LA residents find alternative routes for traveling
LOS ANGELES
IAP) — Corn
mu t nr* hamstrung
bMitiUMd b>- LOS Angeles'
earthquake-crip
pled freeway system entered the
brave new world of trains, buses
and car pools Monday. To their
surprise, many found it wasn't
as bad as they feared.
"It's sad. I know, but maybe
this is forcing us to do some
thing that we should have been
doing for years." said Dale Lynn
Bowman, a first-time passenger
on the Metrolink commuter
train
The Ian 17 quake, which
measured fi 0 on the Richter
scale, killed 56 people and
injured B.'t:t5 Officials revised
the death toll downward from
r)7 on Monday without nil
immediate explanation
In Washington. President
Clinton pledged to line up fed
eral aid as rapidly as possible.
"Just keep your chins up and
keep working on it." ho told fed
eral relief officials in Los Ange
les. "We'll do what we can
here."
Train ridorship leaped, solo
drivers were scarcer and the
downtown subway did brisk
business as thousands found
their way to work despite the
destruction of vital freeway seg
ments.
Commuter* through the
Newhall Pass, where one free
way closure diverted traffu onto
a winding canyon road north of
downtown, endured a 90
minute drive, compared to four
hour journeys that were com
mon last week
Ahout J6.000 of the 200.000
motorists who travel the pass
doily took the Metrolink train
Before the quake closed Inter
state 5. the state's main north
south route, fewer than 1,000
passengers rode the train daily
Freeways and surface streets
were briefly gridlocked on the
city's congested west side
because of a break on the Santa
Monica Freeway, which normal
ly handles as main is 140.000
daily trips And tratfii crawled
15 miles along an alternative,
the Ventura Freeway, in the San
Fernando Valiev
Traffic engineers believe
many people decided to stay
home, leave for work early or
alwmdon their cars for mass tran
sit or car pools, said |erry Bax
ter. district director for the Cali
fornia Department of
Transportation. No actual
counts were made to verify that
assessment, he said
“I’m not here to tell you we're
out of the woods," Baxter told a
news conference. "Tomorrow
may be a lot tougher than
today."
Stall* transit officials urged
business#* to slater working
hours, adopt four-day work
weeks and have employees
work from home via computer
Commuters faced an even
sterner test Tuesday, when all
but about 9,000 of 040.000 stu
dents in the Loa Angeles Unified
School District were to return to
claaa.
About "0 teacher# at William
Mulholland Middle School near
the quake's epii enter showed up
at dawn Monday to prepare
Leading concerns w ere drinking
water for thirsty kids and
whether to hold final exams
"We had about 1 400 students
before the earthquake but we
don't know how many are com
ing bai k A lot of them are in
shelters, " said principal Alfredo
Tarin
Funeral services were held
Monday for police Officer
Clarence Dean. 46. who died
when his motorcycle plunged
off a severed freeway overpass
moments after the quake
Thousands of people visited
13 Federal Emergency Manage
ment Agency centers to apply
for housing vouchers and other
help A line of 200 people at the
Northridge center, nearest the
quake's epicenter, was "the
shortest I've seen in three days,"
-.■aid volunteer lames Wooden
The Red Cross sheltered
10,500 people in schools, gym
nasiums and tents, and 4.400
people staved in tents put up by
the National Guard. At least
11,000 dwellings wen* uninhab
itable. and aftershocks were
adding to that figure, said U S
Housing and Urban Develop
ment Six n*larv Henry Cisneros
Aftershocks at mid-morning
Monday knocked items off ston’
shelves in Newhall and drove
200 more [X'ople to the tent shel
ters at Winnetka Recreational
Dark in Northridge. already tem
porary home to 1.500 people
The building was shaking
too much and my mom got
s< ared. so we came here " saiil
Mark Gome/., 14
"I wish I could talk to the
children more." said Jane Kubri
an. an Knglish speaking voiun
leer tending to Spanish-speaking
refugees at Birmingham High
S< hool in Van Nuys. "Hut I hug
them and hold them and hope
that makes them feel better "
Concerned alxiut sanitary con
ditions, counselors visited
refugees living in vacant lots to
persuade them to go to official
shelters Building iiis|hx tors tar
geted refugees' homes, hoping to
declare many of them safe and
allow <>< cupitnts to return
In other developments.
