Before confetti falls and balloons rise, please pause to ponder the minutae that stand out like cowlicks on an otherwise lean, mean body of events that made up 1988. : TRIVIA QUIZ

Answers on Page 6.

Tired of pursuing childish trivia games? Ready for a real test that will challenge an adult’s abilities? Ready to move up to the Big Leagues of minutiae?

Well, sharpen those pencils and tune up your recall. Get a grip on your memory and run over in your mind one last time the Big News Events That Shook Your World in 1988.

Answer 35 of the 40 questions in The Times Orange County Edition’s second annual Year - End Trivia Quiz correctly and rate yourself “Smarter Than the People Who Made the News.”

Answer 10 to 34 questions correctly and feel smug in direct proportion to your score.

Fewer than 10 right? Please turn down the TV next year and start paying more attention.

On your mark, get set, trivialize!

1. Five inmates escaped from the Orange County Jail in November by:

a. Changing clothes with visitors and walking out undetected.

b. Overpowering armed guards in the mess hall and escaping in food vendors’ trucks.

c. Cutting through rooftop fencing and dropping four stories to the ground.

d. Pretending to gag on chili peppers and overpowering paramedics who were transporting them to a hospital.

2. Sheryl Lynn Massip of Anaheim last made headlines when she:

a. Escaped in a food vendor’s truck from the Orange County Jail.

b. Was acquitted by a jury of murdering her infant son by running over him with a car.

c. Was found innocent by reason of insanity in the murder of her son when a judge threw out a jury’s guilty verdict.

d. Was convicted by a jury of murdering her infant son by running over him with a car.

3. The Orange County registrar of voters office was red-faced after the Nov. 8 election because:

a. A storage room with uncounted absentee ballots was left unlocked and unattended.

b. Illegal aliens were permitted to work in polling places.

c. The results of several key races were held up for 2 weeks until misplaced ballots were tracked down.

d. Security guards lost absentee ballots mistakenly placed on a loading dock.

4. Doug Hansen was in the news this year when charges surfaced about his health. Who is Doug Hansen?

a. A talented young second baseman in the Angels’ farm system.

b. The newly appointed music director of the Pacific Symphony.

c. The brother-in-law of Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove).

d. A gay activist from Laguna Niguel.

5. Former TV star and current Huntington Beach City Councilman Jack Kelly drew attention when he:

a. Signed a television contract for a reprise role as cowboy gambler Bart Maverick.

b. Was fined twice by state officials for failing to disclose a real estate transaction.

c. Performed briefly as a television host on a daytime gourmet cooking show.

d. Complained publicly that women made off-color remarks to him in the presence of other men.

6. The day after Ron Smith, a Westminster father of two, won one-third of a $60-million Lotto 6/49 jackpot in October, he:

a. Went to work in the oil fields of La Habra.

b. Established a $17-million trust to benefit UC Irvine, the Orange County Performing Arts Center and artistic groups.

c. Bought a record 500,000 Quick-Pick lottery tickets trying to parlay his new fortune.

d. Telephoned his boss to say: “I’ve always wanted to say this: You stink. I quit.”

7. Proposition A on the June ballot was defeated. If it had passed, it would have:

a. Paid for new branch jails in Anaheim Hills and Laguna Hills.

b. Doubled the number of buses on Orange County roads.

c. Imposed slow-growth controls on development.

d. Legalized dog race betting in Villa Park.

8. The California Angels made the following change in managers as the season neared an end:

a. Cookie Lavagetto for Moose Skowron.

b. Moose Stubing for Cookie Rojas.

c. Bull Durham for Clyde King.

d. Clyde Cronkhite for Gene Mauch.

9. Santa Ana city officials dealt with the homeless by:

a. Providing them $50 gift certificates good for clothing at the MainPlace mall.

b. Giving them tickets to a benefit dinner for Mayor Dan Young.

c. Seizing their personal belongings.

d. Allowing them to use Civic Center parking structures on cold, rainy nights.

10. Xidex announced in October it would close its Irvine plant and discharge 825 employees. Xidex is a manufacturer of:

a. Xylophones.

b. Top secret electronic devices used in the new Stealth bomber.

c. Computer storage disks.

d. Lottery scratch-off tickets.

11. After spending 7 years in prison for murder, Rami Darwiche was acquitted in a new trial in October. Following the verdict:

a. The jurors bought Darwiche lunch.

b. Darwiche bought the jurors lunch.

c. Darwiche returned to prison to pick up his belongings and had lunch there.

d. The prosecutor sent out for pizza.

12. Public opposition swelled when county supervisors said they would consider building a new jail:

a. On a Laguna Hills site previously set aside for the National Fitness Foundation.

b. In an undeveloped area in Gypsum Canyon.

c. Two blocks from the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove.

d. On offshore platforms like floating oil derricks.

