonovich's motion that would lead to the hiring of a business consultant to plan and develop Palmdale's airport.

LANCASTER - A Lancaster firm has been awarded a $2.15 million contract for work at the new Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, at Avenue H and the Antelope Valley Freeway.

The City Council voted 4-0 Tuesday, with Mayor Frank Roberts absent, to award the project to Professional Pipeline Contractors Inc.

Nov. 18

PALMDALE - Somewhere between one and 1,100.

It's hard to get a handle these days on possible layoffs at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works.

A handful of layoffs have begun at the Skunk Works as programs wind down and the company expects less work next year than it has had in recent years.

PALMDALE - The SAGE planetarium will have a new star when Jeremy Amarant takes over the helm of Palmdale's planetarium.

Currently a director for the Arizona Science Center's planetarium in Phoenix, Ariz., Amarant's appointment was made final on Tuesday when Palmdale School District trustees unanimously approved the district's recommendation.

Nov. 19

EDWARDS AFB - Massive dry lake beds, controlled airspace and well-equipped test ranges are assets that will keep Edwards on the military map for generations to come.

So said Gen. George T. Babbit, commander of the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, when he spoke to community leaders at Edwards on Thursday.

LAKE LOS ANGELES - It's a race against time with winter approaching and lives at stake. Furry lives.

Needed: 100 people to help one dog each.

A group of animal lovers, led by a Quartz Hill kennel owner, are racing against time and the elements to save more than 90 dogs at an illegal eastside "dog rescue."

Nov. 20

PALMDALE - A fistfight prompted by a childish paperthrowing incident turned deadly Friday, with a 13-year-old boy killed, apparently from injuries suffered in fisticuffs with another teenager, authorities said.

Stephen Corson was pronounced dead about 3 p.m. at Antelope Valley Hospital following the fight with an unidentified 14-year-old classmate at Juniper Middle School.

LANCASTER - Beep! Beep! You're busted!

The pagers began beeping at 6 a.m. Before lunchtime Friday, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies met dozens of heroin users, sold them phony drugs and promptly arrested them.

PALMDALE - The battle over low-cost housing evolved into a battle over the neighborhood mini-mart, with some neighbors saying "not in my neighborhood."

In all, changes urged by the city's Planning Commission this week will decrease by 216 acres the amount of land in Palmdale where high-density apartments, condominiums and other kinds of multifamily housing can be built.

Nov. 21

PALMDALE - Newly elected Councilman Kevin Carney has a court date scheduled Monday, but he will not be arraigned at that time in the investigation over alleged sexual misconduct with a 14year-old girl.

Charges will not be filed against the career Los Angeles County sheriff's sergeant when he goes to court Monday, the prosecutor assigned to the case said.

PALMDALE - Stephan Corson, the 13-year-old boy who died as the result of a fight at Juniper Middle School Friday, probably died from impact with the ground, not as the result of a punch, an initial coroner's investigation showed.

Los Angeles County Coroners officials who conducted an autopsy Saturday morning found that Corson had been struck in the jaw, then collapsed, hitting his chin on a concrete walkway.

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has a five-year, $862.5 million plan for pulling low-income families out of the poverty cycle, then keeping them out.

The "Long-Term Family SelfSufficiency Plan" was given unanimous approval by the board at Tuesday's meeting.

LITTLEROCK - Two boys died Saturday morning after a car in which they were riding overturned near Avenue Q and 110th Street East.

The car, a Mercury Sable reported stolen that morning from Littlerock, carried four boys - all between the ages of 14 and 15 - and one girl, age 12.

No other cars were involved in the crash, which occurred around 11 a.m.

Nov. 22

MOJAVE - Mojave residents have something to be thankful for, as Thanksgiving approaches, when the long-awaited Oak Creek overpass opens this week.

A dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the overpass took place on Thursday, but no exact time or date has been set for the actual opening of the overpass, Deaver said Friday.

PALMDALE - A rash of armed robberies and purse snatchings in Antelope Valley shopping center parking lots Sunday was an annual unwelcome sign that the holiday season is upon us.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were on the hunt for two suspects who held up three women at gunpoint early Sunday morning.

The robberies occurred in the parking lots of the Lancaster WalMart, the Palmdale Wal-Mart and the Mervyn's at the Antelope Valley Mall early Sunday.

LANCASTER - More than $1.7 million in funding will be used to retrain laid-off workers for jobs at the Rite Aid drugstore chain's new distribution center near the Gen. William J. Fox Airfield.

City officials said the money will come from a grant obtained through the state Employment Development Department under the federal Job Training Partnership Act.

