By Keith Thursby
Times staff writer

“I own the oil rights in Chavez Ravine. The city is trying to steal them from us. We’ll have to fight for our rights.’

The
quote is found on the second page of The Times’ story covering the
state Assembly committee hearings into the Dodgers’ contract with the
city of Los Angeles. The words were credited to Glen Walters,
identified as an ex-actress and a resident of the Palos Verdes area of
Chavez Ravine.

According to The Times’ story, she rushed the
speaker’s stand shortly after a noon recess had been announced and was
eventually escorted out. The Times may have made a big deal of the
incident (with photo and a mention in the headline) but the story also
included a lot more back and forth between city and state officials.

A quote from both sides of the debate:

Mayor
Norris Poulson, asked whether the Dodgers would leave Los Angeles if
Proposition B lost: “I’m sure they will and we’ll be the laughingstock
of the United States.”

City Councilman Patrick McGee,
criticizing the Dodgers’ offer to give the city Wrigley Field as part
of the Chavez Ravine deal: “Wrigley Field is nothing more than a white
elephant. The Dodgers don’t want it. So they just threw it into the
deal to make it look like a good deal.”

A note of political
realism in the story: There would be no report from the committee in
time for the election. Chairman Ralph Brown said the committee had
until the following January to file its conclusions.

keith.thursby@latimes.com