Doughnut Shop

The doughnut business, once a well-traveled route to the American dream, has become a dead-end for many immigrants as major doughnut and coffee chains have blanketed the country with stores, taking a bite out of the profits of countless mom-and-pop entrepreneurs. For more than two decades, Cambodian immigrants, in particular, have made a mark in the doughnut business, which requires few English-language and technical skills.

Oxnard police shot and killed a robbery suspect early Friday at a midtown doughnut shop, which had recently been hit by a series of thefts. Larry Brown, 27, was shot during the 2 a.m. robbery attempt at Poster's Donuts on West Magnolia Avenue, police said. He was taken to St. John's Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

A newly minted Bill Bradley, throwing elbows and bagging groceries, careened across the wintry landscape of New Hampshire on Thursday, doffing his professorial style and high-road presentation in an effort to resurrect his presidential campaign. He chatted with customers at an Epping doughnut shop. He popped into a Portsmouth high school to shoot some baskets.

Re "Waiting for Good Dough," Sept. 29. I was just appalled at your coverage of the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop opening and even more disturbed that Mayor Richard Riordan would declare Krispy Kreme Doughnut Day. With your free advertisement, more people will now be introduced to a food product that is most harmful to one's health, considering the sugar and fat content. Shame on you, Los Angeles Times. BARBARA BROWN Toluca Lake

Did you hear about the adventure of a helicopter from radio station KIIS-FM that plopped down at the opening of a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop in Van Nuys? It was promptly ticketed by the city Fire Department. The official reason was that the chopper had no permit to land in the neighborhood. But I suspect also that firefighters, like cops, don't like anyone cutting in front of them for doughnuts. IT'S BEING MADE INTO A MOVIE: Two executives with the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.

A doughnut shop owner shot, and then chased down an armed youth who tried to rob his store on Friday afternoon, police said. The incident began shortly before 4 p.m., police said, when a 14-year-old boy tried to rob the Jolly Donuts at 12835 Vanowen St. in North Hollywood. Police would not say how the youth was armed, or even whether he carried a gun or a knife. During the robbery, however, the owner pulled a gun on the robber and shot him, said Los Angeles Police Det. Martin Pinner.

Two workers were found shot to death early Thursday in an apparent robbery at a Dunkin' Donuts shop that was set on fire, authorities said. A third employee was shot in the arm and leg and was in serious condition at a hospital. Officers responding to a burglar alarm found the shop in flames. No suspects were in custody.

A man convicted of fatally shooting a South-Central Los Angeles doughnut shop clerk during a videotaped robbery was sentenced to life without parole Wednesday. A surveillance videotape and an eyewitness account led a jury to convict Ronnie Law, 37, of first- degree murder for last year's slaying of Conrado Cruz, a 26-year-old clerk at Winchell's Donut House on Florence Avenue at Main Street. Law was on parole for possession of illegal drugs at the time of the shooting. His attorney, Ted T.