People and Events

The city of Paramount experienced its first-ever case of a graffiti-marred statue earlier this year and what made it all the more noteworthy was the manner in which the guilty parties gave themselves away.

The statue, “Sustenance,” by Arlene Cartozian, had been covered with individual and gang monikers in red and brown colors.

There was no breakthrough in the case until recently when the city held a poster contest with an anti-gang theme for youngsters. Funny thing about one entry. It depicted a house covered with individual and gang monikers in red and brown colors.

“You could tell by the sloppy kind of style that it was a kid who hadn’t done much of this kind of thing,” said Pat West, a deputy city manager.

Inasmuch as the poster-artist had been helpful enough to sign his work with his name and classroom number, he was easy to track down. He turned out to be a 12-year-old boy who not only confessed, but gave the name of a co-graffitist. West said the city plans to seek damages from the boys’ parents.

Meanwhile, Cartozian, a drawing instructor at Cal State Long Beach, unveiled another of her marble statues for Paramount’s outdoor art museum the other day. Before she did so, however, she daubed it up herself--with an anti-graffiti coating.

“We’ve used it on buildings but we’ve never heard of an artist using it,” said West. “Usually artists consider it an affront to their work.”

Cartozian, who personally cleaned the graffiti off her other work, said: “Sometimes you have to give up one thing for another.”

Robert Tyndall, a Palmdale video arcade clerk, is what you might call a show-me kind of a guy.

When a gunman strode in to rob the store the other night, Tyndall opined that the intruder didn’t have a real firearm. After all, toy guns seem to be the rage now.

The gunman indignantly denied the allegation, Tyndall later told Antelope Valley sheriff’s detectives. To settle the issue, Tyndall suggested that the gunman fire once into the ceiling.

The bandit did so, but produced nothing more than a click. Tyndall suggested he leave, which he did.

Meanwhile, a witness standing outside jotted down the gunman’s license number. When it flashed over the police radio, Deputy Ken Scheurn noticed to his surprise that he was tailgating the wanted car. He promptly arrested Carl E. Hanible, 18, and a 17-year-old boy, who was not identified, on suspicion of attempted robbery. Hanible is due to be arraigned today in Antelope Valley Municipal Court.

The gun that detectives found in Hanible’s possession was real--and loaded, detectives said. It just didn’t work for some reason.

Actually, Tyndall figured it probably was a real gun. He reasoned that if the firearm discharged, a co-worker in the arcade’s back room could notify police.

Transportation officials have been treated to visions of a rail system that would enable cars to “float” along a magnetic field on elevated tracks as a possible pollution-free option for travel between Orange and Los Angeles counties.

The system’s German manufacturer briefed representatives of the two counties Monday in Santa Ana, which, as any commuter can tell you, is linked to Los Angeles by the world’s largest outdoor parking lot, the Santa Ana Freeway.

“Floating” transportation has been considered here before. In 1985, Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman and other officials gathered at the mouth of the Los Angeles River, where they were scheduled to hop aboard a hovercraft that would sail up the mostly cement water bed on a “bed” of air.

They were doubly excited about the possibilities: Pollution-free mass transit! A use for the L.A. River!

The makers of the hovercraft couldn’t get its engine started.