Timeline California 1984-1995
Return to home
1984 Jan 14, Ray
Kroc (81), founder of MacDonalds and owner San Diego Padres, died.
(MC, 1/14/02)
1984 Apr 1, Marvin P. Gay Sr.
(d.1998 at 84) shot and killed his son, Motown singer Marvin Gaye
during an argument in Los Angeles. It was one day before the singer’s
45th birthday. Gaye’s hit songs included “I Heard It Through the
Grapevine,” “What’s Going On,” and “Let’s Get It On.” Mr. Gay pleaded
voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 5 years probation.
(SFC, 10/27/98, p.B6)
1984 Apr 22, Ansel Adams (b.1902),
US photographer, died in Monterey, Ca. He was best known for his black
and white photographs of California's Yosemite Valley. He founded the
group f/64 and redefined the aesthetic standards and possibilities of
landscape photography.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansel_Adams)
1984 Jun 30, Hedayat Eslaminia, a
former government official under the Shah of Iran, disappeared while
living in exile in Belmont, Ca. The family had reportedly fled Iran
with a fortune in 1978. Hedayat (57) suffocated and died in a steamer
trunk. His son Reza (26), a member of the "Billionaire Boys Club," was
later charged with the abduction and murder. Reza was convicted and
sentenced to life. In 1992 Joe Hunt, head of the club, was also tried
for the killing of Eslaminia, but a hung jury forced a mistrial. In
1998 Rexa's conviction was overturned based on unfair evidence and a
new trial was scheduled. Arben Dosti’s conviction was reversed in 1998.
A new trial was scheduled for Oct. in San Mateo. In 2000 charges
against Reza Eslaminia were dismissed.
(SFC, 2/19/98, p.A14)(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A24)(SFC,
11/7/00, p.A15)(SSFC, 2/8/04, p.A28)
1984 Jun, In Nevada Gerald Gallego
was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to death. Charlene
Williams, his former accomplice and mother of his child, testified
against Gallego.
(SFC,10/28/97, p.A17)
1984 Jul 6, The body of Shari
Miller (21) was found in a parking lot in West LA. On Aug 11 the body
of Tracy Campbell was found in the Mohave Desert. Bill Bradford,
an amateur photographer, was convicted in the murders and sentenced to
death. In 1998 he appealed his death sentence.
(SFC, 8/7/98, p.D6)
1984 Jul 18, James Huberty (41)
opened fire at a McDonald's fast-food restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif.,
killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.
(AP, 7/18/97)(SFC, 4/17/07, p.A8)
1984 Jul 28, The summer Olympics
were held in Los Angeles for the second time. The Russians along with
Cuba and Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the 23rd modern Olympic
games. Iran and Libya also boycotted the games. Taiwan returned under
the name Chinese Taipei. China appeared for the first time since 1952.
The US won 83 gold medals, Romania was 2nd with 20. Women were allowed
to compete in the Olympic marathon for the 1st time. Joan Benolt of the
US won. The 1st Olympic Guide was published this year by David
Wallechinsky. The 5th edition came out in 2000.
(WSJ, 7/19/96, p.R6)(SFC, 7/14/96, Par p.4)(WSJ,
7/28/00, p.W9)(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.F1)(NG, 8/04, Geographica)(WSJ,
4/12/08, p.R2)
1984 Jul-1985 May, Seven men,
three women and two children were tortured killed in Calaveras County,
Ca., at the home of Leonard Lake as part of "Project Miranda," inspired
by the John Fowles novel, "The Collector." Lake killed himself with
cyanide during a police interview. Charles Ng was arrested in Canada in
1985 for stealing and extradited to the US after 6 years for his role
in the murders.
(SFC,10/18/97, p.A13)(SFC, 10/25/98, p.A5)
1984 Aug 11, In LA, Ca., Carl
Lewis (b.1961) duplicated Jesse Owens' 1936 feat with 4 Olympic track
gold medals.
(www.usatf.org/athletes/bios/oldBios/1997/lewis.asp)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lewis)
1984 Aug 16, A federal jury in Los
Angeles acquitted auto maker John Z. DeLorean of trafficking in cocaine
due to entrapment.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_De_Lorean)
1984 Sep 1, Robert Frederick
Garceau, Hells Angels motorcyclist, murdered his girlfriend Maureen
Bautista and her 14-year-old son in Bakersfield. In 1985 he killed a
fellow drug dealer in Monterey County. Garceau, convicted of murder and
sentenced to death, died of cancer in 2004 while awaiting death at San
Quentin.
(SFC, 12/31/04, p.B3)
1984 Oct 26, "Baby Fae," a newborn
with a severe heart defect, was given the heart of a baboon in an
experimental transplant in Loma Linda, Calif. Baby Fae lived 21 days
with the animal heart.
(AP, 10/26/99)
1984 Oct 31, The Puerto Rican
tanker San Francisco exploded spilling 2 million gallons of oil as the
ship caught fire. The ship Puerto Rican exploded and sank 15 miles off
Montara. It spilled a million gallons of oil.
(MC, 10/31/01)(SSFC, 1/20/02, p.A27)
1984 Nov 2, Paul Cosner
disappeared from the area following a planned sale of a 1980 Honda
Prelude at his Marin Motors. The car was identified Jun 2, 1985 in the
hands of Leonard Lake and Charles Ng. As many as 25 people were
believed killed by Lake and Ng at a compound in Calaveras County.
(SFC, 10/25/98, p.A5)
1984 Nov 15, Baby Fae died 20 days
after receiving a baboon heart transplant in Loma Linda, California.
(HN, 11/15/98)
1984 cNov 16, Horace Kelly
murdered Sonia Reed in San Bernadino. He killed 3 people during a
6-day rampage. He was convicted and sentenced to death by juries in
Riverside and San Bernadino in 1986. He was scheduled for execution in
1998 and then won a ruling for a federal appeal on grounds of insanity.
(SFC, 3/26/98, p.B10)(SFC, 4/3/98, p.A15)(SFC,
12/10/98, p.C17)
1984 Nov 17, Horace Kelly murdered
Ursula Hauser in San Bernadino.
(SFC, 4/3/98, p.A15)
1984 Nov 21, Horace Kelly murdered
11-year-old Danny Ostenkowski after Danny protected his cousin Shannon
Prock from kidnapping.
(SFC, 4/3/98, p.A15)
1984 Nov 15, Baby Fae died 20 days
after receiving a baboon heart transplant in Loma Linda, California.
(HN, 11/15/98)
1984 Dec 10, It was reported that
a creosote bush in California’s Mojave Desert was determined to be
11,700 years old.
(http://tinyurl.com/2ja5hn)
1984 Maynard Amerine (d.1998 at
74) published the “Univ. of California / Sotheby Book of California
Wine.” It was co-edited with Bob Thompson and Doris Muscatine. Mr.
Amerine also wrote “Table Wines: The Technology of their Production,”
with M.A. Joslyn.
(SFC, 3/13/98, p.D2)
1984 The Sierra Storytelling
Festival began in the town of North Columbia in Nevada County.
(SFEC, 6/13/99, p.T6)
1984 Erna Kubin-Clanin opened the
Elderberry House in Oakhurst. She added her Chateau de Sureau in 1991.
(SFEM, 10/10/99, p.28)
1984 Frank Gehry converted a
warehouse into the Geffen Contemporary Museum in LA.
(WSJ, 5/21/99, p.W16)
1984 The Monterey Bay Aquarium
opened in Monterey, Ca.
(AAM, 3/96, p.9)(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A8)
1984 Circus trees made by Axel
Erlandson (d.1964) were rescued from the “Tree Circus” in Scotts Valley
and transplanted to Gilroy for the Bonfante Gardens, scheduled to open
in 2001.
(SFC, 4/27/00, p.A23)
1984 Voters approved a state
lottery.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.A10)
1984 California enacted an
Endangered Species Act.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.A10)
1984 The California Smog Check
program was introduced. It required motorists to take responsibility
for pollution by maintaining their vehicles to meet state standards.
[see 1982]
(SFEC,11/10/97, p.A10)
1984 Peter Cartwright founded
Calpine Corp., an energy company, in San Jose, Ca. He stepped down as
CEO in 2005 as the company faced possible bankruptcy.
(SFC, 11/30/05, p.C1)
1984 Ron Levin, a con man who
swindled Joe Hunt, the leader of the Billionaire Boys Club, in a $4
million commodities scam, was reported killed. Members of the club, a
group of ambitious young men who put their money into get-rich-quick
schemes, were accused of the slaying. James Pittman, a Hunt cohort,
said in 1993 that he shot Levin in front of Hunt and helped bury the
body in the Angeles National Forest. Since 1984 a number of people have
claimed to have seen Levin alive. A woman said she spotted Levin on the
Greek island of Mykonos on Christmas day in 1987. Hunt was convicted of
1st degree murder in 1987.
(SFC, 5/3/96, A-11)(SFC, 7/13/96, p. A17)
1984 Cancer cases began popping up
in McFarland in the Central Valley. 21 people over 20 years were struck
in the town of 8,000. A state study from 1985-1991 ended inconclusively
and the EPA was petitioned to study the problem. Residents suspected
airborne pesticides.
(SFC, 1/17/98, p.A5)
1984 Heidi Marie Fredette (13) was
kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered in Tehama County. In 2001 a
cold hit in the DNA database identified David James McIntosh, a
prisoner in Folsom days away from being released, as the murderer.
(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A22)
1984 Two men were killed in
drug-related murders between San Jose and Los Gatos. Glen Nickerson
(425 pounds) was one of 3 men sentenced to life in prison. In 2001
Nickerson, who claimed innocence, won bail for a week and then had his
bail revoked.
(SFC, 6/19/01, p.A15)
1984 Rush Limbaugh, an unemployed
disc jockey from Kansas City, was hired by a Sacramento AM radio
station. In 1988 Limbaugh took his show national and moved to NYC.
(SFCM, 11/16/03, p.44)
1984 Richard Brautigan, writer,
died from self-inflicted gunshot wound in Bolinas, Ca. His work
included "Trout Fishing in America" and A Confederate General from Big
Sur." In 1989 Keith Abbott authored the biography: "Downstream from
Trout Fishing in America: A Memoir of Richard Brautigan." In 1999 Edna
Webster published "The Edna Webster Collection of Undiscovered
Writings."
(SFC, 10/7/99, p.E1)
1984 Robert Matthews, leader of
the radical right group called “the Order,” died in a shootout with
federal agents after robbing a Brinks car in Mendocino and murdering
Denver radio talk show host Allen Berg. Matthews was influenced by the
William Pierce book, “The Turner Diaries.”
(SFC, 9/24/98, p.C6)
1984-1996 Wells used by public water systems in the
Central Valley with nitrates above drinking water standard jumped
fourfold over this period.
(SFC, 7/7/97, p.A8)
1985 Mar 31, In San Diego 2 white
police officers stopped a pickup truck driven by Sagon Penn (d.2002). A
scuffle ensued and Penn killed officer Thomas Riggs with the officer’s
gun. Penn was acquitted under allegations of police brutality and
racism.
(SFC, 7/5/02, p.A24)
1985 Apr, Jimmy Luna murdered
Stephan Eldridge (27). Maureen McDermott, Eldridge’s roommate, had
hired Luna, who stabbed him to death and cut off his penis. Luna
testified against McDermott, who was convicted and sentenced to death
in 1990. In 2002 her sentence was upheld.
(SFC, 8/13/02, p.A1,10)
1985 May 20, Patti Frustaci of
Riverside, Calif., who was expecting septuplets, gave birth to six live
babies, three of whom died in the following weeks.
(AP, 5/21/05)
1985 Jun 2, Leonard Lake committed
suicide during a police interview in a South SF police station over his
role in the tortures and killings at his home in Calaveras County.
(SFC,10/18/97, p.A13)
1985 Jun 12, Frank Rice (d.1999)
opened the Los Angeles Men's Place, LAMP, to aid men on Skid Row.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p.B4)
1985 Jul, Sean Dannehl (12) was
knocked off his bicycle in a Sacramento Park and was later found
stabbed to death. In 1986 Jon Dunkle, while in prison for robbery,
admitted killing Dannehl as well as 2 other boys in the Bay Area. In
2005 the California Supreme Court upheld a death sentence for Dunkle
(44).
(SFC, 8/5/05, p.B4)
1985 Aug 22, Helena Greenwood (35)
was found dead outside her home in Del Mar near San Diego. She had been
attacked in her Atherton home in 1984 and was about to testify against
David Frediani. In 2001 Frediani was convicted in her murder following
DNA evidence that tied him to the murder.
(SFC, 12/17/99, p.A26)(SFC, 1/30/01, p.A16)
1985 Aug 31, Richard Ramirez,
later convicted of California's "Night Stalker" killings, was captured
by residents of an East Los Angeles neighborhood.
