Los Angeles Times - 26.11.2019

$2.75DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER © 2019 WSCE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019 latimes.com

The Conception dive

boat, on which 34 people

died in a Labor Day fire, had

been exempted by the U.S.

Coast Guard from stricter

safety rules designed to

make it easier for passen-

gers to escape, documents

and interviews by The Times

show.

The Conception was one

of about 325 small passenger

vessels built before 1996 and

given special exemptions

from safety standards that

the Coast Guard imposed on

new vessels, some of which

required larger escape

hatches and illuminated exit

signs, records show.

The rules require vessels

to have an escape hatch at

least 32 inches wide and exit

signs that are illuminated.

The Conception, built in

1981, had an escape hatch

that was only 24 inches wide,

according to several federal

regulators who requested

anonymity in order to speak

on the matter. It also did not

have illuminated exit signs.

It’s unclear whether such

measures would have made

a difference on the Concep-

tion, on which passengers on

a weekend diving expedition

weretrapped in the hull dur-

ing an early morning fire and

unable to escape. Crew

members on the deck said

they were unable to reach

the passengers because of

intense flames.

But federal officials in-

vestigating the worst mar-

itime disaster in modern

California history immedi-

ately zeroed in on the func-

tionality of the two exits in

the area where passengers

slept in stacked bunks be-

neath the waterline. Na-

tional Transportation Safe-

ty Board investigator Jenni-

fer Homendy told The

Times in September that

she was“taken aback” by the

small size of the emergency

escape hatches, adding that

she thought it would be diffi-

cult for passengers to exit

during an emergency in the

dark.

Boat that burned

was exempt from

tighter standards

Newer Coast Guard

rules for exit signs and

escape hatches didn’t

apply to Conception,

documents show.

By Mark Puente

and Richard Winton

[SeeConception,A12]

F

red Rogers proposed to Sara Joanne Byrd in a
letter. A letter she lost almost immediately in a
flurry of excitement as she rushed to a pay
phone to give him her answer: “Yes, yes, yes!”
Both 24, she just 11 days his senior, they
were friends but not yet lovers. It was 1952 and they
were in the midst of a long-distance courtship that
began at Rollins College in Florida. She recalls being
attracted to Fred, but they weren’t particularly physical
with each other outside of the sorority and fraternity
dances they attended together. Joanne — she dropped
“Sara” early on, deeming it too stuffy — was raised in a
Puritan home, and she was repulsed by her school-
mates who talked about “sucking face.” Any kissing she
said she and Fred did was “pretty unpracticed.”
When Fred headed to New York after graduation for
an apprenticeship at NBC — the first stop on his way to
“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” — she stayed in Florida
to get her master’s degree in music. They kept in touch
through the mail, though they weren’t very good writ-
ers, Joanne says. Fred told Joanne about his hopes for
the future — about the kind of people he wanted the two
of them to become. Even though she didn’t know him all
that well by the time he proposed, that’s what she clung
to — the idea that this was a man with a strong moral
center.
She still has most of the letters from their early
courtship. They’re tucked in a

COLUMN ONE

A welcome to the

‘Neighborhood’

from Mrs. Rogers

While advancing her Mister’s

legacy, she corrects the legend

By Amy Kaufman

DON’Tput him on a pedestal, says Joanne Rogers
of the man she was married to for over 50 years.

Lynn Johnson

[SeeRogers,A8]

WASHINGTON —A fed-

eral judge strengthened the

power of Congress in its bat-

tles with President Trump

on Monday, ruling that for-

mer White House Counsel

Donald McGahn may be re-

quired to testify under oath

about what he heard and

saw during special counsel

Robert S. Mueller III’s probe

of Russian election med-

dling.

The judge’s decision up-

holding a congressional sub-

poena is a victory for House

Democrats, who have been

anxious to establish a legal

precedent that could force

other top Trump adminis-

tration officials to testify be-

fore Congress.

And although the case

began as a result of the

Mueller inquiry, it could

have an impact in the cur-

rent impeachment proceed-

ings against Trump. It sets

the stage for what could be a

historic court test of the

president’s ability to prevent

senior aides from testifying.

