Ventura County 1992 : The Major Stories

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

It has been said that journalism is history on the run.

Whether or not everything we publish is history in the making, I do know that journalists here at The Times were certainly kept on the run in that news marathon known as 1992.

For that reason, I asked staff writer Gary Gorman to take a deep breath and give us a thoughtful look at Ventura County and the events that affected us here in the last 12 months.

I also asked Gary to give us a preview of what we might look for in this New Year. His work is on B2 and B3 today, along with key images of the past year.

On behalf of all of us at The Times Ventura County Edition, let me wish you the best of news in 1993.

Julia C. Wilson

Times Ventura County Editor

* ECONOMY: Hitting Bottom

Unemployment hits a nine-year high. Home sales fall more than 6%. Two major employers announce plans to leave the county, taking 1,000 jobs. One in seven county residents is on welfare. Ventura has so many vacant storefronts, the City Council waives permit fees for new businesses.

Now for the good news, such as it is: We seem to have hit bottom.

“We’ve definitely reached the turnaround place,” said Richard L. Ball, who oversees Ventura County National Bank’s semiannual survey of 558 business leaders. Nearly half of the respondents in the most recent poll said sales and profits dropped in the first half of 1992. But that was fewer than in the previous year.

The county lost 3,600 jobs in the 12 months ending in November, according to state figures, including 500 at the closed Everest-Jennings wheelchair plant in Camarillo. At year’s end, unemployment stood at 10% and more than 38,900 residents were looking for work.

The lack of jobs increased strains on local governments, which were already slashing staff because of cuts in state aid. By December, 13,000 county households were receiving food stamps--up from 7,000 only three years ago. For the third straight year, the county had to hire more workers--61 this time--to handle new welfare cases.

OUTLOOK: Although a busy Christmas shopping season suggested increased consumer confidence, few business leaders expect a rapid recovery. And some of 1992’s economic blows such as the loss of 450 jobs with the closing of Abex Aerospace in Oxnard--will not be felt until this year. But entrepreneurs remain optimistic about the longer term: Owners of Buenaventura Mall in Ventura have submitted plans to double its size, and construction of two new shopping centers is expected to begin in northeast Oxnard.

* GROWTH: East County Gains

Though slowed by recession, growth in the east county continued to make the area an ever more significant force in county politics, business and culture. With 14,000 residents in 1960, the east county now has 251,000--more than 37% of the county’s population and 43% of its registered voters. Its residents also have above-average household incomes and education levels higher than the county average.

And there’s no end in sight. In December, the Board of Supervisors approved the $1-billion Ahmanson Ranch project, which will transform 2,800 acres of the Simi Hills into a mini-city of 8,700 residences and dozens of commercial sites. Critics complained that its adverse environmental effects will include 37,000 more cars a day on local roads, but backers liked the nearly 10,000 acres of parkland that the deal provides.

Simi Valley, meanwhile, annexed more than 2,600 acres north of the city for the Whiteface project, which will include nearly 1,500 homes.

Camarillo, at the geographical center of the county, continued to face competing pressures from developers and preservationists.

Construction has begun on the $115-million Spanish Hills country club development on the city’s western edge.

As Camarillo runs out of space, some are calling for development of the scenic farmland on the east and west sides of the city.

Oxnard--never a hostile environment for developers--approved construction of the nearly 600,000-square-foot Shopping at the Rose retail center, to be built on the city’s northeast side. And the City Council began preliminary talks with landowners about developing a 1,000-acre expanse in the same area.

OUTLOOK: In Moorpark, the county’s fastest-growing city during the 1980s, the City Council in January will discuss annexing 4,000 acres northeast of the city enough land for the 3,000 homes that a developer wants to build. In the west county, Oxnard and Ventura are expected to continue discussions with landowners aimed at preserving a 4,800-acre agricultural greenbelt between the two cities.

* WATER: Finally, the Deluge

An 11-day series of storms in February dropped more than 10 inches of rain on parts of the county, causing floods that killed three people, damaged more than $5 million worth of crops and prompted the President to declare a disaster area.

