FR EE
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2004
Volume 4, Issue 2
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
DAILY LOTTERY
Investigation of car dealership inches along
How low can you go?
SUPER LOTTO 5 10 11 14 32 Meganumber: 6 Jackpot: $10 Million
FANTASY 5 5 7 24 34 36
DAILY 3 Daytime: Evening:
415 019
DAILY DERBY 1st: 2nd: 3rd:
01 Gold Rush 04 Big Ben 10 Solid Gold
RACE TIME:
1:47.94
Two years later and no charges have been filed in alleged fraud case
NEWS OF THE WEIRD BY CHUCK SHEPARD
BY CAROLYN SACKARIASON In September, the Oakland (Calif.) police suspended their successful traffic safety program of random drunkdriving checkpoints because they had received too many complaints from illegal aliens, who were being arrested not because they were driving drunk but because, as illegals, they lack driver’s licenses.
Daily Press Staff Writer
SM BOULEVARD — After more than two years of investigating an alleged consumer fraud scam at Honda of Santa Monica, prosecutors are still collecting evidence. They expect to file charges in the coming months, officials said Friday. Dozens of investigators with
TODAY IN HISTORY ■ IN 1982, funeral services were held in Moscow’s Red Square for the late Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev. ■ IN 1984, Baby Fae, the month-old infant who had received a baboon's heart to replace her own congenitally deformed one, died at a California medical center almost three weeks after the transplant. ■ IN 1966, the flight of Gemini 12 ended successfully as astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. splashed down safely in the Atlantic. ■ TEN YEARS AGO: The Federal Reserve increased key interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point, the largest hike in 13 years. The 18-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group concluded a twoday summit in Indonesia by adopting a sweeping resolution to remove trade and investment barriers in the region by 2020.
the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Consumer Protection Division seized boxes of files at Honda of Santa Monica’s finance and sales departments in a surprise raid on Sept. 25, 2002. On the same day of the raid, a class-action lawsuit was filed against the dealership in downtown Los Angeles Superior Court. The suit alleges several customers were ripped off by the dealership, located at 1720 Santa Monica Blvd. Since the raid, many of those involved have been fired. The dealership’s general manager, its See FRAUD, page 4
Canada offering refuge for Yanks with blue-state blues BY GENE JOHNSON Associated Press Writer
John Wood/Daily Press Bassists Corey Dawson, 22, and Joe McFadden, 19, warm up for a Sunday afternoon performance of the Santa Monica College symphony orchestra. The show, held in SMC’s on-campus concert hall, included selections from Antonin Dvorak, Ernest Chausson and Benjamin Britten. Some 250 people attended.
SEATTLE — Got the blue-state blues? Rudi Kischer feels your pain. The Vancouver, British Columbia, immigration lawyer plans seminars in three U.S. cities — Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles — to tell Americans frus-
trated with President Bush’s reelection that the grass is greener north of the border. And that’s not just an allusion to Canada’s lenient marijuana laws. “We started last year getting a lot of calls from Americans dissatisfied with the way the country is going,” Kischer says. “Then after the election, it’s been crazy up See REFUGE, page 10
INDEX
COMMUNITYPROFILES | COMMUNITY PROFILES IS A WEEKLY SERIES THAT APPEARS EACH MONDAY AND DELVES INTO THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE, WORK AND PLAY IN SANTA MONICA.
Horoscopes The world is yours, Taurus
2
Surf Report Water Temperature: 65°
3
6
Letters to the Editor Prepare for the parking battle
6
State A billionaire gets political
5
National The Canadian alternative
10
Classifieds Rooms with a view
12-14
People in the News A Star is married
BY PAM WIGHT Special to the Daily Press
Opinion Beware the FCC
Jason Kozma is ‘Mr. America’
20
Mystery Photo
Jason Kozma is one of the rare people who realized his passion early in life and then capitalized on it. After building a successful business as a personal trainer, Kozma started building his physique. The hard work paid off — the 34-year-old was named “Mr. America” last month. As a child growing up in Nashville, Tenn., Kozma was inspired by his older brother to pursue bodybuilding.
Jacquie Banks
“My brother was lifting weights, and everything he did I had to do,” he said. “So we built a gym in the basement and started working out down there.” This year’s Mr. America contest was held on Oct. 23 in Santa Clara, Calif. Last year was the first year that the contest had regained status after several years of relative obscurity. Once considered the Oscars of bodybuilding, the contest dates back to the 1930s. A loss of sponsorship was responsible for the lull. See PROFILES, page 8
Susan Tam/Special to the Daily Press The first person to accurately describe where this photo was taken will win a prize.
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