Roland C Biscailuz

After decades of predictable results and uneventful campaigns, this year's race for Los Angeles County sheriff has all the drama and bickering of a good daytime soap opera. The main protagonist, Sheriff Sherman Block, 65, finds his department mired this election year in the worst scandal in recent decades, with 10 members of a top anti-narcotics unit indicted as the department investigates allegations that they pocketed seized drug money. Enter the chief rival, a political novice named Roland C.

Sheriff Sherman Block may have trounced his opponents in Tuesday's election, but critics and supporters alike say he now faces what may be the biggest challenge of his career--restoring confidence in a department suffering under one of its worst years of scandal and controversy in decades. The fact that Block won two-thirds of the votes cast, they suggest, should not be viewed as a mandate because his two opponents were poorly financed and hardly a match for an incumbent sheriff.

Sheriff Sherman Block may have trounced his opponents in Tuesday's election, but critics and supporters alike say he now faces what may be the biggest challenge of his career--restoring confidence in a department suffering under one of its worst years of scandal and controversy in decades. The fact that Block won two-thirds of the votes cast, they suggest, should not be viewed as a mandate because his two opponents were poorly financed and hardly a match for an incumbent sheriff.

After decades of predictable results and uneventful campaigns, this year's race for Los Angeles County sheriff has all the drama and bickering of a good daytime soap opera. The main protagonist, Sheriff Sherman Block, 65, finds his department mired this election year in the worst scandal in recent decades, with 10 members of a top anti-narcotics unit indicted as the department investigates allegations that they pocketed seized drug money. Enter the chief rival, a political novice named Roland C.

Los Angeles County voters on Tuesday will select two supervisors, an assessor and a sheriff, while deciding five contested judgeships and local issues ranging from cityhood for Malibu to new ethics rules for Los Angeles municipal officials. One of the hottest races has unfolded in the eastern part of the county, where Supervisor Pete Schabarum's decision to retire created a rare opportunity to put a new face--possibly the first Latino--on the board.

Judicial Races Superior Court 100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%) Lourdes G. Baird: 482,403 (58%) Mitchel J. Ezer: 355,813 (42%) Municipal Court Antelope Judicial District No. 1 100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%) Richard E. Spann*: 18,473 (74%) Dell L. Falls: 6,379 (26%) Downey Judicial District 100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%) Leo R. Villa: 7,674 (29%) David W. Perkins: 7,516 (28%) Daniel W. Bunnett: 5,959 (22%) Marvin Licker: 5,802 (22%) Los Angeles, Office No.

Peter J. Pitchess, the Los Angeles County sheriff who transformed the nation's largest Sheriff's Department from a rustic cowboy agency into a modern professional law enforcement organization, died Sunday at his home in Newport Beach. He was 87. Designated "sheriff emeritus for the rest of his life" by the Board of Supervisors, Pitchess helped pin on Sheriff Lee Baca's badge, at Baca's request, when the new sheriff was sworn in Dec. 7.

Sarah Flores, seeking to become the first Latino to serve on the Board of Supervisors, handily triumphed over a 10-candidate field Tuesday in eastern Los Angeles County's 1st District, but could not corral the majority needed to avoid a runoff with the second-place finisher.

Friday was the deadline for candidates seeking congressional, state legislative and county offices to file nomination papers for the June 5 primary election. The deadline is extended until 5 p.m. Wednesday in cases where incumbents failed to file for reelection. The extension does not apply to state legislative districts in which the incumbent did not file a declaration of intent to seek reelection in February.