In her ruling, U.S. District

Judge Ketanji Brown Jack-

son rejected Trump’s claim

that McGahn was “abso-

lutely immune” from being

called to testify, even though

he was no longer a White

House employee. McGahn

was following Trump’s order

not to cooperate with House

investigators.

“With respect to senior-

level presidential aides, ab-

solute immunity from com-

pelled congressional proc-

ess simply does not exist,”

the judge wrote in a 120-page

opinion. This claimed im-

munity “appears to be a fic-

tion that has been fastidi-

ously maintained over time

through the force of sheer

RULING IS

WIN FOR

HOUSE IN

TRUMP

BATTLE

A judge says former

White House Counsel

Donald McGahn

may be required to

testify under oath.

By David G. Savage

[SeeMcGahn,A7]

RAMS TROUNCED BY THE RAVENS

Wally SkalijLos Angeles Times

Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson — who threw for five touchdowns at the Coliseum on Monday

night — is stopped short of the goal line by Jalen Ramsey of the Rams, who lost, 45-6. SPORTS, D

AVDIIVKA, Ukraine —

Everybody could hear the

burst of automatic weapons

in the distance. But inside

the dimly lighted halls of the

Avdiivka City Hospital, doc-

tors and nurses paid it little

mind.

The hospital sits three

miles from the front line of

the five-year war between

Ukraine and Russia-backed

separatists. The echoes of

battle have long been their

daily soundtrack.

The hospital director, Dr.

Iryna Lagoda, can identify

the caliber of each mortar

round and whether it’s in-

coming or outgoing.

She and the staff often

feel forgotten out here near

the front — perhaps never

more so than when they

learned along with the

rest of the world that Presi-

dent Trump had withheld

$391 million in military aid to

VIKTOR RODCHENKO is among the civilian patients at the Avdiivka hospital.

Brendan HoffmanFor The Times

A city hospital soldiers on

at front line of Ukraine war

The facility now treats more troops than civilians

RUSSIA

RUSSIA

UKRAINE DONBAS

CRIMEAN

PENINSULA

Sea of Azov

Donetsk

Avdiivka

OCCUPIED BY

PRO-RUSSIA

MILITIAS

Hospital in Ukraine’s war zone

A hospital in Avdiivka sits about three miles from the

front line of the five-year war between Ukraine and

Russia-backed separatists.

OpenStreetMap,liveuamap.com

Los Angeles Times

By Sabra Ayres

[SeeUkraine,A4]

SAN FRANCISCO — Trolling the
East Coast and Midwest with tales of
Thanksgiving dinner while wearing
shorts under sunny skies is a Califor-
nia tradition.
But this year is going to be differ-
ent.
Forecasters are warning of a
stormy Thanksgiving holiday week
marked by rain across the state and

snow levels so low in elevation they

could close major freeways such as In-

terstates 5, 15 and 80. The storm is ex-

pected to bring such cold tempera-

tures that snow may accumulate even

on the floor of high-desert cities such

as Lancaster, Hesperia and Barstow.

Up to 2 feet of snow could hit Big Bear

and Wrightwood and up to 4 feet

around Lake Tahoe and Mammoth.

The forecast has holiday travelers

checking their plans and hosts fret-

ting about whether turkey al fresco for

20 could end in disaster. Just two years

ago, Los Angeles sat down to a

Thanksgiving feast just after the high

temperature hit a crispy 92 degrees —

an all-time record. This year, San Di-

ego could be facing one of its coldest

Thanksgivings since records began

being kept in 1874, with a forecast high

of just 60 degrees.

“Everybody can definitely break

out their Uggs and Lands’ End par-

kas,” climatologist Bill Patzert said.

L.A.’s high temperature on turkey day

could remain in the 50s; San Fran-

Not your postcard holiday

Rain and snow will make for a challenging Thanksgiving

in a region used to sunshine and Instagram-ready shots

By Rong-Gong Lin II
and Hannah Fry

[SeeStorm,A9]

Frank Biondi

Jr., former chief

at studios, dies

The industry leader

helped build HBO

and Viacom into

formidable companies.

He was also chairman

and CEO of Universal

in the 1990s. He was 74.

CALENDAR, E

Weather

Mostly sunny.

L.A. Basin: 66/51. B

Printed with soy inks on

partially recycled paper.