A HALL-MARK OF DISTINCTION
CATCHING UP AGAIN
New hall and stage signal a new era for the arts in Orange County. Arts&Living/Page 4.
Los Amigos, Pacifica renew a long grid rivalry. Page 12.
Serving Garden Grove and Stanton The Newspaper of Garden Grove ■ Vol. 24, No. 38 ■ Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006 ■ Phone (714) 539-6018 ■ Fax: (714) 892-7052 ■ www.ggjournal.com ■ 12 Pages ■ Established Sept. 1, 1983
Stabbing suspect turns himself into GGPD Garden Grove Journal
VU PHUONG LE Turned himself in
On the same day he allegedly stabbed his ex-girlfriend and her father, the suspect turned himself in peacefully to Garden Grove police. According to Lt. Dennis Ellsworth of the GGPD, the suspect – identified as Vu
Phoung Nguyen, 30, of Garden Grove – walked up to the front desk of the police department on Acacia Parkway at 9:15 p.m. on Sept. 14 and was taken into custody without incident. He was booked into Orange County Jail on two charges of attempted murder.
At 6:10 a.m., police officers were sent to the 13400 block of Laurel Street on a report of two people on the ground outside an apartment building, bleeding profusely from stab wounds. The victims were a 22-yearold Garden Grove woman and a 52-year-old Garden Grove
man, both of Vietnamese descent. Both victims had been severely injured with multiple stab wounds, and were treated and then transported to a unnamed local hospital where they were listed in critical condition. Police believe that Phoung
went to the apartment and stabbed his ex-girlfriend and her father. The couple had been separated for about 45 days and a domestic violence restraining order has been in place since July 2, according to authorities.
A LOT TO CELEBRATE
Child Sees A Murder And Suicide 6-year old witnesses shooting deaths of his mother and father in GG By Jim Tortolano Garden Grove Journal
A husband and wife are dead, the apparent victims of a murder-suicide triggered during a visit at a home in Garden Grove. Police believe that Samuel Elias Rodriguez, 34, of Bakersfield, fatally shot his wife, Norma Villanueva, 30, also of Bakersfield around 1:11 p.m. on Monday morning, then turned his gun on himself. According to Lt. Mike Handfield of the Garden Grove Police Department, the incident took place outside a home in the 11700 block of Palmwood Dr. Police and paramedics arrived and found the two bodies and the handgun believed to have been used. Authorities believe that the man and woman were married
and were having marital problems. Recently, the wife came to Garden Grove to attend a party, bringing one child with her, and leaving the other three with her husband in Bakersfield. The husband, the same day, drove to Orange County and “dropped them off with family.” On Monday, he took one of his children to the Palmwood Address and talked his wife into coming out of the house to speak with him. “A short discussion escalated into Rodriguez pulling out a semi-automatic handgun,” according to Lt. Handfield, “shooting Villanueva, then shooting himself, with their 6-year-old child looking on.” The four children are now with relatives pending a court hearing to determine legal placement.
‘Best of’ contest reboots for 2006 They say that if you wait long enough, everything comes back into style. It’s true of the annual Best of Garden GroveStanton contest as well. For 2006, we’ve decided to go back to our roots, to re-boot if you will, and again offer our readers a wider variety of choices. In recent years we’ve had ballots with three candidates to choose from in each category, which tended to lead to a certain “incumbency” factor in voting. Now, we’re opening it back up and expanding the number of categories. Once again, you can vote for best margarita, your favorite park and the best place to get a hot dog. All we ask is that you sign your ballot with your real name, vote only once and – in the interests of fairness – don’t try to “stuff” the ballot box with last-minute piles of ballots with curiously similar signatures. You’ll find the ballot on page two of this issue and for the next three weeks as well. The deadline for submitting your vote — in person, by fax or regular mail – is Monday, Oct. 23 at 4 p.m. We’ll publish the results in our issue of Nov. 23 and we’ll see who’s thankful to be to the “Best of Garden Grove” for 2006. Let the democracy begin.
Journal photo
THIS MARIACHI group provided festive music for the “Family Friday” event held last week at the Stanton Family Resource Center facing Beach Boulevard (at Santa Paula). The event offered arts and crafts and food and marked Mexican Independence Day, when a revolt against Spain was launched in 1810.
Convert to Islam or else, warns an ex-GG resident From Associated Press and staff reports
A former Garden Grove resident believed to be affiliated with the terrorist alQaeda group that attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001 has made a video appeal to Americans to convert to Islam, or else. Adam Yehiye Gadahn, originally from Riverside,
also lived in Garden Grove for several years and worshipped at the local mosque, where he quarrelled with local leaders and departed. He was featured in a video message released last week which urged U.S soldiers to become Muslims. In the tape, Gadahn – referred to as “Azzam the American” – not only urges soldiers and Marines to “es-
cape from the unbelieving army” but asks “Americans and the rest of Christendom” to “repent misguided ways and enter into the light of truth [Islam].” According to Michael Scheuer, a former CIA analyst who organized a hunt for Osama bin Laden, the message may have been a harbinger of another attack on the Please see CONVERT page 2
ADAM GADAHN “Azzam the American’”
Freeway death called a suicide By Jim Tortolano Garden Grove Journal
In the pre-dawn gloom Monday, a 36-year-old Colorado man stepped into traffic along the Garden Grove Freeway and was killed, according to authorities. The man, identified as Minh Thanh Le, was struck twice at 5 a.m. when he moved from the center divider of the eastbound Garden Grove Freeway at Brookhurst Street into the “fast lane.”
The death is considered a suicide. According to Lt. Mike Handfield of the Garden Grove Police Department, the California Highway Patrol contacted the GGPD in connection with the incident at 5:10 a.m. Witnesses said the man was crouching near the center divider before he “jumped” into traffic. He was struck by the driver’s side mirror of the first vehicle, fell to the ground and was run over by a second au-
tomobile. ate area; howLe was proever, this is still nounced dead at It’s believed under investigathe scene. that Le had tion.” According to Lt. It’s also be“mental Handfield, it’s unlieved by police clear what the that Le “had health Colorado resident mental health isissues” was doing here sues” and might Lt. Handfield have been living “We have not been able to deterin Westminster. mine his connection to GarAnyone with information den Grove,” said Lt. on the incident is asked to call Handfield. the Garden Grove Police De“It is likely that he lives, partment at (714) 741-5704. works or stays in the immedi-
International Certified Farmers Market on Main Street now every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.