A YEAR OF UPS AND DOWNS X-33'S FALL, JSF'S RISE, DRUG BUSTS, DIM BULBS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - The triumphs and setbacks of the aerospace industry, a school bond election, bids to attract medical services, the energy crisis and a major law enforcement operation were among the top stories in the Antelope Valley in 2001.

X-33 ROCKET PLANE:

In March, the Antelope Valley's aerospace industry was dealt a major setback when NASA decided to cancel the X-33 program. The X-33 was more than 75 percent complete when NASA decided that further investments in the program were not justified. NASA had invested more than $900 million in the program, but was looking at having to invest as much as $1 billion to complete the vehicle.

The X-33 was to test technologies Lockheed Martin planned to use in a spaceship called VentureStar. The spaceship was envisioned to take off like a rocket, fly into space, deliver satellites into space, and then return to Earth, landing like a space shuttle.

Nearly the size of a space shuttle but piloted by computers, the X-33 was supposed to make hypersonic test flights from Edwards Air Force Base to landing fields in Utah and Montana, skimming the edge of space. The flight to Montana was supposed to take 24 minutes.

The program was crippled by problems in developing lightweight composite fuel tanks. Without the tanks, the goal of a single-stage-to-orbit spacecraft was deemed unrealistic.

After NASA pulled out, the Air Force briefly considered taking over the program, but dropped the idea.

JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER:

In what might ultimately prove to be the richest military aircraft production contract in history, Lockheed Martin was selected by the Pentagon in October to develop the joint strike fighter.

The program is expected to generate a yearly average of about 5,400 jobs in California. Lockheed Martin anticipates about 22 percent to 25 percent of the program's work will be based in California, though exactly what will be done in Palmdale is still being determined.

In addition to the aircraft production, the flight testing of the aircraft is expected to generate as many as 800 to 1,000 jobs at Edwards Air Force Base.

The U.S. and United Kingdom military services plan to buy more than 3,000 joint strike fighters. That production work is valued at $200 billion. There is a potential for an equal number of foreign sales that would double the value of the contract.

Counting foreign sales and the need to provide maintenance and modifications for the fighters over their lifetime, the contract could ultimately be worth as much as $750 billion.

MEDICAL SERVICES:

The building of medical services was a major story for the hospital-less city of Palmdale in 2001. In August, the City Council voted to offer Universal Health Services, a Pennsylvania-based hospital chain, $6.7 million in aid to develop a 120-bed hospital on 30 acres at Tierra Subida and Avenue Q-8.

Universal formally notified the city on Nov. 1 it had decided to proceed with the hospital plan.

The hospital plan is opposed by area homeowners who say it should be built either on the city's east side or in the commercial areas closer to the freeway rather than in a residential area.

Palmdale lost its only hospital in 1996 with the closure of Desert Palms, becoming what is said to be California's largest city without a hospital.

In addition to the hospital plan, the city of Palmdale also saw the opening of a 29,000-square-foot Antelope Valley Hospital clinic at 40th Street East and Palmdale Boulevard. Antelope Valley Hospital officials say they want to see the $5.8 million clinic evolve over time into a full- fledged hospital.

2001 also saw the start of construction work on a $16.7 million Kaiser Permanente clinic at Avenue S and 47th Street East. The 48,000-square-foot clinic is expected to open in 2003.

COSTCO:

After two years of negotiations and controversy, the city of Lancaster and retail giant Costco agreed to a deal to relocate Costco's store in the Valley Central Shopping Center to a site along the southern edge of City Park. The pact will allow Costco to build a larger store - 148,000 square feet compared to 125,000 square feet - and allow Lancaster to keep the annual sales tax revenue of $470,000 a year that the store generates.

The deal generated controversy because it includes the city turning some of its parkland for the store's development. In compensation for losing 4.5 acres at Lancaster City Park, the city acquired 18 acres from a developer and an additional 8.3 acres swapped for property in the Lancaster Business Park. That will be added to 20 acres donated last year by the family of pioneer Whit Carter and a 12-acre retention basin to create a 60-acre park on Sierra Highway near Avenue H.

Opponents said they believe Costco can find a site that doesn't require diminishing the park. They criticized the city for subsidizing a big business and said Whit Carter Park will be too far north for people who use Lancaster City Park.

City officials said without the deal, they risked losing Costco to neighboring Palmdale.

SR TECHNICS:

What had been touted as a triumph in 1999 and 2000 - SR Technics establishing an aircraft modification operation in Palmdale - turned into a major concern in 2001.

Hurt by financial events overseas and by the worldwide airline industry downturn in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the company ended 2001 by laying off 145 workers and pursuing a hunt for new investors.

The company's downturn was tied to a complicated situation regarding the efforts to keep Swissair, the flagship company of SAirGroup, in operation. Suffering from a failed expansion strategy and the Sept. 11 aftermath, Swissair turned to the Swiss government for aid.

The Swiss government stepped in with subsidies to keep the airline going, but three subsidiaries of SAirGroup were left to find investors on their own to keep their operations going - including the SR Technics operations in Switzerland.

SR Technics Palmdale is an independent company from its Swiss counterparts, however, the company's business plan called for them to receive funding from the Swiss SR Technics for four years.

