BRIEFLY : WRESTLERS TO GET POST-HAZING THERAPY.

THOUSAND OAKS - A therapist will be hired to counsel high school wrestlers who've been subjected to harassment during investigations into the team's hazing rituals.

All 27 members of the Westlake High School wrestling team - whether or not they were involved in the alleged hazing - have been called bullies, harassers and perverts by their peers and need therapy to ease their return to campus next week, said their parents, who will hire the therapist.

?13- Associated Press 

Burbank couple commits suicide

After one failed attempt in the past, an elderly Burbank couple committed suicide in their home earlier this week, Burbank police announced Wednesday.

Neighbors in the 800 block of North Screenland Drive heard a gunshot shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday, calling to the scene officers, who found the bodies of the husband and wife, both in their 80s.

The names of the couple were not released, pending notification of relatives. But Lt. Jay Farrand said they had tried to kill themselves once before. Farrand said police are calling the deaths a double-suicide and not a murder-suicide. It appears the wife died of asphyxiation and that the man apparently shot himself, police said.

?13- Daily News

Man arrested in fatal stabbing

ARLETA - A man suspected of stabbing his roommate to death in Arleta was in custody Wednesday, police said.

Officers sent to the 13000 block of Reedley Street about 9 p.m. Tuesday on a report of a stabbing found the victim, said Los Angeles police Sgt. John Seaquist of the Foothill Division.

The victim, whose name was not immediately released, died at the scene. Police arrested 52-year-old Carl Hardmon on suspicion of murder, Seaquist said.

?13- City News Service

Animal shelter boundaries to shift

Beginning today, the boundary dividing the service areas for the East Valley and West Valley animal shelters will be modified.

Residents north of the Ronald Reagan Freeway in Sylmar, Lake View Terrace and Mission Hills will be served by the West Valley shelter on Plummer Street in Chatsworth instead of the East Valley Shelter on Sherman Way in North Hollywood. The change will be used on a six-month trial basis in hopes of equalizing the work between the two shelters.

People living in the 91342 ZIP code will be served by West Valley, along with parts of the 91340 and 91345 ZIP codes. If residents lose a pet in area being shifted to West Valley, the department recommends that the owner go to both Valley shelters to look for their animal, Persic said.

When the department's board of commissioners discussed the boundary shift at its latest meetings, several commissioners said the Valley may be due for a third animal shelter.

?13- Daily News

MTA, union at odds on overcrowding 

MTA officials said Wednesday they have met an end-of-the-year deadline to reduce bus overcrowding under a consent decree, though leaders of the Bus Riders Union said the agency still routinely violates the decree on its most heavily used lines.

The MTA was required to reduce the average number of passengers standing on its 43-seat buses systemwide from 19 to 15 by Wednesday and to no more than nine by 2002.

The agency said it has made its first deadline, and taken several other steps to meet the decree, which was signed last year to settle a 1994 federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the Bus Riders Union and several other groups and individuals.

The MTA also said it is proposing to suspend work on most of its rail lines, so more can be spent on the bus system; plans to buy 1,313 buses, mostly to replace its aging fleet; and said it added or expanded 12 routes as part of pilot projects called for in the decree.

The Bus Riders Union said, however, that MTA buses on the most heavily used routes are still routinely jammed, particularly at rush hour, and far exceed the limits called for in the decree.

Bus Riders Union leaders said they plan to take their complaints to the court-appointed special master overseeing the case, hoping that he will force the agency to add more buses on the badly crowded lines.

?13- Daily News

Women employees sue novelty maker

A federal class-action lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles on Wednesday, alleging that female employees of a North Hollywood novelty items maker were sexually harassed and retaliated against when they complained.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the suit on behalf of current and former employees of Doc Johnson Enterprises.

``By this lawsuit we are sending a message that the EEOC has a zero tolerance level for sexual harassment and retaliation,'' said EEOC regional attorney Pamela Thomason.

``We're not just talking about dirty jokes here,'' she said. ``Women were being touched and fondled against their wishes.''

Doc Johnson officials were unavailable for comment.

?13- City News Service

Neighbor pulls man from burning home

VAN NUYS - A neighbor rescued a 92-year-old man from his burning home Wednesday morning, a fire official said.

The fire erupted in the 13000 block of Hartsook Street shortly before 11:15 a.m., said Jim Wells, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Both the 92-year-old unidentified man and the neighbor, identified as Scott Rowen, sustained minor smoke inhalation and were treated and released at the scene, Wells said.

Wells said that without the neighbor's help, the nonambulatory man would not have made it out on his own.

The fire, which caused about $45,000 in damage, was under investigation, Wells said.