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Unlike its prestigious counterpart in Boston, the...

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<i> From staff and wire reports </i>

Unlike its prestigious counterpart in Boston, the Los Angeles Marathon is known more for its unusual entries than for record-threatening times.

The cast of eccentrics in last year’s spectacle here included a juggler, three basketball dribblers, a “centipede” of 13 individuals joined at the head by a piece of ribbon, a French waiter carrying a champagne bottle on a tray, and two men in doctors’ smocks transporting a ragman on a stretcher.

The March 5 race promises to be just as flaky this year, offering such characters as:

--Thomas Rohrer, 52, a Casanova of the Causeways who hands out red roses from a hat as he runs.

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--Joey Hamp, who gives new meaning to the term marathon dancer by halting her run every four miles to dance for spectators.

--Todd Peterson, a U.S. Coast Guard technician, who plans to re-enlist near the starting line and then run the race, assuming he can get shore leave.

The Firemen’s Grapevine magazine notes that the 1904 budget of the Los Angeles Fire Department amounted to $192,805.84 and included such line entries as:

--Horses ($4,425).

--Horseshoeing ($1,515.50).

--Hay ($10,748.45).

This year’s budget is more than a thousand times higher at $202 million.

What’s really startling about the current figure, spokesman Vince Marzo pointed out, is that “we don’t buy hay any more.”

Please don’t feed the praying mantis:

The Los Angeles County Natural History Museum says it will open an insect zoo early next year.

No word yet on whether the insect park will follow the lead of the Los Angelez Zoo and allow patrons to donate money to “adopt” one of the critters.

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Call it a standoff between the Bush Administration and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors

First, President Bush passed over Supervisor Pete Schabarum, who wanted the post of secretary of transportation. That hurt. But now, Dan Wolf, the spokesman for Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, has turned down an offer of a job as chief speech writer for Secretary of State James A. Baker III. Instead, Wolf is moving over to the Disney Co. in Burbank as manager of public relations.

“I chose Mickey Mouse over the State Department,” Wolf noted.

It’s an offer that sounds too good to be true. And it isn’t true, warns the Los Angeles Department of Public Works.

A slender, 30-ish man who’s about 5 feet, 2 inches tall has reportedly posed as a city maintenance worker and duped at least five residents in the county into paying from $40 to $100 for paving work he doesn’t perform.

The impostor, who wears a white hard hat and a yellow safety vest, usually claims the job will be done for free, but later asks for money to buy additional materials to complete the project, said Public Works spokesman Tony Harris.

His latest victim was initially skeptical, Harris said, until the impostor “pointed down the street and said, ‘There’s my crew.’ ”

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That’s what they get for asking:

The executive officer of the Los Angeles County Superior Court requested authorization from the Board of Supervisors to have liquor served in the Santa Monica Courthouse for a pre-retirement birthday party for Superior Court Judge Leonard S. Wolf.

Calling it “bad public policy,” the supervisors said no.

Look for a change of venue.

It’s the fear of every caller skeptical about the thoroughness of an information operator. John Stein of West Los Angeles asked for an individual’s number and was told there was no listing. Undeterred, he dialed operator assistance again and asked for the same number. The operator checked and said, “ Still no listing.”

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