Nov. 23

PALMDALE - Extra deputies patrolled Juniper Middle School on Monday. Psychologists provided counseling for students and teachers escorted students to their buses in the aftermath of Friday's fistfight that resulted in a teenager's death.

Parents also made a pilgrimage to the campus Monday to ask school officials about the safety of the campus and to make queries about what they said were other incidents of violence at Palmdale's largest middle school campus.

LOS ANGELES - Anita Bock is about to inherit 67,500 abused and neglected kids, 5,800 weary social workers and a single government office that seems to have a microscope lens for a ceiling.

As the new director of Los Angeles County's Department of Children and Family Services, Bock accepts the formidable task of guiding the nation's largest child welfare agency.

LOS ANGELES - Councilman-elect Kevin Carney is now being represented by the high-profile attorney who once represented police beating victim Rodney King.

Palmdale City Councilmanelect and sheriff's sergeant, Kevin Carney, made his first court appearance Monday on an allegation of sexual misconduct with a 14year-old girl.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A 20year-old white supremacist convicted of murder in the 4-year-old beating death of a homeless black man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Before the sentence was imposed Monday, Ritch Briant stood with a shaved head before Superior Court Judge Lance Ito and said: "Just go ahead and do what you've got to do."

Nov. 24

CANOGA PARK - Friends and family of 13-year-old Stephan Corson, the Juniper Intermediate School student who died Friday afternoon, mourned his loss at First Baptist Church on Tuesday evening.

Between 400 and 500 people of all races packed the church. Many of those in attendance were Stephan's friends and former classmates at Hale Junior High School, from which he had recently transferred when his family relocated to Palmdale.

LANCASTER - As the official flight test center for the U.S. Air Force, Edwards Air Force Base has steady funding for the next several years, Maj. Gen. Richard V. Reynolds told the Antelope Valley Board of Trade on Tuesday.

Budgets ranging from $800 million to $900 million are expected for the foreseeable future, said the commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards.

Nov. 25

LANCASTER - For the third time in a year, a director of a major Antelope Valley nonprofit foundation has been ousted from her job.

Given the choice to resign or be terminated as executive director for the Antelope Valley High Schools Foundation, Jill Harris quit, her attorney said.

PALMDALE - The sales-tax war between the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster could be reignited next month when the Palmdale City Council considers approving the relocation of two RV dealers and a motorcycle shop from Lancaster.

The businesses are considering a move from sites near Lancaster Municipal Stadium to the Palmdale Auto Center under deals to be considered on Dec. 8.

PALMDALE - A 17-year-old Littlerock High School student was killed and four of his friends were injured Wednesday when their car went out of control and somersaulted into the desert off 47th Street East, north of Palmdale Boulevard.

He was the fourth Valley teen to die in an accident in less than a week.

Nov. 26

LANCASTER - The pilgrims and Indians would have been proud.

In accordance with the Thanksgiving tradition established by those American ancestors, hundreds of fortunate Antelope Valley people took time out of their holiday to serve some of the Valley's less fortunate people.

Terri Munson, who spearheaded the Grace Resource Center's Thanksgiving dinner, coordinated the efforts of 117 volunteers.

LANCASTER - A Lake Los Angeles woman died Thursday after the Honda she was riding in collided with a van on Avenue J near 55th Street East.

The crash, which occurred at 2:03 p.m., left the driver of the Honda with critical injuries.

Antelope Valley aerospace companies are getting by with a little help from their industry friends.

When Boeing needed to strip paint from the space shuttle Atlantis last year, it asked to borrow Northrop Grumman's paint removal system. Not only did Northrop allow its competitor to use the system; the company provided operators to run it as well.

Nov. 27

LOS ANGELES - Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight's Proposition 22, an initiative restricting the definition of marriage to that between a man and a woman, will be challenged by an initiative that would recognize marriage between same-sex partners.

The Californians for Same-Sex Marriage, a committee organized expressly around the issue, began a campaign Thursday with the goal of collecting 1 million signatures from state residents favoring same-sex marriage.

PALMDALE - Santa Claus' arrival may still be a few weeks away, but the annual holiday shopping is here.

The rite of passage known as the "Day after Thanksgiving" shopping craze hit the Antelope Valley on Friday. Thousands of shoppers woke up early and trekked to area retail and toy stores to collect the latest in threads and toys.

PALMDALE - Sheriff's Department officials are searching for a suspect in the shooting death of Basilio Leon Jr., 23, of Palmdale, which apparently occurred just before 5 Friday morning.

The shooting apparently took place in the parking lot of Iron Mountain Apartments, 1320 East Ave. Q, where Leon's body remained more than 10 hours afterward.

Uploaded December 27, 1999