The deluge also went a long way toward refilling the Lake Casitas and Lake Piru reservoirs and replenishing the area’s ground-water supplies. On March 2, a National Weather Service meteorologist declared the six-year drought over in Ventura County, and most cities and water agencies lifted mandatory water-conservation measures.

But don’t remove that water-saving faucet just yet. The county still has a long-term water-supply problem, officials say, and they are far from agreement on how to solve it.

Several west county water agencies were hoping that Ventura would build a pipeline to the state water system that they could also tap. But in November, the city’s voters opted for a desalination plant, leaving the other agencies scrambling for alternative ways to meet long-term needs.

One proposal called for Ventura to join in a regional desal plant, but the city has already begun preliminary work on its own plant. In the east county, the Metropolitan Water District is considering building a second pipeline to increase its delivery capabilities.

OUTLOOK: To the extent that the county needs more water, it will be due to population growth rather than profligate consumption, officials say. Although mandatory conservation measures have been removed, water use remains well below pre-drought levels--suggesting that people have adopted conservation as a way of life.

* KING BEATING TRIAL: A Tarnished Image

Simi Valley leaders had hoped that the newly opened Ronald Reagan Presidential Library would put their city on the map in 1992. Instead, the city became better known for two words heard ‘round the world:

“Not guilty.”

A jury of Ventura County residents, meeting in Simi Valley, acquitted four white Los Angeles police officers of most charges stemming from the beating of black motorist Rodney G. King. None of the jurors were black. Within hours, parts of Los Angeles were in flames and Simi Valley--where the case was moved because of pretrial publicity--was seared with the stigma of racism.

Black leaders condemned both Simi Valley and Ventura County as strongholds of white supremacy worthy of the Old South. Even President Bush wondered aloud how anyone could view the infamous videotape of the beating and not see a crime.

The uproar followed a series of less prominent but still embarrassing cases that raised questions about how minorities are treated in Ventura County. In 1991, 11 black deputies filed claims of institutional bias and harassment at the Sheriff’s Department. In February, a fifth-grader was awarded second place in an oratory contest for a speech praising Adolf Hitler. And in April, a parents group in Moorpark circulated petitions against school busing to achieve integration.

A different perspective emerged from a Times poll of county residents: More than two-thirds disagreed with the King verdicts, which they felt had given the county a bad name, and 79% said they sympathized with the anger felt by blacks in Los Angeles.

OUTLOOK: In February, the four officers are scheduled to be tried on federal civil-rights charges in Los Angeles. Before then, Ventura County again may find itself in the spotlight. A man claiming to represent the Ku Klux Klan has announced a rally in Simi Valley in late January.

* POLITICS: Democrats Gain

In a hotly contested Ventura County congressional race, it was not the Year of the Woman. And the anti-incumbent mood supposedly sweeping the nation did not prevent three members of the Board of Supervisors or dozens of city council members from winning new terms.

But it was not exactly politics as usual, either.

For one thing, the Democrats became a bigger factor through huge gains in voter registration. By November, the GOP’s lead in registered voters was cut by more than half, with 43.9% registering as Republicans and Democrats claiming 41.1%. The gains helped Bill Clinton become the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry Ventura County since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Meanwhile, the county’s Republicans were distracted by an intraparty fight between Christian fundamentalists and moderates--which the latter won. Although Bush ran second in the county, Republican Rep. Elton Gallegly of Simi Valley won reelection by an unexpectedly large margin over Democrat Anita Perez Ferguson. And Republican Nao Takasugi of Oxnard became the first Asian- American elected to the California Assembly in 14 years.

Judging by bumper stickers and rallies, neither party excited the county’s voters as much as did Ross Perot, whose 27% of the vote in Ventura County far exceeded his state and national proportions.

In city elections, Oxnard made dramatic changes by electing a Latino mayor and a black councilman.

