European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 12, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday february 12, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 7 a Man waiting in be i scud stands atop his track on the Ventura freeway in the Van Guys Section of los Angeles. Motorists rescued from cars Trees As Flash flood sweeps . Area. _  a t. 11 t i us we in of ii r k fill i los Angeles a helicopters flying in drive. Lucked motorists from car roofs to escape floodwaters in the ing rain and lightning plucked motorists from car roofs where they scrambled City a Western Region. Other motorists Clung to Trees after the los Angeles River overflowed a huge recreation area monday afternoon and sent a torrent of water onto Busy Burbank Boulevard. A a it a like a Nightmare. It was really bad. We were scared that we re not going to be Able to come out Frieda Malkuian said after being rescued from her submerged car. Rescuers flew at least three fire department helicopters and paddled rafts to bring about 50 motorists to safety. Only minor injuries were reported. Among them was a Man who fell 50 feet while being hoisted into a helicopter. He suffered broken ribs and a broken Collarbone. A i was pretty sure i was going to die a 36-year-old Michael Ross said from a Hospital a i did no to see my life Flash before my eyes but i was scared to death. At the very least i thought i was going to be crippled. The storm dumped More than 6 inches of rain in the san Fernando Valley a White Collar suburb of Homes office Parks and malls. The rain tapered off Early monday but another storm was expected by today. Los Angeles county health officials afraid the rain might swamp a waste treatment Plant and cause a spill of raw sewage closed 60 Miles of beaches. The Waters Rose to 25 feet in the Sepulveda dam recreation area a huge crate like area of Golf courses and wildlife preserves. The normally dry Basin is crossed by major boulevards. As darkness fell a Crew in a radio station helicopter spotted a Man struggling in the floodwaters. Cameraman Lawrence Welk Iii grandson of the orchestra Leader dropped into the water with a life jacket. Welk and the Man were rescued by lire fighters in boats. The Man was being treated for hypothermia. In Malibu Lisa Hilton and her two children escaped their stalled car seconds before a swollen Creek swept the vehicle under 6 feet of water. A the car was like a boat going Down the Creek Quot said actor Nick Nolte who arrived at the scene. A she was extremely Lucky Quot said her husband Steve Hilton a grandson of the hotel tycoon Conrad Hilton. The Creek which feeds into the Pacific Ocean flooded several expensive houses including that of Rock Singer Pat Benatar. Rapist murderer executed in Texas a i   Huntsville Texas apr a Man convicted of raping and killing a roman Catholic nun when he was 17 was executed by lethal injection Early tuesday. Johnny Frank Garrett 28, was put to death for the slaying of 76-year-old sister tadea Benz at the St. Francis Convent in Amarillo on halloween night in 1981. A a in a like to thank my family for Loving me and taking care of me. And the rest of the world can kiss my ass a Garrett said in his final statement. The supreme court rejected two appeals monday night then turned Down a third Appeal about an hour before the execution. On Jan. 6, Garrett came within an hour of execution before gov. Ann Richards issued a 30-Day reprieve at the urging of Pope John Paul ii and pending the supreme courts ruling. Garrett s Appeal had previously been rejected by the 5th . Circuit court of appeals. Garrett a execution brings to 44 the number of convicted killers put to death in Texas since the state resumed executions in 1982. The total is the highest of any state with the death penalty. Richards rare use of her authority to Grant a reprieve prompted an equally unusual hearing by the state Board of pardons and paroles to consider whether to recommend that the governor commute Garrett s Garrett sentence to life. But at the hearing last week the Board voted 17-0, with one abstention to keep the death sentence. Attorneys for Garrett contended he was insane and suffered from a multiple personality syndrome As a result of physical and sexual abuse he endured As a child. A i think he a simply too crazy to kill a Garrett a attorney Warren Clark had said. The supreme court has ruled that a person who is insane and cannot comprehend an execution or the reasons behind an Quot execution cannot be put to death. Prosecutors insisted that while Garrett May not have been Normal he was aware of his crime and understood the punishment. Garrett Scase became the focus of efforts by death penalty opponents. The Catholic diocese of Amarillo 16 Catholic Bishops and the human rights group amnesty International joined in opposing his  deeds Are proving Pesky problem for town from wire reports rolling Hll  estates Calif. Noisy peacocks Are ruffling feathers in an upscale coastal town. The fowls dead of night squawking has become so irritating that an expert has been flown in from Iowa at a Cost of $200 a Day. A there Are just too Many of them. They poop on the Patio dig holes in the Lawn eat your  said Libby Watts a resident of rolling Hills estates in suburban los Angeles. But not for Long. Dennis Lett has arrived from Minden. Iowa to help residents Cope. Over the weekend he. Studied some 150 exotic Birds that Parade in squadrons around the Community a dapple Grav area feeding and roosting in the Trees. Lett plans to stay four Days to devise a plan a ,. He said the peacocks will rebel it they feel they Are being pushed or hurried. A it he problem Isnit going to be the peacocks it will be the  he said. A it hey be got to have patience and  envoys named Washington a president Bush on monday named his three nominees to serve As the first . Ambassadors to the Baltic states. They include a latvian born foreign service officer who would assume the ambassador ship in his native land. Ints m. Silins 49, now the charge do affaires at the . Embassy in Strasbourg France was born in Riga Latvia during world War ii. Bush also nominated Darryl n. Johnson the charge do affaires at the . Embassy in Lithuania to be ambassador to that country and Robert c. Frasure. Charge do affaires at the . Embassy in Estonia to become ambassador there. Silins is a graduate of Princeton University in new Jersey who has been a state department soviet expert and has held . Posts in the former soviet Union and in Stockholm Sweden. Johnson 53, is a graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle. He has held posts in Warsaw Poland and Beijing. Frasure 49, is a graduate of West Virginia University in Morgantown and holds a doctorate degree from Duke University in Durham . He is a former Africa director of the National Security Council and has served in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia Pretoria. South Africa and  suspect sought new York a police said monday that they were seeking a Man who they believe committed at least three rapes on the upper East Side of Manhattan since last month. All of the victims were single Young women who lived alone in apartment buildings Between Park Avenue and first Avenue the police said. During one rape the assailant displayed a knife and robbed the victim. But none of the women was stabbed the police said. The police said the first attack occurred on Jan. 3 about 3 30 a.m., the second on Jan. 22 about 6 . And the third on feb. 3 about 11 . In two of the attacks the assailant gained entry to the victims apartments through unlocked lire escape windows. The third attack came after the victim was pushed into her apartment from behind As she unlocked her  Asylum urged Philadelphia More than 250 protesters gathered outside the Federal courthouse monday demanding political Asylum for an Irish Republican  member convicted in the killing of a British Soldier. A supreme court order in december a Jows Federal authorities to Deport Joseph Doherty 37, to Britain where he was convicted of killing a British  Captain in Belfast Northern Ireland. Doherty is in the Federal prison at Lewisburg. He faces a life sentence in Britain. He was arrested in new York in 1983 after illegally entering the United states. A this Only real crime was to enter this country without any kind of visa and they want to Send him Back to the clutches of the British said Sean a onion 31, of upper Darby