Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back to Del Mar . . .

Imagine my surprise to learn that a seven-foot shark was captured just a few yards off the beach at Del Mar.

I spent most of Sunday at the beach at Del Mar. I’ve got a sunburned wife and son to prove it.

I believe everything in this world has its place. The place for sharks is: 1) In the movies, 2) In a tank at Sea World or 3) As my son, who is 3 years old, says, “far, far away.”

Grant Larson, community services director for the Del Mar lifeguards, holds a similar view.

So when he spotted the ominous dorsal fin of a thresher shark a few days before our Sunday visit, he immediately ordered swimmers and surfers to dry ground. Compliance, as you might expect, was quick and total.

The shark was in waist-high water feeding on a school of small bait fish. Larson and fellow lifeguard Jim Poland waded out to do battle.

In 20 years as a Del Mar lifeguard, Larson had never seen a shark so close to the beach.

“It was pretty much of an adrenaline rush,” he said. “But I figured we had the advantage. He was concentrating on that bait, and that long tail is a good target to grab.”

In strict ichthyological fact, the thresher, one of the most populous of the shark family, is not considered a threat to man. “Jaws” it’s not.

“It may look menacing,” said Sea World curator Jerry Goldsmith. “But it doesn’t have the big mouth or huge teeth of the Great White. I’ve never known a thresher to attack.”

Larson & Poland, of course, had to make a snap decision.

They had a circling shark near a gaggle of bare-limbed bathers. A lifeguard’s career tends to flash before his eyes at moments like this.

In dragging the thrashing thresher ashore, it expired. Not unusual, says Goldsmith. Even the most tender care can cause a shark’s demise.

The night of the thresher incident, Larson, Poland and other lifeguards found yet another proper spot for sharks: the frying pan.

“Best shark steak I ever had,” Larson said.

Add-Ons

Political mathematics.

* Signature gathering is going slower than expected for the group trying to repeal the homosexual rights ordinance adopted by the San Diego City Council.

The group has until next Wednesday to gather 28,293 signatures of registered voters to put the Human Dignity Ordinance on the November ballot. So far, only about 10,000 signatures are in hand.

And the group’s spiritual leader, the Rev. Louis Sheldon, chairman of the Anaheim-based Traditional Values Coalition, is busy elsewhere.

He’s being filmed by the CBS show “48 Hours” as he buttonholes legislators in Sacramento on state matters.

* How powerful is the Friends of the San Diego Public Library?

The mayor’s office reports 2,100 phone calls and 500 letters--many from schoolchildren--pleading with the City Council to avert cutbacks in the library system.

That’s the largest public response to any issue in years--growth included. It may get even larger next week when the proposed city budget is released.

* A piece of Mike Gotch for Assembly literature says he was reelected to the City Council in 1983 despite being outspent by his opponent.

Not quite.

Gotch spent $93,580.63, according to records of the city clerk. His opponent, political neophyte Eleu Tabares, spent $1,767.85.

Nice Knowing You

Times reporter Tom Gorman was interviewing County Jail inmates in Vista about life in the county’s most escape-proof jail when he spotted a familiar face.

“I think I know you from somewhere,” Gorman offered.

“I think I know you from somewhere,” said the inmate.

“Aren’t you the guy I used to take my lawn mower to for a tuneup and blade sharpening?” Gorman asked.

“Well, not anymore,” the inmate answered.

He’s serving time for assault with a deadly weapon after a scuffle over a woman at a country-Western bar and grill. He used a blade. Sharpened.