OUTLOOK: A majority of Ventura City Council seats will be on the November ballot, and Oxnard will hold a special election in March to fill a council vacancy. For most jurisdictions, however, 1993 will be an off year politically. But look for behind-the-scenes jockeying in anticipation of 1994, when races for supervisor, district attorney and sheriff will lead the county ballot.

* PERKS: Pay Scandal

The hottest issue in those 1994 county races may well be one that came to the forefront too late for the 1992 election: the hidden pay and perquisites that top county officials have received for years.

As an eyebrow raiser, it was a beaut.

At a time when unemployment had reached its highest level in years, some supervisors were receiving almost double their official salaries.

While cutting more than 200 low-level jobs, county leaders found a way to pay the sheriff and auditor a total of $288,000 in “golden handshakes” for retiring early.

Several cities--including Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Oxnard--were also found to have generous compensation plans for top officials. But none came close to the county’s assortment of perks, which rewarded elected officials for such things as having a college education and getting themselves reelected.

Supervisors appointed a citizens panel to recommend how much officials should be paid. But the uproar barely diminished as the group repeatedly complained that county officials were slow to provide crucial information. The panel’s ultimate recommendation--approved by the supervisors--raised base pay for officials but eliminated the most controversial perks. For most officials, the bottom line was a pay raise; for three of the five supervisors, total compensation decreased.

OUTLOOK: Ventura County supervisors’ pay is now set at 65% of a Superior Court judge’s salary. So if the Legislature decides to give judges a raise, the supervisors will automatically get one. What is less definite is how the perks issue will play in negotiations with county unions as well as the 1994 elections.

* CRIME: Meaner Streets

During the 1980s, Ventura County’s low crime rate made it the safest urban county west of the Mississippi River, according to FBI statistics.

In the 1990s, it’s been more like the safest county west of the Los Angeles River.

Crime rose in Ventura County in 1992, continuing an upswing that began in 1990, the FBI said. Violent crimes were up in Thousand Oaks, Oxnard and Simi Valley. Figures for the year are not yet available, but officials said there was an apparent overall increase of about 1% countywide, despite a drop in crime in some cities.

Some of the increase was blamed on criminals from Los Angeles. Ventura County Jail officials reported a 60% rise in the number of inmates with Los Angeles addresses over two years.

Despite the increases, crime rates in every city but Oxnard remained lower than the state average. And suburban areas such as Camarillo and Moorpark are far more likely to see burglars and car thieves than drive-by gunmen, according to the figures.

The county’s 32 homicides reported in 1992 represent a significant decrease from the previous year’s 48--but surpassed the 20 reported in 1990.

As in past years, many of the most violent crimes occurred against a backdrop of gangs or drugs. Cocaine was involved in several slayings, including the murder of automobile dealer Tony Bridges. Gang animosity was blamed for fatal shootings in Oxnard and Santa Paula and a deadly stabbing in Ventura.

And at year’s end, investigators were still puzzling over a whodunit in Thousand Oaks involving the arson of a comic-book store.

At first, anti-Semitic graffiti suggested a hate crime directed at the store’s Jewish owner, who attracted an outpouring of community sympathy.

Then the investigators said the businessman had not been ruled out as a suspect. A 20-year-old suspect told an acquaintance that the store owner hired him to torch the store, according to court papers, but after four months’ investigation the grand jury refused to indict him on the arson charge, and it was dismissed.

OUTLOOK: Larry Carpenter, the longtime No. 2 person in the Sheriff’s Department, takes over the top job Jan. 1. Oxnard’s recently hired police chief, Harold Hurtt, enters his first full year in office. Budget constraints will force both to tackle the rising crime rate with fewer resources. Some officials foresee no letup in property crimes until the economy improves.

* ENVIRONMENT: Breathing Easier

California condors soared for the first time in five years after two were released over the rugged Ventura County backcountry. And the air that they glided through was the cleanest in at least two decades.

The release of the giant vultures, named Chocuyens and Xewe, from a captive breeding program was hailed as the latest triumph in a 12-year effort aimed at saving the endangered species.

