TimesOC: Cold case of slain Palestinian American activist Alex Odeh gets high-ranking attention
Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Dec. 22. I’m Carol Cormaci, bringing you today’s TimesOC newsletter with the latest roundup of news and events.
At around 9 a.m. on a fall day in 1985, Alex Odeh arrived at the Santa Ana office of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. As Odeh opened the door a rigged pipe bomb went off, mortally wounding him. Alive when emergency crews arrived on the scene, he died two hours after being transported to a hospital.
Odeh was the West Coast regional director of the committee, formed in 1980 to combat anti-Arab stereotypes in U.S. media and to promote balanced reporting on Middle Eastern affairs.
My colleague Gabriel San Román in October updated TimesOC readers with a deep dive on the case that has yet to be solved. Although there do appear to be a few possible suspects that have been named publicly, no action has been taken in regards to the Santa Ana bombing. According to San Román’s reporting, within a month after the 41-year-old Odeh was killed, FBI spokesman Lane Bonner publicly stated the extremist Jewish Defense League was behind the crime. “The agency later backpedaled on naming the JDL and has not done so since,” the writer notes.
Over the years, San Román reports, various elected officials have tried to get some answers on the Odeh case, with virtually no success. But it was back in the spotlight this week when U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois), Senate Majority Whip and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee demanded the FBI to provide an update on the case, citing the TimesOC October article in the letter he sent to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray.
Individuals who have been left 36 years without an answer in the Odeh case say they’re glad Durbin is taking up their cause. Odeh’s daughter, Helena Odeh, who serves on the board of the ADC’s Orange County chapter, told San Román this: “I’m happy that my father’s murder is getting the attention of a U.S. senator now. It feels like the case is always at a standstill. All we’ve been asking for is justice.”
MORE NEWS
— The surge of the Omicron variant around California and its ability to spread rapidly has state officials and health experts on their toes these days trying to assess the potential for damage, according to a report by our colleague Rong Gong Lin II. “For every 100,000 residents, the (San Francisco) Bay Area has five people hospitalized with COVID-19, while Orange County’s rate is six, L.A. County’s is seven, and Ventura County’s is nine … Some experts say it’s concerning when the rate is five or greater,” Lin notes. On Friday, Orange County officials reported the first local case of the Omicron variant.
— A man who authorities say stole a firetruck outside a hospital in the city of Orange at about 1:40 a.m. Tuesday and then led police on a pursuit across Orange County was arrested. Forrest Thompson, 36, drove the rig for more than an hour on the 5 and 405 freeways before stopping on Brookhurst Street and Ball Road in Anaheim.
— The purchase of Banning Ranch remains within reach as conservationists received a ceremonial check representing $8 million Thursday from state officials to help purchase the 384-acre oil field at the mouth of the Santa Ana River. The $8 million to purchase the largest parcel of unincorporated, privately owned open space along the Southland’s coastline comes out of the state budget.
— Republic Services sanitation workers in Huntington Beach and Anaheim went back to work Friday, ending an eight-day strike over unfair labor practices after members of Teamsters Local 396 voted to ratify a tentative agreement with the Phoenix-based company.
— Fewer homes are being sold in Orange County as prices continue to rise, illuminating a dearth in real estate inventory leading into 2023, reports our colleague Priscella Vega. Overall home sales decreased in the county by 3.5% between November 2020 and last month, according to data released Thursday by real estate firm DQNews.
SPORTS
— The Los Angeles Times asked a federal judge Monday to unseal exhibit and witness lists filed by the government in the case of the former Angels employee charged in connection with the overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs, reports Times staff writer Nathan Fenno. Last month, U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means granted a government motion to seal exhibit and witness lists until testimony has concluded during the trial that’s scheduled to start Feb. 8.
— Over the weekend, the Times released its top 25 rankings of Southland boys’ high school basketball teams, which includes several O.C. teams. Is your favorite team on it? Check here.
— Top high school football teams were also given their due over the weekend by sportswriter Eric Sondheimer, who wrote that Mason Graham of Anaheim Servite was the newspaper’s choice for player of the year.
LIFE & LEISURE
— Mother’s Market and Kitchen, headquartered in Costa Mesa, began ringing up sales at its newest location in Corona del Mar last week. The company’s chief executive, Dorothy Carlow, said in an interview Tuesday that Mother’s Markets has plans for further expansion.
— The FOA Foundation, which distributes grants to nonprofits supporting the arts throughout Laguna Beach, has a new president. Artist Kathy Jones, who has a 19-year relationship exhibiting her work during the Festival of Arts, succeeds Bob Earl.
— More than 100 Vietnamese artists displayed original works of art at the “Paint a Heart” art exhibit in Westminster on Dec. 16, presented by the Stable Anchor Manor Foundation. The event was held at the Asia World Media studio. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the works of art go to providing support and guidance to homeless, runaway and at-risk youth and orphans.
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