WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2005
Volume 4, Issue 275
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
Old tree rooted in controversy
DAILY LOTTERY SUPER LOTTO 7 13 23 28 33 Meganumber: 2 Jackpot: $7 Million
FANTASY 5 4 5 9 29 33
DAILY 3 Daytime: Evening:
BY RYAN HYATT
041 914
Daily Press Staff Writer
DAILY DERBY 1st: 2nd: 3rd:
11 Money Bags 03 Hot Shot 08 Gorgeous George
RACE TIME:
1:42.65
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: http://www.calottery.com
NEWS OF THE WEIRD BY
CHUCK
SHEPARD
Latest Step in Male Obsolescence: In September, Dr. Paul De Sousa and a research team at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, told a professional audience that they had just created human embryos from female eggs without using sperm. De Sousa’s team employed electrical shocks to “trick” 300 eggs into dividing as if fertilized and was successful six times, creating 50-cell “blastocysts” that could eventually produce stem cells. De Sousa denied that his embryos would be implanted into wombs to create female fetuses (and said his government license does not authorize that), but could grow replacement tissue for a faulty organ of the egg’s donor.
TODAY IN HISTORY Today is the 271st day of 2005. There are 94 days left in the year. On Sept. 28, 1066, William the Conqueror invaded England to claim the English throne.
QUOTE OF THE DAY “What makes a leader — intelligence, integrity, imagination, skill: in brief, statecraft? Not at all. It is the fact that the man has a following.”
GERALD W. JOHNSON
AMERICAN JOURNALIST (1890-1980)
Horoscopes 2
BY CAROLYN SACKARIASON Daily Press Staff Writer
Surf Report Water temperature: 63°
3
Opinion Grrrrrrrrridlock!
4
State ‘Dragon’ drains town
6
Real Estate Throwing their weight around
10
National Storm of controversy
13
Comics Strips tease
16
Classifieds Ad space odyssey
17-19
MID-CITY — Two people were arrested on Monday for allegedly bilking the Santa Monica Red Cross chapter out of nearly $1,000 by posing as Hurricane Katrina victims. Laurette Ollar Karaba, 32, a transient, and Derrek Wilkerson, 37, of Canoga Park, were arrested for burglary, grand theft, obtaining money under false pretense, conspiracy and probation violation. They are currently being held in the Santa Monica Jail, according to Santa Monica Police Lt. Frank Fabrega.
Santa Monica Red Cross officials called the SMPD on Monday after they were tipped off by an anonymous source who was staying at the Travelodge on Pico Boulevard, alleging that the pair might not be legitimate hurricane victims. “We received information from someone in the same hotel that made us seriously question whether they were victims,” said John Pacheco, executive director of the American Red Cross of Santa Monica. A preliminary investigation indicates that Karaba collected $705 from the Red Cross, as well as a hotel voucher after telling
See TREE TROUBLE, page 5
STATE
Feds enact revenge on ‘Star Wars’ pirates By Daily Press staff
officials on Sept. 14 that she had just arrived in Santa Monica from Louisiana, where she was a traveling nurse and was displaced because of the hurricane, Fabrega said. She received a voucher from the Red Cross for $665 for two weeks of residency at the Travelodge. Red Cross policy requires that potential clients present identification, with their zip codes then being matched up with a national database to determine if their area was affected by a disaster. “They had given us enough information not to second-guess it, and if we hadn’t been tipped off, I
Eight people were charged Tuesday in relation to the piracy of “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith,” which ended up on the Internet the day before the blockbuster film’s opening worldwide. According to court documents, a man took a copy of “Revenge of the Sith” from a post-production facility and shared it with others, one of whom put the movie on the Internet, according to federal authorities. In other copyright infringement cases involving Hollywood, two other individuals were charged with distributing copies of Academy Awards “screeners” — movies that had not been released for home viewing. According to documents filed in the United States District Court in Los Angeles, just days before the worldwide release of the final Star Wars movie, several events transpired.
See RED CROSS, page 5
See PIRACY, page 7
Two accused of stealing from Red Cross Couple claimed to be Hurricane Katrina victims
INDEX Do for yourself, Virgo
Ryan Hyatt/Daily Press MADE IN THE SHADE? A 100-year-old tree, designated as a landmark by the city, serves as a bone of contention between its property owner and city hall.
WILSHIRE-MONTANA — A property owner committed to scaling back the city-landmarked tree on his front yard to make room for condos just may get his day in court after all. Attorneys said they have submitted all the necessary paperwork, as of August, and are waiting to hear back from the California District Court of Appeals to know when their case may be made regarding the fate of Andrew Enayati’s deodar cedar, located at 918 Fifth Street. If Enayati had his way, he said he would trim back the 100-yearold tree on his lot, raze the aging house that currently sits in the rear of the property and construct condominiums around his massive deodar cedar. Enayati doesn’t have that option, though, because City Hall in January of 2003 designated the sprawling tree a city landmark. As such, the cedar was protected not just from being uprooted, but also from being trimmed without city supervision. A fierce legal battle ensued, but not over whether the tree should be preserved. Enayati claimed he
was denied his constitutional rights and forced into involuntary servitude by City Hall, because the tree was in the process of being landmarked as he was in escrow to buy the property. He claims he never received notice. Attorneys for City Hall succeeded in having the lawsuit tossed out of Superior Court in April of 2004, arguing that although Enayati was never formally served with the landmark paperwork, which was mailed to the previous property owner, Enayati had several opportunities to oppose and later appeal the landmark designation. “He was there at the hearings and closed escrow while the land-
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