POLICE TRIBUTES; FRIENDS' BOND WITH SLAIN OFFICER LIVES ON.

Byline: Dennis McCarthy

On another sad day for this city, as we bury yet one more Los Angeles police officer killed in the line of duty, I want you to meet the Olague sisters, Irene and Lupe.

They're offering us a shoulder to lean on.

The twin sisters manage a McDonald's restaurant in Lincoln Heights, not far from the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollenbeck Division.

Three or four times a week last year, they'd serve lunch or dinner to this young police officer named Steve who would stop by their place for a McRib sandwich, fries, and some Teenie Beanie Babies and other McDonald's toys for his two kids.

The sisters took a liking to the young officer, joking around with him, trying to get behind the badge and gun to draw out the personality of the man and father.

``He loved his kids, and talked about how he became a police officer so he could help make this city a safer place for everybody's kids,'' Irene said Thursday, getting ready to pick up Lupe after her shift at McDonald's was over so they could again drive the 45 minutes out to the Covina Hills cemetery where LAPD Officer Steven Gajda is buried.

They had some new McDonald's toys they wanted to put on the grave of the young police officer who died eight months ago trying to make this city safer for everybody's kids.

``I was fixing dinner when Lupe came into the kitchen crying,'' Irene said. ``She had been watching the news, and they were talking about this young police officer who had been killed in a gunfight with a gang member on New Year's Eve.

``They showed his picture on TV. It was Steve.''

Steven Gajda, who grew up in Northridge and graduated in 1986 from Cleveland High School in Reseda.

A member of the department's anti-gang Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums detail, just like LAPD officer Filbert Henry Cuesta Jr., who was killed in a gang-related shooting Sunday morning, and who the city buries today.

Another young cop out on the streets trying to protect us from gang bangers who figure they can go anywhere, do anything they want. The rules don't apply to them.

Gajda and Cuesta gave up their lives trying to prove them wrong. Two good men leaving behind grieving widows and kids they'll never buy toys for again.

The Olague sisters figure we owe them more than a burial and a one-day farewell.

The Olague sisters figure we owe them continued remembrance, as well.

Chris Hester read the note left on her son Steve's grave, under the Teenie Beanie Babies. It was just like him to have touched strangers this way, she thought - just like him to pour his heart out to a couple of women serving him a McRib sandwich and some fries at McDonald's a couple of times a week.

Steve was proud to be a cop, proud to have the chance to make this city a safer place for everybody's kids.

Chris told us that a few months ago - told us on the front page of this newspaper April 5 and 6 in her own poignant, powerful words - about the anguish of a mother losing her police officer son to the street violence of L.A.

Relatives are supposed to feel the continued pain of losing someone close. So are friends, and other cops who worked with them. Even eight months later.

But a couple of sisters working at McDonald's? A couple of women who barely knew a young cop whose kids loved bean bag toys?

It can be a cold world out there, the Olague sisters say.

A cold, impersonal world where people are always in a hurry, and don't really give a damn how you feel or what you're thinking sliding that tray of food across a counter at them.

The ones who smile, you appreciate. The ones who talk and kibitz a little with you, you remember.

The ones who open up and talk about their kids, and tragically wind up giving their lives to protect everyone's kids, you can't forget.

So, the Olague sisters drive the 45 minutes one way to the cemetery a few times a month to say hi, and bring Steve some new McDonald's toys for his kids.

They bring him an apple pie and a drink, and leave it right there on his grave because the citizens of this city owe this guy and all the cops who died in the line of duty more than we could ever afford to repay them.

The very least we can do, the Olague sisters say, is remember them.

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Photo

PHOTO (color) Lupe, left, and Irene Olague, both 19, visit the grave of police Officer Steve Gajda at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Covina Hills.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News