FR EE
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2003
Volume 3, Issue 36
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
L O T T O FANTASY 5 27, 20, 8, 3, 1 DAILY 3 Afternoon picks: 1, 8, 0 Evening picks: 1, 9, 2
DAILY DERBY 1st Place: 12, Lucky Charms 2nd Place: 10, Solid Gold 3rd Place: 1, Gold Rush Race Time: 1:46.93
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
Water contamination settlement approved City Hall gets $312M By Daily Press staff
CITY HALL — A seven-year legal dispute ended on Monday after a judge approved a $300 million settlement between City Hall and three oil companies for contaminating Santa Monica’s water. Orange County Superior Court Judge Stephen J. Sunvold approved “good faith” settlements between Shell Oil Company, ChevronTexaco and Exxon Mobil.
The settlement is valued at $312.85 million, which includes a commitment to provide the city with a new water treatment facility, as well as $92.5 million in cash. The settlement is valued at $312.85 million, which includes a commitment to provide the city with a new water treatment facility, as well as $92.5 million in cash. A new treatment facility, the first of its kind, will be built specifically to clean up the city’s
water at the Charnock Well Field in West LA, the city’s main water source. The settlement ensures that the oil companies will pay for all costs to construct, operate and maintain the treatment plant, which officials expect will clean the city’s water supply by 2008.
The court also approved separate settlements between City Hall and Union Oil Company (Unocal) for $5 million and with ConocoPhillips, on behalf of its subsidiary Tosco, for $6 million. City Hall previously settled with Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) for $9.75 million, Ultramar for $4.5 million and Conoco for $4 million. Only one major oil industry defendant remains in the lawsuit — Lyondell Chemical Company, See SETTLEMENT, page 5
by Chuck Shepard
In October, about $450,000 worth of marijuana plants were discovered in a downtown Chicago apartment after police noted an overpowering scent that wafted the length of the building's hallway. They arrested a Navy Pier worker and five students, one of whom voluntarily answered the police knock to inadvertently reveal marijuana plants covering almost every surface in the front room (as well as one room air freshener, which an occupant had optimistically placed near the door).
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Someday we’ll look back at this moment and plow into a parked car” – Evan davis
INDEX Horoscopes It's a five-star day, Scorpio. . . . . . . .2
Activists walk for workers’ rights ‘Posada’ targets Doubletree Hotel BY JOHN WOOD Daily Press Staff Writer
DOWNTOWN — About 150 local activists took to the streets here Monday night, marching in a traditional Mexican “posada” to the Doubletree Guest Suites Hotel on Fourth Street, where labor organizers have called for John Wood/Daily Press unionization. The Christian-themed event Children march during Monday’s was designed to promote work‘Posada’ for worker’s rights.
ers’ rights and unionization. It was organized by officials from St. Anne’s Church and Santa Monicans Allied for responsible Tourism, a nonprofit pushing for a higher minimum wage in the city. Starting at the SMART offices at Sixth Street and Colorado Boulevard, the procession moved down Fourth Street, across the freeway and to the doorstep of the Public Safety Facility building. It then proceeded to the footstep of the Doubletree, before turning around and heading back to
where it started. At various points along the way, the group stopped to act out versions of the Christmas journey of Joseph and Mary, who, according to the Bible, were rejected from several inns before resting at the manger where Jesus was born. But this particular posada had a social justice theme. Jesus and Mary had to leave their loved ones in Mexico, contend with and be rejected by hostile border guards and, once in the United States, work for See POSADA, page 5
St. John’s hospital built up gingerly By Daily Press staff
Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press
Rapper uses life experience . . . .20
See HOSPITAL, page 6
Bill Sharp, executive chef at Saint John’s Healthcare Center, tweaks the train that runs through his gingerbread village in the lobby of the hospital.
Church service schedule . . . . . . . .3
Opinion Xmas should be commercial . . . . .4
State Financiers busted . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Entertainment The latest and greatest . . . . . . . . . .8
Real Estate The American Dream . . . . . . . . . .10
International The world in brief . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
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People in the News
A fully constructed Saint John’s hospital was unveiled last week. The gingerbread version, that is. In the hospital’s main lobby is a massive gingerbread village that extends 12 feet by 12 feet. It required 48 sheet pans of gingerbread, 200 pounds of powered sugar and hours of work by the hospital’s executive chef Bill Sharp and his helpers, including his daughter, 10-year-old Mariah Sharp. Sharp began working on the village, which has a replica of the new hospital and a “Cat In The Hat” theme, shortly after Thanksgiving. The village took two and a half weeks to create, before it was unveiled on Dec. 15. The gingerbread village has been a tradition at Saint John’s for eight years, and each year it gets more extravagant. The first one only had eight houses and a church. This year, it takes up nearly half of the hospital lobby and sits on four large pieces of plywood.
Local
BACK OR UNFILED TAXES? ALL FORMS • ALL TYPES • ALL STATES SAMUEL B. MOSES, CPA
(310) 395-9922 429 Santa Monica Blvd. Ste. 710 Santa Monica 90401