(AP, 8/31/97)
1985 Sep 30, Maxxam Corp. made a
tender offer for Pacific Lumber at $36 a share. The same day it
demanded and received a 50% cut in fees due to Drexel Burnham Lambert.
During the summer the Wall Street firm Drexel Burnham Lambert and
Maxxam Corp. had hired a timber consultant to fly over the holdings of
Pacific Lumber and estimate their worth. Charles Hurwitz announced his
intention to acquire Pacific Lumber and had Michael Milken of Drexel
arrange junk bond financing. Control of Pacific Lumber passed to
Hurwitz of Texas-based Maxxam by the end of the year. The bonds were
sold to United Savings Association, a Texas S&L whose parent
corporation was owned by Charles Hurwitz. The thrift failed in 1988 and
taxpayers were stuck with a $1.6 billion bailout.
(SFC, 9/4/96,
p.A4-5)(www.mcn.org/e/iii/politics/hurwitzm.htm)
1985 Oct 10, Orson Welles (70),
actor-director, died of a heart attack in Los Angeles. In 1972 Joseph
McBride authored “Orson Welles,” in 1989 Frank Brady authored “Citizen
Welles: A Biography of Orson Welles.” In 2006 Simon Callow authored
“Orson Welles: Hello American,” the 2nd volume of a 3-part biography.
(AP,
10/10/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Welles)(WSJ, 8/19/06, p.P8)
1985 Oct 11, Alex Odeh, regional
director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), was
killed by a bomb blast in Santa Ana, Calif.
(AP,
10/11/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Odeh)
1985 Oct 21, Ex-Supervisor Dan
White committed suicide by carbon monoxide in his wife’s car. He killed
Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978, for which he served
barely 5 years after a diminished capacity defense called the “Twinkie
defense.”
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W23)
1985 Dorothy Chandler (1901-1997),
wife of Norman Chandler (the 3rd publisher of the Los Angeles Times),
was one of 11 of the first recipients of the new National Medal of Arts
called for by Pres. Reagan for her work in establishing the Los Angeles
County Music Center in 1964.
(SFC, 7/7/97, p.A16)
1985 Horton Plaza, a 7-story
shopping complex, opened in downtown San Diego.
(Econ, 4/10/04, p.23)
1985 The California Lottery,
Lotto, began to be run by GTECH Inc., based in Greenwich, R.I. The
lottery was to give one-third of all its revenues to the Cal. school
system. GTECH in 1996 received 2.9 cents for every dollar wagered.
(SFC, 10/23/96, p.C2)
1985 Patrick H. Ghilotti was
arrested in Marin County for 2 sexual assaults less than a year after
release from prison for rapes committed in the 1970s. He had been
dubbed the Lincoln Avenue Rapist for his activities in San Rafael.
(SFC, 10/7/97, p.A19)
1985 Brenda O’Connor (20), her
husband Lonnie Bond and their baby son disappeared. A video made by
Leonard Lake and Charles Ng later showed her bound to a chair at his
hideaway near Wilseyville in Calaveras Ct., Ca. Charles Ng was arrested
in Canada for killing a dozen people in a hideaway in the Sierra Nevada
foothills in 1984-1985. He fought extradition for 6 years but was
finally returned to California by a Canadian Supreme Court order.
(SFC, 10/28/98, p.A1)(SFC, 8/31/96, p.A23)
1985 In LA Sgt. George Arthur was
murdered in a suspected love triangle. In 1999 former officer Ted
Eugene Kirby was found dead in Spokane after a police warrant was
issued for his arrest. DNA evidence had recently implicated him in the
murder of Arthur.
(SFC, 7/15/99, p.A6)
1985 Cynthia Engstrom (19), a
prostitute, was killed by Leslie Arthur Byrd, a Marin County banker, in
his Novato home bathtub as part of a sex fantasy. Byrd was convicted of
2nd degree murder and sentenced 15 years to life.
(SFC, 1/23/02, p.A15)
1985 In San Diego Kenneth Muck
(55), a liquor store clerk, was stabbed 37 times during a robbery by
Terry Bemore, a former Palo Alto police officer. Bemore’s death
sentence was upheld in 2000.
(SFC, 4/21/00, p.A26)
1985 In Santa Barbara James Tramel
(17) and an accomplice were charged with stabbing to death Michael
Stephenson (29), a homeless man, in what was described as a thrill
crime. Tramel, who did not do the stabbing, was sentenced to 15 years
to life in prison, where he became an ordained Episcopalian priest. In
2006 Gov. Schwarzenegger pardoned Tramel.
(SFC, 3/11/06, p.B4)
1985 Richard Price, co-founder of
Esalen, was killed by a falling rock.
(SSFC, 6/16/02, p.A17)
1986 Jan 22, The body of Yvonne
Coleman (15) was found in a park in Inglewood, California. In 2008 DNA
evidence linked Michael Hughes (51), already in jail for 4 other
murders, to her murder and 3 others.
(SFC, 7/4/08, p.B6)
1986 Feb 24, Sherri Rasmussen (29)
was beaten, shot and killed at her condominium in Los Angeles. In 2009
Police detective Stephanie Lazarus (49) was charged with the murder
following DNA evidence linking her to the murder of her former
boyfriend’s wife.
(SFC, 6/10/09,
p.B5)(http://celebrity.rightpundits.com/?p=6093)
1986 Feb, A huge storm hit the
state. A levee break near the Yuba County town of Linda produced $500
million in damage.
(SFC, 1/10/96, p.A21)(SFEC, 1/12/97, p.C1)
1986 Mar 27, Rose Ann
Parker shot and killed, Arthur Boga (54). Boga had threatened to shoot
her, her former boyfriend and her son after he learned that she was
pregnant. Boga was also a drug dealer, and a violent abusive man who
beat her regularly and got her pregnant. Parker was convicted of 2nd
degree murder in 1987. In 2000 Gov. Davis granted parole to Parker. The
battered women's syndrome was not a legal defense in California in 1986
and wasn’t accepted until 1992. Parker wouldn't have been convicted of
murder if it had been.
(SFC, 9/25/00, p.A1)(P-E, 10/6/00, p.B8)
1986 Apr 8, Clint Eastwood
(b.1930), filmstar and director, was elected mayor of Carmel,
California.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Eastwood)
1986 Apr 29, Some 350,000 books
were damaged by fire and water in the LA Central Library.
(http://tinyurl.com/y3ssgk)
1986 May 11, Fred Markham (US),
unpaced and unaided by wind, became 1st to pedal 65 mph on a level
course, Big Sand Flat, Calif.
(www.recumbents.com/wisil/records/Fastest_Ever.htm)
1986 Jun 4, The California Supreme
Court approved the “deep pockets law.” It limited the liability of
manufacturers and other wealthy defendants.
(SFC, 8/19/97, p.A1)
1986 Jun 6, Ronn Teitelbaum
(d.2000 at 61) opened his Johnny Rockets restaurant on Melrose Ave. in
Los Angeles. In 2000 it had grown to 138 outlets in 25 states.
(SFC, 9/15/00, p.D5)
1986 Aug 16, Flozelle Woodmore
(18), shot and killed her abusive boyfriend, Clifton Morrow, with a
.357 magnum in the presence of their 2-year-old son in Los Angeles. In
2007 Gov. Schwarzenegger, said he no longer oppose her parole.
(SFC, 8/3/07, p.B12)(http://tinyurl.com/2mvdzg)
1986 Aug 31, Aeromexico flight 498
with 64 passengers collided with a light plane as it approached Los
Angeles and crashed to the ground where an additional 15 people were
killed. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed flaws in the
overloaded traffic control system. 82 people were killed when an
Aeromexico jetliner and a small private plane collided over Cerritos,
Calif.
(SFC, 8/31/96, p.A20)(AP, 8/31/97)
1986 Sep 15, The 1st pilot of "LA
Law" was broadcast NBC-TV.
(http://epguides.com/LALaw/)
1986 Oct 1, The New Folsom Prison
for maximum security opened. It was built to house 3,200 inmates.
(SFC, 9/28/96, p.A13)
1986 Oct, Bill and Patricia
Grondalski and their 2 children aged 5 & 17 were killed by
Gerald Lester and Charles Anthony Diaz in Fort Bragg. The murders
were the result of a Hell’s Angels drug dispute and $900 worth of
stolen club decals. A jury in 1997 found Lester guilty of murder.
Lester was sentenced to 15 years for killing Grondalski and life
without parole for the other 3 murders.
(SFC,11/6/97, p.A21)(SFC, 1/24/98, p.A20)
1986 Oct, A drug raid in LA was
made. The LA County Sheriff’s Dept. documented that Nicaraguan drug
trafficker Daniel Blandon was shipping hundreds of kilos of cocaine in
the Southern California area. In 1998 Gary Webb published “Dark
Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.”
(SFEC, 6/28/98, BR p.3)
1986 Dec 14, The experimental
aircraft Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, took off from
Edwards Air Force Base in California on the first non-stop,
non-refueled flight around the world. (The trip took nine days.)
(AP, 12/14/97)
1986 Dec 27, In San Diego Cara
Evelynn Knott was strangled to death by an on-duty highway patrol
officer. Officer Craig Alan Peyer was convicted of the murder, the
first ever homicide conviction of an on duty CHP.
(WSJ, 12/15/97, p.A20)
1986 Marine World moved to Vallejo.
(SFEC, 4/21/97, p.A1)
1986 Pat Paulsen built the Pat
Paulen Winery in Asti, Ca., and proclaimed himself mayor. The comedian
died Apr 24, 1997 at 69. In 1968 on the Smothers Brothers TV show he
announced that he was running for president and actually got his name
on the ballot in 1972.
(SFC, 4/26/97, p.A22)
1986 Isleton in the Sacramento
delta began hosting a Crawdad Festival as part of a small Father's Day
celebration with several hundred people. In 1999 a crowd of over
150,000 was expected.
(SFC, 6/17/99, p.A19)
1986 State politicians Willie
Brown and Bill Lockyer negotiated a bill that exempted tobacco and
alcohol from product liability lawsuits in the “napkin deal” at Frank
Fat’s restaurant.
(SFC, 4/7/97, p.A20)
1986 California passed the Ellis
Act which allowed landlords to evict all their tenants at one time and
withdraw from the rental business.
(SFC, 2/24/99, p.A13)
1986 California mandated seat
belts for all drivers and passengers.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.A10)
1986 Henrietta Briones (26) of
Compton shot and killed Larry Daniels, her former live-in boyfriend,
following abuse and threats to her life. She was convicted of 2nd
degree murder and sentenced 17 years to life in prison. Domestic
violence became admissible evidence in 1992.
(SFC, 2/16/02, p.A1)
1986 Larry Layton was convicted of
conspiring to murder San Mateo Representative Leo Ryan in Jonestown,
Guyana. He was sentenced to a life in prison.
(SFC, 3/5/99, p.D6)
1986 Voters unseated liberal
Supreme Court Justices Cruz Reynoso, Rose Bird and Joseph Grodin. In
1983 Betty Medsger authored "Framed: The New Right Attack on Chief
Justice Rose Bird and the Courts."
(SFC, 11/6/96, p.B4)
1986 California sold $11 billion
in investments in companies that did business with South Africa to
protest apartheid.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.A10)
1986 The UC Board of Regents
agreed to drop all stocks in companies doing business with South Africa.
(SFC, 12/4/97, p.C8)
1986 The Greater Avenues for
Independence (GAIN) program mandated education or job training for AFDC
recipients.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, zone 1 p.5)
1986 The Milk Farm restaurant on
I-80 in Dixon closed down after a storm blew a hole in the roof. Its
famous neon cow continued to jump over the moon as motorist drove by.
The restaurant had opened in 1928 on what was then called Lincoln
Highway. In 2000 Paul Moller, a Davis inventor, planned to use the site
for a factory to develop his flying commuter Sky Car.
(SFC, 1/27/00, p.A17)
1986 Wells Fargo merged with
Crocker National Corp. and Crocker National Bank.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A10)
1986 PG&E notified the state
that it was examining some 32 sites where gas was once manufactured
from oil. The EPA estimated that there were up to 3,000 sites left over
from the gaslight era contained harmful chemicals.
(SFEC, 4/27/97, p.A14)
1986 The pine pitch canker was
first noticed in California. Wilted needles and browned branch tips
preceded the formation of resin-oozing cankers which then attract
beetles. It was believed that beetles carried the disease.
(SFC, 11/30/98, p.A17)
1986 A female adult condor (AC-8)
was captured for breeding. She provided 9 offspring in captivity and
was released in 2000.
(SFEC, 4/2/00, p.B10)
1986 The Apex Houston oil spill
killed an estimated 6,500 common murre seabirds.
(SSFC, 1/20/02, p.A27)
1986 In California 5 women were
murdered in the Central Valley along I-5. In 2008 Roger Reese Kibbe
(68) was charged with the 5 murders along with a 1977 murder of a woman
from Walnut Creek. He was already serving a life sentence for the
murder of a West Sacramento prostitute, whose body was found in 1987.
(SSFC, 3/9/08, p.B3)
1986 Christopher Isherwood,
British born author, died of prostate cancer in Santa Monica, Ca. He
was best know for his 1935 semi-autobiographical “The Berlin Stories,”
which was the basis for the 1966 musical Cabaret and made into a 1972
film. His life-partner was painter Don Bachardy. His “Diaries: Volume
II, 1939-1960” were published in 1997.
(SFC, 8/30/96, p.D1)(SFC, 1/16/97, p.E3)(SFC,
5/11/99, p.B6)
1986-1987 Joseph Martin Danks stabbed to death 6
Korean immigrants in Los Angeles. He was convicted and sentenced to
life in prison. In 1990 he strangled his cellmate, Walter Holt (67).
Danks was sentenced to death in 1993 and the decision was upheld by the
state Supreme Court in 2004.
(SFC, 2/4/04, p.A19)
1987 Feb 23, G. Patrick Ziemann
was appointed as the Catholic bishop of Santa Rosa.
(SFC, 2/11/00, p.A1)
1987 Feb 25, The US Supreme Court
ruled that California cannot bar gambling on Indian tribal land. This
win by the Cabazon tribe opened the door to Indian gambling nationwide.
(SFC, 5/11/04, p.B8)(WSJ, 9/27/05,
p.A1)(http://tinyurl.com/7ub24)
1987 Apr 17, Dick Shawn (57),
comic actor born as Richard Schulefand, died while on stage at UC San
Diego. He starred in the 1968 Mel Brooks film “The Producers.”
(SSFC, 8/12/01, Par p.2)(MC, 4/17/02)
1987 Apr 6, Los Angeles Dodgers
executive Al Campanis said on ABC's "Nightline" that blacks "may not
have some of the necessities" to hold managerial jobs in major-league
baseball. Campanis ended up being fired over his remarks.
(AP, 4/6/07)
1987 Apr 19, The last free-flying
condor in California, a 19-pound, 7-year-old male, was captured. He was
released in 2002.
(SFC, 3/3/00, p.A21)(SFC, 5/2/02, p.A6)
1987 Apr 22, Joe Hunt, leader of a
social and investment group called the "Billionaire Boys Club," was
convicted by a jury in Santa Monica, Calif., of murdering Ron Levin in
1984, a con man whose body had not been found. Hunt was sentenced to
life in prison. In 1992 Hunt was also tried for the 1984 killing of
Hedayat Eslaminia, but a hung jury forced a mistrial.
(SFC, 7/13/96, p. A17)(SFC, 3/29/97, p.A20)(AP,
4/22/97)(SSFC, 2/8/04, p.A28)
1987 Apr 25, Larry Singleton
(d.2001), rapist, was paroled from California State Prison near Chico
after serving just over half of his 14 year sentence. A furor erupted
and state officials settled him in a trailer on the grounds of San
Quentin State Prison. In 1997 he stabbed a prostitute to death in
Florida.
(SFC, 1/1/02, p.A13)
1987 May 29, A jury in Los Angeles
found "Twilight Zone" movie director John Landis and four associates
innocent of involuntary manslaughter in the movie-set deaths of actor
Vic Morrow and two children.
(AP, 5/29/97)
1987 Jun 3, Patricia Lopez (9)
disappeared after leaving school in Santa Ana, Ca. Her body was found 2
days later bludgeoned to death in a feeder tunnel of the Santa Ana
riverbed. In 2007 DNA evidence identified her brother, Rosendo Lopez
(42), as the murderer.
(SFC, 10/16/07, p.D12)
1987 Jun 10, The Nuremberg Actions
protest over US arms shipments to Central America began at the Concord
Naval Weapons Station.
(SFC, 6/10/97, p.A19)
1987 Jun 22, Fred Astaire
(b.1899), Hollywood dancer, died at a Los Angeles hospital. His
elegance and fancy footwork graced more than 30 films. A 1984 biography
by Bob Thomas was titled: "Astaire: The man, The Dancer." In 2008
Joseph Epstein authored “Fred Astaire.” In 2009 Peter J. Levinson
authored “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”
(AP 6/22/97)(SFC, 8/25/97, p.E3)(Econ, 12/13/08,
p.100)(WSJ, 4/4/09, p.W8)
1987 Aug 4, Jesse Unruh (b.1922),
Democrat and the 54th speaker of the California state Assembly
(1961-1969), died while serving as California state treasurer
(1975-1987). In 2007 Bill Boyarsky authored “Big Daddy: Jesse Unruh and
the Art of Power Politics.”
(SSFC, 11/11/07,
p.M1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Unruh)
1987 Aug 16, Thousands of people
worldwide began a two-day celebration of the "harmonic convergence,"
which heralded what believers called the start of a new, purer age of
humankind. Nearly 5,000 people gathered at Mount Shasta, Ca., for the
Harmonic Convergence aimed at bringing about world peace.
(AP, 8/16/97)(SSFC, 10/12/02, p.C5)
1987 Sep 1, In California S. Brian
Wilson, Vietnam veteran, had his legs sliced off when a munitions train
at the Concord Naval Weapons Station ran him over during the Nuremberg
Actions protest against weapons shipments to Central America.
(SFC, 6/10/97, p.A19)(AP, 9/1/97)
1987 Sep, The legislature passed a
law that required unmarried minors to obtain consent of a parent or a
judge for an abortion.
(SFC, 5/5/97, p.A4)
1987 Oct 1, Eight people were
killed when an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale and an
aftershock measuring 5.3 struck the Los Angeles area. In 1999
researchers reported that data revealed a new active fault system,
christened the Punete Hills fault, under Los Angeles that probably
caused the Whittier Narrows earthquake.
(AP, 10/1/97)(SFC, 3/5/99, p.A7)
1987 Oct 29, Woody Herman
(b.1913), US jazz clarinetist and composer, died in Los Angeles at age
74. The government had just seized his home for back taxes. His manager
Abe Turchen had not paid taxes on musician salaries for 3 years. Gene
Lees later authored "Leader of the Band: Woody Herman."
(AP, 10/29/97)(WSJ, 8/22/01, p.A14)
1987 Dec 7, Forty-three people
were killed in the crash of a Pacific Southwest Airlines jetliner in
California after a gunman apparently opened fire on a fellow passenger
and the two pilots.
(AP, 12/7/97)
1987 US Congress added portions of
California’s Merced, Kings, and Kern Rivers (north and south forks) to
the national system for federal protection. The 1968 National Wild and
Scenic Rivers Act originally covered 9 rivers including the Middle Fork
Feather River in California.
(SFC, 7/21/06, p.B3)
1987 There were demonstrations at
the Concord Naval Weapons Station against the base’s alleged role in
shipping arms to Central America. Writer Alice Walker was arrested.
(SFEC, 4/20/97, BR p.6)
1987 Litto’s Hubcap Ranch in Napa
became a California Registered Landmark No. 939. It was begun in the
1930s by Emanuelle “Litto” Damonte.
(SFEC, 2/22/98, p.T4)
1987 Robert George served as the
official Santa for 6 presidents and maintained a year-round Christmas
display at his home in Glendale, CA., until 1987 when it was declared a
gaudy eyesore. Pres. Eisenhower had invited Robert George (d.1998 at
74) to the White House in 1956 to serve as the official Santa Claus.
(SFC, 7/4/98, p.C2)
1987 In Pasadena a crematory owner
was accused of selling body parts and stuffing up to 18 bodies at a
time into a combustion chamber.
(WSJ, 2/28/02, p.B1)
1987 The Monterey Bay Aquarium
Research Institute was founded.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A8)
1987 The city of Highland, Ca., in
San Bernadino Ct., incorporated.
(SSFC, 2/19/06, p.B8)
1987 The Napa Valley Wine Train
was restored by interior designer Norman Roth (d.1999 at 72).
(SFC, 2/23/99, p.A22)
1987 Hubcap Ranch in Pope Valley,
Napa County, Ca., was declared a state historic landmark. Litto Damonte
(d.1985), Italian marble mason, had bought the 360-acre ranch in 1930.
He soon began collecting hubcaps from passing cars on the potholed Pope
Valley Road.
(SSFC, 3/15/09, p.B2)
1987 The 90-day wild horse
training program was begun at the Susanville State Prison. The Bureau
of Land management supplies the horses and hay while the prison
supplies unpaid inmates to train horses for the Adopt-a-Horse program.
(SFEC, 9/27/98, Z1 p.5)
1987 Herbert James Coddington
murdered 2 chaperones, Mabs Martin (69) and Dorothy Walsh (73) and
raped 2 teenage girls at South Lake Tahoe. In 2000 the state Supreme
court upheld his death penalty.
(SFC, 7/4/00, p.A3)
1987 William Thompson (61), a San
Diego newspaper publisher, was found dead with 55 stab wounds. In 2005
DNA evidence linked prison inmate Stanley Clayton to the murder.
(SFC, 2/24/05, p.B3)
1987-1989 June Bulman (d.1998 at 72), served as the
first elected woman mayor of Concord.
(SFC, 1/9/98, p.A19)
1987-1992 California experienced a 5-year drought.
(Econ, 8/27/05, p.28)
1987-1995 Gray Davis served as state controller. He
was elected lt. governor in 1995 and state governor in 1999.
(SFC, 11/12/03, p.A12)
1987-1998 Chester D. Turner, a pizza delivery man,
raped and strangled at least 10 women in South Los Angeles. In 2004 DNA
Turner (39) was charged with 10 murders based on DNA evidence. Turner
was already serving an 8-year sentence for rape when DNA linked him to
the serial killings. In 2007 he was sentenced to death.
(AP, 10/27/04)(SFC, 7/11/07, p.B10)
1988 Jan 5, Basketball star
"Pistol" Pete Maravich died of a heart attack during a pickup game in
Pasadena, Calif., at age 40. He had recently finished an autobiography.
In 2007 Mark Kriegel authored “Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich.”
(AP, 1/5/98)(WSJ, 2/3/07, p.P13)
1988 Jan 11, Gregory "Pappy"
Boyington (75), World War II flying ace died in Fresno, Calif.
(AP, 1/11/98)
1988 Jan 19, State Farm Insurance
Co. in California announced that it will pay $1.3 million to settle a
sex discrimination lawsuit brought by three former employees.
(AP, 1/19/98)
1988 Feb 16, Seven people were
shot to death during an office rampage in Sunnyvale, Calif.
(AP, 2/16/98)
1988 Mar 1, Robert K. Best was
appointed by George Deukmejian to serve as the chief of Caltrans and
served from this day to May 15, 1991. He helped design a 10-year master
plan and adopted a project management system to track time and costs.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, p.A14)
1988 Mar 16, Mickey Thompson (59),
drag racer, and his wife Trudy (41) were found shot to death at their
Bradbury home 15 miles east of LA. In December, 2001, Michael Goodwin,
Thompson’s former business partner, was charged with the murders of
Mickey and Trudy Thompson. Goodwin’s trial opened in 2006. On Jan 4,
2007, a jury convicted Michael Goodwin on two counts of murder. On Mar
1, 2007, Goodwin was sentenced to 2 consecutive life terms in prison
and continued to claim he was innocent of the murder.
(www.unsolved.com/UD0204-Thompson.html)(SFC, 1/5/07,
p.B10)(SFC, 3/2/07, p.B12)
1988 Apr 12, Sonny Bono elected
mayor of Palm Springs, Calif.
(http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800057596/bio)
1988 Apr 29, Molloko, the 1st
California condor chick conceived in captivity, was born in the San
Diego Zoo.
(www.highbeam.com/library/docFree.asp?DOCID=1G1:6703253)
1988 Jun 21, The Los Angeles
Lakers repeated as NBA champions as they beat the Detroit Pistons,
108-105.
(AP, 6/21/98)
1988 Aug 9, Hockey star Wayne
Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers was traded to the Los Angeles Kings.
(AP, 8/9/98)
1988 Aug, An FBI sting operation
ended in the state capital. Agents posed as Southern businessmen
seeking a bill for bond financing of a phony shrimp processing plant.
Over the next 6 years 3 former legislative aides were convicted on
charges stemming from the sting. State Senators Paul Carpenter
(d.2002), Joseph Montoya, Alan Robbins (D) and Frank Hill (R) went to
prison as did GOP Assemblyman Pat Nolan. Two lobbyists were also
convicted.
(SFC, 2/11/98, p.A15)(SFC, 1/25/02, p.A32)
1988 Oct 5, Grandma Prisbrey, born
as Thresie (Tressa) Luella Schaefer (1896), died in California. During
her life she constructed her bottle village in Simi Valley including 3
bottle structures to house her collection of 17,000 pencils. In 1981
the site was named a California State Historical Landmark and in 1996
was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
(WSJ, 10/21/08,
p.D9)(www.agilitynut.com/h/prisbrey.html)
1988 Oct 15, The Los Angeles
Dodgers defeated the Oakland A's, 5-4, in the World Series opener that
featured a dramatic game-winning home run hit by Kirk Gibson.
