Young Readers’ Views on Beating of Oakland Infant

Juvenile justice from young Americans abroad:

The story of an Oakland infant severely beaten by a 6-year-old boy had a long reach, all the way to a class of 19 American fifth-graders attending Bad Aibling Elementary School on a military base in Germany. Students read Times stories about the matter and wrote letters which their teacher, Mona Weber, forwarded:

Many students, like Bad Aibling’s Brian, disagree with the state’s presumption that a child under 14 cannot form criminal intent, “because I, as a 10-year-old, think that a child of almost any age can commit a crime.” Dwight argues that “I can kill a guy by putting a pencil in his head, because I had the intent to do it and I am only 11.” Eric said, “I’m 10 and I know that I can get a gun . . . so please lower the age to at least 5.”

“How do you know,” wrote Nikki, “he didn’t have it all planned out? . . . I would get him some professional help and fast!”

The 6-year-old’s home life also concerned them. “The mother of the 6-year-old should also be held accountable,” said Jonathan, “because the mother of the boy always came home late from work.” Tommy wrote disapprovingly: “There also seems to be very little supervision around the house. . . . The 6-year-old might have been watching violent movies while the mom was gone and turned them off and hid before she got home.”

Luz argued for treatment “in a psychological mental hospital. . . . I’m personally very proud of the mom because she has showed that she would not give up on her son even though he is in a lot of trouble.”

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Cross-purposes: It’s just too exciting to wait another year for the centennial celebration, so the state’s oldest Armenian church is pulling out all the stops this month for its 99th anniversary.

Fresno’s First Armenian Presbyterian Church opened in a rented hall with 40 immigrant congregants on July 25, 1897; it now has 10 times that many.

Among the worshipers in the octagonal church built in the years thereafter--a building that burned down in 1985--was the young Pulitzer Prize-winning writer William Saroyan, who wrote in “Places Where I’ve Done Time”:

“Several years ago I saw a ‘For Sale’ sign outside the church, and the price was $18,000. I was about to buy the place when a stock-and-bond broker explained that any investment must earn at least 8% interest if it is not to be considered a poor investment. . . . The fact is that something else prevented me from going through with the purchase. I was afraid to buy it. The place was deeply centered in my memory. I could actually go and buy and own such a place, but it would be a profound interference of some kind.”

Showtime

The July 4 weekend has traditionally been a big opening weekend for summer films. For several years, state and local officials have expressed dismay that film production companies were using locations in other states, even other countries, to shoot their films. Since 1990, however, the number of feature film production starts has more than doubled statewide:

California Feature Film Production Starts, 1990-95:

YEAR: FILMS

* 1990: 192

* 1991: 219

* 1992: 319

YEAR: FILMS

* 1993: 323

* 1994: 439

* 1995: 439

Source: California Film Commission

Researched by NONA YATES / Los Angeles Times

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One-offs: A jet skier who rescued a man trapped after his truck flipped into the Rogue River, and who then rode off like the Lone Ranger, was found to be the modest Benjamin Paulsen, Eagle Scout. . . . The Great American Fish Count census brings as many as 500 divers to California coastal waters to enumerate all manner of fish, with none of those troubling questions about live-in significant others. . . . Court papers show a Merced County man admitted to investigators that he killed a woman he met through a personal ad after she laughed at his enlarged breasts. . . . Bard buffs should not be alarmed at the headline in the Bear Valley Voice, “Hamlet Now Part of CSD,” for the newspaper shorthand refers to annexing a small town named Lake William for purposes of fire protection. . . . Meeting a July 10 deadline, the annual meltdown of seized firearms at a Rancho Cucamonga steel foundry turned 15,614 guns into freeway rebar.

EXIT LINE

“I think this is a conspiracy from the [Texas] grapefruit growers.”

--Strawberry vendor Roberta Quick of Napa, selling strawberries at Watsonville’s annual strawberry festival, referring to reports that Texas health officials have linked an intestinal infection there to a parasite on California strawberries.

California Dateline appears every other Friday.