Ex-Roommates Want a New Lease on Life

SEQUEL OF SORTS: Redondo Beach city activist Chris Boyle said he can’t even find peace while laid up in the hospital, as his squabble with Julian Sirull, former roommate and onetime state Assembly candidate, just keeps going, and going and going . . .

The two former roommates have been battling since a January fight over the volume on the TV set. After the fight, Boyle got a restraining order against Sirull, who ran against Assemblywoman Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey) in last year’s election and is considering running for Assembly again in 1996. Sirull moved out of the apartment they shared, but no charges were filed against him in the incident.

In the latest tiff, Boyle, who has been hospitalized since he suffered a fractured skull in a Feb. 26 in-line skating accident in Hermosa Beach, said that on Monday he received a call from Sirull, who told him he scheduled a hearing in Torrance Superior Court the next day to lift the restraining order against him.

“I’m trying to get better,” Boyle complained. “My blood pressure is back to 150 over 90. I can’t believe this guy.”

The hearing was not Tuesday, but was scheduled for March 21, a court clerk said. Boyle, who said he was not well enough to go to the courthouse, was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon.

Sirull said he called for the hearing to lift the order because Boyle had not lived up to an agreement between the two. Boyle agreed to move out of the apartment by March 1, and Sirull had planned to move back in. But the skating accident left Boyle unable to complete the move.

“I just want to move back into the apartment,” Sirull said.

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NO CHAMPAGNE YET: There was hardly time for celebration.

South Bay politicians got the news that the Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo was not on the Pentagon’s closure list. But by Thursday, they feared that a campaign was being mounted by New Mexico lawmakers, like powerful Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, to shut down the facility and keep Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque intact.

“I take it seriously,” said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Rolling Hills), whose district includes the L.A. base. “These are heavy hitters.”

In a statement, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) argued that Kirtland outscored Los Angeles Air Force Base in a Pentagon study. In five of eight categories, Kirtland rated better, he said.

But Harman and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein argued that New Mexico was being selective about the data it was highlighting, and left out an important factor: The Pentagon would save more money if the Albuquerque base were targeted.

“We won, they lost,” Harman said. “They have to mount a large campaign which the data does not support.”

But don’t expect an out-and-out shouting match between California and New Mexico lawmakers.

“What would you do if your base was closing?” Harman asked. “. . . I’m sympathetic, but they are picking on the wrong target.”

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CONTINUING THE DYNASTY: Mark Dymally, the son of former U.S. Rep. Mervyn M. Dymally, said he will run for Curtis Tucker Jr.’s 51st District Assembly seat, which includes Inglewood and Hawthorne.

Such a name could be a big benefit in the race, which is expected to be a crowded field because the seat is open. Inglewood Mayor Ed Vincent already has announced his intention to run. Tucker cannot run again because of term limits.

But Dymally also has a felony conviction in his past. In 1987, he was sentenced to a year in jail for firing a gun into a Wilshire District duplex during an argument with his wife.

The conviction was later expunged, but it was raised in his successful campaign last year to the board of the West Basin Municipal Water District. In a press release, Dymally apologized for the incident.

“This campaign is a major challenge for which I have to face up to some hard facts of life,” he said. “ . . . I raise this issue now so it will be no surprise to voters.”

Ted Johnson is a staff writer and James Benning is a Times correspondent.