Catering Truck Owners Mark Group’s Start : Commerce: Wariness about crime helps prompt formation of the association that already has 175 members.

It all started 18 months ago when five catering truck workers were slain and their bodies dumped in a remote canyon in the northeastern San Fernando Valley.

The senselessness of the killings--still unsolved--prompted several catering truck owners to unite to find ways to protect themselves from crime and to fend off the stereotype that all street vendors operate illegally, sell drugs and leave litter in their wake.

After months of meetings and planning, nearly 100 catering truck owners and their families met Wednesday in North Hollywood to celebrate the official formation of the Latin-American Catering Truck Assn. (LACTA), which already has an estimated 175 members.

Although the impetus for formation of the group came from the killings, the gathering was a joyful occasion, complete with Mexican food, mariachi music and speeches by catering truck owners and police officials who have supported the organization.

Also in attendance was Enrique M. Loaeza Tovar, a representative of the Mexican Consulate, who praised the catering truck owners for uniting.

“It is very important that we help each other and that we offer each other a hand,” he said. “The best way to help each other is to organize ourselves and to present our problems to the authorities.”

Tovar also praised the Los Angeles Police Department for working closely with the catering truck organization.

“It is extremely important for us to know there is a working relationship between LACTA and the police,” he said.

After the officers of the association were sworn in, the members observed a moment of silence in memory of the five slain catering truck workers.

“The beginning of this organization started with a tragedy,” said Irene Tovar, a community activist who has worked with the group. “But they didn’t die in vain.”

The organization presented plaques to several founders of the group and to police officials who backed the association, including Capt. Richard Legera and Deputy Chief Mark Kroeker.

“This is an organization with good goals and we have worked together from the start,” Kroeker said. On the podium in front of Kroeker was a sign: “Say yes to tacos, say no to drugs.”

Members of the organization are required to have up-to-date driver’s licenses, health permits, vending licenses and insurance. The members have been meeting regularly to discuss problems and to help new members arrange permits and licenses.

Many catering truck owners said they also joined forces to fight a 1991 Los Angeles city law that prohibits catering trucks from staying in one spot for longer than an hour in commercial areas.

Truck owners say the new law hurts their business by making it difficult for regular customers to find them. They also say it puts the workers in danger because they are sometimes forced to park in unfamiliar neighborhoods.

Members have already adopted an emblem, which they affix to the windshields of their trucks. The emblem depicts two hands breaking a chain--a chain catering truck owners say represents the law they despise.