13. The life of former Irvine City Councilman and one-time college basketball star C. David Baker changed dramatically when:

a. He was elected to Congress.

b. He pleaded guilty to forging a signature on a check to cover congressional campaign expenses.

c. He pleaded guilty to embezzling money from his congressional campaign fund.

d. He was drafted to play basketball for the Orange Crush, a franchise in the new under-6-foot-6 league.

14. David A. Brown was accused in September of masterminding the 1985 murder of his wife because:

a. Evidence that had been lost in the mail for 3 years was finally delivered to authorities.

b. His teen-age daughter who had been convicted of the murder and served 3 years of a 27-year sentence told police the killing was her father’s idea.

c. Police discovered that Brown had secretly married his wife’s sister shortly after the murder.

d. His daughter, who had been missing for 3 years, finally turned up with the evidence police needed.

15. Immigrant rights activists protested acts of the Immigration and Naturalization Service after the federal agents:

a. Stationed themselves at polling places to arrest illegal aliens trying to vote in the November election.

b. Arrested illegal aliens hiding from authorities inside a Catholic church in Orange.

c. Confiscated musical instruments

from mariachi bands performing without permits on the steps of the federal building in Santa Ana.

d. Searched automobiles and yachts at the Balboa Bay Club for aliens who had eluded the Border Patrol.

16. Newport Beach police looking for a man carrying a shotgun shot an unarmed African immigrant on the beach. Instead of carrying a shotgun, he actually held:

a. A loaf of French bread.

b. A portable stereo.

c. A 5-foot pole and his national flag.

d. A toy gun that looked like a real automatic weapon.

17. The Garden Grove City Council created a national ruckus when some members voted to withhold financial support from the Grove Theatre Company. Which author was thought by these council members to be too high-brow for residents?

a. Louis L’Amour.

b. Theodor Geisel.

c. Emily Dickinson.

d. William Shakespeare.

18. On Thursday before the final game of their season, 17 Cal State Fullerton senior football players missed practice. One of the excuses given to an angry Coach Gene Murphy was:

a. “We heard practice was canceled because of the smog.”

b. “I thought you said we’d practice after the game.”

c. “We thought it would make a good tradition.”

d. “My sister was using my shoulder pads in her new dress.”

19. This was not the best of years for Ron Lapin, the Santa Ana surgeon who gained national prominence earlier this decade for his advocacy of “bloodless surgery.” That’s because:

a. His ex-wife, Israeli actress Orly Lapin, was acquitted on charges of kidnapping after taking their two young children to Israel.

b. Orly Lapin hurled numerous lurid accusations at her ex-husband as she sought unsuccessfully to gain custody of their children.

c. Confronted with mounting legal difficulties, Lapin said he lost tens of thousands of dollars in business at his private medical practice.

d. All of the above.

20. What prominent Orange County man was host to the $10,000-per-person lunch for the Reagans?

a. William Lyon.

b. Carl Karcher.

c. Donald Bren.

d. James Roosevelt.

21. Orange County housing prices continued to make news in 1988. Which of the following statements about the county is true?

a. The county is the site of an innovative new low-income housing project.

b. Prices here were eclipsed by Honolulu and New York in median housing prices in 1988.

c. Fewer than 1 in 5 families can afford a median-priced house.

d. Fewer than 1 in 10 families can afford a median-priced house.

22. Whose Disneyland outing kept Henry and Renee Segerstrom waiting lunch at the Center Club?

a. Rudolf Nureyev.

b. Ann-Margret.

c. Leonard Bernstein.

d. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

23. To celebrate the county’s centennial festivities, the Orange County Historical Commission pulled a time capsule, sealed in 1900, out of the cornerstone of the old courthouse and found:

a. A packet of orange seeds from an orchard in Tustin.

b. A traffic ticket for a horse and buggy collision.

c. A Spanish coin from Mission San Juan Capistrano.

d. Nothing.

24. The placing of security guards at Santa Ana polling places in the November general election resulted in:

a. A commendation from law enforcement officials to the Orange County Republican Party.

b. A truckload of illegal aliens being arrested as they attempted to vote.

c. An FBI investigation.

d. A narrow victory for the Peace and Freedom candidate for State Assembly.

25. On what date did Mission Viejo become Orange County’s 27th city?

a. Jan. 1, 1988.

b. Sept. 1, 1988.

c. April 15, 1988.

d. March 31, 1988.

26. Stuart Karl was convicted of federal campaign funding violations, but also is known for:

a. Owning a string of fast-food restaurants bearing his name.

b. Founding a shoe store bearing his name.

c. Producing a video workout tape bearing the name of Jane Fonda.

d. Working as Mickey Mouse at Disneyland during his teen-age years.

