ANTELOPE VALLEY HOSPITAL: SNOW, HILL STRONG IN HOSPITAL RACE.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Retired nurse June Snow and Antelope Valley Hospital Board President Gary Hill were leading Tuesday in the race for two hospital board seats, according to early returns.

Board member Dr. Don Bean was in third place.

Hill and Bean faced a stiff re-election fight from their challengers, especially Dr. Don Parazo, whose employer spent more than $100,000 on the campaign. Parazo was in fourth in early returns.

Parazo, Snow and fellow challenger Lawrence Caird blasted the trustees for long emergency room waits for patients, for spending tens of thousands of dollars fighting a nurse unionization effort and for making it harder to fire top administrator Mathew Abraham.

Hill fought back with advertisements labeling Parazo an ``HMO doctor'' and criticizing HMOs in general for what he characterized as poor patient care. He charged that Parazo's employer, High Desert Medical Group, pushed his candidacy to secure more favorable contracts with the hospital. Two other candidates, Ronald Tisbert and John Misurek, did not campaign.

The election campaign came in the midst of a unionization effort aimed at registered nurses, which Hill and Bean and other hospital officials have been fighting.

The California Nurses Association backed Snow and Caird, a former Veterans Administration administrator, then dropped Caird and campaigned for Parazo.