(AP, 10/15/98)
1988 Oct 16, The Los Angeles
Dodgers shut out the Oakland A's, 6-0, in game two of the World Series.
(AP, 10/16/98)
1988 Oct 18, The Oakland A's
defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 in game three of the World Series.
(AP, 10/18/98)
1988 Oct 19, The Los Angeles
Dodgers defeated the Oakland A's 4-3 in game four of the World Series.
(AP, 10/19/98)
1988 Oct 20, The Los Angeles
Dodgers won the World Series, defeating the Oakland A's in game five by
a score of 5-2.
(AP, 10/20/98)
1988 Nov 11, Police in Sacramento,
Calif., found the first of seven bodies buried on the grounds of a
boardinghouse. Landlady Dorothea Puente was later charged in the deaths
of nine people; she was convicted of three murders and sentenced to
life in prison in 1993.
(AP, 11/11/98)(SSFC, 1/13/02, p.A21)
1988 The Oakland Museum mounted a
retrospective of Granville Redmond, an early California impressionist.
His biography was written by Mildred Albronda.
(SFC, 12/2/98, p.A19)
1988 Patrick Dowling (d.1998)
authored "California, The Irish Dream."
(SFC, 12/23/98, p.C5)
1988 Michael Silverblatt began his
radio show “Bookworm” at KCRW in Santa Monica.
(WSJ, 12/11/01, p.A17)
1988 The Corcoran State Prison
opened in Kings County. Since the opening more than 50 [43] inmates
have been shot by guards for failure to stop fighting and 7 of those
shot died.
(SFC, 10/28/96, p.A1)(SFC, 8/20/98, p.A24)
1988 The $10 million Blackhawk
Automotive Museum in Danville was built by Kenneth Behring. Behring had
developed the Blackhawk gated community.
(SFC,11/6/97, p.A6)
1988 Construction began on the
Robinson Rancheria, a $2.2 million Pomo Indian gambling casino on the
north shore of Clear Lake.
(SFEC, 7/27/97, p.A17)
1988 Ernest Lindner (d.2001 at 79)
founded the Int’l. Printing Museum in Carson, Ca.
(SFC, 10/27/01, p.C2)
1988 Bay Area residents voted to
standardize all tolls on the region's state-owned bridges at $1, and to
use the money to fund bridge and transit improvements. In 1997 the
California Legislature added $1 to fund seismic retrofit work on the
bridges.
(SMBP, 2004)
1988 Cesar Chavez, founder of the
United Farmworkers Union, fasted for 36 days to protest the use of
pesticides on crops picked by farmworkers.
(SFC, 4/15/98, p.A16)
1988 The state Supreme Court
prohibited 3rd-party lawsuits for bad-faith decisions. In 1999 Gov.
Davis restored the right of people injured in accidents to sue
insurance companies for bad-faith decisions.
(SFC, 10/9/99, p.A1)
1988 Voters approved Prop. 98
which required that at least 40% of the state budget be spent on public
schools.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.A10)
1988 Charlotte Mae Thrailkill (29)
was sentenced to 14 years in prison for lewd and lascivious acts with 5
children. She was the first California woman to be declared a sexually
violent predator.
(SFC, 9/9/98, p.A20)
1988 The Shell Oil Co. was
responsible for a major oil spill in Carquinez. Money from a settlement
was used in 1994 to buy 10,000 acres of Cargill Salt Co. land on the
west side of the Napa River as state protected wetlands.
(SFC, 10/25/96, p.A10)
1988 Wells Fargo acquired Barclays
Bank of California.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A10)
1988 The Simpson Timber Co. of
Seattle began plowing 10,000 acres of grazing and seasonal wetland
south of Red Bluff to plant eucalyptus trees as raw material for paper.
The EPA found out 2 years later and in 1996 Simpson settled out of
court with an agreement to pay $30,000, provide $50,000 for the
expansion of the Vina Plains Preserve, and protect 3,500 acres adjacent
to the farm as a permanent vernal pool reserve.
(SFC, 10/31/96, p.A16)
1988 Virginia Jensen sold her
Hamlet oyster farm on Tomales Bay to the National Park Service.
(SFCM, 4/15/01, p.10)
1988 The Ambassador Hotel in LA,
site of the 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy, closed. The site was
later acquired by the LA Unified School District.
(WSJ, 1/8/03, p.B1)
1988 The Pacific Flyway Project
was hatched by the Point Reyes Bird Observatory and Robert P. Howell
III (d. 1997 at 85) provided the computer software to tabulate the
results.
(SFC, 10/3/97, p.B13)
1988-1989 The Academy Awards were held in Los Angeles
at the Shrine Auditorium. From 1990-1999 the site traded between the
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Shrine auditorium.
(SFC, 3/13/02, p.D5)
1989 Jan 17, Five children were
shot to death at the Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, Calif.,
by a drifter who then killed himself. Patrick Henry Purdy (27), an
alcoholic with a gun fetish, had gone to school there.
(AP, 1/17/99)(SFC, 10/4/06, p.A1)
1989 Mar, Horace McKenna, former
CHP officer and strip club owner, was shot to death outside his home in
Orange County. Michael Woods, David Amos, and John Sheridan were
charged with the murder and conspiracy to murder.
(SFC, 10/31/00, p.A15)
1989 Apr 14, Former winery worker
Ramon Salcido killed 6 relatives, including his wife and daughters, and
a co-worker in Sonoma County. He was tried and convicted in Oct. 1990
by Judge Littrell (d.1997) and sentenced to death. In 2007 Salcedo was
still on death row with his case in the appeal process.
(SFC, 1/31/97, p.E2)(AP, 4/14/99)
1989 Apr 20, Ramon Salcido, a
California winery worker later convicted of killing six relatives and a
co-worker, was deported from Mexico to the U.S.
(AP, 4/20/99)
1989 May 2, California announced
that San Jose had passed San Francisco in population.
(SFEC, 5/30/99, Z1 p.4)
1989 May 20, Comedian Gilda Radner
died in Los Angeles at age 42.
(AP, 5/20/99)
1989 Jul 1, "Playboy" magazine
founder Hugh Hefner married Kimberley Faye Conrad at his mansion in Los
Angeles. The couple separated in 1998.
(AP, 7/1/99)
1989 Jul 10, Mel Blanc (81), the
"man of a thousand voices," including such cartoon characters as Bugs
Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester and Tweety, Tazmanian Devil,
Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner, died in Los Angeles.
(AP, 7/10/99)(SFC, 1/16/03, p.A19)
1989 Jul 18, Actress Rebecca
Schaeffer, 21, was shot to death at her Los Angeles home by obsessed
fan Robert Bardo, who was later sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 7/18/99)
1989 Jul 26, Mark Wellman, a
29-year-old paraplegic, reached the summit of El Capitan in Yosemite
National Park after hauling himself up the granite cliff six inches at
a time over nine days.
(AP, 7/26/99)
1989 Aug 20, Entertainment
executive Jose Menendez and his wife, Kitty, were murdered. Eric and
Lyle Menendez stood accused of murdering their parents at their Beverly
Hills home. In their first trial the jury deadlocked, but in 1996 they
were convicted of first-degree murder. They based their defense on a
history of parental abuse. They were sentenced to consecutive life
terms without the possibility of parole.
(SFC, 4/18/96, p.a-15)(WSJ, 3/21/96, p.A-1)(SFC,
2/1/97, p.A24)
1989 Sep 29, In California The
Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 was signed into law. Republican
Gov. George Deukmejian and Democratic lawmakers in control of the
Legislature had negotiated the creation of the Integrated Waste
Management Board to oversee the reduction of waste going to landfills.
(SSFC, 6/14/09, p.A10)(http://tinyurl.com/l9wx7d)
1989 Oct 3, Art Shell became the
first African-American to coach a professional football team, the Los
Angeles Raiders.
(HN, 10/3/98)
1989 Oct 11, In California Cathy
Paternoster (32) was shot and killed and her boyfriend Carl Fuerst (41)
was wounded outside their Spring Valley Lake home. In 2009 Eric Fagan
(74) was arrested in connection with the killing of Paternoster, his
girlfriend’s daugher. Police said Fagan had killed Cathy Paternoster so
that her mother, Betty Paternoster, could gain custody of her 3
granddaughters.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.D4)(www.sbsun.com/news/ci_13618941)
1989 Oct 17, The 7.1 Loma Prieta
earthquake [Watsonville] hit the San Francisco area minutes before the
start of a World Series game there and 67 people died and 3,000 were
injured. It caused $7 billion worth of damage. The Spreckel’s Temple of
Music in Golden Gate Park was damaged and later restored. 28,000
structures were damaged and several freeways ruined. 42 people died on
the Cypress Freeway. At the train station in SF Dr. Margaret McChesney
commandeered a tour bus to take frightened passengers home and
navigated the driver safely through barricades of cars and gangs of
marauding youths on 3rd St. In 1999 new measuring methods changed the
magnitude to 6.9.
(SFC, 4/15/96,A-6)(SFC, 10/17/96, A15)(SFC, 7/23/97,
p.A13)(AP, 10/17/97)(AR,9/12/98)(HN, 10/17/98)(SFC, 10/7/99, p.A21)
1989 Dec 9, A warehouse fire at
the Mendocino Coast Distributing company, owned by Florence Martha
Beardslee, was blamed on Anheuser-Busch. In 2000 Beardslee was
sentenced to 7 years in prison for hiring men to set the fire and with
other arson related charges.
(SFC, 12/5/00, p.A22)
1989 California’s Gov. Brown and
journalist Dick Adler co-authored “Public Justice, Private Mercy: A
Governor’s Education on Death Row.”
(SFC, 1/13/03, p.A1)
1989 The new Folsom Prison was
built.
(SFEC, 1/26/97, p.B4)
1989 The Santa Rita Rehabilitation
Center in Livermore was condemned and replaced. It was renamed the
Alameda County Jail Santa Rita.
(SFC, 12/9/98, p.E1)
1989 Sheila Kuehl co-founded the
California Women’s Law Center.
(SFC, 9/22/96, Zone 1 p.3)
1989 The Holy Land Foundation was
founded in California as an Islamic charity. In 2002 it filed suit
against the US Departments of Justice, Treasury and State for violation
of its civil rights and putting it out of business as a suspected
conduit for terrorist funds.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A14)
1989 Nedim Buyukmihci, animal
rights leader, founded the nonprofit Animal Place sanctuary in
Vacaville, Ca.
(SFCM, 8/24/03, p.8)
1989 The Hess Collection in Napa
opened as a combination winery and modern art museum. Donald Hess, a
Swiss water wizard, had acquired the former Theodore Gier Winery in the
1970s.
(SFEC, 2/22/98, p.T5)
1989 In Daly City PG&E
consultants under state orders found toxic residues at Midway Village
and then found records that that the 150-unit subdivision was atop
contaminated fill - toxic scrapings from the next-door PG&E site -
originally covered by WW II era housing. Polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PNAs), previously know as polynuclear aromatic
hydrocarbons, were found. These substances were linked to numerous
types of cancer.
(SFEC, 4/27/97, p.A14)
1989 An Act of Congress authorized
an expansion of the Sacramento River National Refuge to a projected
18,000 acres.
(WSJ, 5/5/99, p.CA1)
1989 California outlawed some
military-style semiautomatic weapons following the Jan 17 slaying of
children in Stockton.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.A10)
1989 A state bond measure approved
$10.7 million for a state museum in Sacramento. It was scheduled to
open in 1998.
(WSJ, 6/11/97, p.CA1)
1989 The Fresno Municipal Sanitary
Landfill, opened in 1937 as the nation’s 1st true sanitary landfill,
was named a Superfund toxic site by the EPA.
(SFC, 8/29/01, p.A3)
1989 Fresno began its self-guided
Blossom Trail. Some 62 miles of roadway were marked with directional
signs and crop labels for the local orchards.
(SSFC, 2/20/05, p.F7)
1989 The Rancho Seco nuclear
plant, owned by the Sacramento Municipal Utility, was closed down after
a series of prolonged and expensive failures. The plant, 15 miles
southeast of Sacramento, was proposed in 1999 as a nuclear waste dump
site.
(SFC, 4/17/99, p.A13)
1989 Richard Ramirez, the "Night
Stalker," was convicted of 13 slayings in the LA area. His trial cost
$1.8 million.
(SFC, 2/25/99, p.A13)
1989 Randy Steven Kraft, a
computer consultant, was sentenced to death after he was convicted for
16 homicides in Orange County between 1972-1983. He was arrested in
1983 and linked to 45 murders. The death sentence was upheld in 2000.
(SFC, 8/11/00, p.A2)
1989 Tom Klein acquired Rodney
Strong Vineyards from Guinness Corp. Klein retained Rodney Strong as a
brand representative.
