Behring Making Rounds; No Stop Yet in Anaheim

Ken Behring, who wants to move his Seattle Seahawks into the Rose Bowl until a stadium can be built for them somewhere in the Southland, met Tuesday with Pasadena Mayor William M. Paparian but no business issues were discussed, Paparian said.

“Mr. Behring was advised the city of Pasadena cannot enter into any negotiations until there has been a clarification and analysis of the legal issues raised in Seattle,” said Paparian, noting that he and Behring discussed Behring’s classic cars.

Meanwhile, Anaheim city officials, who are prepared to roll out the welcome mat to Behring, said Tuesday they have yet to schedule a meeting with him.

“It’s a matter of timing,” City Manager James D. Ruth said before an afternoon City Council workshop. “I’m sure we’ll be talking to him in the next couple of days.”

Ruth said preparations at Rams Park, where the Seahawks are planning to set up their administrative offices and training site, are continuing.

A moving van containing weights and office equipment arrived at 10 a.m. but was not expected to be unloaded until this morning.

Included in the final preparations was the eviction of the last remnants of the facility’s previous tenant. Workers tossed out Ram game tape and practice film that had been left behind. Kevin Boden, an 11-year-old Anaheim resident, was given Ram practice film from 1985 as a souvenir.

“I don’t know anything about that team because I was only 1-year old,” Boden said.

That Ram team was the last one to win a division championship.

In Seattle, attorneys for the Seahawks convinced a Washington state judge that their suit against King County, seeking release from their lease because the Kingdome is unsafe and not a first-class venue, should be heard in a neighboring rural county instead of Seattle. But Judge Michael Cooper left in place a restraining order preventing the Seahawks from taking action that would oblige them to play their home games somewhere other than the Kingdome.

The Seahawks and King County filed suits against each other last Friday. But Cooper, in Ellensburg, Wash., 100 miles east of Seattle, ruled that the team’s attorneys completed their paperwork sooner, granting jurisdiction to Kittitas County, population 29,000, where their suit was filed.

Barring appeals, the next hearing is set for Feb. 22 in Ellensburg.

Staff writers Greg Hernandez and Chris Foster contributed to this story.