—Electricity was restored to
all hut 700 customers. Some
5.000 households lacked water
service, and 30,000 were with
out gas. A boil-water order was
in effec t for much of the San
Fernando and Santa Clarita vnl
leys. as well as the Hollywood
Hills
KKMA's oid hotline logged
nearly 18.000 aid applications,
including more than 14.000 in a
ii4-hour period ending Monday
The agency estimated about
14.500 residences were dam
aged or destroyed in the quake.
FKMA planned to open six
mobile centers Tuesday to
proc ess additional disaster aid
applic alums
-The General Services
Administration said it was buy
ing 1.000 family st/e tents and
t amp stoves, lanterns and lire
extinguishers for people still
camping in front yards and
parks
Citing quake damage, the
II S Environmental Protection
Agenc y withdrew a threat to
pull SHOO million in highway
funds from California because
the state has failed to improve
its auto emissions inspection
program
-i
Speaker says classes
on sexuality effective
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Classes on sexuality and AIDS
are offered at about 93 percent
of American high schools, and
the most effective combine
lessons on abstinence with the
importance of using condoms
and other contraceptives,
research suggests.
Douglas Kirby, research direc
tor for ETR Associates, present
ed his paper Monday to a con
ference sponsored by the
American Enterprise Institute, a
conservative think tank.
Contrary to claims of some
opponents of sex ed. Kirby
found such classes neither has
ten the start nor increase the fre
quency of intercourse. Nor do
the classes increase the number
of sexual partners, he said.
But he found the programs
had a mixed result in changing
the l>ehavior of teen-agers
To be effective, Kirby said, the
programs should focus on
reduc mg "specific sexual risk
taking behaviors," reinforce val
ues, and provide information on
social influences and pressures
They also should be adapted to
the age and experience of the
students, he said.
Kirby defined effective as get
ting teen-agers to change their
behavior by practicing absti
nence or using condoms or oth
er contraception if they already
are engaging in intercourse.
“Programs for younger youth,
fewer of whom are sexually
experienced, should cover con
traception but should focus
much more upon delaying inter
course." ho said. “Programs for
older youth, more of whom have
had sex, should include absti
nence and skills to resist pres
sures to have sex. but should
focus more upon using condoms
and other types of contracep
tives,”
He said the AIDS epidemit
has put increased focus on the
use of condoms, but that there is
not enough data to determine
whether school-based condom
distribution programs are stn -
cessful.
Douglas ). Boshnrov. a resi
dent scholar at AKl. forecast that
more 1 million teen-agers would
become pregnant this year,
resulting in 400.000 abortions.
134.000 miscarriages and
400.000 births, two-thirds of
them out of wedlock. Further,
he said, about 3 million teen
agers will become infected with
a sexually transmitted disease
"Schools have been assigned
a primary role in addressing
these problems," he said
Besharov said 93 percent of
all high schools in the country
offer courses on sexuality and
AIDS, and 40 states and the Dis
trict of Columbia either require
or encourage the teaching of
abstinence.
He said more than 510 junior
or senior high schools have
school-based or school-linked
clinics, while more than 300
provide condoms at school
"Although these programs
have generated intense contro
versy, the scientific evidence
about their effectiveness is
mixed." Besharov said "The
only programs that seem to
work are those that have a clear
message about specific values
and behaviors."
Kirby said there was insuffi
cient evidence to determine
whether sex education
decreased the rates of pregnan
cy. AIDS infection or incidence
of sexually transmitted disease
However, he said, that would
be a logical result given the
effectiveness of some programs
in delaying the start of inter
course. reducing the number of
sexual partners and the frequen
cy of intercourse and increasing
the use of contraception.
Kirby's paper summarized
research on 23 school-based sex
ed programs. ETR Associates, is
a non-profit organization devot
ed to improving the behavior of
young people
Burt, Loni agree to divorce settlement
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Burt Reynolds and
l.oni Anderson have agreed to a settlement in
their publicly bitter divorce She gets million
and n vacation house, he gets the rest
•'She's been very easy on him," Anderson's
attorney, Martin Simone, said Saturday
The agreement was reached over the week
end, beating a Monday divorce court date in
Jupiter, Fla., Simone said
Custody of tlunr 5-year-old adopted son,
Quinton, must still he arranged in I .os Angeles
County Superior Court Anderson expects the
hoy to live with her. while Reynolds would
have v isitation rights. Simone said. They would
shore joint legal custody
Reynolds already is paying $4^.000 per
month in child support under a temporary
order
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