(SFC, 3/7/06, p.B5)
1989 The Los Angeles Harold
Express folded due to financial troubles.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A22)
1989 In Kern County Paul C. Bolin
killed his assistant Vance Huffstuttler in Walker Basin for revealing a
marijuana crop to campers Steve Mincy and Jim Wilson. Mincy was also
killed, but Wilson survived and testified against Bolin who was
sentenced to death.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B8)
1989-1993 Video film captured 4 killings at Corcoran
State prison of convicts by prison guards. The video was edited and
titled “Maximum Security University.” A review board ruled that all
four shootings were justified. It was alleged that inmates known as
bitter enemies were faced off in exercise yards.
(SFEC,12/14/97, p.D1,6)
1989-1997 In the state’s 33-facility correctional
system there were 27 fatal shootings, seven of them at Corcoran Prison.
(SFEC,12/14/97, p.A22)
1990 Jan 18, A jury in Los Angeles
acquitted former preschool operators Raymond Buckey and his mother,
Peggy McMartin Buckey, of 52 child molestation charges.
(AP, 1/18/00)
1990 Feb 7, An 811-foot tanker,
the American Trader, spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of
Alaskan crude oil off the coast of Huntington Beach, Calif.
(AP, 2/7/00)
1990 Feb 24, Johnnie Ray, fifties
balladeer (Cry), died in Los Angeles of liver failure at age 63.
(AP, 2/24/00)(MC, 2/24/02)
1990 Apr 3, Jazz singer Sarah
Vaughan died in suburban Los Angeles at age 66.
(AP, 4/3/00)
1990 May 13, Thomas Walker was
shot to death at his home in Hacienda Heights, Los Angeles County. In
1991 his wife Hudie Joyce Walker was convicted of 2nd degree murder and
sentenced 19 years to life in jail. In 2007 she was granted a new trial
due to issues involving battered women’s syndrome.
(SFC, 2/8/07, p.B2)
1990 May 24, Darryl Cherney and
Judi Bari (11/7/49-3/2/97), environmental activists in the Earth First!
movement, were injured after a pipe bomb exploded in their car as they
drove through Oakland, Ca. They were arrested while in the hospital on
charges of transporting a bomb but the charges were never filed. They
later filed a suit against the FBI and Oakland police for false arrest,
illegal search and seizure and conspiracy to violate free-speech
rights. Bari died of liver cancer in 1997.
(SFC, 3/1/97, p.C2)(SFC,10/21/97, p.A20)
1990 Jul 27, A mistrial was
declared in Raymond Buckey’s retrial on charges of molesting children
at the McMartin Pre-School in California.
(AP, 7/27/00)
1990 Nov 6, About one-fifth of the
Universal Studios back lot in southern California was destroyed in an
arson fire.
(AP, 11/6/00)
1990 Dec 8, Crystal Leann Anzaldi
(14 months) disappeared from her home in San Diego. She turned up in
1997 in Puerto Rico in the hands of Nilza Gierbolini Guzman (35).
Guzman had lived in San Diego at the time of the kidnapping.
(SFC,11/18/97, p.A2)
1990 Dec 26, Jesse Stayner (42) in
Merced County was shot to death with his own gun. He was the uncle of
Cary Stayner who confessed in 1999 to the killing of 4 women in
Yosemite Park.
(SFC, 7/27/99, p.A11)
1990 Dec 28, Maria Elena Leal (23)
was last seen in Rohnert Park. Her body was found near Jenner on Jan
25, 1991. In 2002 a witness identified Leticia Robles as the person who
strangled her.
(SSFC, 3/29/02, p.A21)
1990 Mike Davis authored "City of
Quartz," a savage view of the future of Los Angeles.
(SFC, 8/31/99, p.A5)
1990 Philip Marsh (66) founded the
Pilot Connection in Stockton, which claimed that all income taxes were
voluntary and sold packages to tell buyers how to free themselves from
tax liability. Marsh was sentenced to a jail term in 1999.
(SFC, 6/9/99, p.C12)
1990 The California Organic Food
Acts was established.
(SFC, 6/22/02, p.B1)
1990 Voters passed a term limits
measure. It was struck down in 1997 because the measure did not
disclose that the limits imposed a lifetime ban on veteran legislators.
(SFC, 10/8/97, p.A1)
1990 Prop. 117 outlawed the sport
hunting of mountain lions. By 1998 it was clear that the lions were
threatening the existence of the Bighorn Sheep.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A6)(SFC, 9/21/98, p.A1,4)
1990 The Univ. of California Board
of Regents approved a compensation plan for top executives that
included severance payments upon resignation.
(SFC, 1/27/06, p.A1)
c1990 A law suit began against
Montrose Chemical Corp. and 2 other companies for a 100 ton DDT deposit
in the ocean off Los Angeles. A settlement was reached in 2000.
(SFC, 10/28/00, p.A5)
1990 Wells Fargo completed 4
acquisitions: Valley National Bank of Glendale, Central Pacific Corp.
of Bakersfield, Torrey Pines Group of Solana Beach, and Citizens
Holding in Orange County. An agreement was also reached to purchase 130
branches of Great American Bank.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A10)
1990 GHB, gamma hydroxy butyrate,
began to be reported as a cause of illnesses. The paint thinner gamma
butyl lactone was being mixed with water and alcohol that when ingested
metabolized to GHB, later called "liquid ecstasy" or "blue nitro."
(SFC, 1/14/99, p.A16)
1990 The census showed that
Monterey Park, a Los Angeles suburb, had 57% Asians of 60,738
residents, making it the first Asian-majority city in the US.
(SFC, 8/21/99, p.A23)
1990 A major forest fire burned
the Yosemite Valley.
(SFC, 5/31/99, p.A13)
1990s Jimmy Smythe escaped from
the Maze prison near Belfast along with 37 other prisoners in 1983. He
made his way to San Francisco where he was arrested and released on
bail in 1992. Kevin Barry Artt, Terence Kirby, and Pol Brennan also
escaped and made their way to California. They were arrested in the
1990s and held in a federal prison in Pleasanton, Ca. They were
released on bail in 1998.
(SFC, 7/4/96, p.A20)(SFC, 10/10/98, p.A8)(SFC,
10/17/98, p.A15)
1991 Feb 1, A US-Air jetliner
crashed atop a commuter turboprop plane while landing at Los Angeles
International Airport. 34 people were killed.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A1)(AP, 2/1/97)
1991 Mar 3, In Los Angeles police
arrested ex-convict Rodney King after an 8-mile chase. King resisted
arrest and the police used force to subdue him. A local resident
captured part of the arrest and beating on video tape. The incident led
to a police trial and acquittal that sparked a violent riot. In 1998
Lou Cannon published “Official Negligence: How Rodney King and the
Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD” documenting the whole affair.
(WSJ, 2/5/98, p.A20)(SFEC, 2/8/98, BR p.1)
1991 Mar 15, Four Los Angeles
police were charged in the beating of Rodney King.
(HN, 3/15/98)
1991 Mar 16, A plane crash near
San Diego, Ca., killed 10 people including 7 members of Reba McIntire's
band.
(www.answers.com/topic/reba-mcentire)
1991 Jun 10, In South Lake Tahoe,
Ca., Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy, snatched Jaycee Lee Dugard
(11) from a bus stop outside her home. In 2009 police freed Dugard and
arrested the Garrido’s. During the interim Phillip Garrido fathered 2
children with Dugard keeping them in tents in a fenced backyard
compound in Antioch, Ca.
(AP, 8/28/09)
1991 Jun 11, The half-nude body of
Jessica McHenry (14) of Livermore, Ca., was found strangled and burning
on Tesla Rd. In 2007 Derick Moncada (35) hanged himself at Kern Valley
State Prison after being confronted with DNA evidence that linked him
to her murder. Moncada was serving time for other crimes.
(SFC, 4/28/04, p.B1)(SFC, 3/20/07, p.B1)
1991 Jun 28, Two people were
killed when the Sierra Madre earthquake, magnitude 5.8, shook Southern
California.
(AP,
6/28/01)(www.data.scec.org/chrono_index/sierrama.html)
1991 Jul 14, A Southern Pacific
tanker car derailed near Dunsmuir and spilled 18,000 gallons of
pesticides (19k gallons of metam sodium) into the Sacramento River.
This killed every living thing in the river for 40 miles downstream
including 250,000 trout.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.T7)(SFC, 11/13/99, p.A22)
1991 Jul 31, A volleyball court
was installed at People’s Park in Berkeley at a cost of over $1 million
due to the ensuing 12 days of rioting and arrests. The city established
a five year lease with the Univ. to manage the 2.3 acre park.
(SFC, 1/4/97, p.A17)(SFEC, 1/5/97, p.B3)
1991 Aug 2, In Twentynine Palms
Valentine Underwood stabbed to death Amanda Scott (15) and Rosalie
Ortega (20). Each victim was stabbed 33 times after they rebuffed his
sexual advances. Underwood was convicted in 1997.
(SFEC,12/21/97, p.B2)
1991 Sep 22, California’s
Huntington Library said it would make microfilm copies of the Dead Sea
Scrolls available to the public.
(www.huntington.org/LibraryDiv/DeadSeaScrolls.html)
1991 Sep 24, Children's author
Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, died in La Jolla,
Calif., at age 87.
(AP, 9/24/97)
1991 Sep 29, California Gov. Pete
Wilson vetoed a bill outlawing job discrimination against homosexuals,
saying it could have led to unjustified lawsuits.
(AP, 9/29/01)
1991 Oct 1, James W. Van Loben
Sels, military engineer, was appointed by Pete Wilson to serve as the
chief of Caltrans and served from this day to Jan 3, 1999.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, p.A14)
1991 Oct 20, A major fire burned
about 3,000 homes in the Oakland Hills and killed 25 people. 2,843
homes were destroyed causing $1.54 billion in damage.
(SFEC, 10/20/96, p.C4)(SFEC, 5/30/99, Z1 p.4)
1991 Oct 21, Former California
Governor Jerry Brown announced his presidential candidacy.
(AP, 10/21/01)
1991 Nov 4, Former President
Reagan opened his library in Simi Valley, Calif., with a dedication
ceremony attended by President Bush and former presidents Jimmy Carter,
Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon.
(AP, 11/4/97)
1991 Jim Boggio (d.1996) and
Clifton Buck-Kaufman co-founded the Cotati Accordion Festival in
northern California.
(www.accordions.com/index/squ/squ_96_11_15.shtml#jim)
1991 Nov 20, California Democrat
Alan Cranston accepted a Senate reprimand for his dealings with former
savings-and-loan chief Charles H. Keating Jr., but then denied he was
guilty of many of the allegations, prompting an angry rebuttal by New
Hampshire Republican Warren B. Rudman.
(AP, 11/20/01)
1991 Nov 29, Seventeen people were
killed in a 164-vehicle pileup during a dust storm on Interstate 5 near
Coalinga, Calif. Over 250 vehicles were involved and over 100 were
injured.
(SFC,11/17/97, p.A23)(AP, 11/29/01)(MC, 11/29/01)
1991 Nov 29, Actor Ralph Bellamy
died in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 87.
(AP, 11/29/01)
1991 Dec 20, Robert Bardo, the
obsessed fan who had stalked actress Rebecca Schaeffer before killing
her, was sentenced in Los Angeles to life in prison without parole.
(AP, 12/20/01)
1991 Dec, Amanda “Nikki” Campbell
(4) was last seen alive in Fairfield.
(SFC, 1/11/01, p.A19)
1991 Christo created his
“Umbrellas” sculpture over a southern California hillside that lasted 3
weeks.
(SFC, 3/2/97, p.E4)
1991 John Arthur Maynard authored
“Venice West, The Beat Generation in Southern California.”
(SFC, 4/13/02, p.A21)
1991 The Spanish-based Codorniu
winery opened in Napa. In 1996 Michael Kenton became president of the
winery and in 1999 he name was changed to Artesa.
(SFEM, 10/31/99, p.12,13)
1991 The town of Windsor in
northern Ca. was incorporated with the help of Joe Rodota (d.1997 at
65). As the director of the Sonoma County Regional Park system he
expanded the park from 400 acres to more than 6,000 over his 25 years
as director.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A18)
1991 The US government closed
Norton Air Force base in California’s San Bernadino Ct., costing the
region some 10,000 jobs.
(SSFC, 2/19/06, p.B8)
1991 Peter Camejo (1939-2008)
helped found the California Green Party. He later became a perennial
candidate for state and national office.
(SSFC, 9/14/08, p.B1)
1991 Richard Graff (d.1998 at 60),
Central Coast vintner of Challone wines, founded the American Institute
of Food and Wine with chef Julia Child and winemaker Robert Mondavi.
(SFEC, 1/11/98, p.D4)
1991 Paul Biddle, a Navy contract
auditor assigned to the Stanford campus, provoked a debate in Congress
over what universities could properly bill the government for research
costs. The controversy led to the resignation of Stanford Pres. Donald
Kennedy.
