BRIEFLY.

Fire crews put out liquor store fire

RESEDA - Firefighters quickly extinguished a blaze at a liquor store across the street from Fire Station 73, officials said Saturday.

The fire began about 6:30 a.m. in the attic of the Pour House, in a strip mall in the 7400 block of Reseda Boulevard.

Firefighters put out the blaze within 21 minutes. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire and a cost estimate of the damage were not available.

- Staff and Wire services

Ex-mayor could face prison term

AZUSA - Former Mayor Stephen J. Alexander was convicted of failing to report more than $200,000 in income to the Internal Revenue Service.

Alexander, 49, a lawyer, could face up to three years in prison when he is sentenced June 27.

In his 1997 tax return, Alexander reported $14,885 in income. In sworn testimony in a civil lawsuit, however, he admitted receiving more than $200,000 that year.

Alexander served as Azusa's mayor from 1994 to 1997. Before that, he was a city councilman for four years.

- Associated Press

Union supporter fights against fine

BERKELEY - A woman is fighting a traffic ticket she got for honking her car horn to show support for picketing union members outside a spa.

Carol Harris, 51, of Oakland is appealing the $143 ``unreasonable use of horn'' citation to Berkeley's Police Review Commission, which will consider the case Thursday.

Harris claims her free speech rights are being violated. She was one of nearly 40 motorists who received tickets last August during a 27-hour demonstration organized by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Union Local 2850.

Police said demonstrators were yelling, banging pots and using amplified sound after the 10 p.m. cutoff for such activity.

Harris said she honked her horn three times before she was pulled over.

- Associated Press

Firefighter sent to local hospital

SUN VALLEY - A firefighter suffered minor injuries on Saturday while fighting a blaze that erupted in the attic of a single-family home.

The unidentified firefighter suffered unspecified injuries and was treated and released from a local hospital after the 6 p.m. blaze in the 7700 block of Van Noord Avenue. It took 30 firefighters about 20 minutes to extinguish the flames, said Brian Humphrey, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman.

The fire had been confined to attic, and the cause was under investigation. There were no damage estimates. No one else was injured.

- Daily News