THE YEAR IN REVIEW

It was the year that Burbank banned toy guns, but people kept killing each other with real ones. The year that Pope John Paul II won hearts and souls in the San Fernando Valley and a clinic condemned by the church for dispensing contraceptives opened at San Fernando High School.

It was the year that Santa Clarita became a city and Calabasas kept trying, the year that a Sherman Oaks mechanic won $2.1 million in the state lottery and a 21-year-old entrepreneur watched his financial empire crumble.

It was 1987, a year filled with contradictions.

Taking Toys Seriously

On Sept. 29, Burbank became the first city in the nation to ban the sale of toy guns that resemble real weapons, threatening offenders with six months in jail, a $500 fine or both.

The law, which goes into effect this month, makes it a misdemeanor for a retailer to sell toy guns that are “reasonable” replicas of actual ones, including air rifles and BB guns.

It also outlaws the brandishing of a toy gun in a threatening manner or in the presence of a police officer.

The new law was proposed by Mayor Michael R. Hastings after KNBC-TV consumer reporter David Horowitz was forced to read a rambling statement by a man who held a realistic-looking toy pistol to his head during a broadcast in August.

Burbank Police Chief Glen Bell said his officers are serious about enforcing the law, despite all the jesting.

“There have been a lot of jokes about SWAT teams surrounding Toys R Us,” Bell said. “Obviously, that is a joke. We joke about it ourselves.”

Death on a Dare

On April 2, a 14-year-old Pacoima boy pointed a gun at Mark Rodney Sanford of La Crescenta and it was very much for real.

Sanford, 26, was in his company’s parking lot detaching a truck from a trailer when he was shot and killed by the young sniper, who prosecutors said committed murder “just for the sport of it.”

A Los Angeles police detective, testifying in court, said the boy told officers that he acted on a dare from a 14-year-old friend when he fired the .22-caliber rifle from the window of his friend’s second-floor apartment.

Although only one of the boys fired the rifle, both were convicted of second-degree murder and sent to the California Youth Authority. They are to be released on or before their 25th birthdays.

Papal Visitor

In September, Pope John Paul II arrived in the Valley.

He went to the San Fernando Mission on Sept. 16 to meet with 300 bishops from throughout the nation, and he dazzled residents of a community that had spent weeks preparing for his visit and for the chance to catch a glimpse of his long, white robes or see his face.

Marguerite Ewing had dressed her toy poodle in Vatican colors for the occasion. Steve Slinsky and his two brothers had attached a 15-foot-long paper banner to their roof that said, “We love Pope.” And Ron Ruffner spelled the word welcome on his roof in letters fashioned from wallpaper strips.

“This is one of the biggest things that can happen in a lifetime in any neighborhood,” said resident Bob Twitchell.

A Clinic Opposed

While the Pope talked to bishops about issues facing the church, plans were proceeding at a nearby public high school to open a medical clinic that defies Catholic teachings against birth control and premarital sex, but that school officials say will help “end the tragedy of babies having babies” by dispensing condoms and other contraceptive devices to students.

Despite all the opposition marches and candlelight vigils in this heavily Catholic and Latino neighborhood, the San Fernando High School clinic opened Dec. 4.

It was the second of three in the Los Angeles Unified School District, all at schools with high rates of teen-age pregnancy and drug abuse, and all offering a full range of medical services, including physical examinations, immunizations and counseling.

The first clinic opened in October at Jordan High School in Watts. The third will open shortly at Los Angeles High School in the Wilshire District.

But it has been the San Fernando clinic that has generated the most opposition from parents, churches and “pro-life” groups, who complain that it encourages promiscuity and usurps the rights of parents--despite the fact that parental permission is required before students can use clinic services.

“Maybe it’s naive to think we can close down a clinic, but we are ornery enough to do it,” Eadie Gieb, spokeswoman for Parents and Students United in the San Fernando Valley, said at a recent rally.

Divisive Project

In another part of the Valley, another type of project that got under way in 1987 won both compliments and criticism.

It was the first of a three-part, $25-million redevelopment plan to transform the blighted Bryant Street-Vanalden Avenue neighborhood in Northridge. So far, 38 of the area’s 453 once-dilapidated apartments have been renovated, and arrests for such offenses as drug dealing and prostitution have markedly decreased--the result of new, tight security measures.

But those same measures are under attack from residents, who complain that the measures, including strict rules on conduct within the development and the closing of Bryant Street at Vanalden Avenue with a barricade, make them feel like prisoners.

During a recent protest, one resident carried a sign that read: “We’re poor, but not criminals.”

The developer, Devinder (Dave) Vadehra secured a $4.2-million loan from the City of Los Angeles and $20.8 million in tax-exempt bonds to buy and renovate the apartments. But residents complain that he wants to drive out the low-income, predominantly Latino population to make way for higher-income tenants.

Instant Millionaire

Robert Diaz, a Glendale resident who works as a mechanic in Sherman Oaks, increased his income significantly in May when he won $2.1 million at Lotto. But the 31-year-old said he had no plans to trade his overalls for silk pajamas.

Diaz learned about his good fortune when he bought cigarettes at a liquor store on Ventura Boulevard.

“The clerk said, ‘Hey, you’re a millionaire, dude.’ ”

A Fortune Lost

One-time millionaire Barry Minkow saw his fortune vanish in 1987.

