TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2003
Volume 3, Issue 35
FR
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Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
L O T T O
Cop building to be demolished
Wrapping for a cause
FANTASY 5 10, 6, 23, 4, 34 DAILY 3 Afternoon picks: 3, 5, 5 Evening picks: 9, 3, 9
A $2.7 million park might go in its place
DAILY DERBY 1st Place: 6, Whirl Win
BY JOHN WOOD
2nd Place: 4, Big Ben
Daily Press Staff Writer
3rd Place: 3, Hot Shot
CITY HALL — Officials here are expected to spend $2.7 million to tear down the old police building and replace it with a landscaped courtyard. The City Council last week voted unanimously to spend $51,260 to have plans drafted for the demolition and the construction of a landscaped park. The total cost of the project was estimated to be $2.7 million, according to City Hall documents. When the $66 million Public Safety Facility was completed earlier this year, several different options were floated for the old police building. Some suggested it could be used by City Hall staffers who currently work in
Race Time: 1:44.01
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by Chuck Shepard
Jason Cody Jones, 27, was arrested in Florence, Colo., in November and charged with suspicion of theft in connection with $110,000 missing this year from J.P. McGill’s casino, where Jones was a security guard. Jones called attention to himself by purchasing a motorcycle with 300 $20 bills and a pickup truck with a similar array of small bills, and for spending $35,000 during a six-month period this year while having earned only $6,400.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Come quickly, I am tasting stars!” – Dom Pèrignon
(his discovery of champagne)
INDEX Horoscopes Pitch in, Libra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Local
Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press
Samoshel volunteer “Mark F.” wraps a toaster oven headed for under the Christmas tree. Friday’s free gift wrapping on the Third Street Promenade near Broadway benefitted Samoshel, a homeless shelter in Santa Monica. Free gift wrapping will be offered through Christmas Eve. Donations benefit a host of charities in Santa Monica.
Earthquake shakes central coast; two dead BY BRIAN SKOLOFF Associate Press Writer
Bicyclist hit by car . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Opinion Moderates do exist in SM . . . . . . . .4
State Terror alert! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Mommy Page Top 10 challenges for moms . . . .10
International The world in brief . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
People in the News Elvis is king once again . . . . . . . .20
rented offices elsewhere. Others said it could be used to house homeless people. And some have suggested that it is unsafe and should be torn down.
PASO ROBLES — An earthquake rocked California’s central coast Monday and shook the state from Los Angeles to San Francisco, collapsing old downtown buildings in this small town and killing at least two people in the rubble. The 11:16 a.m. quake — its magnitude measured at 6.5 — pitched the roof of Paso Robles’ 1892 clock tower building into the street, crushing a row of parked cars in this San Luis Obispo County town about 20 miles east of the epicenter. More than 40 other buildings were damaged.
It was the first deadly earthquake since the 6.7-magnitude tremblor that hit Northridge in 1994, and the most powerful to strike California since a 7.1 quake rocked the desert near Joshua Tree more than four years ago. No one was killed in the 1999 quake. The main shock Monday was centered in a sparsely populated area about 11 miles north of the coastal town of Cambria. It was immediately followed by at least 50 aftershocks larger than 3.0, the biggest of which was estimated at 4.7, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake shook the Hearst See QUAKE, page 7
Features
310-394-1131
Daily Press Staff Writer
SMPD — Local police are taking extra measures within the city in response to the national alert level being raised to orange, signifying America is at high risk for a terrorist attack. The Office of Homeland Security announced on Sunday that the national alert level was raised from yellow — or elevated risk — to orange. Officials said the risk of a terrorist attack is as severe as it has been since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The Santa Monica Police Department will continue taking additional steps to increase checks of various locations throughout Santa Monica, police said. “On Sept. 11 we identified certain areas within Santa Monica to provide additional checks and
(310) 453-1928
1433 Wilshire Blvd at 15th St www.santamonicamusic.com
City Councilman
City Hall currently pays $1.5 million to lease 40,000 square feet of space in various locations throughout Santa Monica. The old building could provide about 28,700 square feet of office space if remodeled, a job estimated to take 22 months, according to City Hall documents. In recommending demolition, See BUILDING, page 6
BY CAROLYN SACKARIASON
The gift that lasts a lifetime
Served from 4pm - 10pm
— KEVIN MCKEOWN
SM police respond to security alert
Music Lessons...
THE UNDER $10 DINNER SPECIAL
“That building is thrashed.”
1901 SANTA MONICA BLVD. IN SANTA MONICA
,
“We wants residents, business people and visitors to be alert and contact the police if they see something suspicious.” — LT. FRANK FABREGA SMPD spokesman
now that we’ve moved into orange alert, the Santa Monica Police Department has begun daily, periodic checks, 24 hours a day,” SMPD Lt. Frank Fabrega said. Fabrega declined to say where those areas are. However, security officials in the past have said high traffic places like the pier and landmark structures like the See ALERT, page 6