Dominguez High School

The statement is written in a neat, loopy hand, so perky looking that when you get to the ugly part it seems almost too ugly to be true. Today is July 16, 1997, it begins. I was attacked by 4 male students at my site, Dominguez High School. . . . Dominguez High School is in Compton, a place of--well, we all know how Compton schools are, right? And the statement is from a teacher, or rather an ex-teacher there.

Former Compton Dominguez High boys basketball coach Russell Otis was sentenced Thursday to 60 days in jail for child molesting, probably ending the powerful reign of a man who directed his teams to five state championships and 10 California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section titles in 20 seasons. Otis, 47, had been charged with misdemeanor child molesting, felony theft and forgery and a felony charge of meeting a minor for lewd purposes. He was convicted in November on the lesser charge.

Mater Dei and Corona del Mar high schools are the only county teams that will play home games in the semifinals of the Southern Section boys' basketball playoffs Friday night. Mater Dei, the top-seeded team in the 5-A division, will be the home team when the Monarchs play El Toro at Ocean View High School. Mater Dei played six games in Ocean View's gym this year, and won all six.

The trial of former Compton basketball coach Russell Otis, accused of sexually abusing a player, began Wednesday with a prosecution witness testifying that Otis also had sexual contact with him. After jurors heard opening statements, the prosecution's first witness testified that he had been molested several years ago by Otis, who was coach at Dominguez High School.

As press conferences go, this one was fairly slick. Toward the rear of the school library about 70 community leaders, school district personnel and business people sat attentively watching the proceedings. Immediately before them, huddled over their notebooks, sat a handful of press representatives.

As press conferences go, this one was fairly slick. Toward the rear of the school library about 70 community leaders, school district personnel and business people sat attentively watching the proceedings. Immediately before them, huddled over their notebooks, sat a handful of press representatives.

San Gabriel Valley League high school officials, who last fall temporarily banned athletic contests at Dominguez High School, said Thursday that enhanced security at the Compton high school resulted in a winter sports season without violent incidents. "There were no reports of problems" at any of the basketball, wrestling and soccer contests at Dominguez, said league president and Paramount High School principal Douglas Rozelle.

In his documentary, "OT: our town," director Scott Hamilton Kennedy dissolves stereotypes as he chronicles minority students at Dominguez High School in gang-plagued Compton rehearsing for a campus production of "Our Town," Thornton Wilder's classic play about small-town life in an earlier, simpler America. "There was only one experience [during filming] where gunshots were fired close by, but mostly I felt comfortable there," Kennedy recalled. "There's a great community there.

Cal State Dominguez Hills chemistry professor Oliver Seely was burning wood in a test tube last week to show how chemical reactions occur. The experiment was relatively simple, but school officials point to its wider significance. Seely and his class at the university's California Academy of Mathematics and Science--a specialty high school established this semester with 120 ninth-graders from six area school districts--had a participating television audience.

The all-star boys and girls teams, each consisting of 10 members, their coaches and parents will be guests of the Times at 9 a.m. Sunday, May 1, at the annual Times High School Basketball Awards Brunch where all-star teams from 12 circulation areas will be honored at the Anaheim Hilton. The featured Speaker will be Loyola Coach Paul Westhead. The players and coaches of the year from each area will be announced.