THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2005
Volume 4, Issue 89
FR EE
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
Burglar caught in the act, eludes police
DAILY LOTTERY SUPER LOTTO 2 5 20 22 47 Meganumber: 11 Jackpot: $27 Million
FANTASY 5 5 14 28 34 36
DAILY 3 Daytime: Evening:
BY JOHN WOOD AND CAROLYN SACKARIASON
686 359
DAILY DERBY
Daily Press Staff Writers
1st: 2nd: 3rd:
11 Money Bags 02 Lucky Star 01 Gold Rush
RACE TIME:
1:42.97
NEWS OF THE WEIRD BY
CHUCK
SHEPARD
A 34-year-old man performing a field sobriety test for a police officer alongside Route 130 in Bordentown, N.J., was killed when a tractor-trailer driver (who police said had probably been drinking) lost control and smashed into him (December). (The officer jumped out of the way in time.) And a 40-yearold New York City man was killed when, inebriated, he fell and broke a fish tank, fatally slashing an artery; he had recently purchased the tank to help his girlfriend’s kids learn responsibility (December). And a 47-year-old man was crushed to death in Albany, Ga., when the tree he was cutting down fell on top of him (December).
SUNSET PARK — Police sealed off six residential blocks here Wednesday afternoon in search of a burglar who ran out of a home on Pine Street after a resident found him inside. There have been 20 home burglaries in the neighborhood since Dec. 4 and five attempted break-ins, according to police. At about 1:56 p.m. on Wednesday, Santa Monica Police responded to the 1300 block of Pine Street regarding a burglary that just occurred. When officers arrived, they spoke to the victim who said she walked into her hallway from a
room and saw the suspect in the kitchen area. The victim ran out of the house and called police. A perimeter was set up and police searched unsuccessfully for the burglar for nearly three hours. The suspect is described as a male, unknown race or age, thin, wearing a full-length coat. Nothing was taken from the woman’s home, police said. Residents of Sunset Park were kept off their streets while police swept the neighborhood. Debbie Marjanen, who lives next door to the victim, said the woman who was burglarized lived alone but had been entertaining guests and preparing her house to rent out. Marjanen was at home when police knocked on her door and
In 1980, the U.S. hockey team defeated Finland, four goals to two, to clinch the gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, N.Y. In 1983, a congressional commission released a report condemning the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II as a “grave injustice.” In 1989, a state funeral was held in Japan for Emperor Hirohito, who had died the month before at age 87.
BY JOHN WOOD Daily Press Staff Writer
QUOTE OF THE DAY “It’s a complex fate, being an American.”
HENRY JAMES AMERICAN AUTHOR (1843-1916)
Kim Calvert./Special to the Daily Press Independent film makers will convene at this big-top tent at a Santa Monica Beach parking lot north of the pier before the Oscars.
Horoscopes Play the recluse, Libra
2
4
Hollywood sets the stage for Oscars in Santa Monica
5
BY KIM CALVERT
Surf Report Water temperature: 61°
3
Opinion Incensed reader
Business Trim your tax bill
Special to the Daily Press
State Farmers ask for help
8
National ‘Ranch Rescue’ acquitted
9
Comics Garfield the cat
12
Service Directory Got leak?
15
People in the News Naomi Campbell on drugs
16
asked to search her back yard for the burglar. Despite the rash of burglaries in the neighborhood, Marjanen said she felt safe. She lives with her husband, son and her husband's parents.
“We’ve got bars in the door tracks,” said Marjanen, adding the house had been burglarized years earlier. “The sliding glass doors See BURGLARY, page 6
City pushes forward municipal living wage
TODAY IN HISTORY
INDEX
John Wood/Daily Press A Santa Monica Police Department SWAT team on Wednesday sweeps the area surrounding Pine Street and Euclid Street. There have been 20 burglaries in Sunset Park since Dec. 4, and five attempted break-ins.
SM BEACH — The day before Hollywood’s biggest stars walk down the red carpet for this Sunday’s Oscars, they’ll hit Santa Monica Beach to celebrate indie films and their makers. “We have just as many stars as the Academy Awards,” said Diana Zahn-Storey, executive producer
of the Independent Film Project’s 20th Annual Spirit Awards, which has set up a tent in the beach parking lot south of Bay Street where the event will take place on Saturday. “But in many ways we’re funner and more hip. We don’t want it to be just another awards show — the most important thing is to have a party first — See BIG TOP, page 7
CITY HALL — Elected officials here re-ignited the contentious tug-of-war over a so-called living wage in Santa Monica after agreeing late Tuesday to increase by more than 50 percent what the city’s contractors must pay their lowest-paid workers. Maintenance workers, gardeners, parking attendants and other relatively unskilled laborers will benefit from the new law, which requires city contractors with projects more than $50,000 to pay workers at least $11.50 an hour. Employees at Santa Monica City Hall have been entitled to the higher wage since Jan. 1. Several other California cities have required contractors with government bids to pay more than the state minimum wage of $7.50 an hour. Pasadena enforces a minimum wage of $10.28 an hour. Los Angeles and West Hollywood require wages of at least $10.03 an hour, according to city documents. Those amounts include the cost of health benefits. Santa Monica’s $11.50 hourly wage does not.
However, the cost of health care to a full-time worker is about $1.25 an hour, meaning the three cities’ minimum wages are comparable,
“The idea here is that either taxpayers pay or taxpayers subsidize.” KEVIN MCKEOWN City Councilman
according to City Manager Susan McCarthy. The Santa Monica City Council voted 5-2 in favor of the higher wage, expressing clear differences on the ongoing issue of a living wage throughout Santa Monica, which has divided business interests and community activists for several years. Participating in the debate for the first time was the newest councilman, Bobby Shriver, who said he supported higher wages for See LIVING WAGE, page 6
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