(SFC, 4/22/99, p.A11)
1991 Executive Life, a large
California insurer, collapsed under the stewardship of Frederick Carr.
He had invested premiums of policy holders in junk bonds, whose value
plunged as the US economy tanked. Credit Lyonnais, a French bank, made
an illegal arrangement to purchase the depressed bonds and together
with French billionaire Francois Pinault reaped a $2.54 billion profit.
In 2004 the French government pleaded guilty to fraud for its role.
(WSJ, 4/16/04, p.A1)
1991 Raley’s food and general
merchandise acquired 17 Bel Air stores.
(SFC,12/17/97, p.B1)
1991 The annual California Mille,
a 4-day, 1,300 mile tour of northern California began. It was opened to
drivers of cars built between 1927-1957, the years that the Mille
Miglia race was run in Italy.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A13)
1991 California ordered employers
with over 50 employees to grant employees unpaid leaves for as much as
4 months to care for family members.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.A10)
1991 Judge William Orrick (d.2003
at 87) declared a California anti-panhandling law unconstitutional,
ruling that it was a form of speech.
(SFC, 8/16/03, p.A20)
1991 Charles Ng was extradited
from Canada to the US for his role with Leonard Lake in the 1984-1985
murders in Calaveras County.
(SFC,10/18/97, p.A13)
1991 Pebble Beach golf course,
owned by Marvin Davis, was sold to Japanese tycoon Minoru Isutani for a
reported $850 million.
(SFC, 6/18/99, p.A1,11)
1991 The 1st reintroduction of
California condors back to the wild took place.
(SFC, 3/3/00, p.A21)
1991 Latasha Harlins (15) was shot
and killed by a Korean store owner in LA over a bottle of orange juice.
(SFC, 1/1/97, p.A16)
1991-1994 Bank of America extended full-service
branches into supermarkets throughout the state.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.B4)
1992 Jan, The Livingston bypass on
Hwy. 99 was ceremoniously begun. It approached completion in 1996 with
southbound lanes opened in Sep.
(SFC, 9/19/96, p.C1)
1992 Feb 26, S.I. Hayakawa (85),
Senator-R-CA, died of a stroke.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1992 Feb, Kimberley Pandelios (21)
was lured to a photo shoot in the Angeles National Forest. Her remains
were found by hikers in the San Gabriel Mountains in March, 1993. In
2006 David Rademaker (42), a registered sex offender, was convicted for
her murder.
(SFC, 2/16/06, p.B3)
1992 Apr 9, Barbara Muszalski (49)
disappeared from her Livermore goat ranch. Her slashed body was found 2
days later at the SF airport parking garage. Benjamin Pedro Gonzales,
who had stayed at the ranch for odd jobs, was arrested in San Diego for
the murder. He was also accused of the murder of a Los Angeles college
student and a New York stripper. Gonzales was convicted of first degree
murder in 1998.
(SFC, 11/16/98, p.A15,19)(SFC, 12/11/98, p.A26)
1992 Apr 10, Financier Charles
Keating Jr. was sentenced in Los Angeles to nine years in prison for
swindling investors when his Lincoln Savings and Loan collapsed. The
convictions were later overturned.
(AP, 4/9/97)
1992 Apr 21, Robert Alton Harris
became the first person executed at San Quentin by the state of
California in 25 years as he was put to death in the gas chamber for
the 1978 murder of two San Diego teen-age boys. Harris left some art
that was later put on sale at Expressions Art Gallery in Oakland.
(SFEC, 11/17/96, p.C17)(AP, 4/21/97)(SFC, 2/6/99,
p.A13)
1992 Apr 22, A 6.0 Joshua Tree
earthquake hit California.
(www.data.scec.org/chrono_index/joshuatr.html)
1992 Apr 25, The Cape Mendocino
earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale shook northern California.
{earthquake, California, USA}
(AP,
4/25/97)(www.johnmartin.com/earthquakes/eqshow/cap_0000.htm)
1992 Apr 29, Deadly rioting
erupted in Los Angeles after a jury in Simi Valley acquitted four
Los Angeles police officers of almost all state charges in the
videotaped beating of Rodney King. White truck driver Reginald Denny
was beaten by a mob in south Central LA angered by the acquittal of 4
police officers caught on video tape in the beating of black motorist
Rodney King. Three days of violence ensued with 55 people killed, 2,300
injured and an estimated $1 billion [$717 million] in property damages.
Rioters tore through the city following the not guilty verdicts on
state charges for Los Angeles Police Department Sergeant Stacey C. Koon
and officer Laurence M. Powell for beating Rodney King. 1093 buildings
were damaged or destroyed. Of these, 764 retail stores were owned by
Koreans. The US Congress later authorized $1 billion to revitalize
south central Los Angeles.
(TMC, 1994, p.1992)(SFC, 6/14/96, p. A4)(SFC,
1/1/97, p.A16)(SFC, 4/29/97, p.A8)(WSJ, 6/4/97, p.CA1)(AP,
4/29/98)(SFC, 2/5/00, p.A3)
1992 May 4, Democratic
presidential candidate Bill Clinton toured riot-ravaged Los Angeles
streets, blaming the destruction on what he called 12 years of
Republican neglect.
(AP, 5/4/97)
1992 Jun 2, In California,
Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer were nominated to twin
U.S. Senate seats. California became the first state to have 2 women in
the US Senate.
(AP, 6/2/97)(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A19)
1992 Jun 26, Willie L. Williams
was sworn in as Los Angeles police chief, succeeding Daryl Gates.
(AP, 6/26/97)
1992 Jun 28, The 7.3 Landers
earthquake hit Southern California. One person was killed and 402
injured.
(AP, 6/28/97)(
www.data.scec.org/chrono_index/landersq.html)
1992 Jul 1, California issued its
first state IOU's since the Great Depression as a budget standoff left
the state cashless on the first day of its fiscal year.
(AP, 7/1/97)
1992 Oct 21, A report prepared for
the Los Angeles police commission found that the city was unprepared to
handle the rioting that broke out the previous spring, and had
responded inadequately.
(AP, 10/21/97)
1992 Oct, An explosion at the
Texaco facility near Los Angeles harbor sent 16 people to the hospital
and spawned 4,500 property damage claims.
(SFC, 11/12/96, p.A9)
1992 Nov, Joe Garcia and 5 other
people were killed by Lynwood Drake III (43), an unemployed handyman,
during a rampage in Morro Bay and Paso Robles. In 2002 Garcia’s
daughter, Marisa Mariposa Garcia (27), killed her 3-year-old daughter
in Mill Valley.
(SFC, 4/11/02, p.A18)
1992 The Japanese-American Museum
set up home in downtown LA. $45 million dollars was raised for a new
building and in 1999 the new Japanese American National Pavilion,
designed by Gyo Obata, opened.
(WSJ, 5/21/99, p.W16)
1992 Magnificat, an ensemble of
voices and instruments dedicated to the performance of early Baroque
music, began an annual series of concerts in SF, Berkeley and San Jose.
(PNM, 1/25/98, p.6)
1992 The California Wellness
Foundation was established to improve the health of state residents. It
focused on inner-city violence as a preventable health problem.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A14)
1992 In California John Bryant
founded Operation Hope in the aftermath of the LA riots to give poor
people a hand in with financial education, advice and basic banking.
(Econ, 4/5/08, p.73)
1992 Federal law outlawed the
commercial fishing of Coho salmon off the Pacific coast.
(SFC, 1/27/98, p.A15)
1992 The federal Central Valley
Project Improvement Act was designed to end litigation that had
characterized California’s water policies for decades. It empowered a
joint state and federal agency, CalFed, on a program of environmental
restoration in the Central Valley, the delta, and SF Bay.
(SSFC, 10/23/05, p.A17)
1992 The California legislature
approved a bill paving the way for charter schools.
(SFC, 10/17/96, A4)
1992 California mandated helmets
for motorcyclists.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.A10)
1992 California approved the
enactment of the death penalty by lethal injection instead of the gas
chamber.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.A10)
1992 Arts education began
receiving funds from the sale of a special license plate from the DMV
designed by Wayne Thiebaud.
(SFC, 5/13/02, p.A9)
1992 The city of American Canyon
next to Napa incorporated.
(SFC, 9/1/99, p.A20)
1992 Univ. of California officials
reported to federal authorities that 9 professors had padded their
wallets with research grants through the nonprofit Western Consortium
for Public Health. The case was settled in 1999 after 7 years with the
Univ. paying $120,000 in financial reimbursements and an apology to the
professors involved.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, Z1 p.2)
1992 Mark L. Nathanson, Coastal
commissioner, was indicted on charges of extorting hundreds of
thousands of dollars from developers and homeowners seeking state
permits to build on beachfront property in Southern Calif.
(SFC, 1/26/02, p.A1)
1992 The Monterey Bay was
designated as a National Marine Sanctuary.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A8)
1992 The LA City Council ordered
that trash be separated for easier recycling.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A5)
1992 The Post Ranch Inn opened in
Big Sur.
(SFEM, 10/25/98, p.6)
1992 A drought continued and
irrigation waters were cut back.
(SFC, 11/12/96, p.A8)
1992 Arthur Leigh Allen of
Vallejo, a convicted child molester and identified as the California
Zodiac killer, died. In 1985 Robert Graysmith authored “Zodiac” in
which he identified the killer with the pseudonym of “Robert Starr.”
Graysmith authored “Zodiac Unmasked” in 2002.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W20)(SSFC, 5/12/02, p.M6)
1993 Jan 16, Linda Scates (40) of
Walnut Creek ran down 8 cyclists on Danville Blvd. in Alamo killing
one. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
(SFC, 12/4/98, p.A21)
1993 Jan 31, The Dallas Cowboys
defeated the Buffalo Bills 52-17 in Super Bowl XXVII, played at the
Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
(AP, 1/31/98)
1993 Mar 9, Rodney King testified
at the federal trial of four Los Angeles police officers accused of
violating his civil rights, saying he'd been "attacked" by the
defendants.
(AP, 3/9/98)
1993 Apr 2, Ellie Nesler
(1952-2008) shot and killed Daniel Driver in a Jamestown, Ca.,
courtroom. Driver had been accused of molesting her son and three other
boys. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison. She later admitted to
investigators that she had taken “crank” that morning. She was freed in
1997 after serving 3 and 1/2 years in prison. The events were made into
a 1999 TV movie. In 2002 she was sentenced to 6 years in prison for
selling and possessing illegal drugs. In 2005 her son Willy was
convicted of 1st degree murder for the stomping death in 2004 of a man
on their property.
(SFC, 11/21/96, p.A22)(SFC, 8/22/97, p.A1)(SFC,
6/23/99, p.B1)(SFC, 6/6/06, p.B8)(SFC, 12/30/08, p.B1)
1993 Apr 16, A jury reached guilty
verdict in the Federal case against cop who beat Rodney King, but the
verdict was not read until April 17th.
(www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/kingchronology.html)
1993 Apr 17, A federal jury in Los
Angeles convicted two former police officers of violating the civil
rights of beaten motorist Rodney King; two other officers were
acquitted. [see Apr 16]
(AP, 4/17/98)
1993 May 2, Julio Gallo (b.1910),
wine maker (Gallo), died in a car accident.
(www.britannica.com/ebi/article-9311360)
1993 May, The symphony "Frontiers"
by Fredric Myrow was premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It was
commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts.
(SFC, 1/18/99, p.A21)
1993 Jun 3, In California a
woman’s decomposing body was found along Pacheco Pass east of Gilroy.
In 1997 Keith Hunter Jesperson, in prison in Oregon for other murders,
described her murder in a letter to the Santa Clara Ct. district
attorney.
(SFC, 6/15/06, p.B3)
1993 Jun 8, Los Angeles voters
elected their first registered Republican mayor since 1961, choosing
Richard Riordan over City Councilman Michael Woo.
(AP, 6/8/98)
1993 Jun, In Alameda Ct., Ca.,
Caroline Young (49) stabbed her 2 grandchildren to death in fear of
losing custody of one of them to his father. Young was sentenced to
death and died of kidney failure in a Fresno hospital while on death
row in 2005.
(SFC, 9/17/05, p.B2)
1993 Aug, David Edwin Mason was
executed in the gas chamber for the 1980 murder of 4 elderly Oakland
residents and the strangulation of a cellmate 2 years later.
(SFC, 7/11/97, p.A16)
1993 Jul 15, Authorities in Los
Angeles announced eight arrests in connection with an alleged plot by
white supremacists to ignite a race war by bombing a black church and
killing prominent black Americans.
(AP, 7/15/98)
1993 Aug 9, Reputed "Hollywood
Madam" Heidi Fleiss pleaded innocent in Los Angeles to five counts of
pandering and one count of selling cocaine. (Fleiss was convicted in
1994 of three counts of pandering and acquitted of the drug charge, but
the verdicts were later thrown out due to jury misconduct. She
eventually pleaded guilty to attempted pandering.)
