People and Events

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Gary Richardson, 28, of Lubbock, Tex., got his way Monday and re-upped aboard the Enterprise.

Not the carrier, but the Starship Enterprise. Or, at least, the Paramount Studios set of the spacecraft that supposedly prowls the planets in the sequel television series “Star Trek: the Next Generation.”

Richardson, who is stationed aboard the USS Elliot, a Spruance-class destroyer at San Diego, won the right to re-enlist aboard the Enterprise because series creator-producer Gene Roddenberry was in the Air Corps during World War II and has a soft spot for the military.

Roddenberry has turned down requests by others to celebrate their birthdays or get married aboard the Enterprise. And one by the woman who wanted to have her baby in the starship’s sick bay.

State Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) has an explanation for why he was carrying a baseball bat when he confronted some demonstrators outside his home Saturday night.

The veteran anti-war activist was on his way to coach in a Little League game, said his spokesman, Bill Schulz.

Police said there were no injuries and no arrests as about 25 people--most of them South Vietnamese--protested outside the home he shares with his actress wife, Jane Fonda. The protesters, who chanted and carried signs accusing Hayden of being a traitor and a liar, were seeking Hayden’s apology for his pro-North Vietnamese position during the war, a spokesman said.

Hayden called the group “a very frenzied and extremely hostile small group which shows up at election times.”

Bob Zirgulis, of the International Human Rights Watch, which organized the protest, said the assemblyman emerged from his car swearing at the demonstrators. Zirgulis said Hayden “went berserk.” Police Sgt. Clay Smith said “several profanities were exchanged between both sides.”

Hayden accused Alex Cota, his opponent in the June 7 primary, of staging the protest. Cota denied that, saying he showed up as “an observer” after hearing about it.

There must have been a few spilled beers in front of television sets last Friday evening when KCBS-TV suddenly screened former ZZZZ Best whiz kid Barry Minkow pitching his Reseda-based carpet-cleaning services.

Minkow, 21, is in a maximum-security cell at Terminal Island federal prison awaiting trial on fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from alleged misuse of the scandal-ridden firm, which fell into bankruptcy last July.

KCBS publicist Sharon Baker said no one at the station was amused. The 30-second commercial, which took up about $2,000 worth of air time, was “deleted about a year ago,” she said. “But somehow that one escaped deletion. It was a mistake.”

A broken pipe on the ninth story of the Traffic Courts Building at 1945 S. Hill St. put several courtrooms out of business Monday as water gushed down the elevator shafts and out across the smooth terrazzo floors.

Not only were the elevators out of action because of wet electrical contacts, the floors were turned to glass, said Helen Nelson, chief of the Los Angeles Municipal Courts traffic division.

“We already pay off on a few accidents every year because of those floors,” said Nelson, who added that court business was suspended for the day rather than try to route a couple of thousand people up outside stairways to face the judges.

All 16 courts were ready to open for Monday’s night sessions, however.