LAWT-9-3-2009 Paper Edition

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September 3, 2009

SERVING LOS ANGELES COUNTY WITH NEWS YOU CAN USE

Vol. XXX, No. 1143 FIRST COLUMN

Civil Rights Heroes Mourn Kennedy as One of Theirs BY ERRIN HAINES AP WRITER

ATLANTA (AP) — In the early hours before President Barack Obama’s historic inauguration, U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ phone rang. It was Edward Kennedy on the line. “I’m thinking about you, of how proud you must be and how happy you must be,” Lewis, a lion of the Civil Rights Movement, recalled hearing the liberal lion of the Senate say on the other end. “I wish that my brothers, Jack and

Bobby, and Dr. King were here to observe what we are about to observe.” For all the causes championed by Kennedy, who died Aug. 25 at 77 after nearly half a century in the Senate, he will be remembered in the South almost exclusively as the man who, in the face of resentment from many whites, delivered on the promises his brothers made to help end segregation. “Of the white Americans who did the most to help the advanceSee KENNEDY, page 11

NEXT UP? — Battalion Chief Millage Peaks, a 33-year veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department, was named interim chief on Aug. 29. Peaks, who was nominated by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, has to be confirmed by the City Council to stay in the position permanently. He would replace Douglas Barry, the first African American in the position.

Photo Courtesy of ADAM COOPER/L.A. MAYOR’S OFFICE

Bradford Wins in 51st District Assembly Race BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by ALEX BRANDON

REMEMBERING KENNEDY — President Barack Obama greets Victoria Kennedy, widow of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston on Aug. 29. Kennedy, who died Aug. 25 from brain cancer, was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Democrat Steven Bradford beat five other candidates in a Sept. 1 special election to fill a vacant Los Angeles-area state Assembly seat. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Bradford, a Gardena city councilman, received nearly 53 percent of votes. “The voters of the district supported me and rejected my opponents due, in part, to my pledge to move aggressively on those specific issues, but also based on my 12-year track record of leadership on the Gardena City Council and my achievements as Gardena’s Mayor Pro Tem,” Assemblymember-elect Bradford was quoted as saying in a press statement. “I am deeply honored by the strong support I received

These Doughnuts the Los Angeles Police Don’t Like BY THANDISIZWE CHIMURENGA ASSISTANT EDITOR

As of late, many residents of the Crenshaw-Leimert Park area have been able to sleep a little more soundly on Saturday nights. Their sleep aid: the increased presence of the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol. Earlier this year, cruising and street racing on Crenshaw Boulevard not only awakened many residents with the sounds of screeching tires, racing engines and loud music, but it kept late-night commuters confined at various points on the thoroughfare. In the Bay Area of Northern

California, the phenomenon of young people engaging in this activity is known as “side shows” and “yokin’”. Officials and residents in the Crenshaw-Leimert area have their own names for it: nuisance and illegal. Resources to combat the problem were increased in July, according to Renee Bevel, a crime intelligence analyst with LAPD’s South Bureau. The plan included officers from the CHP, LAPD senior lead officers, motorcycle officers and regular patrol units. Residents say they were able to set their clocks by when the nuisances would occur: usually late

Photo Courtesy of CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL AVIATION UNIT

THE ‘STRIP’ — An aerial view of Crenshaw Boulevard, between Coliseum and West 39th streets, taken in May that shows tire marks. Street racers and cruisers would do “donuts” — spin their cars around in circles — or “burn rubber” on the boulevard, primarily late Saturday nights/early Sunday mornings, creating a nuisance.

Saturday nights/early Sunday mornings, mostly between 2 and 4 a.m. Signs of the previous night’s activities would be visible by dawn: several fresh, black tire marks along the boulevard from where street racers would do “donuts” — spin their cars around in circles — or burn rubber from a stationary position, usually at an intersection. Stuart H., a resident who lives about two blocks from Crenshaw Boulevard and 54th Street, says he remembers being awakened routinely between 1:30 and 3:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings to the sound of screeching tires. “We could actually smell the rubber burning,” said Stuart, whose last name was withheld for safety reasons. “From where I live, I could hear the voices of people on the street yelling and screaming on Crenshaw. It was crazy.” Additional resources were made available to the LAPD to free up officers for this issue prior to meetings with concerned residents, according to LAPD Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese. Since the suppression detail went into effect, Stuart says that his “nights are very quiet. I think that just their (the LAPD’s) presence has stopped the (activity.) We’ve been See DOUGHNUTS, page 10

from the voters of the 51st Assembly District in this special election primary. To win the 51st District seat outright is a tremendous accom- Steven Bradford plishment and a humbling achievement.” Candidates were competing to replace Curren Price Jr., who resigned earlier this year after he was elected to the state Senate. The 51st Assembly District runs through part of Los Angeles and the

suburbs of Culver City, Gardena, Hawthorne and Inglewood. If Bradford had not received 50 percent of the vote, he would have had to participate in a runoff vote on Nov. 3. But the Democrat seemed to be the all-but-certain winner, since two of three voters in the district are Democrats. Bradford held a commanding edge in fundraising and has won most of the key endorsements, including from the state Democratic Party and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. In addition to Bradford, four See 51ST DISTRICT, page 14

NEWS IN BRIEF THE STATE Assembly Approves Scaled-Down Prison Plan SACRAMENTO (AP) — The California Assembly has approved a bill seeking to reduce the state corrections budget, as Republican lawmakers assailed it as a threat to public safety. The revised measure passed on a 41-35 vote Aug. 31, the bare majority needed in the 80-member house. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass removed the most controversial provisions from a bill that was passed previously in the Senate. Law enforcement organizations had objected to the early release of ill inmates or some of those age 60 or older, as well as a proposal to reduce certain property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg says he will not allow a vote on the latest Assembly bill unless it includes some of the provisions from the earlier bill.

THE NATION Miss. to Honor Slain Civil Rights Workers PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (AP) — A historical marker was slated to be dedicated Sept. 1 in Mississippi at the site where civil-rights workers James Chaney, Andrew

Goodman and M i c h a e l Schwerner were abducted by Ku Klux Klansmen and killed in 1964. The state James Chaney worked with the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation at the University of Mississippi at the request of the Philadelphia Coalition, a multiracial group of local citizens, to create the marker. Winter Institute executive director Susan Glisson says the marker will be placed on Mississippi Highway 19 South, near County Road 515, the site of the 1964 murders. Glisson says James A. Young, elected earlier this year as Philadelphia’s first black mayor, and Rita Schwerner Bender, widow of Michael Schwerner, have been invited to attend.

Casket of Rights Case Icon to Go to Smithsonian CHICAGO (AP) — A casket that helped trigger the Civil Rights Movement and decades later was discarded like trash is now heading to the Smithsonian Institution. On the very spot where in 1955 the brutalized remains of 14year-old Emmett Till were put on display in Chicago, his family on Aug. 28 announced plans to give See BRIEFS, page 8

LABOR DAY IS SEPTEMBER 7


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