Number one in Southern California, Channel 7, KABCTV, Los Angeles. Now, the Southland's
leading news, Eyewitness News at 11.
It is Mother Nature versus the Southland tonight in a real blowout. Good evening everybody,
it's the 11 o'clock hour. Things are blowing in the wind tonight in Southern California
as gusts of up to 50 miles an hour are hammering the areas, especially the foothills. We have
had numerous reports of downed power lines and trees. The Edison Company says several
thousand people are without electricity at this hour. Even Channel 7 fell victim to the
windstorm tonight, which slammed into our Mount Wilson transmitter, knocked us momentarily
off the air.
Dr. George will be along in just a couple of minutes with more information on when it
might end and when things might calm down again.
Paul, one man is dead tonight. Four other people feared buried beneath a mountain of snow following
a massive avalanche near Denver, Colorado. It happened at the Breckenridge Ski Resort
at about two o'clock this afternoon. Witnesses say the mountain came down in a roar of thunder,
burying all in its path. Two hundred rescue workers probed the snow looking for the trapped
skiers. Special dogs were brought in to aid in the desperate search. Authorities say the
area where the avalanche occurred is a danger zone, but it is not restricted to skiers.
We did have an area, a gate if you will, or a maze, that we had a six foot by four foot
sign posted that listed the dangers of going out of bounds and specifically that you are
on your own. That this is an area that is prone to avalanches. This is an area that
has not been controlled.
You can see by this photo that the so-called Peak 7 Zone is quite a distance from the regular
ski area. Early this evening the search was called off although some rescue workers did
remain but freezing temperatures eventually forced them in too. The search will resume
tomorrow. One man is in serious condition tonight after a light plane made a crash landing
into a busy San Diego street. It was six o'clock tonight during the evening rush hour. The
pilot was practicing touch and go landings at nearby Montgomery Field when the plane
started sputtering. There was no choice but to come down on Balboa Avenue in Kearney Mesa.
The plane landed on the roof of a Toyota Corolla seriously injuring the car's driver. Firemen
rescued him, rushed him to the hospital. The pilot of the plane unharmed and several other
vehicles were also damaged in that crash.
Tony, there are some people in Highland Park tonight with a real interesting problem. The
Community Redevelopment Agency met with some angry homeowners in Highland Park tonight
over a plan to save their condos. Larry Carroll reports on a major problem that has left residents
there with that sinking feeling. It was conceived as a model project of the Los Angeles Community
Redevelopment Agency, the largest residential redevelopment project in the city. As many
as 2,000 low and moderate income condominiums built on a landfill as high in places as 130
feet and many of these people stood in line to buy them. What no one suspected was that
the soil beneath these units would subside and cause these buildings to sink or shift
in some places as much as 14 inches. Now the owners of 328 of these units want to be made
whole.
Lawsuits and injunctions are already flying between homeowners associations and the CRA,
but tonight the CRA presented its proposal to solve the problem, an $8 million 22-month
plan that ranges from building storm drains to jacking up building supports and shooting
concrete into the landfill. The residents made clear that they were less than sued.
Whatever their problems with their contractors or their insurance agents, I do not intend
to invest 12 years of my life in something that is their screw up. In my judgment, the
agency's responsibility is to fix the problem. The prevailing sentiment in the room tonight
seemed to be that a fix would not be enough, that what the homeowners really want is for
the CRA to take the $8 million and pay off their mortgages plus appreciation. It appears
that negotiations will take place in any case. Larry Carroll, Channel 7 Eyewitness News in
Monterey Hills.
The fear over the spread of AIDS has led to National Condom Awareness Week and today pharmacy
students at USC were doing their part. They passed out 1,600 condoms free of charge along
with information on preventing the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases
with no cure in sight for AIDS. Health officials are promoting condoms as the best protection
against the killer disease. At Cal State San Bernardino, a similar event took place today.
Later on this broadcast tonight, Dr. Arculine will continue his special series on safe sex
with important information on this vital topic.
An anti-abortion group tonight is demanding that the head of the City County AIDS Task
Force be ousted for recommending that pregnant women with the AIDS virus consider abortions.
Dr. Neal Schramm says pregnancy weakens a woman's immune system and in the case of
a woman with the AIDS virus, pregnancy might increase the chance that she'll soon develop
a full blown case of that deadly disease.