In a statement announcing the cuts, the company said it is losing more money in its initial stage than expected and that market conditions indicate there is no hope that the company could make a profit ``within appropriate time.''

SR Technics received its first airplane to modify in Palmdale in August 2000 and had grown to nearly 600 workers before the 2001 cuts.

SR Technics Palmdale officials, prior to the current financial and industry woes, had anticipated a gradual and sustained growth, eventually reaching as many as 6,000 workers.

MEASURE W:

Defeated twice before, the Palmdale School District got a school construction bond passed in 2001, but only by the narrowest of margins. After several days where the outcome was in doubt while provisional and absentee ballots were counted, Los Angeles County election officials declared Measure W had passed by a mere 25 votes.

The passage of the measure provides $25 million in funding for the construction of two schools.

District officials said construction will start in March or April on Golden Poppy School - at 62nd Street East and Avenue R-4. Construction is expected to begin in the summer on a school at Ana Verde Plaza at Division Street and Rayburn Road. Both schools will serve students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

The measure will cost homeowners an average of $30 a year over a 30-year period.

A majority of voters said yes to $81 million in bonds in 1996 and 1997, but those measures fell short of getting the two-thirds approval then required. In the 1996 election, the district got 63.7 percent of the vote, and in 1997, secured 54.5 percent of the vote.

Measure W needed only 55 percent under a state ballot measure approved in 2000.

METH BUST:

Sheriff's deputies and federal agents capped an 18-month investigation dubbed Operation Silent Thunder with a series of pre-dawn raids to smash methamphetamine rings linked to white supremacist and biker gangs.

The operation involved more than 200 law enforcement officers and included wiretaps and hidden cameras. The raids on 22 homes and businesses in the Antelope Valley and one San Fernando Valley home resulted in the arrests of 23 people.

During the course of the investigation, law enforcement officers said, they shut down 16 methamphetamine laboratories, confiscated more than 45 pounds of methamphetamine valued at more than $2 million and seized more than $500,000 in cash.

They also said they arrested 269 people before the raids, using seemingly routine traffic stops and other ruses to get underlings behind bars while managing not to tip off higher-level suspects.

ENERGY WOES:

Like most of California, the Antelope Valley spent much of 2001 under the threat of rolling blackouts and higher rates from the state's energy crisis.

Although each had energy conservation programs in place before the crisis, the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale and Edwards Air Force Base aggressively stepped up their efforts to cut back on energy use.

Conservation efforts at the cities included reducing lighting at city parking lots, reducing perimeter lighting around parks, and shutting down decorative twinkle lights.

Edwards responded with such measures as installing computerized systems for energy management in buildings and encouraging base personnel to lower thermostats and turning heating and air conditioning off temporarily during peak hours.

The results were not as good, however, for efforts to get energy generating operations started. Electricity Provider Inc., a Tustin-based company, announced in May that it would build a $210 million, 240-megawatt plant at the northwest corner of Division Street and Avenue H. The plan at the time was to get the project built under a special 21-day permitting process that required the plant to be operational by Sept. 30.

In July, however, the company announced it was pulling out of the 21-day permitting process, citing difficulties in completing required studies, and that it was re-evaluating how to proceed with the project.

DIANA BEARD-WILLIAMS:

Nearly three years after Palmdale School District spokeswoman Diana Beard-Williams accused district officials of racism and corruption, her civil rights lawsuit finally came to trial - and promptly fizzled out.

A week into the trial, Beard-Williams failed to show up to be cross- examined.

When the federal judge telephoned her home from the bench and ordered her to appear, she argued with him, then sent her husband the next day with a note from her psychiatrist.

The judge threw out her case, calling Beard-Williams manipulative and contemptuous. District officials said they were ecstatic to finally have her charges dismissed.

DARREL BROWN:

As Antelope Valley Union High School District pursues a $103.6 million bond measure next March, a big question is the possible effect on voters of the Darrel Brown affair.

Brown, a trustee appointed to the school board in January 1999, got caught up in a flap last fall about his travels on district-financed trips, particularly with the district spokeswoman, his girlfriend.

Trustees Brett Nelson and Cheryl Lundgren, who lost in the Nov. 6 election, blamed their defeat on the controversy. Brown wasn't up for election.

Brown apologized to people offended by the $12,000 in trips he and Linda Solcich took, and apologized for voting to promote her. But he also brushed off calls from Lundgren and newly elected trustee Calvin Robinson that he resign for the good of the district - and its bond issue.

A lawyer hired by the district said Brown's actions didn't violate state laws or district policies.

The district tightened its policies on travel, requiring board approval before trips, and rewrote board guidelines to prohibit trustees from voting on matters uniquely affecting a ``non-marital live-in partner.'' Previously, trustees were barred from voting on spouses and relatives.

CAPTION(S):

Photo:

(1 -- 4 -- color) In March, the Antelope Valley's aerospace i ndustry was dealt a major setback when NASA decided to end the X-33 program.

In what might be the richest military aircraft production contract in history, Lockheed Martin will develop the joint strike fighter.

Hurt by the worldwide airline industry downturn, SR Technics ended 2001 by laying off workers and seeking new investors.Darrel Brown trustee, got caught up in a flap about his travels on district-financed trips with his girlfriend.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer