was fully contained two days later, the fire had consumed 750 acres
but no structures.
Officials credited aggressive firefighting and cooperation between
various agencies for containing the blaze, which they feared would
spread into Burbank and triple in size before it could be contained.
The weather also aided firefighters -- temperatures were cooler than
usual and the winds were calm.
It cost an estimated $1.5 million to fight the fire, Glendale Fire
Department officials said.
8COPS TAKE ON COPS
A trial was delayed and several defendants were dropped from a
lawsuit brought against the city of Glendale and Glendale Police
alleging female officers were the targets of sexual harassment.
The same lawsuit got two other officers in hot water, with a
Glendale judge ruling they deliberately withheld allegations within
the lawsuit when asked to provide information for another case.
The lawsuit by officers Jamie Franke, Katie Frieders, Carla Haupt
and Renae Kerner contends they and other women were the subjects of
harassment, retaliation and even a rape. A fifth plaintiff, Community
Service Officer Linda Daidone, dropped her complaint.
A Los Angeles County judge ruled in July that the lawsuit against
the city and a Glendale Police sergeant could go to trial. But the
trial was postponed from Nov. 4 to Feb. 3.
Since the case was filed in December 2001, several officers
originally named in the lawsuit have been dropped from the case.
The lawsuit is now against only the city, with one individual
complaint by Kerner against Sgt. William Halverson.
In December, the allegations surfaced in another case. One of the
officers dropped from the lawsuit was Sgt. Fran Judge, who arrested
two men July 20 on suspicion of resisting arrest. In preparing the
mens' defense, Deputy Public Defender Julia Dixon asked the
department for information on any allegations of excessive force made
against Sgt. Fran Judge, but Glendale Police did not notify the court
of the allegations made against Judge in the lawsuit.
A Glendale judge called the omission "egregious" and "misleading"
and as a punishment, dismissed the cases against the two men and two
others who had joined in the complaint.
9THE DEATH OF JEANNE BENTLEY
The death of longtime Glendale educator Jeanne Bentley left a gap
not only in the community, but also on the five-member Glendale
Unified School District Board of Education.
Bentley died June 29 after a long battle with breast cancer.
Bentley had served on the board since 1993 and was involved with
