RUMOR FUELS RACIAL TENSIONS SCUFFLE, LOWERED ATTENDANCE AT LAUSD SCHOOLS.

Byline: Staff and Wire Reports

A single scuffle occurred at a Los Angeles Unified school Thursday and attendance was down throughout the district following an Internet rumor of violence between blacks and Hispanics, officials said.

The tensions that have been brewing for more than a month also resulted in the temporary closure of an after-school program, and led to the arrest of a man in Lancaster.

A group of black and Hispanic students gathered outside Norbonne High School in Harbor City on Thursday, although there were no arrests, said school police Sgt. F. Minutella.

LAUSD spokeswoman Ellen Morgan described the encounter as a ``little scuffle'' involving about 10 students and said officers quickly broke up the fight. The students were taken to the principal's office for discipline.

A rumored showdown between blacks and Hispanics never materialized, but attendance was down district-wide, she said.

Another fight between blacks and Hispanics started to develop at Lynwood High School, which is not part of LAUSD, but authorities stepped in quickly and violence was averted, officials said.

A rumor was spread by e-mail that a ``Latino gang was going to respond to alleged theft of drugs by an African-American gang, and the retaliation was going to take the form of assaults by Latinos on blacks,'' said Los Angeles police Chief William Bratton.

The LAPD thoroughly investigated the matter, ``and I can comfortably say to you that we believe that those rumors, those stories, are baseless,'' Bratton said.

The tensions stemmed from several racial incidents at Southland schools, including two outbreaks of Latino-versus-black violence at Jefferson High School in South Los Angeles last month, so officials took no chances.

Also Thursday, due to the racial tensions, the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles announced the temporary closure six of its 10 after-school programs in South Los Angeles, and its LA Bridges program at John Muir High School. The programs will reopen next week.

In Lancaster, a 46-year-old ex-convict was arrested after he left a message on an acquaintance's answering machine saying that the Mexican Mafia was planning on shooting African-American students at Lancaster High School.

Traced to his home through caller identification, Norman Mangram told deputies he made the call as a joke hoping to have black teens kept home from school, officials said.

Deputies said the call sparked rumors around the city and prompted numerous worried parents to call the Lancaster sheriff's station.

Mangram, who is African-American, was booked on suspicion of making a terrorist threat. He was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon, deputies said.