EE FR
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2003
Volume 3, Issue 6
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
Celebrity fundraiser still faces state suit
L O T T O
Afternoon picks: 6, 0, 1 Evening picks: 9, 7, 0
DAILY DERBY 1st Place: 11, Money Bags 2nd Place: 1, Gold Rush 3rd Place: 7, Eureka Race Time: 1:40.37
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by Chuck Shepard
In Knoxville, Tenn., in September, Thomas Martin McGouey, 51, apparently set on committing suicide, left a note and painted a bull’s-eye on his body before arranging a standoff in which he pointed a gun at police officers so they would kill him in selfdefense. McGouey’s scheme failed because Knox County sheriff’s deputies, who fired 28 shots at him, missed with 27 and only grazed his shoulder with the other.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Nobody roots for Goliath.” – Wilt Chamberlain
INDEX Horoscopes Time to relax, Taurus . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Local
Aaron Tonken is expected to plead guilty to federal charges next month
one of the organizations that signed onto the state’s lawsuit, said they hope the resolution of the federal charges will reinvigorate their case. The local, 170-student private school was forced into an economic BY JOHN WOOD crisis nearly three years ago after Daily Press Staff Writer Tonken arranged for a major donaDOWNTOWN — Officials at the tion from the Cynthia Gershman Westside Waldorf School on Fourth Foundation that never fully came to Street are hoping their civil lawsuit fruition, officials said. against celebrity fundraiser Aaron “We’ve not gotten the money,” Tonken will gain momentum now that said Jeffrey Graham, former board he plans to plead guilty president and finance Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press to federal criminal committee member at Albert Williams, who is homeless, found his brother dead at their charges of fraud. Waldorf. “We’ve been camp along Interstate 10, after nursing him for more than two days. The U.S. Attorney’s hanging in the backOffice charged Tonken, ground, hanging on 37, on Friday with mail their coattails, waiting and wire fraud for to see what happens. allegedly setting up “It continues to elaborate charity fundamaze me that a person raisers and keeping would bait and switch profits for himself. Beverly Hills-based fund- organizations that are BY CAROLYN SACKARIASON Lawyers on both sides raiser Aaron Tonken (right) here to serve our public Daily Press Staff Writer said Tonken is expect- with former President Bill benefit,” he added. Clinton. Tonken, who has INTERSTATE 10 — Police have arrested a transient for ed to plead guilty and receive an unknown sentence less offices in Beverly Hills, allegedly allegedly killing Bobby Ray Capps, a 61-year-old homeless man brought two donors to the school in who was found dead by his brother on Sunday at their encampment than the 10-year maximum. Meanwhile, a separate civil lawJanuary 2001 — Cynthia Gershman, along the Santa Monica Freeway. David Brevig, 41, known on the streets as “J.D.,” was arrested on suit filed against Tonken in March a trustee of the Cynthia Gershman Sunday for manslaughter. Brevig allegedly assaulted Capps on by the State of California Attorney Foundation who signed a pledge to General’s Office is ongoing. See DEATH, page 5 Officials from the Waldorf school, See LAWSUIT, page 6
Transient charged with manslaughter
City Hall settles lawsuit over handicap ramp accident BY JOHN WOOD Daily Press Staff Writer
Molotov cocktails ignite home . . . .3
Opinion Burning the flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Real estate The financial fallout from fires . . . .8
National Green River prosecutor ‘OK’ . . . .12
International Soldiers wounded in Iraq . . . . . . .15
People in the News Like father, like son . . . . . . . . . . . .20
CITY HALL — City officials have agreed to pay $26,000 to a woman who broke her ankle when she slipped on a handicap ramp in December of 2001. Carol Day, 56, who works in Santa Monica Canyon, originally demanded $150,000 to settle the lawsuit, which said City Hall and the adjacent property owner should have known the ramp was dangerous because it was covered in slippery, decorative stones. Day slipped on the ramp after eating lunch at P.F. Chang’s. The ramp is located across the street from the restaurant, on the northeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard. Both City Hall and Douglas Emmett & Co., the owner of the building at 401 Wilshire Blvd., have agreed to settle the case. Day’s husband of 30-plus years, local architect Carl Day, said the
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two settlement amounts are about the same. City Hall’s $26,000 settlement was approved by the City Council last week. City Hall lawyers said it would be difficult to prove that the ramp was dangerous, but it was safer to settle it than to let the case go before jurors. “She had a bad break, a bad fracture,” said Deputy City Attorney Lance Gams. “She did have screws and a plate put in. That was kind of the aspect of the case that was perhaps more problematic ... I think that jurors would have looked at the plaintiff and looked at the injury and felt sympathy for her.” Pedestrians walking by the handicap ramp John Wood/Daily Press on Tuesday said they didn’t think the ramp was People use the ramp at Fourth Street and problematic. “It seems like it’s the same as all the other Wilshire Boulevard, which was at the center
of a legal dispute between City Hall and a
See SETTLEMENT, page 6 woman who settled for $26,000.
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