Driveway

The City Council has decided to review the city's aggressive code enforcement program after about 20 irate residents complained that they had received warnings for violations such as parking motor homes and trailers in the driveways of their homes. The council adopted the program at its Nov. 10 meeting. Under the program, city code enforcement officers actively seek out residents in violation of municipal codes.

A 15-year-old Inglewood boy, who said he "had enough" of his stepfather terrorizing and beating his family, shot and killed the stepfather after he attacked the boy's mother in front of the family's home, police said. Derrick Nims, 33, was killed about 9:50 p.m. Sunday in the front yard of the home, Inglewood Police Sgt. Harold Moret said. Nims' stepson, whose name was withheld because of his age, was arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held at Central Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles.

A self-described soldier of fortune who was cooperating in a federal investigation of gunrunning by Nicaraguan rebels died from an apparent overdose of drugs and alcohol early Saturday in Panorama City, police said Sunday. Steven Paul Carr, 27, died at about 3 a.m. in the driveway outside a town house where he was staying. There was no evidence of foul play, police said.

Dana Parsons' June 22 column could not have been more timely for me. The residents of Silverado and Modjeska canyons are not the only ones suffering the tender mercies of outsiders trying to change their way of life. When the Marine Corps stationed me at El Toro in 1975 for what would be the final tour of my 20-year career, I came looking for a place that would accommodate my retirement plans and free-dive spearfishing hobby. I wanted a home close to the harbor with a driveway that would hold my 24-foot boat in a community where it was legal to park one. I found my dream house in San Clemente.

Sam Lewis, the 73-year-old retired junk dealer who killed two men because a car was blocking his driveway, was sentenced to eight years in prison Friday by a judge who expressed respect for the old man but said he had to be punished for his act of vigilantism. The sentencing of Lewis, who pleaded guilty in March to two counts of voluntary manslaughter, presented a dilemma to Municipal Court Judge Ronald Domnitz, who praised Lewis for being a pillar of the community but added that the killings cried out for justice.

Re "UC Admissions Plan Would De-Emphasize Grades, Tests," Nov. 15: May I assume that the "compassionate" souls who would discard measurable academic standards as the primary criteria for admission to an academic institution would also take the same approach to my tryout with the UCLA basketball team? OK, I'm five feet, five inches and slow, but after two hours of dedicated practice I once made six free throws in a row on my driveway court. Sid Smolen Fullerton Thirty years ago California was in the top five states in K-12 education.

The baby sitter's dog had run away three times in a week, stealing out under the fence after dark. All night, he would trot down the sidewalk and into other peoples' yards. The baby sitter believed it was love. She laid out this thought as a preface to her overarching view, which was that romance is a contagious thing.

It's easy to understand why Donna and George Moussalli bought their Palos Verdes Peninsula tract home, even though they hated the front of the house. Truth be told, they barely even noticed it. "We walked around the back and there was a pool and this little walkway that led down to a whole orchard with avocados and oranges," Donna recalled. "We were like, 'Wow. This is great.'

For six long years, they bided their time, nameless in the shadowy underground. Then this year, the dry spell ended. And the salute to the earthworm echoed once more o'er the land. "Yuck!" It ricocheted from driveway to driveway, cul-de-sac to cul-de-sac. "Worm weather!" came the bulletin at Ocean View Elementary School in Whittier. Already, it was reported, Chris and Amanda were pelting playmates with the squirmers.