Impoundment

Prompted in part by several reports of attacks by pit bull terriers, the Los Angeles City Council approved an ordinance Tuesday to allow the city to impound dogs that bite people and, after a hearing, destroy the animals in the worst cases. The council, by the same 12-0 vote, also approved an ordinance dealing with barking dogs. Both measures were signed into law by City Council President Pat Russell--in her last day on the council--acting for Mayor Tom Bradley, who is out of town.

Under intense pressure to resolve the Chilean fruit crisis, federal Food and Drug Administration officials and Chilean government representatives Wednesday labored to forge a system to prevent tampering with fruit exports from that nation and to allow release of tons of impounded produce stacking up in refrigerated warehouses in U.S. port cities. "It's important to bring a restoration to normal," FDA Commissioner Frank E. Young said in an interview Wednesday.

Motorists will have to pay an additional $40 to retrieve cars impounded by the city of Los Angeles under a policy given preliminary approval by the City Council on Friday. The fees, which could take effect in December, are designed to help the city recoup part of the $12 million it spends annually on its impound operation. The new $40 fee is in addition to any fines already levied by the city. Private garages performing the work for the city also charge a standard $69.

Police headed off a planned second day of sit-ins and arrests at abortion clinics Wednesday by impounding a bus and increasing security at clinics where 343 people had been arrested a day earlier. Fourteen protesters were arrested, and at least three were dragged to police vans. However, most demonstrators limited their activities to praying and singing hymns.

Los Angeles Animal Services officers on Thursday impounded two pit bulls believed to have attacked two people and another dog, authorities said. Officers with the Animal Services' Special Enforcement Unit said they took the dogs into custody after receiving a tip that the pit bulls' owners lived in the 15000 block of Rinaldi Street. The dogs were taken to the agency's shelter in Chatsworth pending an investigation that could result in the dogs being euthanized, authorities said.

A tiny Burbank record-importing company has launched a legal battle against the Recording Industry Assn. of America and the U.S. Customs Service, charging them with conspiracy, interference with the operation of its business and attempts to monopolize the market for recorded music.

Hard-pressed by a tightening trade embargo, the government of Iraq retaliated Wednesday by beginning to take over foreign assets in Iraq and withholding payment on its debts. In decreeing the move, Iraq's ruling Revolutionary Command Council targeted countries that have frozen Iraqi and Kuwaiti assets abroad and have deprived Iraq of the proceeds of Kuwait's vast investments.

The city attorney's office filed a civil suit Thursday against the operators of a former Van Nuys police garage, charging they improperly sold impounded vehicles to car dealerships owned by relatives. The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court alleges that executives of Fox Motors Inc. and several related companies purchased impounded vehicles at below-market prices by failing to properly advertise their sale at public auction.

A week after the LAPD announced a moratorium on impounding cars of unlicensed drivers because of legal questions, the Los Angeles city attorney's office has determined that the practice is legal in most cases. The Los Angeles Police Department last month told officers to no longer impound vehicles on traffic stops in which the only offense was driving without a license. Drivers will continue to be cited for that offense.

Republican Party officials in New Mexico over the weekend sought to protect George W. Bush's scant four-vote lead and asked judges to order all early and absentee ballots impounded. The requests were granted in two judicial districts Saturday night. Judges in the state's other 11 districts were expected to be contacted today. The move was not part of a recount--which cannot be requested until after the New Mexico vote is certified on Nov. 28.