This big pig didn’t go to market,...

This big pig didn’t go to market, after all.

Grunt, the 800-plus-pound porker who was abandoned on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, apparently isn’t going to end up on the breakfast tables of America.

After newspaper and television reports that Grunt might have to be put to death by authorities because no one would adopt him, more than 40 people from across the nation phoned the County Animal Control Shelter in Carson Monday.

“It has just been crazy here, just crazy,” said Lt. George Warfield, a shelter spokesman.

Those who opened their arms to Grunt included Los Angeles County Fair officials, ranchers from the Ventura and San Diego areas and even a grocery store owner in Pennyslvania who offered to drive to Carson to scoop up Grunt, with honorable intentions, of course. “He said he just couldn’t let the pig be put to death,” said Leslie Mitchell, district supervisor for the shelter.

Grunt has been homeless since January, when his owners in semi-rural Rolling Hills Estates moved away and abandoned him to their gardener, who tried to slaughter him. The animal’s squeals caused neighbors to alert sheriff’s deputies.

The story didn’t touch the heart of everyone. The shelter also heard from a few folks interested in making pork chops out of Grunt but “we just disregarded those calls,” said Mitchell.

Although the porker’s new family hasn’t been chosen yet, the shelter has also ruled out callers who were apartment dwellers and “don’t realize how big he is,” Warfield said. Grunt has been compared in size to a Volkswagen Bug, though he’s more maneuverable in mud.

Although the latest dean’s list is one of the longest ever at Valley College, the turnout may be a little lower than expected Wednesday when the school’s top scholars are honored at a special tea.

Rex Karrs won’t be there. Neither will Wratha Kahn, Gray Poupon, Hans Zoff, Claire D. Aisle, Roger Overndowt, N. Nigma, Mistar Spauk and about 60 other honorees included on the dean’s list in the latest edition of the school’s newspaper, the Valley Star.

Newspaper spokesmen said they weren’t in on the joke and promised an apology, as well as the correct list, in the next issue.

“I gave it a quick glance and saw nothing wrong,” one editor said of the original dean’s list that was proofread and then stored on a disk.

Apparently, a computer hacker later added the fictitious names, including those of some real non-honor students.

Sounds like the work of a Dee Generet, which was another name on the list.

The city of Inglewood is rechristening a street near the Forum as Kareem Court in honor of retiring Laker great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar--and it’s about time.

After all, there’s already a Chamberlain Road in Pasadena, a Baylor Drive in Norwalk and a West Road in Whittier. And another Laker star, Earvin Johnson, must feel a warm glow each time he passes Valencia’s Magic Mountain Parkway.