Lungren helps launch community-policing program POLICE: Innovative training curriculum introduced at Golden West College academy

MARC S. POSNER
North County News

Orange County Register
26 June 1993: B05.

Increasing crime, tight money and a more diverse public have police working harder these days.

But state Attorney General Dan Lungren said Friday that police officers soon will be working smarter and more closely with the community.

Lungren and several local police chiefs were on hand at Golden West College to launch what they called the most innovative training program in the nation.

The college’s Criminal Justice Training Center — one of three police academies in the county and 37 in California — will be the first in the state to teach community-based policing. Graduates receive state certification to become police officers. Continue reading “Lungren helps launch community-policing program POLICE: Innovative training curriculum introduced at Golden West College academy”

CSUF prank disrupts finals, makes 4 ill CRIME: A professor may be responsible for toilet blasts that displace thousands of Fullerton students

MARC S. POSNER
North County News

Orange County Register
29 May 1993: b01.

A prankster disrupted final examinations for about 4,000 California State University students Friday morning by putting an explosive chemical in campus toilets.

Campus police were investigating the possibility that the prank — which cost the university an estimated $10,000 — was staged by a professor. No arrests had been made as of late Friday.

A custodian who discovered the substance at about 5:15 a.m. tried to flush the TNT-like chemical down the toilet, inadvertently setting off several small explosions, authorities said. Continue reading “CSUF prank disrupts finals, makes 4 ill CRIME: A professor may be responsible for toilet blasts that displace thousands of Fullerton students”

Two killed in head-on collision TRAFFIC: Three children are hospitalized after the crash of a pickup and station wagon in Irvine

MARC S. POSNER
North County News

Orange County Register
16 May 1993: b01.

When people ask: “what was the most-difficult story you had to cover?” this is one of two that comes immediately to mind. I’ll never forget arriving at this accident scene because the magnitude of what transpired minutes earlier hung in a somber mood. I think about these girls and their father regularly.

A wrong-way driver and another motorist were killed when their vehicles collided head-on Saturday on Sand Canyon Avenue.

The accident occurred when the driver of a GMC pickup crossed the center divider and hit a Volvo station wagon as it traveled south. The driver of the pickup, identified as John Paul Renzi, 42, of Trabuco Canyon, and the driver of the Volvo, a woman, were killed.

The woman’s three children were hospitalized after the crash at 12:40 p.m.

One of the children, an 8-year-old girl, was in serious condition at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo. The two younger children, 6- and 2-year-old girls, were being treated at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana for skull fractures. The youngest also suffered a fractured left leg, according to the California Highway Patrol. Continue reading “Two killed in head-on collision TRAFFIC: Three children are hospitalized after the crash of a pickup and station wagon in Irvine”

Cities and police team up in effort to prevent crimes by juveniles CRIME: Panel reports some success, but officers say there is still a long way to go

MARC S. POSNER
North County News

Orange County Register
18 Apr 1993: b08.

Eileen Olmsted didn’t hear what she anticipated at a League of Women Voters forum on juvenile justice Saturday.

“I expected to see people saying we don’t have enough money,” said Olmsted, a gang counselor who lives in Fullerton. “I was pleased with how much is being done.”

She got some good news instead. Continue reading “Cities and police team up in effort to prevent crimes by juveniles CRIME: Panel reports some success, but officers say there is still a long way to go”

CITIZENS’ GROUP La Habra-based Perot group gearing up for watchdog role

Marc S. Posner
North County News

Orange County Register
16 Jan 1993: B08.

The inauguration of a new president is just days away, but members of the group that worked to put Ross Perot on the presidential ballot won’t rest until the government becomes more responsive.

As Bill Clinton prepares to take office, Perot’s United We Stand America is evolving from a campaign group to a government watchdog.

Leaders of an Orange County chapter of United We Stand America said the group wants to clean up government.

But what is it that makes members believe they’ll succeed where other third-party and splinter groups have failed before? Continue reading “CITIZENS’ GROUP La Habra-based Perot group gearing up for watchdog role”

City not affected by CSF move Officials expect to recoup investment in complex

Marc S. Posner
North County News

Orange County Register
09 Dec 1992: d03.

Cal State Fullerton’s decision to drop football for at least one season won’t prevent the city from recovering its investment in the new $10.2 million sports complex, city officials said Tuesday.

But the lagging economy has so far prevented the city from recovering any of the university’s $4.7 million repayment commitment, they said.

And completion of the complex might be jeopardized by the university’s decision, which was announced Monday. Continue reading “City not affected by CSF move Officials expect to recoup investment in complex”

De La Rosa shooting versions in dispute Trial coming to close in killing of detective

Marc S. Posner
North County News

Orange County Register
29 Oct 1992: a03.

Closing arguments got under way Wednesday in a Los Angeles County courtroom, with both sides haggling over details surrounding the June 1990 slaying of Fullerton narcotics Detective Tommy De La Rosa during a drug sting gone awry.

De La Rosa, at the conclusion of several days of wheeling and dealing, traveled to a Downey home to make a $4 million cocaine sale. About 40 seconds after entering the home on June 21, 1990, De La Rosa fell dead in the driveway. He was shot five times, but killed a suspect in the gunbattle.

Prosecutor Dan Lenhart asked a jury Wednesday to convict three of four defendants of premeditated murder during a would-be drug heist. Continue reading “De La Rosa shooting versions in dispute Trial coming to close in killing of detective”

PEOPLE Disabled spread their wings Free plane rides give kids, adults a rare look at area

Marc S. Posner
North County News

Orange County Register
18 Oct 1992: b06.

Gregory Kissel straps himself into the back seat of a Beechcraft Bonanza and flashes an excited smile — just one of many seen on this day. As the left engine on the twin prop roars to life, he wraps his arm around Walker Horton and smiles again.

Slowly, the six-seat plane taxis to the runway, following a line of others. Pilot Richard Nesbit guns the engines, goes through the final checks and gets an OK from the tower. In the blink of an eye, the plane is hurtling down Fullerton Municipal Airport’s runway.

The craft stretches skyward and soon Kissel, 21, and Horton, 27, are looking down at Knott’s Berry Farm.

Both have Down’s syndrome and are taking part in Eagle Flight 8, a program that gives free plane rides to physically and developmentally disabled children and adults. Continue reading “PEOPLE Disabled spread their wings Free plane rides give kids, adults a rare look at area”

CSUF union protests planned layoffs

Marc S. Posner
North County News

Orange County Register
13 Aug 1992: b09.

Waging the latest battle of the state’s budget war, 125 members of a California State University, Fullerton, union Wednesday protested the planned layoffs of 13 employees.

Chanting slogans such as “It’s a shame to have a state where cutbacks make us second rate,” the pickets marched in front of the university’s administration building from noon to 1 p.m.

They wore V-shaped pink ribbons as a symbol of victory over pink slips. Continue reading “CSUF union protests planned layoffs”