Hysteria

As a jury deliberates daily in the McMartin Preschool molestation trial, the citizens of Manhattan Beach await the conclusion of the 6-year-old case with a mixture of curiosity and resignation--curious about the outcome, yet resigned to the fact that no verdict can deliver the community from the scandal's dark currents. The case's lingering mark can be found today in the city's schools, where pupils receive rigorous instruction in molestation awareness.

Frightened by a flash of flame from a generator, some passengers aboard a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 jet panicked and 13 were injured, none seriously, Sunday night as they scrambled onto the plane's wings and rushed to slide down emergency chutes at Los Angeles International Airport. The panic resulted when gases ignited after being discharged by the plane's auxiliary power unit, a large electrical generator, airline spokeswoman Ruth Shari said.

A task force of top city officials reported Wednesday that university officers abdicated their responsibility to supervise arrangements last month for a celebrity basketball game featuring rap music stars, and that police waited too long to try to stop a stampede in which nine people were crushed to death. The panel, appointed by Mayor David N.

Nisei Week was drawing to a close Saturday when I visited the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo. Little Tokyo seemed to be the perfect place to see the dangers of the political campaigns against illegal immigration being waged by Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and many other politicians. Wilson has proposed a tough package. He has called for refusing citizenship to U.S.

For American sports followers, accustomed to plush, modern stadiums with adequate security and well-behaved fans, the tragedy that befell Guatemala on Wednesday night is almost unimaginable. There have been stampedes and rioting at U.S. rock concerts, resulting in deaths and injuries, and only a few years ago, football fans were injured when a fence gave way and they were trampled by others after a game at the University of Wisconsin. But only in the worst nightmares of U.S.

Military surplus stores throughout Orange County are reporting increased sales of gas masks to customers apparently frightened by reports of potential chemical warfare by Iraqi forces in the Middle East. And although store employees warn that the type of mask available at surplus outlets does nothing to protect its wearer from the kind of poison gas that would be used in combat, it hasn't stopped the demand.

A huge mass of fans pressed to the stage during a Michael Jackson concert Sunday, and more than 1,550 people were reported injured in the crush, authorities said. Most injuries were minor, but officials said 40 people required hospital treatment. Mounted police and vanloads of officers in riot gear were called to the Aintree race track, where 125,000 attended the final concert of the singer's European tour, police said.