EE FR
FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 2004
Volume 3, Issue 181
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
Labor board rejects hotel workers’ petition
Carrying the torch FANTASY 5 7 5 17 18 8 DAILY 3 Afternoon picks: 6 8 3 Evening picks: 9 7 1 DAILY DERBY 1st Place: 05 California Classic 2nd Place: 01 Gold Rush 3rd Place: 11 Money Bags
Workers don’t want to pay union dues
Race Time: 1:49.03
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by Chuck Shepard
BY JOHN WOOD Daily Press Staff Writer
In Orlando, Fla., on March 10, a motorist was unable to come to a stop quickly enough after making a fast left turn in traffic and smashed into a Just Brakes repair shop. And a company in Buckinghamshire, England, announced in February it would start selling a Russian-invented MP3 audio player made to the specifications of an ammunition magazine to fit into an AK-47 assault rifle.
A petition filed by a group of Santa Monica hotel workers who claim they were coerced into unionizing has been denied, labor authorities announced Thursday. Workers at the Four Points Sheraton had asked for a secret election to determine if a majority of employees wanted union representation. Their petition was dismissed because it didn’t include workers at a nearby hotel who are
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I have bursts of being a lady, but it doesn’t last long.”
INDEX Horoscopes
BY JOHN WOOD Libra, flirt the night away . . . . . . . .2
Daily Press Staff Writer
Local Mural, mural on the wall . . . . . . . . .3
Entertainment Garfield: One big hairball . . . . . .10
National Vegas heats up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
John Wood/Daily Press
Members of the Santa Monica Police Department’s S.W.A.T. team on Thursday run with the Special Olympics Torch in front of the new Rand Corp. building, across the street from City Hall. SMPD officers picked up the torch from LAPD officers at the city’s eastern edge at Centinela Avenue and Pico Boulevard. They then handed the torch to the FBI in Santa Monica. The run was part of a nationwide fundraising effort called the ‘Law Enforcement Torch Run,’ which raises money for the Special Olympics.
Tickle your funny bone . . . . . . . . .15
Classifieds Get classy with it . . . . . . . . . . .16-19
legal to jump off the Santa Monica Pier — but only in conjunction with an authorized event, like Red Bull’s “Flugtag” event last September, when more than a dozen teams designed elaborate contraptions and rode off the end of the pier. Dozens of people jump off the pier illegally every year, said Santa Monica Police Department Harbor Patrol Officer Wayne Salkoski. It’s especially dangerous because often people don’t realize how far of a swim it is from the See PIER, page 6
Police chief to attend Ronald Reagan burial BY CAROLYN SACKARIASON
Comics
CITY HALL — With summertime nearing full tilt, elected leaders this week passed two new laws aimed at making visits to Santa Monica beaches more safe and sane. Already it’s illegal to smoke, drink or light bonfires on the beach. Bringing glass to the beach also is a crime, as is wheeling out a barbecue or taking along the family pet. Some 52 million people flock to area beaches each year, most of them during summer. One of the new laws makes it
Daily Press Staff Writer
Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts Jr. is one of 800 people invited to attend the private burial of Ronald Reagan today at the grounds of his presidential library in Simi Valley.
Butts will join world leaders, President George W. Bush, and a host of international and national dignitaries at the last ceremony of a week-long farewell for the 40th president of the United States. Reagan, who died Saturday at his home in Bel Air, will be buried during a sunset ceremony begin-
ning at 6:15 p.m. today. Butts said he received a fax this week inviting him to the final ceremony. “Given the limited number of people that can attend, I was very surprised,” Butts said. “This will be a highlight.” Butts rode in the procession
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Hedge allegiance to the flag . . . . .4
See UNIONS, page 6
Pier jumping made legal — for some
– SHELLY WINTERS
Opinion
part of the same union. Both the Four Points on Pico Boulevard and the Viceroy on Ocean Avenue are owned by the Kor Realty Group. Workers at the two hotels are considered one “bargaining unit,” and therefore the Viceroy had to be named for the petition to move forward, according to the National Labor Relations Board ruling. It’s unusual for workers to petition against their union. Since the NRLB was formed in 1965 to police labor law, employees have filed only 1,504 petitions to have a union decertified, said Tony
when Reagan’s body was brought to Gates Kingsley & Gates Moeller-Murphy in Santa Monica last Saturday. The SMPD worked side by side with the Secret Service and the CIA to guard the funeral home and the Reagan family while they were there. The See REAGAN, page 7
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