TOP STORIES OF 1997: YEAR BROUGHT TENSION TO AREA; BITTER POLITICAL ROW, BRUTAL BANK SLAYING TOP CONEJO VALLEY'S NEWS FROM THE YEAR.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Elois Zeanah's pitched political fight to remain on the Thousand Oaks City Council and the senseless shooting death of bank teller Monica Leech during a takeover robbery topped news this year in the Conejo Valley.

The recall resulted in record-high campaign spending and spread bitterness throughout the community before Zeanah claimed a resounding victory at the polls in November.

``It was the talk of the county,'' Ventura County Supervisor Frank Schillo, a former city councilman, said of the recall, voted the year's top local story by Daily News editors and reporters. ``It had become like a soap opera. We in Thousand Oaks don't think it's funny.''

The year's headlines also brought readers good news about their schools and the economy, and dramatic stories about the Leech slaying and the murder trial of Diana Haun.

Here, then, are the top 10 stories for 1997:

Zeanah survives recall

The recall served as a referendum of sorts on the city's future, pitting slow-growth proponents who backed Zeanah against champions of business and development who spent nearly $325,000 in the failed bid to unseat her.

The dispute began over Zeanah's opposition to a $75 million upgrade of the Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant, which Zeanah claimed was too costly and would set the stage for unchecked development. Her opponents countered that her resistance would imperil public health and increase the project's cost.

Although Zeanah eventually reversed her vote, the recall battle was on and public debate became heated on the streets and in council meetings. Despite record spending and an aggressive campaign, two-thirds of the voters backed Zeanah in the Nov. 4 election.

The rancor remains. Zeanah and Councilwoman Linda Parks continue to vote in tandem on most issues, with Mayor Mike Markey and council members Judy Lazar and Andy Fox voting as the council's majority.

``I think the city's image is tarnished as other people look at all the arguing going on,'' Schillo said.

Bank teller executed

Monica Leech was shot April 28 when two masked gunmen stormed Western Financial Bank in Thousand Oaks and ordered the employees into a back room near a safe. Leech and another employee had their hands cuffed behind them and were ordered to their knees. Although employees offered no resistance, one of the robbers fired a bullet into the back of Leech's head.

The robbers fled in a white sport-utility vehicle, leaving behind shocked residents and law enforcement officials - and a devastated family.

The 39-year-old Leech is survived by her adolescent children, Andrew and Stephanie Mince, husband Floyd Leech, and her parents. The bank dedicated $100,000 to a trust fund for her children and residents donated an additional $47,000.

And more than $150,000 in reward money has been offered for information about the robbers, both of whom remain at large.

Schillo said the brutal crime confirmed a fear among Conejo Valley residents - that violent crime can reach one of the nation's safest cities via the Ventura Freeway.

``It can happen anywhere and it has. You can't stop those kinds of things,'' he said. ``I think our geographic location is one of the reasons. That temptation is always going to be there.''

Crime lab in turmoil

Attorneys and law enforcement officials across Ventura County took notice when Superior Court Judge Steven Perren ruled that the sheriff's crime lab had operated out of compliance with state regulations.

The crime lab first ran into trouble when its forensic alcohol supervisor retired in November 1996. The California Department of Health Services granted a 90-day extension, but in March suspended its approval to analyze blood, urine and breath samples after a criminalist failed a routine proficiency test.

While a state lab in Santa Barbara tested blood and urine samples for the county, the crime lab continued testing breath samples.

The state renewed the crime lab's license in May after a qualified forensic alcohol supervisor completed training. Judge Perren also opened hearings on challenges to drunk-driving cases.

While Perren denied a motion to dismiss more than 600 drunk-driving cases because of allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, he did say that defense attorneys could challenge as many as 400 DUI convictions on a case-by-case basis. About 200 pending cases are cleared for trial, but prosecutors must prove crime lab evidence is scientifically valid.

School bonds split

Faced with reduced state funding for school repairs and expansion, the Las Virgenes and Conejo Valley Unified School districts asked voters Nov. 4 to approve major bond measures.

The Las Virgenes proposal passed by a comfortable margin, and officials are now planning how to spend the $93 million bond. The Conejo Valley measure, however, fell short by 2.4 percent of the 66.6 percent margin needed, and officials are planning to ask voters to approve a $97 million bond in April.

The secret to Las Virgenes' success - nearly eight of every 10 votes cast were in favor - was learning from the failure of two earlier parcel tax proposals. The campaign used telephone surveys and community meetings to ensure enough voters would buy into the plan.

Conejo voters had to contend with the Thousand Oaks council recall election, which divided the community and at one point drew the school district into the storm. The bond failed by fewer than 700 votes of the nearly 28,000 cast.

Club Disney debuts

The first of its kind in the world, Club Disney and its imagination-powered games and activities opened in February at The Promenade at Westlake.

