Excuse Me, Ladies . . . or, Er . . . Whatever

These are scratchy times at the San Diego school board. Consider last week’s meeting when board member Jim Roache referred to his four colleagues--Susan Davis, Kay Davis, Shirley Weber and Ann Armstrong--as ladies.

Roache, a sheriff’s captain, has a reputation

for being formal and courteous. Others refer to Supt. Tom Payzant as Tom, Roache calls him Dr. Payzant. He uses courtesy titles for other administrators as well.

Still, Kay Davis found the term ladies offensive.

“When you call us ladies, it sounds like a put-down,” she said.

“I don’t mean it like that,” Roache protested.

“Well, don’t do it again,” she snapped.

Later, Roache struggled for a gender-neutral form of address. He prefaced a motion with a plea for “the support of my peers.”

Rad Comrades

Two separate groups of Soviets visiting San Diego have been introduced to a marvel of modern Americana: 24-hour money machines, with secret codes and plastic identity cards.

Twenty-one Soviet mothers and children sponsored by Mothers Embracing Nuclear Disarmament last week visited the National City branch of Great American First Savings Bank, poking the machines and touring the check-sorting room.

The same day, 41 teachers and students from Moscow High Schools 23 and 45, part of the Spacebridge International Friendship Program, went to the Mission Federal Credit Union in Sorrento Valley to get their own Automatic Teller Machine cards.

The touring Soviet students are also polishing their English. Their grammar and pronunciation are good; their slang is dated. But they adapt quickly.

They arrived in San Diego with “groovy” and are departing with “awesome.”

Horrendous Hangover

A rowdy keg party in a vacant house near campus has given San Diego State University a black eye with its neighbors, and SDSU President Tom Day has responded with a letter of apology to a homeowners’ group.

Day told the College Area Community Council that the March 10 bash was “disgraceful” and promised that it won’t be repeated.

In addition, Daniel Nowak, vice president for student affairs, sent a letter to 6,000 students living near campus, saying that “this kind of reckless incident damages the university’s reputation” and asking for “responsible conduct in your off-campus social activities.”

The Day and Nowak letters were unprecedented. But then so was the party: 50 arrests for trespassing and disturbing the peace and three for felony burglary and vandalism.

Taxes, Votes, Sails

Political notes:

* State Board of Equalization member Ernest J. Dronenburg, a Republican from El Cajon, is among those under consideration by the Bush Administration for commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.

* Sluggo’s, the La Jolla hotdog-and-beer joint featuring Chicago sports photos and memorabilia, will have a “Vote early, Vote often,” party Tuesday in honor of the baseball opener (Cubs-Phillies) and the Chicago mayoral election (Daley Jr.-Vrdolyak).

Proprietors Norm and Sheila Lebovitz swear the Sluggo votes could prove crucial: Stranger things have happened in Chicago politics.

* Mayor Maureen O’Connor had a guest column in Friday’s USA Today speculating that the high-powered New York Yacht Club is the culprit behind the decision by a New York judge to snatch the America’s Cup from San Diego.

“Club members clearly want the next race on foreign waters so they have an opportunity to win the cup back. If the next race were held in San Diego, they would have to compete with other clubs for the right to represent the San Diego Yacht Club.”

George Thompson, yachtsman and a columnist for Florida Today, provided counterpoint: “The mayor is wrong. . . . San Diego lost the cup when its lust for loot drowned its love of the sport.”