44 More Torchbearers to Run Olympic Relay

Forty-four more people from the Los Angeles area have been selected as torchbearers for the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay.

“This is the final group of torchbearers to be named in Los Angeles,” said Kimberly Goolsby of Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, which sponsored the “Who Would You Choose?” program.

Each winner of that program picked someone special in his or her life to carry the torch, Goolsby said.

The Torch Relay will begin in Los Angeles on April 27 and conclude July 19 with the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Previously, about 75 torchbearers from the Los Angeles area were selected under the “community heroes” program. The runners named Wednesday range in age from 12 to 81.

They are:

* David Moss and Mike Van Valkenburg, 34, of Altadena;

* Martha Miranda, 35, and Sam Jackson, 30, of Baldwin Park;

* Veronica Quintana, 17, of Bell;

* Robert Neil, 52, of Calabasas;

* David Anderson, 44, and Scott Koukol of Bell;

* Raymond C. Riveria, 65, of Canoga Park;

* Philip Roybal, 24, of Cudahy;

* Leonard Guillen, 30, of Downey;

* Jan Roberts, 54, of Hacienda Heights;

* Lawrence Grey, 35, of Harbor City;

* Gaby Velazquez, 16, of La Crescenta;

* Sophia Espinoza, 17, of La Puente;

* Jon Baker, 14, of La Mirada;

* Alexander Gonzales, 40, and Ruth Moore, age unavailable, of Lancaster;

* Quentin Brande, 14; Ginger Childs, 17; Bruce Edwards, 41; Daniel Hernandez, 50; Jonathan Houston, 13; Daniel McDaniels, 17; Michael Scott Taylor, 42; and Barry Williams, 32, of Los Angeles;

* Gene Beisman, 60, of Malibu;

* Melinda Decker, 35, of Manhattan Beach;

* Paul Gonzales and Chris Sato of Montebello;

* Robert Fischer, 67, and Vincent Malizia, 81, of Northridge;

* Csilla Szeman, 12, of Pasadena;

* Damon Johnson, 17, and Andrea Martinez, 14, of Pomona;

* David Milam, 51, of Rancho Palos Verdes;

* Diane Wing Fitzhugh, 43, Chad Green, 16, and Sandra Pillet, 50, of Redondo Beach;

* Jorge Maldonado, 18, of Rosemead;

* Jason Sanders, 23, of Santa Monica;

* Russell Cheney, 54, of Torrance;

* Michael Scott Cox, 35, of Valencia;

* Yolanda Rodriguez, 23, of Vernon.