FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2004
Volume 3, Issue 134
FR EE
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
FANTASY 5 29, 19, 31, 35, 9 DAILY 3 Afternoon picks: 2, 1, 1 Evening picks: 3, 9, 2
DAILY DERBY 1st Place: 5, California Classic 2nd Place: 2, Lucky Star 3rd Place: 10, Solid Gold Race Time: 1:46.34
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by Chuck Shepard
Adding to the list of stories that were formerly weird but which now occur with such frequency that they must be retired from circulation: (Drunkdriving arrests of people who were leading public campaigns against alcohol abuse, such as Dr. James Billow, who resigned as director of a county alcoholism prevention program after being charged with DUI in February in Newark, Ohio. And the jewel thief who ingeniously swallows gems at the scene but who is then caught by police, who must wait patiently for nature to take its course so they can recover the evidence, such as Kevin Lynch's swallowing a 2carat diamond ring from a Salem, N.H., jewelry store in February (which he passed two days later).
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“There’s a lot of promiscuity around these days and I’m all for it.” – Ben Travers
INDEX Horoscopes Be smart, Gemini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Local Training yourself for disaster . . . . .3
Smoking ban: What’s next?
Paying the man
Local merchants fired up over the idea of smoke-free outdoor dining areas BY JOHN WOOD Daily Press Staff Writer
SMOKE-FREE ZONE — With the smoking ban on Santa Monica beaches and the pier expected to take effect next month, many merchants and residents are concerned about where smoking will be outlawed next. Other California cities like Davis and Berkeley have made it illegal to smoke at all public events, outdoor restaurant areas, in lines for everything from movie theaters to ATM machines — even within 20 feet of any smoke-free area — meaning nearly any sidewalk in a commercial area is off limits. Last year, the Santa Monica City Council banned smoking in all parks in the city. City Councilman Mike Feinstein, who voted against the ban at the beach and pier, said last month he was interested in banning smoking in outdoor restaurant areas. Finding support from other council members may See BAN, page 6
Nicky Five Aces/Special to the Daily Press
Carlos Antonio, Jr., a 17-year postal veteran, (right) assists Santa Monica resident Cliff Iwai with mailing his taxes on Thursday during the lunch hour at the U.S. Post Office, on Fifth Street and Arizona Avenue. Antonio, a ‘lobby director,’ assists patrons upon their arrival and before they get in line, a program initiated this year. April 15 is the single busiest day at the Post Office, according to Supervisor Marina McTaggart. In preparation for the onslaught of customers, McTaggart said the Post Office was open 30 minutes earlier than usual and that they had ‘anyone and everyone who could help’ show up for work. When asked to compare tax day to the holiday rush, McTaggart said, ‘It’s worse than Christmas because the people aren’t happy to be here.’
Expert predicts big quake by September By wire reports
LOS ANGELES — A U.S. geophysicist has set the scientific world ablaze by claiming to have cracked a holy grail: accurate earthquake prediction, and warning that a big one will soon hit southern California. Russian-born University of California at Los Angeles professor Vladimir Keilis-Borok says he can foresee major quakes by tracking minor temblors and historical patterns in seismic hotspots that
“Even two years back it was practically a dirty word to say ‘earthquake prediction.’” — NANCY SAUER Annual conference organizer of the Seismological Society of America
could indicate more violent shaking is on the way. And he has made a chilling prediction that a quake measuring at least 6.4 magnitude on the Richter scale will hit a 12,000-
Hollywood makes its way into California’s capitol BY TOM CHORNEAU
Opinion Smearing SMRR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
State Arnie: A force to be dealt with . . . .8
International
Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO — Photographers popped their flashes as if at a movie premiere and anxious spectators squeezed to get a glimpse of Hollywood elite Thursday as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger introduced five new appointees to the California Film Commission. The appointments read like a Hollywood who’s who list, led by Schwarzenegger pals Clint Eastwood and Danny DeVito. The others are actor-director Bill Duke, producer Tom Werner and producerdirector Lili Zanuck. See COMMISSION, page 10
The world in brief . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
square-mile area of Southern California by Sept. 5. The team at UCLA’s Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics accurately predicted a 6.5magnitude quake in central California last December, as well as an 8.1-magnitude temblor that struck the Japanese island of Hokkaido in September. “Earthquake prediction is called the Holy Grail of earthquake science, and has been considered impossible by many scientists,” said Keilis-Borok, 82. “It is not impossible. “We have made a major breakthrough, discovering the possibility of making predictions months ahead of time, instead of years, as in previously known methods.” If accurate, the prediction method would be critical in an area like California, which is crisscrossed by fault lines that have
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spawned devastating quakes over the years, including ones which ravaged San Francisco in 1989 and Los Angeles in 1994. That has given credence to his research, which was endorsed by a state panel, the California Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council, earlier this month. “Even two years back it was practically a dirty word to say ‘earthquake prediction,’” said Nancy Sauer, an organizer of the annual conference of the Seismological Society of America, which began Wednesday in Palm Springs. The UCLA team — made up of U.S., Japanese, Canadian, European and Russian experts in pattern recognition, geodynamics, seismology, chaos theory, statistical physics and public safety — says it has developed algorithms to detect earthquake patterns. The experts predicted in June an earthquake measuring 6.4 or higher would strike within nine months in a 310-mile region of central California, including San Simeon, where a 6.5-magnitude temblor struck Dec. 22, killing two people. See PREDICTIONS, page 10
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