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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2006
Volume 5 Issue 263
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
DAILY LOTTERY 3 16 25 30 44 Meganumber: 42 Jackpot: $...M 9 10 23 26 37 Meganumber: 27 Jackpot: $...M 7 9 14 21 26 MIDDAY: 3 7 2 EVENING: 6 6 2 1st: 1 Gold Rush 2nd: 03 Hot Shot 3rd: 08 Gorgeous George RACE TIME: 1:45.37 Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the winning number information, mistakes can occur. In the event of any discrepancies, California State laws and California Lottery regulations will prevail. Complete game information and prize claiming instructions are available at California Lottery retailers. Visit the California State Lottery web site at http://www.calottery.com
THIS MONTH IS NATIONAL BED CHECK MONTH
Witnesses take the stand EYEWITNESS: ‘Fender bender’ may have sparked the market tragedy BY KEVIN HERRERA Daily Press Staff Writer
DOWNTOWN LA — The 89-yearold Santa Monica man on trial for killing 10 people when he plowed
through a crowded Farmers’ Market more than three years ago seemed to be fleeing the scene of a “minor fender bender” just moments before his burgundy Buick LaSabre sent bodies flying into the air, witnesses
for the prosecution said Wednesday. During the second day of testimony, six witnesses told a jury of four women and eight men that George Russell Weller gripped his steering wheel tightly in the “10 and
2 position,” crouched forward in his driver’s seat and deliberately drove around a gold Mercedes-Benz he rear-ended on the corner of Arizona See WELLER, page 9
NEWS OF THE WEIRD BY
CHUCK
SHEPARD
In August, zookeepers at Apenheul ape park in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, said they had arranged with counterparts at a park in Borneo to establish a live Internet video connection to provide companionship to their respective rare orangutans, treating the connection as sort of a visual dating site. An Apenheul spokeswoman suggested the apes might learn to push buttons to transfer food to each other, creating a mutual fondness that might lead (if transportation can be arranged) to mating.
TODAY IN HISTORY Today is the 257th day of 2006. There are 108 days left in the year. Francis Scott Key was inspired to write his poem 1814 “The Star-Spangled Banner” after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Maryland during the War of 1812. Lebanon’s president-elect, Bashir Gemayel, was killed by a bomb.
1982
QUOTE OF THE DAY “Civilizations die from philosophical calm, irony and the sense of fair play quite as surely as they die of debauchery.”
JOSEPH WOOD KRUTCH
AMERICAN AUTHOR, CRITIC AND EDUCATOR
INDEX
Letting it flow
Horoscopes Virgo: A must appearance
2
Surf Report Water temperature: 69°
Fabian Lewkowicz/Daily Press
Santa Monica firefighter Johnny Maccini, 28, performs an annual flow test on a fire hydrant located at Bay and Sixth streets on Wednesday. The fire hydrant passed, proving that it can pump out 65 pounds of pressure.
3
Opinion SM’s pet peeves
4
Public beach club cleared
State California in brief
5
National A three-decade drug ring
BY KEVIN HERRERA
8
Daily Press Staff Writer
Business Invest for the long haul
12
International A mass grave
13
MOVIETIMES Catch a flick!
14
Comics Yak it up, yakmeister
15
Classifieds Ad space odyssey
File photo 16-19
READY FOR REVIVAL: An overview of the existing Marion Davies Estate.
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CITY HALL — Putting aside litigation in favor of recreation, a handful of residents living along Pacific Coast Highway on Tuesday reached an agreement with elected officials that clears the way for the construction of a public beach club at the old Marion Davies Estate.
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Members of the Palisades Beach Property Owners Association and resident Jonathan Ornstein filed a lawsuit in June asking a judge to stop the project because City Hall violated conditions of the California Environmental Quality Act, as well as a local law prohibiting the creation of food-serving facilities along See 415, page 10
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