Host of Candidates File for Election : Growth Key Issue as Deadline in November Races Passes

Candidates who want the voters to put them in charge of solving local problems, from overcrowded schools to zoning disputes, filed declarations Friday that they will be candidates in November elections throughout northern Los Angeles and eastern Ventura counties.

In the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, among the fastest-growing regions in the state, dozens of candidates will compete for seats in 20 school board and community college districts.

In five Santa Clarita Valley school districts--Castaic, Newhall, Saugus, Sulphur Springs and William S. Hart--their campaigns will probably focus on how to serve skyrocketing enrollments. District officials predict that they will need $230 million to build at least 13 schools by 2000.

In the Newhall School District, where overcrowded elementary schools led to busing controversies last year, six candidates will run for three vacancies. Incumbents Howard L. Hill and Charles E. Payne will face-off against Michael McCabe, a labor relations administrator; Zandra B. Stanley, a homemaker; Patricia M. Willet and Leon Worden, a marketing and political researcher.

Education Dispute

Bilingual education could be another issue in the Newhall race. Worden is president of the local chapter of Learning English Advocates Drive, which opposes bilingual education.

No candidates emerged to challenge incumbents William S. Disenbacher, Sandra L. Loberg and Dennis V. King for their seats in the William S. Hart Union High School District, which oversees the only public high school in Newhall and Valencia.

In the Saugus Union School District, however, incumbents Betty L. Lund and Michael E. Rayfield will be challenged by Eileen Connolly, who described herself as an interested parent, and Antonio M. Martino, an engineer.

Races for two seats on the Santa Clarita Community College District have attracted challengers. Incumbent John D. Hoskinson will face Andrew Martin, a rancher and insurance agent, and incumbent Linda C. Cubbage will face Dan Brown, a college coach and businessman.

Like those in Santa Clarita, Antelope Valley’s school boards are grappling with burgeoning school-age populations and crowded schoolrooms. The November election will include races in Lancaster, Palmdale and Wilsona.

Palmdale District

The Palmdale School District serves the fastest-growing population in California. Three candidates will vie for an unexpired term ending November, 1991--Sheldon Epstein, an educator; F. Don Linde, a businessman, and Dan Hunter, a retired aerospace engineer. Incumbents Fay E. Harrington, Velma M. Trosin and Frederick C. Thompson do not face challengers.

The neighboring Lancaster School District, however, has drawn seven candidates for three school board seats. Incumbents Michael T. Huggins, Melinda A. White and Richard T. White will confront Keith R. Wilde, a structure mechanic; Jacquelyn Pendleton, a homemaker; Maridelle Wright and Joseph D. Starling.

The race in the Antelope Valley Union High School District, which serves Palmdale and Lancaster, has attracted five candidates for three seats. Incumbent Lawrence Rucker will face Daniel E. Fricke, a school police officer; Steve Landaker, an advertising executive; Sophia Waugh, a homemaker, and David E. Von Buskirk.

The Wilsona School District on the northern fringe of Los Angeles County has attracted five candidates for three seats: incumbent Sue Stokka and challengers Frank E. Donaldson, a contractor; Richard J. Foster, a children’s counselor; Michael G. Brown and Luis D. Eastwood.

Las Virgenes

The Las Virgenes Joint Unified School District’s November race will see five candidates running for three vacancies. Incumbent Barbara Bowman faces Jack Sinclair Bethel, a commercial banker; Iraj Broomand, a businessman, and Judy Jordan and Roger R. Wakefield, both educators.

In Agoura Hills, six candidates--including all three City Council incumbents whose terms are expiring--filed for reelection. They will run at large, with the seats going to the top three vote-getters.

The council incumbents are Mayor Darlene McBane, 51, a free-lance graphic artist; Fran Pavley, 40, a teacher, and Jack W. Koenig, 54, also a teacher.

The challengers are Ed Kurtz, 37, an advertising executive and member of a city advisory committee on parks; Gary Mueller, 37, owner of an Agoura Hills auto parts store and president of the Agoura-Las Virgenes Chamber of Commerce, and Barry S. Steinhardt, 32, an unsuccessful council candidate in 1987.

McBane and Pavley were among the targets of a failed recall campaign earlier this year. One recall activist, accountant John Ellis, announced his candidacy earlier this year but did not file nominating papers by the Friday deadline.

Westlake Village

Politics in neighboring Westlake Village has traditionally been less charged than in Agoura Hills, although the proposed 131-acre Westlake North commercial and residential development could enliven this year’s at-large contest.

Four candidates have filed for three seats up for grabs on the City Council. They include incumbents Bonnie Klove, 68, a community volunteer, and Irwin Shane, 74, a retired educator.

