Garden Grove Journal, July 29, 2013

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day

Cloudy 61

ance: 10%

COMING THURSDAY

THREE-DAY WEATHER Monday toWednesday

Monday

Mostly Cloudy 78/59

Precip Chance: 10%

Tuesday

Wednesday

Precip Chance: 10%

Precip Chance: 10%

Partly Cloudy 80/58

in the Garden Grove Journal n A look at this fall's Indie Fest USA, an indepedent film festival planning on its third year in Garden Grove’s downtown area in and around Main Street.

Partly Cloudy 83/61

For latest weather, go to Accu-Weather at ggjournal.com The Newspaper of Garden Grove n Monday, July 29, 2013 n www.ggjournal.com n Vol. 31, No. 60 n Phone: 714-539-6018 n Fax: 714-539-6079

PRINCE OF POPCORN

n WESTMINSTER SCHOOL BOARD

No decision of the fate of Supt. Tauer Some positions reinstated by trustees on a 4-0 vote By Jonathan Smith Garden Grove Journal

Superintendent Richard Tauer still remains on paid administrative leave as Westminster School District’s Board of Trustees announced no specific action about the position during Thursday night’s board meeting. However, the board did vote, 4-0, to restore several of the proposed eliminated positions due to the finalization of the state’s budget. Trustee Andrew Nguyen was not present for the public session meeting, due to his mother’s stay in a hospital, said Mary Mangold, the president of the board. Tauer was placed on administrative leave during a special closed board held earlier in the month. Rumors circulated that Tauer would be fired, resulting in his supporters packing the board room July 2. The board met in closed session after the

meeting and Tauer’s leave decision was reported after the session the same day. No official explanation was offered about why the board placed Tauer on leave, and the board did not mentioned Tauer at all during Thursday night’s session, either. The board did meet in closed session before the meeting. An item, titled “public employee discipline, dismissal, removal” appeared on the closed session agenda. However, Mangold said no action was taken on any of the items. The closed meeting was adjourned to the next board meeting. Although Tauer’s leave was not explained, a couple of people did speak in favor of him during the night’s meeting. Westminster resident Ruth Ann Laws said she was out on vacation when the special public meeting was held. Laws said she felt the superintendent was doing a fine job so far. Continued on page 2

Man fatally stabbed at GG party Sunday Garden Grove police are asking for the public’s help in getting information about a fight early Sunday morning which left one man dead and two others wounded. According to the Garden Grove Police Department, officers were sent to the 12000 block of Darnell Street (northwest of Harbor Boulevard and Lampson Avenue) shortly after midnight because of complaints of a large party. Arriving officers found that a large fight had broken out in the backyard of the house where the party was being held. As police approached, many of the members of a large crowd there fled, leaving behind three persons suffering from stab Continued on page 2

JOURNAL PHOTO

Alan Smith scoops some flavored popcorn for a passerby to sample at the Garden Grove Farmer’s Market on Main Street Sunday. The market, which offers fruit and vegetables for purchase as well as other food and retail goods, is held Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Main between Acacia Parkway and Garden Grove Boulevard.

Parking decisions are made Enforcement deal is approved; urgency ordinance is extended By Jonathan Smith Garden Grove Journal

Westminster residents might think twice before parking their cars in their usual spots as the city council voted unanimously to approve two separate resolutions that will impact the parking in the city. The council approved a contract with Parking Concepts, Inc. (PCI) for parking violations citation services. The company will be in charge of citing parking violations within the city.

n WESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL

According to the agenda report, the contract with the company will not exceed $500,000. The council also approved an urgency ordinance to adopt specific parking standards for retail shopping centers and eating establishments in the centers. Relating to the contract services with PCI, city manager Eddie Manfro said the pilot program with the company will be

used to bring consistency with the city’s parking policies. “It’s a cost neutral program,” he said. “Hopefully, it will generate revenue for the city.” PCI’s spokesman Richard Raskin said the services were a new venture for his company. The company currently operates all the parking operations at John Wayne Airport and the County of Orange parking services, he said. However, councilmembers asked Raskin and staff about the pro-

cess of the services. Councilwoman Margie Rice expressed reservation with the contract layout. Rice said she wished that the city would have contracted a fixed percentage from the revenue generated from the citations. “Personally I would not have negotiated a contract like this,” she said. “I would have negotiated a percentage. So that way I know that we are getting the money.” Councilman Sergio Contreras asked how Continued on page 2

Hearing, trial set in Westminster death A pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 9 and a jury trial for Sept. 16 for a man accused of killing a woman and critically wounding a man in their Westminster home. According to the Orange County District Attorney, on Feb. 14, 2010 Pasqual Raul Loera alleg-

edly went to the home of Julie Palasko and Dennis Koire on the pretext of buying an Infiniti sedan the couple had offered for sale. Loera is accused of shooting both of them. The suspect then allegedly took the car and drove to Las Vegas, where ca-

sino security personnel said he was acting suspiciously. Authorities say that Loera then fled the casino but crashed the Infiniti into a ditch. Las Vegas police, finding that the car was registered in Westminster, called Westminster police.

Local police went to the listed address and found Palasko, 49, dead and Kiore seriously wounded. He was taken to a local hospital in critical condition. Both the pre-trial and trial will take place in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

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