His carpet-cleaning company, which went from a small business that Minkow founded in his parents’ Reseda garage six years ago to a company with hot Wall Street stock, crumbled last summer amid charges of fraud and criminal activity.

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates announced in July that Minkow, the 21-year-old entrepreneur, was part of a nationwide narcotics money-laundering operation with ties to organized crime.

An attorney for Minkow called the allegations “absolutely preposterous.”

A few days before Gates’ announcement, ZZZZ Best filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy when the company’s board of directors said it discovered facts that “appear to substantiate allegations of fraud.” It also filed suit against Minkow and several others for $25 million in damages, alleging breach of fiduciary duty, theft and fraud.

Minkow, who started the business when he was 15 and built it into a company whose stock was worth about $200 million, filed for personal bankruptcy in August.

Stalled Subway

Money, or the lack of it, was blamed for the delay in starting the Valley leg of the Metro Rail underground subway in 1987.

The 2.3-mile segment connecting Universal City with North Hollywood was estimated to cost $250 million in 1986. No new construction date has been set.

Plans for Metro Rail began in 1974. So far, construction has started on only one part of the system, a 4.4-mile leg from Union Station in Los Angeles to Wilshire Boulevard.

Meanwhile, plans continued on other fronts to ease traffic problems in the Valley. So did disagreements over the best type of system and the preferable route.

Homeowners opposed all five east-west routes proposed for the light-rail trolley system, arguing that they traversed residential neighborhoods. All the fuss prompted the 11-member Los Angeles County Transportation Commission to suspend work on a $1.6-million environmental study that was to provide the basis for the route selection.

Instead, the commission gave elected officials in the Valley until late 1988 to decide what light-rail route, if any, they favor. If no consensus is reached by then, the money probably will be spent elsewhere.

Hazardous Hauling

A furor erupted in September when it was revealed that truckers were hauling highly toxic rocket fuel through the densely populated Valley.

Los Angeles area officials said they were outraged that rocket fuel bound for Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc has been trucked on the congested Ventura Freeway for years without their knowledge.

The Department of Defense agreed to halt shipments after an outcry from local, state and federal officials representing the area.

Now, trucking companies under contract with the Air Force have stopped transporting the fuel while the Defense Department searches for another route outside Los Angeles.

A City Is Born

On Dec. 15, Santa Clarita became the area’s newest city and the 85th municipality in Los Angeles County after 72% of those voting in November supported incorporation.

The heaviest support came from residents of Canyon Country and Saugus, where rolling hills, green meadows and oak-filled canyons have been replaced in recent years by mini-malls, housing tracts and congested streets.

The incorporation drive was the fourth attempt in the Santa Clarita Valley since 1962. “I feel like I’ve carried this baby for 18 years, and I’m sure happy to give it birth,” said Councilman Carl Boyer III, who was involved in previous cityhood attempts.

The new city covers 40 square miles and includes Newhall, Saugus, Valencia and most of Canyon Country. It has a population of about 110,000.

Meanwhile, in Calabasas, a 2 1/2-year drive to incorporate is still alive--barely. The Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation Commission shaved 15 of 26 square miles off the proposed city in 1987.

The reduction was made at the request of landowners and developers who feared that a new city, with limits on growth, might jeopardize their plans. A decision on whether to allow the incorporation to proceed was delayed until Feb. 10 so a third economic study can be conducted.

It is supposed to determine if a city of Calabasas, made up of sparsely developed ranchland west of the San Fernando Valley, can support itself.

Ousted Councilman

After serving three years as a councilman for the City of Moorpark, Thomas C. (Bud) Ferguson was ousted from the job in 1987.

In early November, voters recalled Ferguson, whose political career was tarnished by allegations of vote-buying and corruption from a former council colleague. Ferguson, a 68-year-old retired machine-shop owner and aircraft manufacturer, was elected to the Moorpark City Council in November, 1984.

Charges of political corruption plagued him during 1987, but, with the exception of one mailer to voters, he did not actively campaign against the recall.

His troubles began when he arranged $7,500 in loans to former Councilman Danny Woolard. Woolard, who served 4 1/2 months in prison for embezzlement, revealed that he had used the money to cover up a $5,500 theft from the Moorpark Post Office, where he worked as a clerk.

Ferguson, who admitted arranging the loans, said he believed that Woolard needed the money to pay off gambling debts. But, in January, after pleading guilty in federal court to embezzlement, Woolard alleged that the $7,500 was part of an estimated $30,000 in loans that Ferguson had made to him over the previous two years to influence Woolard’s vote on the council.

Ferguson denied the allegations and no charges were brought against him after a six-month investigation by the Ventura County district attorney’s office. However, investigators said Ferguson lied under oath and showed questionable moral conduct in his dealings with Woolard.

Left for Dead

On a quiet night in September, a 14-year-old Chatsworth girl, a straight-A student at Lawrence Junior High School, became the victim of a brutal crime.

Police said Wendy Masuhara and her 13-year-old girlfriend were lured into the motor home of Roland Norman Comtois, 58, as they walked near their homes late on the night of Sept. 18.

Police said Comtois and his companion, Marsha Lynn Erickson, 33, who also uses the last name Ramos, shot the girls and left them for dead in an abandoned station wagon near Chatsworth Reservoir.

Masuhara died that night, but her friend, who was sexually assaulted, survived. Found dazed and bleeding as she walked along a canyon road, the girl later identified Erickson and Comtois from police files, police said. Both are charged with murder, kidnaping and sexual molestation in connection with the abduction.