People and Events

The Marines have landed--on the banks of the concrete Los Angeles River. They were summoned from Camp Pendleton on Wednesday after Los Angeles firefighters and police found a World War II artillery shell in an alley off Santa Fe Avenue.

The Marines, who did not need amphibious vehicles for this mission, determined the projectile to be harmless and trucked it off.

People in the neighborhood told investigators that they had seen a man dump the shell in the alley a couple days earlier. But no one bothered to telephone the Fire Department until Wednesday. Now that’s apathy.

Garfield High football fans who wanted to lean to the left, lean to the right, stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight had to do so at other schools this year. Their field’s wooden bleachers, built in 1941, were so deteriorated that Los Angeles school district officials condemned them last summer, forcing Garfield to play its home games at other schools.

County Supervisor Ed Edelman, who heard of the situation, dug up $160,000 in discretionary federal funds that will be used to install new aluminum seats that will be ready for next season.

It won’t be soon enough as far as the team is concerned. Usually among the best teams in their league, the Bulldogs have a 1-5 record this year.

“This is the first time a Rolls-Royce has been declared a public nuisance,” said David Spellerberg with a mixture of pride and hurt. “Only in Beverly Hills would this happen.”

The city persuaded Superior Court Judge Edward Kakita on Wednesday to issue a preliminary injunction barring Spellerberg from parking his $200,000 vintage Rolls in a one-hour parking spot on Rodeo Drive for more than an hour.

Beverly Hills, which does things in a big way, was represented by five attorneys.

Spellerberg says he has a new, secret plan. Maybe he should get a bumper sticker that says, “This is Not an Abandoned Car.”

Here’s Mayor Eugene Moses of Azusa, a man known for giving out proclamations, plaques and medallions to constituents at the rate of one a day. And what does he get for it?

First, the council accuses him of having political motives and says it’s tired of seeing people they don’t recognize walking around town wearing necklace medallions that bear the city seal.

Then the council bans him from opening the refrigerator at City Hall after grumblings that he had snatched some employees’ food.

Then he was cited by the Fire Department for tardiness in removing poison ivy and other brush from his back yard.

What next? The other day, someone snatched his photo from the display of local officials in the entryway of the . . . police station.

More than 100 local environmentalists will be honored at a breakfast ($15 per plate) at the Westin Bonaventure Friday morning at 7:30 a.m.

It’s sponsored by a group named, of all things, Los Angeles Beautiful Inc.