Children can dress up as Mickey Mouse or a Dalmatian, join Winnie the Pooh tea parties, crawl through cubbyholes and slide down chutes. There's a carpeted playground and an art room filled with colored crepe paper, paint, markers and crayons, as well as the imagination-powered computer games.

Adults are admitted only with a child, but can join all the activities within the 24,500-square-foot site.

Marijuana club opens

A different kind of club opened in Thousand Oaks in October, when the Ventura County Medical Cannabis Center began selling small amounts of marijuana to medical patients.

The store in a Thousand Oaks Boulevard mini-mall has proved so popular that the City Council couldn't muster the four votes needed to impose a moratorium on sales and instead has asked city staffers to study the issue. The club has more than three dozen members, forcing operator Andrea Nagy to buy pot from black market dealers.

Nagy requires members to provide documentation of a doctor's permission. Even then, Nagy confirms approval with a phone call. She charges $300 an ounce, but offers a sliding scale to patients based on their ability to pay.

Until she gains clarification from the city or courts to expand her customer base, Nagy said she will confine distribution to patients with serious illnesses.

Camarillo Hospital closes

The year marked the closing of the landmark Camarillo State Hospital, as Gov. Pete Wilson made good on a cost-cutting pledge. The hospital's closing in July opened the door for California State University, Channel Islands, with the state's trustees and lawmakers approving the county's first public four-year university for the 650-acre campus of stucco and tile-roof buildings.

By the time the hospital closed in July, most of the 600 mentally ill and developmentally disabled patients had moved to other treatment facilities. But after families of some patients fought to keep the facility open, a state judge required state officials to ensure the patients receive comparable care.

In October, Wilson signed legislation into law authorizing transfer of the hospital to the California State University system. The legislation also included $600,000 in planning money and state lawmakers will be asked to include $6.5 million in next year's state budget so the campus can open by January 1999.

``We're way overdue for this,'' said Schillo, who served on the governor's task force that recommended converting the hospital to a university rather than a Youth Authority facility. ``The fact is that our residents - not just kids in high school, but the adults - need this.''

Civic center gets new life

The city of Thousand Oaks designated the former civic center on Hillcrest Drive - familiar as the ``eyebrows on the hill'' - as a historic landmark and began improvements so it will become the office and visitors center for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

The site at 401 Hillcrest Drive has been vacant since the city and the Conejo Recreation and Park District moved out in 1987 so asbestos could be removed from the ceilings.

Designed through a national competition, the squat, linear pair of buildings are distinctive on the slope above Hillcrest Drive. They offer grand views of the Santa Monica Mountains and sunsets over the Pacific Ocean.

Preservationists who pushed for the landmark status are pleased the city finally is refurbishing the southern building as part of the lease agreement with the National Park Service, which has cramped office space and a tiny visitors center in Agoura Hills. The lease followed failed attempts to sell the civic center during the real estate slump earlier this decade, or make the buildings part of a larger development.

``I always thought it would take a creative approach for somebody to make use of it, and that's what happened here,'' Schillo noted. ``They had a need and it's a great location. The sunsets are beautiful.''

Haun convicted of murder

Ending a sensational trial of obsession, witchcraft and murder, a Port Hueneme grocery clerk was convicted of killing her lover's wife. Diana Haun was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing Sherri Dally, a Ventura mother and day care center operator whose husband, Michael Dally, now faces trial for his role in the love-triangle killing.

At the sentencing hearing, the victim's mother, Karlyne Guess, urged the judge to show her no mercy. ``She should suffer one year for every second she held my daughter in her hands. Our future has been shattered. Diana Haun's should be to.''

Health study sparks fears

In the hills between Simi Valley and the San Fernando and Conejo valleys, a health study renewed fears over radiation exposure at Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Laboratory, and residents on both sides called for further study.

In the long-awaited study of 4,600 Rocketdyne workers, made public in September, UCLA scientists and state health officials linked on-the-job radiation exposure to excessive cancer deaths.

The epidemiological study culminated eight years of controversy since the Daily News disclosed in 1989 that a study for the U.S. Department of Energy found radioactive chemical contamination in the soil at the field lab.

The study was ordered in response to community pressure and a key recommendation of the report is that a second study be considered to determine any impacts on the health of people living in the vicinity of the field lab. Officials emphasized the findings of the worker study have no bearing on neighboring residents.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Alex Katz of Thousand Oaks fools around in one of the attractions at Club Disney, which opened this year at The Promenade at Westlake.

Evan Yee/Daily News

(2--Color) Sheriff's deputies direct bank employees questioned in the deadly April robbery of Western Financial Bank.

Andy Holzman/Special to the Daily News

(3) Diana Haun, left, reacts to being sentenced to spend the rest of her life in prison, without parole, for the murder of Sherri Dally.

Associated Press