People and Events

When Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies sent their dog sniffing into the bushes for the driver of an apparently stolen van in Carson early Monday, neither they nor he realized the incident would meet the criteria for news.

Chris, an 8-year-old Rottweiler, quickly located Pablo Santiago, 26, and grabbed him by the leg.

Santiago, deputies reported, bit back.

Both held on grimly until the Rottweiler’s handler, Deputy Dave Lloyd, reached them. Santiago surrendered without further discussion and was booked on suspicion of grand theft auto at County-USC Medical Center, where he was treated for dog bites on his back and legs.

The man bite on Chris’s neck was no big deal and he went home to breakfast.

“He’s a great dog,” said Sgt. Bob Weekly of the sheriff’s Special Enforcement Bureau. “He’s our most productive search dog. He’s caught over 300 crooks.” That, Weekly claimed, puts Chris far out in front of other police dogs around the country.

Three men found drinking in the back of the van were also arrested, officers said, but none of them bit the dog.

Country-western singer Ronee Blakley says she did not appreciate it when a Los Angeles city traffic enforcement officer--in the words of her lawyer--”drove his vehicle over claimant’s foot . . . “

She has sued the city and the officer in Los Angeles Superior Court for $1 million.

The 41-year-old singer, who lives in Reseda, also is seeking general and medical expenses and an unspecified amount for loss of earnings, claiming she suffered “serious and disabling personal injury and emotional upset and distress.”

According to the complaint, the incident happened last Feb. 5 near Sunset and Crescent Heights boulevards after the officer--about whose name Blakley was not altogether certain--gave her two parking tickets within 20 minutes.

After a “discussion” about the second ticket, Blakley said, he threatened to drive across her foot and did so.

The city attorney’s office had not seen the suit and would not comment.

Beverly Hills jeweler Carl Marcus encountered the wrath of Rolex Watch U.S.A. on Monday when the manufacturer took out an ad accusing him of “selling used Rolex watches as new.” The company offered to examine any Rolex purchased at Marcus & Co., if the buyer “has reason to believe it may not have been completely new . . . “

In the specific case cited by Rolex, Marcus said, a woman paid $5,280 for a watch she later claimed was used. Marcus said that was news to him. But she sued and won. “We buy our watches from brokers and Rolex dealers who are in distress,” Marcus said. “Some of them have had those watches on hand for three or four years.”

Marcus accused the watchmaker of being “militant” in its crusade against discounters. He has appealed the case.

The Glendale-based California Bicentennial Foundation for the U.S. Constitution, which has been offering to let folks “sponsor” about 200,000 roses on its Rose Parade float for $10 each, has found a friend in Filipino Unity Pride Inc.

The Filipino-American group will sponsor 10,000 of the roses necessary to create two 55-foot American flags on the foundation’s “We the People” entry. That seems to add up to around $100,000 to be a “principal sponsor.”

FUP also is searching for a young lady who “typifies the beauty of the Philippines” to ride the float.