ENTERTAINMENT
December 31, 2003 | Gina Piccalo, Times Staff Writer
It usually hits you on an excruciatingly bright Saturday morning when you've slept just long enough for the life-altering headache to set in. In an instant, your mind races through a montage of Friday night's revelry until you realize you haven't the slightest idea where you left the car. It's this predicament that two new chauffeur services aim to prevent. Home James USA and Autopilots LA both launched this month with the same idea, imported from Europe: A chauffeur drives you home -- in your car -- then jumps on a collapsible scooter and leaves you to your hangover.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
September 7, 2003 | Dana Parsons
Friday was a day at the beach in La Jolla for Kathy Fackler and her family, but the news about a death at Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland still found her and darkened things a bit. In 1998, that same ride left an indelible memory with the Fackler family; because of it, Fackler left her own imprint on California. On a March day five years ago, 5-year-old David Fackler tried to step off the train, thinking it had stopped. It had, but only temporarily.
NEWS
August 3, 2003 | Paul Foy, Associated Press Writer
The Utah Capitol could be riding the next big earthquake like a ship at sea after engineers hoist the 67,500-ton marble building and drop it on a set of shock absorbers. They can only hope to get it done in time. Salt Lake is due for a major earthquake that could knock the Capitol dome off its precarious perch, snap marble columns and collapse upper floors.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
July 8, 2001 | KIMI YOSHINO, TIMES STAFF WRITER
It is hard work, Kathy Fackler says, to be at odds with Mickey Mouse. To walk into the Happiest Place on Earth and be in enemy territory. That's what it feels like when you're a La Jolla mom turned amusement park safety crusader. Since her son David's foot was mangled on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad three years ago, Fackler has become the nation's most vocal advocate for safer theme parks.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 22, 2000 | ERIC SONDHEIMER, TIMES STAFF WRITER
It's 1:46 a.m. in the Bat Cave, the secret location for Safe Rides. After four hours of videos, soda and pizza, and trying to sample all 39 flavors from a jar of jelly beans, the tired teens--three boys and three girls--prepare to call it a night. "I'm sick of jelly beans," Kelly Twarowski, a junior at Canyon High, blurts out. "Hey, the yellow ones with red spots are good," counters classmate Mike Meyer. Suddenly, the phone rings. Everyone becomes quiet. "Hello, Safe Rides," Twarowski answers.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 22, 2000 | ERIC SONDHEIMER, TIMES STAFF WRITER
It's 1:46 a.m. in the Bat Cave, the secret location for Safe Rides. After four hours of watching videos, drinking soda, eating pizza and trying to sample all 39 flavors from a jar of jellybeans, the tired group of three teenage boys and three teenage girls prepares to call it a night. Suddenly, the phone rings. Everyone becomes quiet. "Hello, Safe Rides," answers Kelly Twarowski, a junior at Canyon High School. The caller, a 17-year-old boy, says he's drunk and needs a ride home.