Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS. : COUNTYWIDE : Anaheim Site Selected for New Jail

Word leaked out that a staff report to county supervisors would suggest four sites for a new, maximum-security 1,500-inmate jail--one near Disneyland, one near Anaheim Stadium and two on Grand Avenue in Santa Ana.

The reaction was immediate and lasted most of the week.

Mayor Don Roth, a candidate for the Orange County Board of Supervisors, led the Anaheim forces: “We all know that Disneyland is known as the hub of happiness. Let’s not change it to the hub of despair.”

A. E. (Red) Patterson, a spokesman for the California Angels, said he could

Week in Review stories compiled by

Times staff writer Steve Emmons.

foresee a jailbreak when Anaheim Stadium had 60,000 or 70,000 people in its seats. “Any announcement over the public address system” of an escaped felon “will start a panic,” he said.

Anaheim City Councilman Lew Overholt said that if a jail site were chosen in Anaheim, “absolutely, no question about it,” Anaheim would sue.

From Santa Ana came the reaction.

Mayor Dan Griset, a candidate for the state Assembly, said: “It’s important that we don’t come out supporting a jail in Anaheim. However, I don’t buy this ‘hub of happiness’ baloney.”

County Supervisor Roger Stanton, who represents Santa Ana, went further: The county staff report “leaves no doubt in the mind of anyone who is socially conscious, leaves no doubt in the mind of anyone who puts human values above material values,” that the site near Anaheim Stadium is the best one.

And that’s where the Board of Supervisors, by a 4-1 vote, decided to put it, pending the usual studies and approvals that could take most of a year. The only no vote came from the supervisor from Anaheim, Ralph B. Clark, who is retiring after this term.

The decision set the stage for Sheriff Brad Gates’ appearance in federal court to face a possible contempt citation for allowing the county jail population to rise above the court-ordered 1,500-inmate maximum three times last month.

U.S. District Judge William P. Gray merely warned Gates that if it happens again, “a more severe penalty can be expected.”