San Diego

Police combed Linda Vista late Monday for a 3-year-old Laotian boy who disappeared from his home in the early afternoon. Santi Khanthomg, who also is known by the nickname “Ole,” apparently wandered away from the Ulric Street apartment building where he lives with his mother, a San Diego Police Department spokesmen said. The boy was last seen at 1:30 p.m. wearing a light green sweater over a red and black striped long-sleeved T-shirt, blue pants and sandals, Bill Robinson said. He said the department did not suspect foul play. About 40 community service officers and aides searched for the boy.

San Onofre

A San Onofre nuclear power generating unit was shut down after officials discovered a leak of radioactive water from a valve inside the reactor containment building, a Southern California Edison Co. spokesman said Monday. Frank Bello said that no one was exposed to the contaminated water and Unit 3 was turned off at 2:10 p.m. Sunday. “There was never any danger to the public or people who work there,” Bello said. The unit, shut down in accordance with federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations, is expected to be out of service for several weeks while crews replace packing in the leaking valve.

The executive committee of the San Diego County Superior Court voted unanimously Monday to ask the Legislature to establish a special jurisdictional district in North County to increase the number of blacks who serve on criminal trial juries in Vista. The eight panel members will draw up legislation they hope will be introduced by a local assemblyman or state senator. The measure would enlarge the North County jury pool by broadening the area from which jurors can be recruited. The proposal will be submitted next month for the approval of Superior Court judges in San Diego and Vista. Defense attorneys in North County have complained that black defendants cannot get a fair trial in Vista because of the shortage of black jurors. Blacks make up 1.5% of the population in North County. Currently, defendants are given the option of having their trials in San Diego, where blacks make up 4.5% of the population. However, court officials and prosecutors have objected to the costs involved in moving a trial to San Diego.

Oceanside

A reporter recently cleared of a contempt-of-court charge for refusing to disclose sources for an article he wrote on an alleged murder-for-hire plot has again been subpoenaed by a defense attorney in the case. Bob McPhail, 33, of the Oceanside Blade-Tribune was subpoenaed by Richard Wehmeyer on Monday and asked to appear before North County Municipal Judge Luther L. Leeger this morning. The attorney for Marine Lance Cpl. Russell A. Harrison, one of six persons accused of plotting the death of Marine Staff Sgt. Carlos G. Troiani, asks that McPhail turn over notes and tape recordings used for a Jan. 24 article. Wehmeyer said in the subpoena that “the documents . . . are material to the order sealing all proceedings” in the case and “prohibiting all parties” from discussing it. Leeger ordered the preliminary hearing closed, at the request of the six defense attorneys in the case, who say publicity might jeopardize their clients’ right to a fair trial. Earlier this month, the 4th District Court of Appeal cleared McPhail of a contempt charge relating to another article on the slaying of Troiani.