Mayor Franklin Pelletier announced earlier this year that he was not running again. The race for his seat could develop into a two-way contest. The two challengers who have filed are former city manager James E. Emmons, 34, and Sybil Nisenholz. Because Pelletier declined to run, other challengers have until Wednesday to enter the race.

The ballot in Westlake Village will also include a measure to override the city’s spending limit through the 1992-93 fiscal year.

An override would not increase taxes but would simply allow the city to spend all of its tax proceeds, which officials say will be needed to maintain the city’s level of public services. Voters approved a similar measure in the city in 1987.

City officials estimate that the tax proceeds will exceed the limit by $348,000 in this budget year and that the difference will grow to more than $1 million in the 1992-93 year.

Seven candidates will compete for the seat vacated by Thousand Oaks Councilman Lee Laxdal in the Nov. 7 election, and 20 other residents of eastern Ventura County are seeking positions on school boards that include communities in eastern Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

Laxdal, a Thousand Oaks councilman since 1980, is an aerospace engineer who moved to Australia. He resigned his position last month to enable the city to hold a special election to fill his seat, one of five on the council.

The candidates are for Laxdal’s unexpired four-year term, which ends in 1992, are W. Peterson, a retired sales manager from Newbury Park; Gregory Lance Spencer, a building superintendent from Newbury Park; Jim Donovan, a financial consultant from Thousand Oaks; Phyllis L. Ellis, a self-described citizen activist from Thousand Oaks; Elois Zeanah, a homeowners representative from Thousand Oaks; K. Reed Harrison, an attorney from Thousand Oaks, and Norm (Blackie) Jackson, an auto repairman and self-described singer from Thousand Oaks.

Ventura County Contest

For the five-member Ventura County Board of Education, four candidates are running for three seats, including the three incumbents. Thousand Oaks resident Doylenne G. Johnson, an appointee, wants to retain the Area 2 seat. Incumbent Fauvette Bean Rollyson of Moorpark wants to continue serving Area 4, and incumbent Robert G. Viles of Oxnard hopes to retain his Area 1 spot. Albert (Al) Rosen, a retired teacher from Simi Valley, is challenging Rollyson in Area 4.

In the Ventura County Community College District, four candidates filed for three seats. Area 1 incumbent Gregory C. Kampf was unchallenged Friday. Dentist Gregory P. Cole filed for Area 2, and two candidates filed for Area 5--engineer Pete E. Tafoya and account executive Timothy B. Flynn.

The deadlines for Areas 2 and 5 were extended until Wednesday because their incumbents, Ruth Oren and Julian Tarleton, respectively, had not filed by Friday.

In the Conejo Valley Unified School District, nine candidates are competing for three full-term seats, and two are vying for the unexpired four-year term of George Hatcher.

Candidates for full-term positions are incumbent Mildred C. Lynch, a retired teacher from Thousand Oaks; Vance (Skip) Rodgers, a general contractor from Thousand Oaks; Richard F. (Dick) Newman of Thousand Oaks, director of the Conejo Recreation and Park District; Charles E. Rittenburg, a Newbury Park operations research engineer; incumbent William H. Henry Jr. of Thousand Oaks; N. Chuck Castaing, a dental supplies salesman from Newbury Park; Jeanie Mortensen Savage, a Thousand Oaks software engineer; Martha deBurgh, a school volunteer from Thousand Oaks, and Michael Sean Markey, a police detective who lives in Newbury Park.

Other candidates may still file by Wednesday since incumbent Ellyn Wilkins is not seeking reelection.

Appointed Incumbent

Dorothy Beaubien, an appointed incumbent from Thousand Oaks who replaced Hatcher, filed to retain her seat on the Conejo board. Thomas M. Murphy, a Thousand Oaks businessman, is challenging her.

In the Las Virgenes Joint Unified School District, the five candidates for three seats are Jack Sinclair Bethel, a commercial banker from Calabasas; Judy Jordan, a teacher from Woodland Hills; Roger R. Wakefield, an educator; Iraj Broomand, an executive from Thousand Oaks, and incumbent Barbara Bowman of Calabasas. Incumbents Betty Noling and Ron Jauch are not seeking reelection, so challengers have until Wednesday to file.

In the Moorpark Unified School District, two candidates filed Friday for two seats: incumbent Lynda R. Kira and engineering manager Sam K. Nainoa. The filing deadline was extended until Wednesday because incumbent Carla Robertson is not seeking reelection.

And in the Oak Park Unified School District, six candidates are vying for three seats: incumbents Richard E. Daley of Agoura, David E. Ross and Patricia Jan Kavulic of Agoura are being challenged by Wayne Harris Blasman, an Agoura businessman; Robert H. Kahn, an Agoura sales manager, and Sharon L. Catcott, an Agoura businesswoman.

Times Staff Writer Gabe Fuentes contributed to this story.