Hacob Jake Shirvanian

Mystery continues to shroud the Scene of the Crime in Sherman Oaks. Merchants and residents have tried for nine months to learn why the landmark bookstore, which sells only mysteries, and 14 neighboring shops are being evicted from a quaint, block-long row of Ventura Boulevard storefronts between Woodman and Ventura Canyon avenues. So when the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. spread the word that the developer who has bought up the block would reveal his plans Wednesday night, the crowd was so large that the meeting had to be hastily relocated from a bank community room to a nearby school auditorium where there was more space.

Mystery continues to shroud the Scene of the Crime in Sherman Oaks. Merchants and residents have tried for nine months to learn why the landmark bookstore, which sells only mysteries, and 14 neighboring shops are being evicted from a quaint, block-long row of Ventura Boulevard storefronts between Woodman and Ventura Canyon avenues. So when the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. spread the word that the developer who has bought up the block would reveal his plans Wednesday night, the crowd was so large that the meeting had to be hastily relocated from a bank community room to a nearby school auditorium where there was more space.

Two companies and four individuals accused of illegally disposing of hazardous waste in San Gabriel Valley landfills have pleaded not guilty to the charges in Los Angeles Municipal Court. Western Waste Industries of Carson and three of its employees, Hacob (Jake) Shirvanian, Dennis Kautz and Hovsep Shadarevian, and Roehl Corp. of Wilmington and its general manager, Paul DeVries, were arraigned last week and face preliminary hearings Aug. 5.

Western Waste Industries, one of Los Angeles County's largest waste haulers, its vice president and two employees were charged Tuesday with hiding hazardous waste in household trash and dumping it illegally in three landfills. Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner said the criminal complaint alleges that in 1985 and 1986, the Carson firm "routinely" hid hazardous waste inside truckloads of trash headed for three county landfill dump sites.

An executive of Western Waste Industries, who served on the state Waste Management Board for 10 years, has been fined $125,000 after pleading no contest to charges of illegally disposing of hazardous waste mixed with household garbage. The fine imposed this week against Hacob (Jake) Shirvanian is the largest ever assessed against an individual for an environmental crime in Los Angeles County, according to the district attorney's office. Shirvanian, vice president and manager of Western Waste, was convicted of three misdemeanor counts of illegal disposal of heavy metals and dry-cleaning wastes that were dumped at landfills in the San Gabriel Valley and Glendale.

An executive of Western Waste Industries, who served on the state Waste Management Board for 10 years, has been fined $125,000 after pleading no contest to charges of illegally disposing of hazardous waste mixed with household garbage. The fine imposed last week against Hacob (Jake) Shirvanian is the largest ever assessed against an individual for an environmental crime in Los Angeles County, according to the district attorney's office. Shirvanian, vice president and manager of Western Waste, was convicted of three misdemeanor counts of illegal disposal of heavy metals and dry-cleaning wastes that were dumped at landfills in the San Gabriel Valley and Glendale.

Hazardous waste was routinely dumped illegally into San Gabriel Valley landfills by a Carson trash hauling company for convenience and to save money, reports filed by the district attorney's office in Los Angeles Municipal Court allege. The reports detail evidence that led to the filing of criminal charges last week against a vice president and two dispatchers for Western Waste Industries for allegedly transporting and dumping toxic materials illegally.

Doc Burch, who has been involved in Republican politics since the days of Dwight D. Eisenhower, knows what it means to stick by President Bush when the going gets rough. The Antelope Valley activist was hissed and booed by some when he put Bush's name in nomination during a straw poll at the conservative California Republican Assembly's convention in April. The grass-roots volunteer organization, the state's largest, voted overwhelmingly to support Patrick J.