Anaheim Ca

The City Council has rescinded a 4-year-old policy that rotated the role of mayor pro tem based on seniority among council members. Now, the post will be selected by popular vote of the council. The council vote Tuesday was 3 to 2, with Councilmen Tom Tait and Bob Zemel opposing the move. Zemel, who has seniority but has not yet served as mayor pro tem, would have been next in line for the one-year post.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has named Anaheim to receive its first leadership excellence award for creativity in meeting environmental goals. In announcing the honorary award, EPA Administrator Carol Browner praised Anaheim for crafting "an innovative strategy to control air pollution at a lower cost."

Three streets will be renamed as part of a plan that won final City Council approval this week. The plan, part of the Santa Ana Freeway widening project, is designed to help tourists exiting the Santa Ana Freeway find Disneyland more easily. The changes: * Anaheim Boulevard will become Anaheim Way from south of Cerritos Avenue to State College Boulevard, beginning in November 1997.

A plan for a federal pilot project in Anaheim involving immigration control has won endorsement from the Cypress City Council. Anaheim has proposed having a federal Immigration and Naturalization Service officer assigned to its city jail. The INS officer would identify for possible deportation those suspected of being illegal immigrants.

The City Council has passed a resolution endorsing Anaheim's effort to have a federal agent stationed at the city jail to identify and help deport illegal immigrants who are arrested. Anaheim last October asked the federal government to assign an Immigration and Naturalization Service officer at the jail to hold down the number of undocumented immigrants the Police Department processes. The city says it spends $1 million annually to arrest and jail suspected illegal immigrants.

Neighborhoods off Balsam Avenue and East Street will be transformed Saturday with the planting of 100 trees by more than 300 volunteers. ReLeaf Anaheim, a nonprofit group dedicated to planting, preserving and promoting trees in the city, will sponsor the community event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The aim is to beautify the area and improve the quality of life, said Jaide, program coordinator. "We want to renew our neighborhoods and bring a sense of community," she said.

A woman who was fatally shot in an apparent murder-suicide was identified Friday as Linda Uyematsu, a 51-year-old occupational therapist who apparently was trying to help the man believed to be her killer. Uyematsu and the man were two of four people who died in violence in Anaheim on Thursday. The name of the 49-year-old man who allegedly shot Uyematsu before turning the gun on himself was not released, pending notification of his family.

An intervention program for troubled youngsters and their families should be up and running by early next year, officials said. The City Council recently approved a plan that will allow the county Probation Department to operate the Youth and Family Resource Center at 1401 S. Anaheim Blvd. The facility was opened in September by the Orange County Department of Education and Anaheim Union School District. The center now offers academic classes only.

Setting a goal of enhancing every neighborhood in Anaheim over the next decade, officials tonight will launch the Community Planning Program at an open house at Katella High School. Under the plan, the city has been divided into 28 areas, Deputy Planning Director Mary R. McCloskey said. The comprehensive program "is intended to bring together the Planning Department staff and community to talk about land uses in their area and the physical characteristics of their neighborhoods," she said.

Community policing Officer John Furbish describes being approached on a Saturday morning by two dozen youngsters who live in the city's Balsam Avenue neighborhood. One handed him a soft-drink can with the top torn open. Inside was a hypodermic syringe. The children, excited about their find, said they had picked it up in nearby bushes. "The needle is still there. They could have stuck themselves," Furbish said. "This is dangerous."