Opening statements were yesterday in Long Beach accountant Yasith Chhun’s trial on charges of allegedly spearheading a coup attempt in Cambodia, and jurors got a chance–so the Assistant U.S. Attorney said–to go inside Operation Volcano.

The Press-Telegram’s story today is from Greg Risling of The Associated Press.

Operation Volcano is reportedly the name of the group Chhun is accused of leading in November 2000, when anti-communist rebels the Cambodian Freedom Fighters tried to topple Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government.

Their attack on government buildings was put down almost immediately, and as the P-T’s Wendy Thomas Russell reported yesterday, “at least three people were killed - all of them rebels - and others were injured.”

In today’s story, defense attorney Richard Callahan is quoted as saying that Chhun, a U.S. citizen, was trying to save the nation where he was born and grew up. “There was no intent for Mr. Chhun to murder anyone or injure anyone,” Callahan said in Risling’s story, adding that the attack was “misguided and naive.”

In news of another power struggle, P-T staffer Joe Stevens tells how Lakewood residents are reacting to the 90-foot, metal power pole which Southern California Edison put up without telling anyone.

Turns out, the people in Lakewood who have to live near this pole–at Palo Verde Avenue and Centralia Street–aren’t happy. (Who would have thought?) One woman estimates the value of her family’s house has gone down $100,000 since the pole went up.

Tags: California, cambodia, Cambodian Freedom Fighters, Centralia Street, Greg Risling, Hun Sen, Joe Stevens, lakewood, Long Beach, Operation Volcano, Palo Verde Avenue, press telegram, Southern California, Southern California Edison, The Associated Press, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas, Wendy Thomas Russell, Yasith Chhun