TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2006
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Volume 6 Issue 7
Santa Monica Daily Press
WHO’S LOOKING OUT FOR YOU? INSIDE SCOOP PAGE 3
DAILY LOTTERY 5 19 25 30 50 Meganumber: 42 Jackpot: $16M 10 25 26 35 45 Meganumber: 23 Jackpot: $7M 5 11 19 22 38 MIDDAY: 3 5 8 EVENING: 0 2 6 1st: 11 Money Bags 2nd: 12 Lucky Charms 3rd: 06 Whirl Win RACE TIME: 1.48.04 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 BY
CHUCK
SHEPARD
■ In October, health officials in China again warned citizens against the increasingly popular but seriously painful leg-stretching “Ilizarov procedure” (mentioned in News of the Weird in 2002), believed to add as much as a couple of inches to a person’s height (and, consequently, stature). The patient’s leg is deliberately broken and affixed to a rack, with the leg stretched slightly every day so that the bones fuse together to cover the separated space, lengthening the leg. (Said one 33-yearold, 5-foot-tall woman in 2002, aiming for four more inches: “I’ll have a better job (and) a better husband. It’s a longterm investment.”) ■ The latest casualty of quick-draw practice: a 19-year-old man in Evans, Colo., in September, who, working out in front of a mirror, somehow fatally shot himself in the head. And the latest pedestrian-train collisions: (1) a 30year-old woman in Little Rock, Ark., in October, who was walking along the tracks carrying a beer and listening to music with headphones, and (2) an 18year-old man in Kenosha, Wis., in September, who, probably inebriated, first left the tracks well in front of the train but then returned, stood on the tracks, and made a finger gesture at the conductor. ■ In October, when Turkey’s prime minister Tayyip Erdogan fainted from low blood sugar, his security team rushed him to a hospital but mistakenly locked him and the keys inside his fortified car; after they pounded on it for a while, a nearby construction worker with a sledgehammer saved the day.
WORD UP! exacerbate \ig-ZAS-ur-bayt\ To render more severe, violent, or bitter; to irritate; to aggravate; to make worse.
INDEX
Since 2001: A news odyssey
Taking a hack at clean air BY MELODY HANATANI
NO JAIL TIME: Driver sentenced for Market crash
Daily Press Staff Writer
BY KEVIN HERRERA Daily Press Staff Writer
CITYWIDE — That urge to pull over for an order of French fries may prove more difficult to ignore in the weeks ahead. In an effort to save its drivers gas money, and be environmentally friendly at the same time, Santa Monica-based cab company Taxi Taxi is in the process of converting a fleet of four Mercedes S-class diesel vehicles to operate on renewable sources ... such as vegetable oil. It’s the 17-year-old company’s first step toward phasing out all of its gas-powered and diesel vehicles, which are viewed by many as enemies of the environment and have proven costly to maintain in light of rising crude oil prices. The first Taxi Taxi vehicle underwent its transformation on Saturday at Lovecraft Bio-Fuels, a Los Angeles-based biodiesel and vegetable oil conversion company. The complicated process, which can take as little as two hours, involves installing a dual heater to make the oil more combustible, and a high flow filtration system to allow the vehicle to handle thicker fuel. “You end up with less smoke and better mileage,” said Brian Lovecraft, founder and co-owner of Lovecraft Bio-Fuels. Once the transformation is completed, it is designed to run on new or used filtered vegetable oil, diesel or biodiesel, which is produced from See GREEN MACHINES, page 8
Inside Scoop Well, it is for peace
3
Opinion Indian givers
4
Surf Report Water temperature: 64°
15
Horoscopes A little R & R
16
MOVIETIMES Celluloid heroes
17
Comics & Stuff Soduku to you, too
18-19
Photo courtesy
File Photo George Russell Weller was sentenced to five years probation on Monday.
Downtown in therapy BY KEVIN HERRERA Daily Press Staff Writer
SM PLACE — When it comes to making sure downtown remains a premier destination, it seems Santa Monicans don’t know who to trust. Property owners and businesses seem leery of City Hall controlling funds generated from their operations, while residents and elected officials are concerned about handing over too much power to private interests to manage what is essentially a heavily utilized public space. Caught in the middle is consultant Brad Segal of the Denver-based Progressive Urban Management Associates (PUMA), a self-described “urban therapist” who has been
ALL HAIL: Santa Monica-based Taxi
Classifieds A place in the sun
PROBATION
21-23
Taxi is converting its cabs to biodiesel.
Izzy says, says, Izzy
“Enjoy your Thanksgiving favorites at your home or ours.”
WELLER MADE TO PAY
Fade out
alex@smdp.com Production designer Chad Keith packs up film equipment on Monday after the shooting of an independent film wrapped on Third Street.
(310) 394-1131
Johnson ordered Weller, a retired food broker living on 25th Street in Santa Monica, to pay $57,500 for restitution and $44,200 in fines, penalties and fees. Further restitution could be awarded later for the remaining victims’ families. Weller was found guilty on Oct. 20 of 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, following a four-week trial that included more than 30 witnesses, including experts on traffic collisions and scores of people who were See WELLER, page 7
See DOWNTOWN, page 8
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DOWNTOWN LA — The 89-year-old man convicted of killing 10 people and injuring 68 others when he plowed through a crowded Farmers’ Market in Santa Monica three years ago “deserves to go to prison,” but because of his advanced age and failing health, he will spend the next five years of his life on probation, a judge ordered Monday. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson said George Russell Weller “displayed enormous indifference” to human life and seemed to care only about himself following the accident, going so far as to lie to police to protect himself. That said, Johnson felt no justice would be served by sending the soon-to-be nonagenarian to prison for what could have been 18 years — most certainly a death sentence. “Sending Mr. Weller to jail or prison would be a burden on the prison authorities. It would require the taxpayers to pay the substantial costs of Mr. Weller’s medical care and it would most likely kill Mr. Weller,” Johnson said. “None of that is right, and it makes no sense, so I will place Mr. Weller on probation. I believe it’s better to do that, and require him to comply with financial conditions that will assist the victims in recovering their losses.”
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