It is our feeling that information about the possibility that the mother will develop AIDS
and that the baby will develop AIDS is information that must be given to a pregnant woman who's
infected with the virus.
But anti-abortionists say there's no proof that the woman's life would in fact be endangered.
So it's really reinforced the fact that the way to stop the spread of AIDS is to do away
with one of the victims, I, in the unborn child.
McMillan says the Right to Life League of Southern California will ask city and county
officials to seek Schramm's resignation. San Francisco police tonight believe a man
stabbed to death in a violent quarrel may have been a suspect in a rash of homosexual
killings that date back to 1980.
You're going to look right here at the man that police think may have been responsible
for murdering 16 gay men.
They don't know his name.
The man's body was discovered Monday night, one of two victims of a bloody knife fight.
Authorities surmise the dead suspect went into a gay bar, lured his victim home, then
tried to kill him.
That's when the murder took an unforeseen turn and the attacker was also killed.
Investigators say aspects of the bizarre incident bear similarities to the 16 previous killings.
While police tonight search for the dead man's identity, they continue to warn the gay community
of those continued attacks.
Paul?
Tony, the key figure in the Twilight Zone manslaughter trial is now telling his side
of the story in Los Angeles Superior Court.
He of course is John Landis, who directed the 1982 movie scene which killed actor Vic
Morrow and two child actors.
Today Landis admitted he broke the law by hiring the children without work permit, but
he denied ever being told the scene involving a helicopter and explosives was dangerous.
Did anybody ever suggest to you that those scenes as planned were dangerous?
No.
Landis will continue his testimony in the trial tomorrow.
There was a special preview tonight of a new ABC television movie about Betty Ford's courageous
fight to overcome alcoholism.
On hand for the screening at Universal Studios was former First Lady Betty Ford, former President
Gerald Ford, and Gina Rowland, who plays the part of Betty Ford.
All said they hoped that telling this story would encourage others to win their own battles
against drug or alcohol abuse.
The Betty Ford story will be shown on Monday, March 2nd on ABC.
Tony?
And Paul, later on in this very newscast, Dr. Argyllene talks about safe sex, but coming
up next, Harold Green looks at some Soviet immigrants who have found a place right here
in America.
All this week Harold Green is reporting on Soviet citizens who have immigrated to the
United States, and tonight he focuses on some true success stories.
Here.
Tony and Paul, while a small percentage of those who come here from the Soviet Union
go back, and many have difficulty adjusting to American society, the vast majority choose
to stay, finding life here better than the one they left.
Most believe they can't succeed in finding the American dream.
For others, that dream has already become a reality.
Less than a quarter of one percent have expressed a desire to go back.
The majority of people here have settled very well and have achieved a great deal.
Gennady Fundaminsky and his wife Nina say they have found what they wanted.
Gennady was a dentist in the Soviet Union.
As Soviet Jews, they were allowed to immigrate.
But when they came to the U.S., they didn't speak the language, had only $200 between
them, and Gennady had to return to school in order to practice.
I think this was a very stressful moment in my life.
By information, by speaking a little bit English, I got the impression like I can get my license
back here.
I can be in one day very content.
Today he has two offices and his practice is going strong.
Nina is running her own company these days, importing baby furniture from Italy.
It's an opportunity they would never have had in a Soviet Union.
Not legal.
Not legal business.
Maybe somewhere under the table, like maybe something to design and something to sell
somewhere.
Only not this way.
Not to run an international company and be recognized in the world.
Sergey Levin was a television producer in the Soviet Union and now has his own Russian
language program here.
But he had to make major adjustments to continue his career.
Commercials cover my product, cover my expenses.
But interesting, I never worked in Russia like a salesman.
Now I'm a salesman, I'm a producer, I'm a director, I'm a host.
I'm everything.
From one side to the other side is difficult.
Their stories have been repeated over and over again since this country was founded.
They have become the embodiment of the American dream.
I'm happy because I'm keeping my profession in the United States.
This is very important for me.
I love this country so much and this opportunity that this country gave to me, I will never
reverse to back direction.
Never.
Tomorrow, I'll look at what people in the Soviet Union see when they turn on their television
sets.
Oh, thanks, Harold.
Still ahead tonight, Dr. Arculine's report on safe sex.
Next up, Ted Dawson with sports including Laker, Denver Highline.