NO END OF WORRY: Pacoima parents breathe...

NO END OF WORRY: Pacoima parents breathe a littler easier now that undercover police have nabbed Robert Lee Donaldson, accused of raping three children on their way to school there, allegedly as he stalked a young girl in Inglewood (B4). . . . But that doesn’t make a parent’s life easy in their neighborhood, they say. “You always have to fear something,” a mother noted. “I’ve always been afraid for my children, for drugs, gangs, everything else.”

POLITICS AND RELIGION: That feud that has the LAPD trying to keep peace between rival factions at a Sikh temple in North Hollywood reflects troubles among Sikhs nationwide. Factors: the violent struggle for independence in the Sikhs’ Punjabi homeland and tensions between the traditions of a venerable religion and the immigrants’ American freedoms (B1, B8).

GOOD EATS: Where to eat out tonight? Check this: the annual list of the Valley’s top 20 restaurants, ranging from upscale bistros (Posto and Pinot) founded by big-name Westside restaurateurs to funky, inexpensive neighborhood favorites (Dr. Hogly Wogly’s Tyler, Texas Barbecue and Rubin’s Red Hots). See Valley Life! Page 12

POLICY PEEVES: Sterling Casualty Insurance Co., an obscure Van Nuys company, made a top 10 list--but isn’t celebrating. It’s the state Insurance Department’s annual survey of consumer complaints about auto insurance firms. And Sterling came in No. 1 (D1). . . . Sterling’s explanation: Customers blame it for disputes with finance companies.

CAPTIVE IMAGES: The epic clash of the plains Indians with America’s westward expansion still echoes loudly in the culture, louder perhaps now than in years past. Case in point . . . the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum’s current exhibit of artwork chronicling the experiences of Indians captured by the U. S. Army in the Red River War of 1874. See Valley Life! Page 8