(AP, 8/9/98)
1993 Aug 18, Tseng "Jim" Peng,
electronics tycoon, returned to California from a trip to Taiwan and
found his mistress, Ranbing "Jennifer" Ji, stabbed to death and his
5-month-old son suffocated. His wife Lisa Peng was found guilty in 1996
after an initial trial ended in deadlock. Lisa Peng's conviction was
reversed in 1999 due to questionable police tactics.
(SFEC, 10/10/99, p.C5)
1993 Aug 23, Los Angeles police
confirmed that pop star Michael Jackson was the subject of a criminal
investigation.
(AP, 8/23/98)
1993 Aug 24, The state executed
David Mason for the murder of 4 elderly people in Oakland and a
cellmate in Alameda. He left behind a full gallery of paintings
including depictions of boys doing pushups over knives or standing
naked and shaking hands with death. Mason was the last person executed
by gas in California.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A13)(SFC, 3/13/00, p.A8)
1993 Aug 25, Amy Biehl, Stanford
graduate and Fulbright scholar from Newport Beach, Calif., was slain
while attempting to drive black friends home to Guguletu outside Cape
Town. Four members of the Congress’ youth wing were arrested, convicted
and sentenced to 18-year jail terms. They later requested amnesty from
the Truth & Reconciliation Commission. In 1998 the 4 men convicted
of Biehl’s murder were given amnesty.
(SFC, 8/21/96, p.A8)(SFEC, 6/29/97, p.D1)(WSJ,
7/29/98, p.A1)(AP, 8/25/98)
1993 Sep 27, Retired Gen. James H.
Doolittle died in Pebble Beach, Calif., at age 96.
(AP, 9/27/98)
1993 Oct 1, In Petaluma, Ca.
12-year-old Polly Klaas was kidnapped from her bedroom while playing
with two girl friends by a knife-wielding intruder; her body was found
more than two months later. 60 days later Richard Allen Davis was
arrested for the kidnap and murder of Polly. He was later convicted and
sentenced to death.
(SFC, 4/24/96, p.A-1)(AP, 10/1/98)
1993 Oct 18, In California 2
defendants were acquitted of most of the felony charges in the beating
of trucker Reginald Denny and other motorists at the start of the 1992
Los Angeles riots; the jury did convict Damian Williams of simple
mayhem, Henry Watson of simple assault.
(AP, 10/18/98)
1993 Oct 25, Actor Vincent Price
died in Los Angeles at age 82.
(AP, 10/25/98)
1993 Oct 27, Brush fires raged
across Southern California, destroying several hundred homes.
(AP, 10/27/98)
1993 Nov 2, Fires in Southern
California pushed through areas of Los Angeles, Riverside and San
Bernardino counties, burning 35,000 acres and 200 homes.
(AP, 11/2/98)
1993 Nov 30, Authorities in
California arrested Richard Allen Davis (b.1954), who confessed to
abducting and slaying Polly Klaas (12) of Petaluma. Polly had been
abducted from her home on October 1, 1993. On August 5, 1996, Davis was
sentenced to death and sent to Death Row in San Quentin State Prison.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Allen_Davis)(AP, 11/30/98)
1993 Dec 2, Alan Winterbournem, an
unemployed computer engineer, opened fire at a California unemployment
agency in Oxnard, killing three workers; he killed a police officer
during a chase that ended in Ventura, where he himself was gunned down.
(AP, 12/2/03)
1993 Dec 4, Authorities found the
body of 12-year-old kidnap victim Polly Klaas in a wooded area of
Cloverdale, Calif.
(AP, 12/4/04)
1993 Dec 4, Rock musician and
composer Frank Zappa died in Los Angeles at age 52.
(AP, 12/4/98)
1993 Robert Dawson, Gerald Haslam
and Stephen Johnson did a photo-journalistic study of "The Great
Central Valley."
(SFEC, 4/18/99, BR p.8)
1993 Joan Reutinger (d.1999 at 83)
published "Memories of Willow Camp: A Personal History of Stinson
Beach."
(SFC, 6/30/99, p.C2)
1993 The last section of I-105 was
completed in Los Angeles. This completed the US highway system begun in
1956.
(Econ, 2/16/08, p.32)
1993 The Arrowhead Pond, a sports
center for the NHL Mighty Ducks, was completed in Anaheim for $120
million.
(SFC, 5/21/01, p.A3)
1993 Ted Hayes founded Dome
Village in Los Angeles as a cooperative for 30 homeless people. In 2006
the project was dismantled and the domes were auctioned off online.
(SFC, 9/1/06, p.B12)
1993 Alan Cranston, California US
Senator, retired.
(SFC, 1/1/01, p.A5)
1993 The North Kern State prison
was established in Delano.
(SFC, 7/11/00, p.A28)
1993 California’s Lancaster prison
opened. It was designed for 2,200 and in 2005 housed 4,600.
(Econ, 2/26/05, p.27)
1993 Ruth Clark Lert (d.1997 at
81), a modern dance historian and archivist, donated her collection to
UC at Irvine where it is held as the Ruth Clark Lert Dance Library and
Archive.
(SFC,10/28/97, p.A20)
1993 Tom Bradley, mayor of Los
Angeles, retired. He was succeeded by Richard Riordan.
(SFC, 9/30/98, p.A13)
1993 The California Shellfish
Protection Act mandated that regional water quality control boards
enact policies and set up committees to protect threatened shellfish.
(SFC, 4/28/03, A14)
1993 The El Toro Marine Corps air
base in Orange County, Ca., was closed. In 2005 Florida’s Lennar
Communities paid $649.5 million for the base.
(Econ, 5/21/05, p.34)
1993 The California Lottery
cancelled an agreement for automation of the Scratcher game and
settlement costs came to $52 million.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, Z1 p.6)
1993 Erin Brockovich brought a
suit against PG&E for contamination of air and water around Hinkley
in San Bernadino Ct. PG&E admitted in 1987 that chromium was
released into the environment from 1951-1966. In 2000 the film "Erin
Brockovich" starred Julia Roberts as Erin.
(SFC, 3/16/00, p.A17)
1993 At Corcoran State Prison
Vincent Tulumis was shot in the neck during a fight allegedly set up by
officers in the Security Housing Unit. Tulumis was paralyzed for life
and in 1999 received a $2.2 million settlement from the state.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, p.D2)
1993 The city of Gardena, Ca.,
borrowed $15 million to create its own insurance company. The operation
proved unsuccessful and in 2004 the city was $26 million in debt.
(SSFC, 12/12/04, p.A17)
1993 The Benziger Family sold the
Glen Ellen Winery in Sonoma to concentrate on their Benziger Family
Winery.
(SFC, 5/18/00, p.A25)
1993 The Robert Mondavi Wine Co.
went public to pay of debts and raise money for expansion.
(USAT, 6/17/98, p.2D)
1993 The National Ignition
Facility (NIF) was begun in Livermore, Ca. It was designed to be the 40
times as powerful as any laser ever built.
(WSJ, 12/20/99, p.A1)
1993 A gunman enter the Pettit
& Martin law firm at 101 California and shot to death 9 people. 6
were wounded.
(SFC, 1/18/01, p.A22)
1994 Jan 1, The California tax on
gasoline was raised to 18 cents per gallon.
(www.ncseonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/Transportation/trans-24.cfm)
1994 Jan 17, A 6.7 magnitude
earthquake struck Southern California, killing at least 61 people and
causing $20 billion worth of damage. Northridge quake hit the Los
Angeles area. It killed 72 people. Insurance losses totaled $17.8
billion.
(SFC, 4/28/97, p.A3)(SFC, 5/3/97, p.B1)(AP,
1/17/98)(Econ, 9/17/05, p.73)
1994 Jan 28, In Los Angeles,
Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg declared a mistrial in the case
of Lyle Menendez, just over two weeks after a mistrial was declared in
the case of Lyle's brother Erik; both juries deadlocked over whether
the brothers were guilty of murder in the shooting deaths of their
wealthy parents. They were later retried, convicted of murder and
sentenced to life in prison without parole.
(AP, 1/28/99)
1994 Jan 28, Helicopter crashed
into an office building in San Jose, Calif. 1 person was killed.
(MC, 1/28/02)
1994 Feb 10, The US Senate
approved $8.6 billion in relief for victims of the Jan 17 Los Angeles
earthquake. The House approved the measure the next day, and President
Clinton signed it the day after that.
(AP, 2/10/99)
1994 Feb 12, President Clinton
signed an $8.6 billion relief package for victims of the Jan 17
Northridge earthquake in Southern California.
(AP, 2/12/99)
1994 Mar 7, At San Quentin prison
officer Timothy Scott shot and killed inmate Mark Adams. In 1998 a
federal jury awarded the Adams family $2.3 million following a trial
based on wrongful death.
(SFC, 12/1/98, p.A15)
1994 Apr 2, Preston Tate was shot
and killed by guards during an allegedly staged fight at the Corcoran
State Prison. Guard Richard Caruso gave the FBI some log books and
other records following the killing of Tate, for which he endured
harassment and forced retirement. In 1998 Tate's relatives won a
$825,000 wrongful death suit and in 1999 Caruso received a $1.7 million
settlement with the California Dept. of Corrections.
(SFC, 11/22/96, p.A26)(SFC, 6/11/99, p.A1,15)
1994 May 29, Khallid Abdul
Muhammad, a former spokesman for the Nation of Islam, was shot and
wounded after delivering a speech at the University of California,
Riverside; a defrocked Nation of Islam minister, James Edward Bess, was
charged. Bess was later convicted of attempted murder and assault and
sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 5/29/04)
1994 Jun 17, After leading police
on a slow-speed chase on Southern California freeways, that millions of
Americans watched, OJ Simpson was arrested for the murder of wife
Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The arrest took
place after a prolonged slow-car chase where Al A.C. Cowlings drove
Simpson around in a white Ford Bronco and talked him into giving up to
the police. Simpson was later acquitted in a criminal trial, but held
liable in a civil trial.
(WSJ, 10/4/95, p.A-1)(SFC, 6/30/96, p.B5)(AP,
6/17/97)(HN, 6/17/98)
1994 Jul 16, The 3 tenors, Placid
Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras, performed in LA.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1994 Aug 22, A catacarb leak at
the Unocal facility in Rodeo lasted 16 days. A suit by 6,000 residents
settled in 1997 charged Unocal $80 million.
(SFC, 4/15/97, p.A10)
1994 Aug 24, California executed
David Edwin Mason (36) in the gas chamber. Executions after Mason were
all by lethal injection.
(SFC, 12/13/05, p.A13)
1994 Sep 21, Prosecutors from Los
Angeles and Santa Barbara counties announced that Michael Jackson would
not face child molestation charges; however, the case would remain open
until 1999.
(AP, 9/21/99)
1994 Sep 29, Gunmen in Italy fired
at the rental car of the Green family of Bodega Bay, Ca., and killed
their young boy, Nicholas Green. The parents donated his organs and
saved 7 lives in Italy. An appeals court in 1998 found 2 men guilty of
the botched highway robbery. Michelle Ianello was sentenced to life in
prison and Francesco Mesiano was sentenced to 20 years. In 1999 Reg
Green published "The Nicholas Effect, A Boy's Gift to the World."
(SFEC, 10/27/96, p.B8)(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A10)(SFEM,
6/13/99, p.27)
1994 Sep, CHP officers were called
in to assist local police in Richmond for a domestic violence call that
eventually led to a 1996 indictment of an major auto-theft ring.
(SFC, 11/23/96, p.A13)
1994 Nov 8, California voters
approved Proposition 187, designed to bar illegal aliens from
education, social services and non-emergency health care. It’s
co-author was Alan C. Nelson (d.1997) and Harold Ezell (d.1998 at 61).
Nelson had served as head of the federal INS (1982-1989). Prop. 187 was
later struck down by the courts. [See Nov 16, Dec 14]
(SFC, 2/1/97, p.A23)(Econ, 10/30/04, p.40)
1994 Nov 16, A US federal judge
issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the state of
California from implementing most provisions of Proposition 187, the
voter-approved measure that would deny most public services to illegal
aliens.
(AP, 11/16/99)
1994 Dec 6, Orange County, Calif.,
filed for bankruptcy protection due to investment losses of about $2
billion. Orange County, Ca., filed bankruptcy after losing nearly $1.7
billion on risky investments [derivatives]. In 1997 a former ass’t.
treasurer, Matthew Raabe, was sentenced to 3 years in prison for
diverting $88.5 million in public funds to conceal investment schemes
that led to the nation’s biggest municipal bankruptcy.
(SFEC, 11/10/96, Z1 p.1)(SFC, 10/4/97, p.A7)(AP,
12/6/99)
1994 Dec 14, A US federal judge
granted a preliminary injunction blocking almost all of Proposition
187's bans affecting illegal immigrants in California.
