MAJOR CRIME DROPS: While they dreamed of...

MAJOR CRIME DROPS: While they dreamed of Hollywood stardom, athletic careers or quiet motherhood, most of the Valley’s 128 homicide victims in 1993 died doing the banal: pumping gas, walking home from school, withdrawing money from a bank ATM. (A1) . . . The homicide rate dropped last year, along with robbery, burglary and aggravated assault, with only rape among major crimes increasing, according to projections.

TOUCHDOWN DROUGHT: With only two touchdown catches in his four years as a tight end at UCLA, Brian Allen, who played at Hart High in Newhall, has lowered his expectations (C10) for today’s Rose Bowl game. In his last game for the Bruins, he will settle for just one long run against Wisconsin.

POWER OF THE PRESS: Despite its location in small town Calabasas, the Jewish Spectator magazine has drawn the attention, and the writings, of prominent Jewish intellectuals. (B5) . . . And, because a majority of its 6,000 subscribers are libraries and rabbis, its influence spreads wide and deep. But even this highbrow publication is not above a mention of Michael Jackson.

LOOKING BACK: Steve Burdett, a race-car driver at Saugus Speedway, earned a surprising outpouring of support from his macho colleagues (C11) after he announced last summer that he was gay and had contracted the virus that causes AIDS. His courage and candor made him one of the Valley’s most memorable sports personalities of 1993.

WHO’S THE BOSS: The city of Lancaster has jumped into the landlord business, buying up mobile home parks as a way to preserve housing options for lower-income residents. The practice (B7) has been described as “pioneering” by some, although some mobile home residents suspect they are merely being wooed as voters. So far the city is the proud owner of two parks and talks are under way with the owners of three more.

Valley Homicides

The number of homicides has increased since 1991 in Devonshire and West Valley divisions of the LAPD. Homicides reported to the Valley Bureau, as of Dec. 7 for the past three years:

1991 1992 1993 Devonshire 28 17 30 Foothill 36 40 36 N. Hollywood 27 23 19 Van Nuys 29 38 22 West Valley 16 19 21

Source: LAPD