STATE SUIT CENTERS ON GRADED SITE : COACH TRAIL, INDIAN ARTIFACTS DAMAGED.Byline: Steven J. Gorman Daily News Staff Writer It may not be readily apparent to the casual observer out for a hike in the rugged foothills of the Santa Susana Mountains The Santa Susana Mountains are a transverse range of mountains in southern California, north of the city of Los Angeles, in the United States. The range runs east-west separating the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley on its south from Santa Clara River Valley to the north and just west of Chatsworth. But state archeologists say remnants of a historic stagecoach stagecoach, heavy, closed vehicle on wheels, usually drawn by horses, formerly used to transport passengers and goods overland. Throughout the Middle Ages and until about the end of the 18th cent. route and an ancient Indian village bear a $24 million scar from an errant bulldozer used by the Los Angeles County Fire Department Not to be confused with Los Angeles Fire Department. The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD), serves unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to have the county provide fire and EMS services, including the City of La in late 1993 to regrade Re`grade´ v. i. 1. To retire; to go back. To determine that certain classified information requires, in the interests of national defense, a higher or a lower degree of protection against unauthorized disclosure than an access road through the area under contract for Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 11 million people with electricity. Co. The site lies within about 670 acres owned by the state Parks and Recreation Department, which is suing the Fire Department and Edison for more than $24 million in damages. The state claims that under the terms of an easement easement, in law, the right to use the land of another for a specified purpose, as distinguished from the right to possess that land. If the easement benefits the holder personally and is not associated with any land he owns, it is an easement in gross (e.g. granted Edison to maintain transmission lines through the area, the power company is required to notify park officials before bringing in heavy equipment. ``Our position is that most, if not all, of this damage could have been avoided if they had made arrangements with us first,'' said Deputy Attorney General William Abbey, who is representing the park agency. ``That didn't happen.'' An Edison spokesman, Kevin Kelly Kevin Kelly may refer to:
And the county attorney handling the case declined to return telephone calls. However, in papers filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Van Nuys, both the county and Edison deny they are at fault, and each seeks to blame the other for any damage that might have occurred. Edison goes further, saying the state itself bears some responsibility for what happened, and the county says that any loss or damage sustained by the state was ``remote, speculative or transient.'' Although less than obvious to the untrained eye, experts say the damage was heavy. Al Knight, a vice president of the Santa Susana Mountains Park Association, said even though the area previously was disturbed by ``pot hunters'' (amateur archeologists) and vandals, bulldozing the site was akin to ``destroying a major page in our local history.'' The 5 acres of damage allegedly occurred when county Fire Department personnel, working under contract for Edison, used a bulldozer to widen and regrade an existing dirt road in December 1993 in the wake of wildfires that swept the Chatsworth area. State archeologist Michael Sampson said the bulldozer plowed through the remnants of two Chumash Indian encampments, unearthing human remains and scattering such artifacts artifacts see specimen artifacts. as tool-making debris and stone utensils. The bulldozer also scraped up an old Los Angeles-to-Santa Barbara stagecoach trail listed on the National Register of Historic Places This article is about the U.S. Register. For the National Register of Historic Places in Canada see Canadian Register of Historic Places. The National Register of Historic Places , knocking down several 100-year-old olive trees that lined the route and disturbing ceramic and glass artifacts from that era, he said. The remains of a historic quarry where sandstone was mined for some of Los Angeles' early buildings and the Los Angeles Harbor breakwater breakwater, offshore structure to protect a harbor from wave energy or deflect currents. When it also serves as a pier, it is called a quay; when covered by a roadway it is called a mole. also were damaged, Sampson said. The stagecoach line, the Indian sites and the quarry are all centerpieces of a state historic park that Knight's organization has been pressing the state to create for two decades. The area in question lies just south of a city-owned park at the western edge of Chatsworth and just north of Oakwood Memorial Park cemetery The Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery is located at 22601 Lassen Street, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California. It has been used as a cemetery since 1924, and there was an Indian graveyard next to the cemetery before a fire destryed the old wooden crosses that marked the site. . State parks officials have said they lack adequate funds to officially open a new historic park in the area with the staff needed to protect its resources. But Richard Rozzelle, an associate land agent for the park department, said any large sum of money obtained from the lawsuit would likely go toward efforts to develop a new Santa Susana Mountains park. The state has been negotiating with the county and with Edison in hopes of reaching an agreement on restoration of the bulldozed area, but filed a lawsuit in July 1995 to protect its interests as a statute-of-limitations deadline neared, Abbey said. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1) Parts of a dead tree cover a Los Angeles-to-S anta Barbara stagecoach trail west of Chatsworth, damaged by bulldozer work. (2) The nationally recognized coach trail is still discernible. David Crane/Daily News |
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