Alcalá 1990

San Diego

Convention Center Draws Another Crowd 0 efore San Diego's new convention center be– came a building largely intended for out-of-towners, an estimated 70,000 more San Diegan's toured the center's spacious halls yesterday on the last of three days of open house. The turnout - on a soupy gray day that would leave most

Getting It All Together For A Super_D{ly By Christopher Reynolds Staff Writer

Execution Set April 3 For Harris

By ALAN ABRAHAMSON

oming soon: Sunday in the park with Georgia. And Russia. That's Soviet

TIMES STAFF WRITERS urderer Robert Alton Harris, convicted of the killings of two teen-age San Diego boys, was ordered Monday to die April 3 in the gas chamber at San Quentin, setting the stage for

Georgia, of course, and Soviet Russia, which are sending some 300 artists and performers to the first San Diego Arts Festival. The festival officially opens Saturday night with the San Diego Opera's production of " Boris Godunov." But organizers have set aside Sunday - Super Powers Sun– day - as the day to introduce Russian and Georgian culture to Sand Diego's masses.

California's first execution in 23 years. San Diego Superior Court Judge Jesus Rodriguez announced the date at a four– minute hearing Monday, a procedural for– mality that had been expected since last month's rejection by the U.S. Supreme Court of a broad challenge to Harris' death sentence. The April 3 date actually is Harris' ex– ecution date, but his first in eight years, San Diego prosecutors said. This time around, after more than 10 years of ap– peals, even Harris' San Diego lawyers con– ceded Monday that the end may be near. •Justice: The convicted mur– derer's lawyers, conceding that they are "up against the gun now," are still pursuing possi– ble appeals to keep him from the gas chamber. Soviet Festival • The Youth Company, a group of 18 teen-agers, will offer scores of performances for schoolchil– dren in cil,y schools and at the Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. The youths also will participau, in an International Day at the University of San Diego and in Fiesta Day at the Centro Cultural de la Raza. "The real name ofthe youth troupe ia the Chil– dren's Dance Company of the Third Experimen– tal School of Tblisi," Popova said. "It is from an academy that feeds all the major folk dance com– panies in Georgia. The director is Tamaz Gogo– tishvili. The dancers range in age from 7 to 18. This is their schooling. But in the group touring here there are just two girls and 16 boys. The dances range from lyrical bridal dances in which long-sleeved costumes cover even the hands of the dancers, to regional dances that reflect the differing geographic char~ters of var– ious regions.

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r w y ffley came - brought the total for the holiday weekend to 225,000, according to Mike Connolly, and independent contractor who organized the three-day event. That number was more than twice the admit– tedly conservative predictions of convention center officials.

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