(AP, 12/14/99)
1994 Dec, The UC system passed
rules forbidding academics from moonlighting off-campus on
taxpayer-funded research projects.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, Z1 p.2)
1994 The ballet "Mango" by Fredric
Myrow (e.1998 at 59) premiered at the Los Angeles John Anson Ford
theater. It was choreographed by Naomi Goldberg.
(SFC, 1/18/99, p.A21)
1994 Congress passed the Desert
Protection Bill and Joshua Tree National Monument gained an additional
234,000 acres and was granted national park status. Pres. Clinton
signed the act which set aside 7 million acres of wilderness, mostly in
the Mojave Desert, and added to Death Valley National Park. In 1999
Francis Millspaugh Wheat (d.2000 at 79) authored “California Desert
Miracle,” which chronicled the 27-year fight to preserve the Mohave
Desert.
(Sp., 5/96, p.127)(SFC, 10/17/98, p.A17)(SFEC,
8/29/99, Z1 p.6)(SFC, 7/26/00, p.A21)
1994 US District Judge Marilyn
Hall Patel ruled that death by gas in San Quentin’s death chamber was
inhumane. An appeals court in 1998 gave prisoners the option of lethal
injection or gas.
(SFC, 7/8/98, p.A17)
1994 California passed its “three
strikes” sentencing law. A 2nd felony can be punished with a double
sentence. A 3rd felony may lead to 25 years in prison.
(SFC, 7/4/97, p.E2)
1994 California prohibited smoking
in enclosed workplaces.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.A10)
1994 California adopted
legislation that exempted churches from landmark regulations and
allowed them to do what they wanted with their buildings.
(SFC, 5/5/05, p.B1)
1994 The California Dept. of Motor
Vehicles scrapped a $50 million computer system that was slower than
the one being replaced.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, Z1 p.6)
1994 Univ. of California Regents
voted to limit paid administrative leave for senior managers to a
maximum of 3 months. In 2005 it was reported that 3 senior managers had
received paid furloughs of 12-15 months.
(SFC, 12/23/05, p.A1)
1994 The Bay Delta Accord was
signed. It promised to save the SF Bay and the delta of the Sacramento
and San Joaquin Rivers through cooperation and compromise rather than
litigation and political arm twisting.
(SFC, 6/25/99, p.A1)
1994 In Los Angeles the new $14
million downtown Pershing Square was opened.
(SFC, 7/24/97, p.A6)
1994 The first annual Napa Valley
Mustard Festival was held.
(SFEC, 1/24/99, DB p.20)
1994 Former singer Sonny Bono was
elected to US Congress as a Republican from Palm Springs, where he
served as mayor from 1988-1992.
(SFC, 1/6/98, p.A11)
1994 Rena Weeks won a $3.5 million
sexual harassment suit against the world’s largest law firm, Baker
& McKenzie, of Palo Alto. She had worked there for 3 months in 1991.
(SFC, 8/27/98, p.C16)
1994 Metrolink, the regional rail
system that served LA, Riverside, San Bernadino and Orange Counties,
began.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.W3)
1994 Dan Wheeler and a group of
investors bought Lost Isle in California’s Sacramento Delta. The island
had a tradition for wild parties that went back to 1948.
(SFC, 6/11/99, p.A17)
1994 Tosco took over all the BP
service stations in Northern California.
(SFC, 4/5/00, p.A19)
1994 In northern California a
treatment plant was built near Iron Mountain by Rhone Poulenc under
orders by the EPA to remove up to 80% of the copper, zinc, cadmium and
acids in runoff water.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A13)
1994 Africanized honeybees, also
called killer bees, were first detected in California.
(SFC, 10/5/99, p.A15)
1994 Mealybugs were first
discovered in California vineyards and by 2007 30-40 thousand acres
were infested. In 2007 experiments were begun were begun with dogs
trained to sniff out female mealybugs in heat.
(WSJ, 6/14/07, p.A1)
1994 Pike were discovered in Lake
Davis (b.1964) in Plumas County, Ca. Over the next 10 years some $15
million was spent in attempts to eradicate the fish.
(SFCM, 7/11/04, p.10)
1994 Sudden oak disease was first
reported in California. The specific pathogen responsible was
identified in 2000 as the fungus-like Phytophthora ramorum microbe.
Experts believed that it arrived in the state via the nursery trade. By
2008 it was the world’s most quarantined plant pathogen.
(SFC, 4/17/08, p.A1)
1994 California State Water
Resources Board ordered that diversions from Mono Lake be reduced. The
Los Angeles Water Dept. stopped diverting water from Mono Lake on an
order from the California Water Resources Control board. The lake was
down 40 feet from 1940 when diversion began.
(Pac. Disc., summer, ‘96, p.52)(PacDis, Summer ’97,
p.39)
1994 Ken Cory, California jewelry
designer, died.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, DB p.27)
1994 M.F.K. Fisher, food writer,
died in Glen Ellen. Her books included “As They Were” (1982), “Dubious
Honors” (1988), and “Long Ago in France” (1991). Her books were
reprinted by North Point Press publisher Jack Shoemaker. In 1997
Shoemaker’s new press, Counter Point, published “A Welcoming Life: The
M.F.K. Fisher Scrapbook.”
(SFC, 7/4/97, p.D5)
1995 Jan 9, Severe flooding forced
people to flee resort communities in the hills north of San Francisco.
(AP, 1/9/00)
1995 Jan 12, In LA, Ca., Judge Ito
heard defense arguments for questioning racial attitudes of Detective
Mark Fuhrman in the murder trial against OJ Simpson. Fuhrman had found
a bloody glove at O.J.'s estate.
(http://www.usatoday.com/news/index/nns053.htm)
1995 Feb 12, Philip "Taylor"
Kramer, bass player for the Iron Butterfly, was last seen driving his
van. His van and body were found in 1999 in a ravine below Decker
Canyon Rd. in Malibu. Butterfly had the 1969 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida."
(SFC, 5/31/99, p.A20)
1995 Mar 12, President Clinton
declared 39 California counties disaster areas after storms and floods
battered two-thirds of the state.
(AP, 3/12/00)
1995 Mar 27, The 67th Academy
Awards, held at the Shrine Auditorium in LA, was hosted by David
Letterman. "Forrest Gump" won six Academy Awards, including best
picture and a second consecutive Best Actor Oscar for Tom Hanks;
Jessica Lange won Best Actress for "Blue Sky."
(AP, 3/27/00)(SFC, 3/22/02, p.D1)
1995 Apr 3, UCLA defeated
Arkansas, 89-78, to win the NCAA basketball championship.
(AP, 4/3/00)
1995 Apr 14, Mendocino Ct. deputy
sheriff George Robert Davis (44) was killed while on a stakeout on a
remote reservation road. Leonard "Acorn" Peters was also killed in the
confrontation. In 1997 Eugene “Bear” Lincoln was found not guilty of
murder charges.
(SFC, 9/24/97, p.A15)(SFC, 3/24/00, p.A7)
1995 Apr 24, California Forestry
Assoc. Pres. Gilbert P. Murray, 47, was killed by a mail bomb at his
headquarters in Sacramento. The bomb was attributed to the Unabomber.
Gilbert B. Murray, chief lobbyist for the wood products industry, was
killed by a package bomb linked to the Unabomber. Theodore Kaczynski
was later sentenced to four lifetimes in prison for a series of
bombings that killed three men and injured 29 others.
(WSJ, 4/5/96, p.A-2)(AP, 4/24/05)
1995 Apr 27, Former Orange County,
Calif., Treasurer Robert Citron pleaded guilty to six counts of
defrauding investors in the county investment pool.
(AP, 4/27/00)
1995 May 12, Jennifer Atkinson
(21), waitress and student at Las Positas College, was found murdered
in her apartment in Livermore.
(SFC, 5/23/00, p.A18)
1995 May 16, Some $10 million
worth of computer microprocessors were stolen from Centon, a chip firm
in Irvine, Ca. The massive “Bytes Dust” task force investigation
resulted in the 2000 racketeering trial of the 4 men who masterminded
the heist. Mady Chan, Hoang Ai Le, John That Luong and Hui Chi Luong
were found guilty. 15 more defendants of “The Company” awaited trial.
In 2001 John That Luong was sentenced to 88 years in prison.
(SFC, 3/1/00, p.A26)(SFC, 6/23/00, p.A14)(SFC,
8/14/01, p.C4)
1995 May 31, A police raid in the
Santa Cruz Mountains found 949 marijuana plants near the Santa Cruz and
Santa Clara county lines. In 1999 a federal jury convicted Yoshio
Muranaka (52) and Robert Warren Johnson (58) for conspiracy,
manufacture and distribution of the drug.
(SFC, 10/30/99, p.A26)
1995 Jul, In Chula Vista Ivan
Gonzales (35) killed his 4-year-old niece by submersion in scalding
water. His wife Veronica denied harming the child.
(SFC, 3/28/98, p.A15)
1995 Aug [28] 30, The body of
Lance Estes (33), a SF drug dealer, was found stuffed in a sleeping bag
in an Oceanside dumpster. He was facing an indictment for running a
multimillion-dollar cocaine and methamphetamine ring. In 2000 Walder
Pierre Rausini, who suspected that Estes had betrayed him, pleaded
guilty to 2 counts of soliciting murder.
(SFC, 2/16/98, p.A1)(SFC, 1/28/00, p.A22)
1995 cAug, Doris Allen (d.1999 at
63), a Republican from Orange County, was elected the 1st female
speaker of the 80-member California Assembly with the help of 39
Democratic votes delivered by Speaker Willie Brown. She served for 4
months and was removed from office in Nov following a recall campaign.
(SFC, 9/23/99, p.A24)
1995 Sep 1, The 716-acre Limekiln
State Park on the California Big Sur coast opened.
(SFEC, 3/30/97, p.T3)
1995 Sep 6, Los Angeles police
detective Mark Fuhrman invoked his Fifth Amendment right against
self-incrimination as he was called back to the witness stand at the
O.J. Simpson trial.
(AP, 9/6/00)
1995 Oct 3, The jury in the O.J.
Simpson murder trial found the former football star innocent of the
1994 slayings of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald
Goldman. Simpson was later found liable in a civil proceeding. The
verdict, reached Oct 2, was announced Oct 3.
(AP, 10/3/97)(WSJ, 10/4/95, p.A-1)(SFEC, 9/8/96, BR
p.1)
1995 Oct 3-1995 Oct 16, A fire at
Point Reyes National Seashore burned over 12,000 acres, destroyed 45
homes and cost $6.2 million to suppress.
(SSFC, 10/2/05, p.A1)
1995 Oct 17, The gasoline additive
MTBE showed up in a second drinking water well in Santa Monica. The
city was later forced to shut down half of its water well supply due to
MTBE.
(SFC, 9/15/97, p.A10)
1995 Oct 27, In Santa Cruz Kenneth
Donney (48) killed his wife, Nina Liebman Donney (38), with 29 stabs
and slashes. Nina had just recently published her book "Living Room
Lectures, The Fifties Family in Film & Television."
(SFEM, 1/9/00, p.8)
1995 Nov 23, Free-lance
photographer Charles Rathbun was booked in Hermosa Beach, Calif., for
investigation of murder in the disappearance of model Linda Sobek.
Rathbun was later convicted of Sobek's murder.
(AP, 11/23/05)
1995 Dec 5, Stanley Keith Runcorn
(73), a professor in geophysics, was killed by Paul Bradford Cain (26),
a kickboxer, at the Hotel San Diego. Cain was convicted in 1997 of
first-degree murder.
(SFC, 10/3/97, p.A20)
1995 Dec 25, Singer Dean Martin
died at his Beverly Hills home at age 78.
(AP, 12/25/97)
1995 The UC Monterey Bay Campus at
the former Fort Ord Army base opened.
(SFC, 10/7/97, p.A10)
1995 A Calif. Dept. of Justice
report cited the Wah Ching as the largest criminal group in the Los
Angeles area with over 1,800 members.
(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A20)
1995 A California state law
allowed police to seize cars for up to 30 days if the driver has a
suspended license or no license at all. In 2007 a state appeals court
ruled the law to be constitutional.
(SFC, 1/12/07, p.B2)
1995 A state law made an
independent, non-profit foundation responsible for the operations of
the new state museum in Sacramento to open in 1998.
(WSJ, 6/11/97, p.CA3)
1995 Fire on Inverness Ridge in
Marin Ct. destroyed 20 homes and burned 13,000 acres.
(SFEC,10/19/97, p.T3)
1995 Robert Silveria, was arrested
in Auburn by a railroad police officer. He was suspected of being the
“Boxcar Killer” responsible for murders in California and 6 other
states. In 1998 he pleaded guilty to the 1995 first-degree murder of
Charles Randall Boyd at a Kansas state park and was sentenced in Kansas
to life in prison.
(SFC, 5/21/98, p.A6)
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