Local News in Brief : Crime-Prevention Seminars

Three seminars for Lawndale business owners and employees will be offered next month as part of a Business Watch crime-prevention program. It will be sponsored by the chamber, the city, and the Lennox station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Business Watch Chairman Jerry L. Davis said the idea for this program came about in July, but that the robbery and murder of a local businessman on Aug. 19 “validated the need for such a program.”

Byung Jin Kim was shot to death after withdrawing $80,000 from a Lawndale bank for weekend check-cashing at his liquor store in Hawthorne. Omar (Chico) Dent III, 25, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges and is being held without bail for a preliminary hearing Oct. 7.

Lawndale’s Business Watch program will include the distribution of crime-prevention information from Monday through Oct. 22. The three seminars will be: “Robbery and Burglary Prevention” on Oct. 11 and “Internal Theft” on Oct 19, both from 7 to 9 p.m. at Leuzinger High School Auditorium, and “Crime and Its Cost Impact on the Community” from noon to 2 p.m. on Oct. 22 at the Lawndale Civic Center. For information, call 679-3306.

The program will not be curtailed by a recent Lawndale City Council decision to deny $70,000 in city funding for the chamber, said Chamber Director Jerry Enis. The chamber board will meet tonight to discuss how to cope with the cutback, which represents about 70% of the group’s budget, he said.