County Extends State of Emergency to Cut Red Tape : Supervisors: Sheriff Block seeks permission to lease space for workers displaced by closure of Hall of Justice.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Friday declared a continued state of emergency--an administrative move that will give county officials wider authority to purchase supplies, make repairs and lease office space for employees displaced by the earthquake.

About two dozen county structures--among them the aging Downtown Hall of Justice--remain closed because of earthquake damage, and scores of employees have been forced to double up at a time when demand for their services is at a record high.

Sheriff Sherman Block made a personal appeal for permission to lease space for the last 575 department personnel housed in the Hall of Justice, which served for years as the sheriff’s headquarters. The Sheriff’s Department is now headquartered in Monterey Park.

Block said that because many of the department’s computerized records and identification systems are locked up in the landmark building at Temple and Spring streets, “sex and narcotics offenders are not being registered, fingerprints are not being logged and . . . a whole range of law enforcement procedures are not getting done.”

The supervisors agreed to provide temporary space for Block’s personnel but postponed a decision on finding a permanent location for them.

The workers had been scheduled to move out of the Hall of Justice at the end of the year, but earthquake damage has speeded up the process.

Officials estimate that it would cost about $80 million to refurbish the 69-year-old building, which once housed such famous prisoners as Charles Manson in the jail that occupies the top floors. Some have suggested that it would be better to simply tear down the old building.

In other developments Friday:

* Authorities took steps to quash a variety of scams that have sprung up in the aftermath of the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake.

The Los Angeles Police Department’s bunco division assembled a unit to investigate quake-related fraud, federal investigators were sent to welfare offices to look for phony claims for emergency food stamps and state agents started posing as homeowners to catch contractors overcharging for earthquake repairs.

In an effort to stop “double-dipping,” the federal Department of Agriculture approved a 72-hour waiting period for those applying for a one-time allocation of emergency food stamps. Previously, applicants had only to give proof of residence and declare that they met low-income requirements in order to receive the stamps immediately.

“It’s not our intent to hassle people who need food,” said Dick Montoya of the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. “But a few people are going to cheat, and we’re trying to strike a balance.”

* A moderate, magnitude-4.0 aftershock centered three miles east-southeast of Newhall was felt over a wide area at 12:09 p.m., followed three minutes later by a 3.5 temblor and by another 3.0 tremor at 4:47 p.m., Caltech reported.

The first quake was the 37th aftershock recorded in the magnitude 4 range in the 12 days since the initial 6.6 quake. There have been two aftershocks in the magnitude 5 range and more than 300 in the 3 range.

* Donna E. Shalala, secretary of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, said in Los Angeles on Friday that she is releasing $17.5 million for repairs and supplemental funding for medical and research centers, Social Security offices, health and family planning clinics, Head Start centers and substance abuse treatment facilities in the earthquake area.

* Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said more than 179,000 people had applied for federal assistance. They said checks for temporary housing totaling about $17.7 million had been mailed out.

* Gov. Pete Wilson announced a $3-million program to hire people who lost their jobs because of the quake to do cleanup work. The jobs will pay $2,000 a month.

* City officials said 28,557 buildings had been inspected since the earthquake, with 21,095 dwelling units declared unfit for occupancy.

* The state Office of Emergency Services said more than 3,000 earthquake refugees remained in Red Cross shelters and tent encampments. Another 1,300 were camping on their own, most of them in city parks, the state said.

* Meningitis, not his living conditions, apparently caused the death of a 13-month-old boy who had been living with his family in a car outside their Newhall home because of fear of another major earthquake, sheriff’s deputies said. Jose Campa’s temperature rose to 107 degrees before he died Wednesday morning.

* The Lincy Foundation, a Las Vegas-based, nonprofit organization funded by financier Kirk Kerkorian, announced that it has donated $2 million to the Red Cross to be used to aid victims of the earthquake. The foundation made a similar grant to the Red Cross in 1992 to help victims of the riots.

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