On Again, Off Again Russians Are On Again

The long-anticipated visit by Soviet cultural official Irina Mikheyeva to help arrange next year’s Soviet arts festival in San Diego is finally at hand.

When Mikheyeva, who is in charge of all Soviet cultural exchanges in North America, delayed a scheduled visit last month, the arts community in San Diego shuddered that a hitch might have developed in the festival planning.

But now the upbeat Mikheyeva is in town and talking specifics with arts leaders about exhibits, performances and venues.

She arrived Saturday and will stay until late Tuesday after a bit of sightseeing (including a citywide tour by helicopter) and a private reception Monday night hosted by Mayor Maureen O’Connor at the Timken Art Gallery.

Among the good news Mikheyeva is bearing: a conductor and soloist needed for the San Diego Opera to perform a Russian opera will definitely be available.

Memory of Cara Knott Sparks Program for Youth

The Rich Brothers have cut an album of songs from their radio show, “The B Morning Zoo,” on B-100 FM.

The songs are zany but the album’s purpose is serious: all proceeds will go to the YMCA/Cara-Net program to provide aid to families of missing and runaway youth, including a 24-hour hot line. The program is named in honor of Cara Knott, who was murdered in 1986.

At End of Long Silence, Cry for Help Finally Heard

It was only one of hundreds of similar cases in San Diego County, and it fit a familiar and insidious pattern.

But an Imperial Beach father’s anguished eloquence quieted the courtroom.

The man who molested his 11-year-old daughter had been a family friend--a kindly grandfatherly type who took the girl on camping trips and other outings along with his own granddaughter. The molestations took place for a year, and the girls were scared and embarrassed into silence.

“Looking back, it is all so painful for us, as parents,” the father last week told Municipal Court Judge Lisa Guy-Schall. “Our daughter began to protest her visits, but we insisted that she go. (She) was torn by the need to expose these abuses, protecting herself, and the need to keep quiet and protect the granddaughter who had no one to protect her.

“It must have been a very, very long year for her.”

The girl became withdrawn and had problems at school. The girl’s father, a graphic artist, and her mother, a part-time computer operator, were perplexed at the change.

“As long as I live I’ll never forget the moment when tears burst from her eyes--exploded really,” her father said.

“(The defendant) stole something precious from our daughter--her innocence. We have become painfully aware that it is a quality that can never be recovered. We’re angry because he introduced her to a world not meant for her, he taught her things that were not for her to know. He made her grow up too quickly while acting as a sick, twisted teacher.

“Even more frightening is the awareness that (she) may not be alone. As parents we have many regrets. Foremost perhaps is the realization that we were unable to hear our daughter’s cries, to read between the lines of her conversations.”

Guy-Schall, moved to tears by the father’s words, ordered the defendant to face his young victim. Under a plea bargain, he had pleaded guilty to four felony counts of lewd and lascivious conduct and nearly four dozen other counts were dropped.

The judge sentenced him to a year in County Jail, mandatory therapy and eight years’ probation, a tough sentence for a first offender who had shown immediate remorse when arrested.

You are a predator, Guy-Schall said, and if you ever approach a child while on probation, you’ll be sent directly to state prison. The 35-year-old former prosecutor also spoke to the victim.

“Your cries have been heard,” Guy-Schall said. Later she said that when such cases stop having an emotional impact on her, she’ll know she’s been a judge too long.