Fish ponds, butterfly farms, lakes, suspension bridges,... - Los Angeles Times
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Fish ponds, butterfly farms, lakes, suspension bridges,...

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<i> From staff and wire reports</i>

Fish ponds, butterfly farms, lakes, suspension bridges, arches, towers and holographic billboards are among suggestions for jazzing up a 10-block stretch of Olympic Boulevard west of the San Diego Freeway.

Some of the other ideas in 85 proposals put on display Tuesday in the Olympic West International Design Competition:

* A Gate of Angels (topped by two angels with trumpets), connected by cable cars with an Olympic arch (topped by a flame).

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* A “Green Front†stretch of foliage, “lit by numerous twinkling objects,†in the words of the applicant, “just like the constellations of the galaxy, reminding me of Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Bogey.â€

* A building exterior featuring a stack of five Porsche front ends.

The contest, sponsored by Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude, a life insurance company and a developer, drew applicants from all over the world. A jury of architects and designers will meet this weekend to pick up to five finalists, who will then be asked to further develop their concepts.

Prizes total $50,000.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley took part Tuesday in a signing ceremony at the harbor to officially designate a new sister port to the Port of Los Angeles.

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It’s Keelung.

That’s the port for Taipeh and is the busiest one in Taiwan.

Perhaps they never heard of San Pedro or Wilmington.

The McMartin Pre-School molestation trial has dragged on for nearly a year and a half, but Superior Court Judge William Pounders said he is not surprised that an alternate juror wants to stay on the job despite the death of his wife last week.

“I have a lot of respect for him,†said the jurist who has presided over the trial that does not seem destined to end any time soon. “Most of these jurors have an interest in serving to the conclusion, but he seems to have more than that.â€

Pounders said the alternate, John Breese, 49, was notified at court last Thursday that his wife, Loretta, had died. The judge immediately excused Breese, who came to him a short time later to ask that he not be dropped.

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Breese, the judge said, has been attentive throughout and “constantly has eye contact with the trial.†Pounders said he assured the alternate that he would not be permanently excused, but left it to him to decide whether he would be able to concentrate on the case again by Tuesday afternoon’s resumption.

Breese showed up.

Gerald Fields has a message for students at Hamilton High School, which the 58-year-old retired Beverly Hills businessman attended 40 years ago. To make certain they don’t miss it, he has put up a billboard four blocks away on Robertson Boulevard. It reads:

Male high school drop-outs earn an average of $12,800 a year. Male high school graduates earn an average of $18,000 a year. Male college graduates earn an average of $30,000 per year. People who use or deal drugs end up with their lives ruined, or in jail, or dead. Anything else you need to know?

“I thought it would be good to present those figures,†he said, “like throwing a cold bucket of water in somebody’s face.â€

Fields said he was “appalled†to learn that his old high school has a 22% drop-out rate. He added the anti-drug message, he said, because he recognizes that many students would look at the salaries and figure they could make much more than that by pushing drugs. When he went to school, he recalled, the only thing dope meant to him was “opium dens in China.â€

Fields and some other Hamilton High School boosters hope to extend the billboard campaign to other parts of the nation.

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Calvin Yoon was feeling a little better Tuesday. He was the man who apparently swallowed a live bee or yellow jacket Monday while on the ninth green at the Malibu Golf Course.

Yoon, 33, a Hughes Aircraft Co. engineer, said the thing apparently bit him about halfway down and that every time he tried to swallow, “it hurt so bad.†Despite a numbing solution fed to him at the Malibu Emergency Room, Yoon said, it was midnight before he could get down a little yogurt.

He said he planned to call the golf club ask for a free replay.

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