25¢ • Thursday, July 22, 2021 WEST EDITION Serving Baldwin Hills, Carson, Central Los Angeles, Compton, Crenshaw, Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, South Los Angeles and Watts After five years, Reshanda Gray finds WNBA home New documentary illuminates ~ PAGE 8 Bill T. Jones’ landmark work Vol 104 • No. 29 THE LARGEST BLACK NEWSPAPER IN THE WEST ~ PAGE 9 Angeles MesA news • Tribune news souThwesT Topics wAve • cenTrAl news wAve • inglewood/hAwThorne wAve • souThside JournAl $1 million fund created for victims of explosion Councilman launches Commission July 20 that the de- STREET BEAT “It should never have happened in the first partment did so. an emergency fund “I’ve said it before and I’ll for victims of blast place and it is clear that the city is at fault in say it again, my office was not ‘Should the U.S. notified of the detonation of this this explosion.” dangerous explosive, and had track athlete BY MARGARET SHUTTLEWORTH — City Councilman Curren Price we been notified we would have Contributing Writer said no, said hell no, you can’t do that out here, not like that,” have been OUTH LOS ANGELES tached grants to 25 households Price said. (CNS) — City Council- hospitals, destroyed a bomb that have been pre-identified as Members of Black Lives suspended from man Curren Price an- squad truck and damaged 22 S residences, 13 businesses and being severely impacted. Matter-Los Angeles and several nounced a $1 million emergen- “I want to make sure that other people who phoned in to cy fund has been established 37 vehicles. Since the explo- the Olympics?’ we’re doing all we can, as the Police Commission meeting to help residents impacted by a sion, victims forced to evacuate quickly as we can, to restore called for Moore to be fired and destructive fireworks explosion their homes have been provided Curren Price these families to some sense for the city to pay reparations to set off by an LAPD bomb squad with access to housing, funds of normalcy,” Price said. “Our residents. June 30. needed to satisfy their basic pened in the first place and it is families need help now. Not “There’s no reason, there’s Price said the money will needs, along with three meals a clear that the city is at fault in two weeks from now, not two no excuse, there’s no rationale,” come from his office’s Environ- day. this explosion,” Price said at a months from now, not two years Black Lives Matter’s Paula Mi- mental Equity and Reimagining The councilman said his press conference July 21. “But from now, but now.” nor said. “You do not detonate Public Safety dollars, and will fund will give displaced resi- the damage and destruction has Price said the Los Angeles explosives in a neighborhood, provide long-term housing, re- dents “first-class quality long- been done, and it is now time to Police Department did not no- and we believe, as so many pairs and financial assistance term housing,” help them with restore our family and rebuild tify his office before detonating believe, that if this had been to residents whose homes were home repairs — including bro- our community.” the explosives, contradicting another neighborhood, not a damaged by the blast. ken windows, plumbing and MONA S. The detonation sent 17 res- LAPD Chief Michel Moore, working class Black and brown “It should never have hap- structural repairs — as well as LOS ANGELES idents and first responders to provide $10,000 no-strings-at- who told the Los Angeles Police See EXPLOSION, Page 10 “At this time, with the political climate, a year after George Floyd, something smells fishy to me. It seems like some sort of retaliation.” Meth addict ‘felt death’ A star is born after partying with Ed Buck BY FRED SHUSTER Contributing Writer MARIE R. LOS ANGELES (CNS) — LOS ANGELES A self-described crystal meth- amphetamine addict told a Los “I think the suspension was Angeles federal jury July 20 that motivated by malice. She’s a very flamboyant individual and the he “felt death” creeping up on powers that be said ‘no, we’re going him after Ed Buck injected him give her a chance to reevaluate the repeatedly with way she presents herself.’” the drug during “party and play” sessions for which the for- mer West Hol- lywood-based political donor paid him $250 for each of four Buck encounters. Jermaine Terrell Gagnon, 31, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, LISA T. who also lived for a time in Los LOS ANGELES Angeles, testified that he met Buck through a gay dating app “As terrible as her situation was with losing her mom, knowing that she in March 2018 — and was paid was about to go and do the tryouts, $250 for an initial nine-hour ses- the choice to take the substance sion involving “tina” — a street probably wasn’t good.” name for methamphetamine — Actress and singer Marla Gibbs received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame