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MSCD EIDployee Ride 'Em, Cowboy! Recounts Terror During California ~arthquake Antoinette Vecchio NEWS EDITOR Davidson Porter turned 31 Monday. He said it was a birthday he will never forget. Porter, assistant director of Student Activities and coordinator for the Student Leadership Program at MSCD, was one of thousands of people who were literally jolted awake in Los Angeles early Monday morning by one of the strongest earthquakes to hit southern California in recent history. "I immediately thought, 'This is the big earthquake that every one is always talking about hitting Los Angeles,"' Porter said. The earthquake registered 6.6 on the Richter scale and sent a wave of destruction through the San Fernando Valley. More than 40 people have died in the quake, and many highways collapsed. Porter Porter arrived in Los Angeles Friday afternoon with his friend Tim Ring. The trip was part of a birthday celebration, and the two planned a full weekend of activities, Porter said. By Sunday night, they had done all they set out to do: go to a concert, a play and visit friends. The pair planned to do some running at Hollywood High and take it easy before the trip home Monday afternoon. Those plans were soon interrupted. At about 4:30 a.m., Porter and his companion were awakened by the rocking and swaying of their hotel room on the sixth floor of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. "I sat up and bed and Tim was screaming and we just sort of held on.. .lt was really like being in a roller coaster," Porter said. Porter said he first thought a bomb had gone off in the building. Within seconds he realized an earthquake had hit. With six floors above them in the 12-story building, Porter said he was waiting to either fall down to the floors below or be crushed by the floors above. After grabbing pants and T-shirts, Porter and Ring
The Metropo/itar짜Ablgall Clezadlo
A saddle-bronc rider at the 88th Annual National Western Stock Show and Rodeo is seconds away from being bucked off of his horse. See related story, page 12.
see QUAKE page 4
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