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Santa Monica Daily Press September 16-17, 2006 DAILY LOTTERY 6 26 33 39 55 Meganumber: 1 Jackpot: $163M 9 10 23 26 37 Meganumber: 27 Jackpot: $15M 3 5 8 10 38 MIDDAY: 1 5 4 EVENING: 3 4 7
RACE TIME: 1:40.08 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
NEWS OF THE WEIRD CHUCK
Volume 5, Issue 265
Paleologus gets 25 to life Man who murdered 21-year-old Santa Monica woman shows no emotion BY KEVIN HERRERA Daily Press Staff Writer
1st: 07 Eureka! 2nd: 10 Solid Gold 3rd: 08 Gorgeous George
BY
A newspaper with issues
DOWNTOWN LA — An ex-con who pretended to be a producer working on a James Bond film so he could lure young women and rape them was sentenced to 25 years to
life in prison Friday for the murder of Kristi Johnson, a 21-year-old Santa Monica woman whose body was found three years ago at the bottom of a ravine in the Hollywood Hills. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, his hair closely cropped, Victor
Paleologus sat motionless with his head down as a Los Angeles Superior Court judge rejected a request to rescind his guilty plea and represent himself in another trial. In an 11-page letter, Paleologus, 44, said his attorney, Andrew Flier, pressured him into accepting a deal
in the middle of trial. The deal spared him the death penalty. Paleologus will not be eligible for parole until 2031. The plea agreement also prohibits Paleologus from appealing his conviction. See PALEOLOGUS, page 8
SHEPARD
■ Randy Bailey was on house arrest in St. Paul, Minn., with an ankle monitor that alerts police if he strays more than 150 feet (but also with a little-understood 4-minute delay before notification). Hungry on Aug. 12, Bailey thought he could race to the Burger King (nearly a mile away), yet get back in time. However, the drive-through line moved slowly, and an irate, impatient Bailey allegedly kicked in the restaurant’s window before he sped away. Employees got his licenseplate number and alerted police, but since Bailey had made it back home in just under four minutes, he claimed to be house-bound and never to have left. However, police soon figured it out and charged Bailey with felony destruction of property. ■ The Christian Retail Show in Denver in August demonstrated, said a Los Angeles Times report, nearly a parallel commercial universe, with hundreds of “Christian” versions of products and services, such as sweatbands, pajamas, dolls, health clubs, insurance agencies, tree trimmers and fragrances ("Virtuous Woman” perfume).
INDEX Horoscopes Libra, be in the limelight
2
Surf Report Not all beaches make the grade
3
Opinion The mass exodus of the middle-class 4
Local The community, in brief
5
State
Weller said to be ‘expressionless,’ following crash, according to cop
Wade a minute
BY KEVIN HERRERA Daily Press Staff Writer
fines,” said David Nahai, chairman of the RWQCB, who characterized the fines as an incentive for LA County and its 88 municipalities to clean up their act. “This is not a situation in which the board will simply run out and penalize (cities). But
DOWNTOWN LA — A Santa Monica Police officer on Friday told jurors in the trial of George Russell Weller that he saw no emotion from the then 86-year-old, who moments earlier drove his car through a crowded Farmers’ Market, killing 10 people and injuring 63 others. Officer Michael Rosenberg, an 11-year veteran of the SMPD’s Traffic Enforcement Division, said Weller looked “very calm (with) with no expression to speak of ” as he stood near his battered Buick LaSabre watching bystanders lift the sedan and pull out a woman trapped underneath. The body of one of the victims, Movsha Hoffman, 78, lay across the hood, motionless. “He kind of just stood there with the assistance of his cane,” Rosenberg said when he was asked by Deputy District Attorney Ann Ambrose to describe Weller’s actions following the crash, which occurred in the afternoon of July 16, 2003. “Was he restrained or roughedup in anyway?” Ambrose asked.
See CLEAN WATER, page 6
See WELLER TRIAL, page 7
Fabian Lewkowicz/Daily Press A boy on Friday drags his boogie board into the ocean just south of the Santa Monica Pier, an area that consistently has unsafe bacterial levels and is not recommended for swimming.
Fine day at the beach City can be cited if water doesn’t meet clean standards
Border agent found to be smuggler 10 By staff and wire reports
National Ford shuts down the engines
15
MOVIETIMES Catch a flick!
17
Comics Yak it up, yakmeister
18
Classifieds Ad space odyssey
19-22
LOS ANGELES — Regional water quality officials voted Thursday to fine cities surrounding Santa Monica Bay up to $10,000 a day if the water at their beaches does not meet safe bacteria levels. The fines will not be immediate,
members of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) said. Cities, including Santa Monica, will be given time to identify sources of pollution and develop strategies to combat the problem before fines are levied. “Our sincere hope is that the fines will never be necessary to asses
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