Alfred A Calabro

The brother of a Glendale Municipal Court commissioner who was denounced as a racist by Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner said Thursday that he plans to challenge Reiner in the June primary. Alfred A. Calabro, 62, said he's taking on Reiner because the district attorney "has no regard for people's reputations" and has done nothing to reduce crime. Last August, Reiner barred Commissioner Daniel F. Calabro from hearing criminal cases because the judicial officer had uttered a racial slur from the bench.

The brother of a Glendale Municipal Court commissioner who was denounced as a racist by Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner said Thursday that he plans to challenge Reiner in the June primary. Alfred A. Calabro, 62, said he's taking on Reiner because the district attorney "has no regard for people's reputations" and has done nothing to reduce crime. Last August, Reiner barred Commissioner Daniel F. Calabro from hearing criminal cases because the judicial officer had uttered a racial slur from the bench.

A retired Lockheed engineer from North Hollywood known for giving candy to neighborhood children was convicted Wednesday of molesting a 9-year-old girl placed in his care and of taking nude photographs of her and his 5-year-old granddaughter. A San Fernando Superior Court jury convicted Wallace W. Fisher, 69, of five counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and one count of taking lewd photographs of children with the intent to distribute them.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D'Agostino, who attracted widespread attention as the flamboyant although unsuccessful prosecutor in the "Twilight Zone" case, announced Tuesday that she will challenge Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner in the June primary election. "Our streets are soaked with the blood of gang warfare and littered with the debris of the dope dealers," D'Agostino told reporters. "Since Ira Reiner has been the district attorney, these gangs and dope dealers have been winning this war."

As the deadline passed Friday for candidates to qualify for the June ballot, Supervisor Mike Antonovich appeared to be facing the most serious challenge among Los Angeles County government elected officials. The two-term conservative is headed for a rematch with former Supervisor Baxter Ward, whom Antonovich ousted from the 5th District in a bitter 1980 contest.

Three supervisors' jobs, the district attorney's office and 11 contested judgeships are before Los Angeles County voters in the primary election Tuesday. The hottest race is in the huge 5th Supervisorial District, where nine challengers are trying to unseat incumbent Mike Antonovich in a campaign largely centered on the growth issue.

Friday was the deadline for candidates seeking congressional, state legislative and county offices in the June 7 primary election to file nomination papers. The deadline has been extended until 5 p.m. Wednesday in cases where incumbents failed to file for reelection. The extension does not apply to state legislative districts in which the incumbent did not file a required declaration of intent to seek reelection in February.

When elections roll around, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner usually finds it necessary to break a rule he established for himself a decade ago: to limit his political activities to one night a week. "This time," he said with understandable confidence, "it hasn't been necessary." Although Reiner, 52, is facing three challengers in the June 7 primary, he is expected to easily win a second term as Los Angeles County district attorney.