Merrick

Kathryn Marie West Merrick of Camarillo, a lifelong Ventura County resident, died Friday following a long illness. She was 46. West Merrick was born Jan. 13, 1950, in Ventura and attended Santa Clara Catholic School, Our Lady of the Assumption. She graduated from Ventura High School. "She was an angel," said her mother, Helen Kam Elliott of Ojai. Kam Elliott said her daughter enjoyed meeting new people through her jobs as a florist, answering service operator and home care attendant.

With 54 days gone and 14 more to go for the UK/LA Festival, Merrick Baker-Bates, British consul general for Southern California, doesn't look any the worse for wear. At 9 o'clock on a recent morning, the tall, slender Baker-Bates is looking natty in a dark blue suit, an official festival pin on his lapel. He happily shows guests around the 1920s-era Hancock Park home that serves as consulate guest house, meeting place and party venue.

Dance is Iris Merrick's life. What's remarkable about that is that her life is 82 years long. And Merrick has no plans to hang up her ballet slippers. She is in her fifth year of teaching weekly dance classes at a senior center for 20 cents a lesson. "I love teaching," she said. "I get such a kick out of it when I see someone improve." Born to Russian immigrants, Merrick was reared in a small Wisconsin town.

Autumn in New York why does it seem so exciting? --Vernon Duke This slow-starting Broadway season is giving theatergoers more theatricks off stage than on. The current spectacle-in-the-wings is the "war" declared by producer David Merrick on New York Times theater critic Frank Rich for the trashing Rich gave Merrick's latest musical extravaganza, "Oh, Kay!"

Merrick Atkinson, a retired civil engineer who managed an apartment building in Studio City, has died in Toronto. He was 78. Atkinson traveled the world as a civil engineer for Taylor Woodrow of London, an international construction firm. While visiting his son in Canada, he suffered a stroke on July 8 and died on July 10, his widow, Bernie Atkinson, said. A native of Manchester, England, Atkinson served as an officer in the British Merchant Marines during World War II.

A contested seat on Malibu's future City Council remained in doubt last week, and a spokesman for the Los Angeles County registrar's office said it may be several more days before it is known whether slow-growth activist Missy Zeitsoff or retired Judge John Merrick is the winner.

John J. Merrick did not have the typical background for a judge, but he was not judging typical people. Merrick was a comedy gag writer before he became the no-nonsense judge of a sleepy community that was growing into a favored home of celebrities. As the lone judge in a judicial district that eventually covered 186 square miles, he presided over front-page marriages and also signed the search warrant that led to the arrest of one of the century's most notorious mass murderers.

I would like to suggest that a life-sized poster of the late, great Len Bias be hung on the wall of every professional, college and high school team locker room with the caption: "Len Bias 1965-1986." DR. STEPHEN MERRICK Malibu

Broadway impresario David Merrick, producer of the hit musical "42nd Street" who suffered a stroke two years ago, has been found competent to handle his own affairs and control his $50-million fortune. "The court finds by clear and convincing evidence that a conservator is no longer needed to care for the property and personal well-being of the conservatee, David Merrick," state Supreme Court Justice Alvin Klein ruled Thursday. Klein made his decision after questioning the 72-year-old producer.