27. What potentially “dangerous” item was banned from the Orange County Jail for security reasons?

a. Condoms.

b. Alfalfa sprouts.

c. Chili peppers.

d. Toy guns that look real.

28. The last name of the renowned Italian architect who will design the new $20-million Newport Harbor Art Museum sounds like:

a. One of the Great Lakes.

b. A musical instrument.

c. A bird-call.

d. A famous brand of pasta.

29. Which proposed musical merger fell through in 1988?

a. The Pacific Chorale and the Master Chorale of Orange County.

b. The Pacific Symphony and the South Coast Symphony.

c. The Mozart Camerata and the Dead Kennedys.

d. The Irvine Symphony and the Garden Grove Symphony.

30. The Santa Ana police chief who resigned after only about a year on the job was:

a. Randall Kraft.

b. William Wisely.

c. Clyde Cronkhite.

d. Preston Guillory.

31. For the first time ever:

a. Traffic in Orange County was worse than in Los Angeles County.

b. It took longer to find a parking place at John Wayne Airport than to fly to Sacramento.

c. Candidates in a race for the Board of Supervisors signed a mutual respect pact.

d. Sheriff Brad Gates admitted that he has never ridden a horse.

32. Who became a “Sir” when he received the Order of the Polar Star from the monarchy of Sweden?

a. Henry Segerstrom.

b. Gene Autry.

c. Brad Gates.

d. Willie Wisely.

33. Former professional football coach George Allen promised that by January, 1989, he would build a $30-million U.S. Fitness Academy to train coaches in Laguna Hills. Instead:

a. He persuaded backers to contribute to the National Heart Institute.

b. He built a $30-million academy in Sunset Beach to train surfers.

c. He abandoned the health theme and dedicated his work to world peace through meditation.

d. He came up about $30 million short and built nothing.

34. What Orange County-based record company emerged in 1988 as an outlet for albums by such local rock groups as the Swamp Zombies, National People’s Gang and Ann De Jarnett?

a. Dr. Dream Records.

b. Orange Curtain Records.

c. Dr. Robert Records.

d. Mr. Spock Records.

35. Hamburger king Carl Karcher was accused of:

a. Secretly eating at McDonald’s.

b. Voting for Jimmy Carter and Michael S. Dukakis, despite being a registered Republican.

c. Insider trading of his company’s stock.

d. Using a stand-in in his television commercials.

36. Who led the unsuccessful campaign for a countywide slow-growth ballot initiative in June?

a. Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez.

b. San Juan Capistrano rancher Tom Rogers.

c. The Sierra Club.

d. Newport Beach attorney John Simon.

37. County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder’s campaign for Congress suffered when it was learned that:

a. She lived outside the congressional district’s boundaries.

b. She did not attend college as her biographies claimed.

c. She had been voted county employees’ favorite supervisor.

d. She once worked for Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.

38. As a result of scandals involving other televangelists, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller announced that his “Hour of Power” ministry would:

a. Disband unless it could raise $10 million by Christmas.

b. Make sharp cutbacks because of fund-raising difficulties.

c. Take over the PTL ministry’s facilities and programs.

d. Begin conducting services from atop a drive-in theater’s refreshment stand.

39. After years of on-again, off-again planning, ground was broken for a library in Yorba Linda for former President Richard M. Nixon, but:

a. Nixon did not attend the ceremony because Congress prohibited his original presidential papers from being kept there.

b. San Clemente city officials boycotted the ceremonies to protest the library being moved from their city.

c. Nixon did not attend the ceremonies and sent his daughter instead.

d. Rain forced the event inside the small wooden house where Nixon was raised in Yorba Linda.

40. Lynne Cox, a 31-year-old Los Alamitos woman, became the first person to:

a. Swim a significant distance on Lake Baikal in the Soviet Union.

b. Swim the length of the Santa Ana River.

c. Swim from Huntington Beach to Santa Catalina in the chill of January.

d. Swim the backstroke exclusively while navigating the English Channel.

TRIVIA QUIZ ANSWERS Photographs, from left: Lynne Cox, question 40; Ron Lapin, 19; Sallie Dornan, 4; Ron Smith, 6.

1. C

2. C

3. A

4. C

5. B

6. A

7. C

8. B

9. C

10. C

11. A

12. B

13. B

14. B

15. B

16. B

17. D

18. C

19. D

20. A

21. C

22. D

23. C

24. C

25. D

26. C

27. C

28. B*

29. A

30. C

31. A

32. A

33. D

34. A

35. C

36. B

37. B

38. B

39. C

40. A

* Renzo PIANO