But the difficulty of preserving the birds was illustrated when Chocuyens died of poisoning, apparently after drinking from a puddle of spilled antifreeze.

Six more condors were released in December, making a total of seven in the wild and 56 in zoos--nearly three times the all-time low of 22 condors in 1983.

There was good news too, for two other endangered species--a songbird known as the least Bell’s vireo and a fish called the unarmored threespine stickleback--as efforts accelerated to protect the Santa Clara River, a prime habitat for both.

Officials and landowners in Ventura and Los Angeles counties began talks aimed at creating a management plan for the river, one of the few natural-flowing streams left in Southern California.

And the district attorney’s office charged two landowners with illegally bulldozing the river’s banks.

But the county’s biggest environmental news affected everything that breathes.

Air quality was the best since pollution monitoring began in 1973, officials said.

Only once was a health advisory issued by the Air Quality Management District-- compared to five times in both 1990 and 1991, and the county’s air exceeded federal ozone standards only 10 times in 1992. The average over the past 10 years is 51 days.

Officials credited favorable weather for some of the improvement but said tougher vehicle emission standards statewide also played a significant role.

OUTLOOK: Even clearer skies are forecast for coming years as the air pollution district phases in ride-sharing requirements and new controls on power- plant emissions. County supervisors are expected to decide on whether to build a new landfill in Weldon Canyon.

* COURTS: Sanity on Trial

A deranged man with a history of mental illness stabs a 90-year-old woman to death. A farm worker described as borderline mentally retarded leaves her newborn baby to die in a portable toilet.

But whatever mental problems Kevin Kolodziej and Francisca Jimenez may have had, both were legally sane, Ventura County courts decided.

In a year when the insanity defense was raised in three murder cases, it succeeded only once: in the trial of Jesus Garcia, a paranoid schizophrenic found not guilty by reason of insanity in the stabbing death of his father.

Advocates for the mentally ill said the guilty verdicts--especially in the Kolodziej case--demonstrate society’s ineptitude in dealing with psychiatric patients. Prosecutors countered that both Jimenez and Kolodziej knew right from wrong.

For the district attorney’s office, the longest criminal trial of the year proved to be one of the most frustrating. Olen B. Phillips of Thousand Oaks was accused of masterminding a fraud in which hundreds of investors claimed losses totaling $20 million. But after a four-month trial, the jury convicted Phillips of only one grand theft count out of 81 charges. He served 60 days in jail, while co-defendant Charles J. Francoeur was sentenced to 7 2/3 years.

In other prominent cases, gang member Scott Kastan was convicted of first-degree murder in the drive-by slaying of Jennifer Jordan of Thousand Oaks; Veronica Lira of Santa Paula pleaded guilty to murdering car dealer Bridges; Ventura High football coach Harvey Kochel pleaded guilty to having sex with a student, and David Scott Crother--accused of intentionally passing the AIDS virus to a sex partner--pleaded guilty but is appealing.

In the year’s only death-penalty case, Gregory S. Smith was sentenced to die in the gas chamber for kidnaping, raping and strangling 8-year-old Paul Bailly in 1990.

OUTLOOK: The money-laundering trial of Otoniel Urrego, a suspected member of a Colombian cocaine cartel, is expected to feature tales of millions of dollars shipped cross-country in 30-gallon drums. Father David Piroli, accused of stealing $60,000 in church offerings, is scheduled to go on trial in late January. In the case of Antonio Morales, prosecutors will try once again to convict the suspected drunk driver of murder in a crash that killed a 16-year-old girl.

* SEABEES: Off to Somalia

Another international crisis meant another important mission for Seabees based at Port Hueneme.

In December, about 200 members of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40 were deployed to Somalia to help with hunger relief. Another 400 are expected to follow this month. They will pave roads and airstrips and build other facilities for troops aiding the east African nation. The deployment comes barely a year after the last Seabee returned to Port Hueneme from the Persian Gulf War.

OUTLOOK: How long the Seabees stay in Somalia will probably depend on the success of the campaign to restore order to the war-torn country.