during ceremonies July 20. Gibbs is best known for her role as the sassy and sex play. maid Florence Johnston on ‘The Jeffersons’ from 1975 to 1985. See story on Page 9. Gagnon said he went to Buck’s Photo by Ian Foxx apartment three additional times, See BUCK, Page 10 Waters calls for federal probe of sheriff ‘gangs’ casions that he has cracked down identified two deputies involved ELBERT THOMPSON STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS on deputy gangs. in the death of 18-year-old Gar- Waters wrote that a deputy dena resident Andres Guardado LOS ANGELES WASHINGTON — U.S. acting as a whistleblower provid- in June 2020 as members of the Rep. Maxine Waters is calling “I believe she should have been ed sworn testimony identifying “Executioners.” disqualified. At the same time, the for a federal probe into the re- more than a dozen deputies with The shooting of Dijon Kizzee education should have been ‘You ported existence of an alleged matching tattoos to symbolize in South Los Angeles in August shouldn’t be smoking marijuana, gang of Los Angeles sheriff’s period.’” their association with the alleged 2020 was also described by Wa- deputies at the Compton Sher- gang. ters as an “example of the de- iff’s Station who call themselves “Deputies at the … Compton partment’s excessive and brutal the “Executioners.” Compiled by Cynthia Gibson in Station reportedly ‘chase ink,’ tactics in the Los Angeles com- Marina del Rey. In a letter to Attorney Gener- a slang term for a deputy who munity.” al Merrick Garland July 21, Wa- attempts to win favor with the The sheriff’s department has This Week in ters, D-Los Angeles, requested ‘Executioners’ by committing said Guardado was reaching for action from the U.S. Justice De- violent acts in hopes of receiving the gun when he was shot while Black History partment. the group tattoo denoting gang working as what has been de- “I write to ask that the Unit- membership,” Waters wrote. scribed as an informal security July 23, 1962 ed States Department of Justice “The gang allegedly sets ille- guard for a nearby auto body take immediate action to address gal arrest quotas, threatens and shop. Guardado’s family has eorgia native Jackie the reported existence of a rogue, Robinson, the first harasses fellow deputies, and filed a lawsuit against the county violent gang of law enforcement holds parties after shootings, alleging wrongful death and civil Gblack player to play officials, who call themselves Major League Baseball in called ‘998 parties,’ which are in rights violations. the modern the ‘Executioners,’ operating part a celebration that a new dep- Kizzee, 29, was killed after era, becomes within the Los Angeles Sheriff’s uty will be inked by the gang,” sheriff’s deputies allegedly tried the first black Department, specifically the … Waters said. “The tattoos worn to stop him for riding a bicycle person to be Compton station,” she wrote. by the police gang reportedly in the wrong direction. The sher- inducted into A sheriff’s spokeswoman A vigil for Andres Guardado of Gardena, who was killed by sheriff’s dep- uties in June 2020 was held last month, marking the anniversary of his feature Nazi imagery in disturb- iff’s department contends Kizzee baseball’s Hall told City News Service that a ing evidence of the violence per- was fatally shot after he picked statement from Sheriff Alex Vil- death. Guardado’s death was mentioned by U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters in of Fame. her request for a federal investigation into sheriff’s department ‘gangs.’ petrated against the Los Angeles up a handgun he had dropped lanueva would be forthcoming. community by the … gang.” during a struggle with one of the – For more information on black history, He has insisted on multiple oc- Photo by Lorenzo Gomez arts and culture, visit www.caamuseum.org The whistleblower reportedly deputies. OVER 100 YEARS OF SERVING THE COMMUNITY • 1912-2021 2 Thursday, July 22, 2021 Inglewood/Hawthorne/Gardena/Lawndale Wave • Southwest Wave/Southwest Topics/Angeles Mesa & Tribune • Central News/Southside Journal/Compton/Carson/Wilmington Wave Water conservation stressed as drought worsens Newsom, Garcetti call Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San do River Compact, a 1922 agree- for 15% reduction Diego, San Bernardino, Imperial, ment between states, native tribes Ventura and San Francisco. and jurisdictions in the Southwest in water consumption Although Southern California that govern the allocation of Col- is excluded from the proclama- orado River water rights. The tion, the general manager of the agreement hasn’t been updated STAff AND WIRE REPORTS region’s water wholesaler said in nearly a century, but a drought LOS ANGELES — Mayor residents need to do their part in contingency plan was put into Eric Garcetti is urging Angelenos reducing water use.