Joining the water conservation effort, Caltrans is...

Joining the water conservation effort, Caltrans is asking people to call when they see broken sprinklers flooding freeways.

First, SigAlerts. Now, SogAlerts.

Retiring County Supervisor Pete Schabarum has a way of antagonizing people, so perhaps it’s no coincidence that the Public Works Department is enthusiastically doing its part to push him out the Hall of Administration door.

Though he doesn’t leave office until December, the agency last month sent out a memo to division heads that said:

”. . . Preparations must be made to reflect the name of (Schabarum’s) successor on various materials used by our department. These include such items as forms, office and construction project credit signs. . . . I am asking you to identify all such items . . . so we will be prepared to have them in place as quickly as possible after the election results are known.”

They were given four weeks to compile the list.

Funny thing. The other day, Public Works asked the supervisors for permission to convert to a four-day work week. Guess who ridiculed the proposal? Maybe Schabarum’s successor will be more amenable.

Nick Scott of Redondo Beach was a bit taken aback the other night when he saw a South Bay video store’s “farewell” tribute to recently deceased stars.

The display had videos featuring Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson--and the Lakers.

Fax Madness I:

Employers will soon be able to provide their commuting employees with late-afternoon maps of trouble spots on freeways, transmitted by Traf-Fax.

Radio bulletins aren’t enough, explained Bill Greco, co-founder of the Marina del Rey company. “They’re so brief that they can be difficult to pick up,” he said. “In L.A., you often have to take two or three freeways and you just can’t absorb all the information.”

Companies can receive the Traf-Fax report at a designated time each afternoon for $30 a month. For acrobatic drivers with fax machines in their cars, updates are available every 15 minutes to tell them what they already know: It’s hell out there.

Fax Madness II:

For $15.95 per month, a Topanga company will fax subscribers personalized TV listings, giving times and channels of preferred programming.

“Custom Viewer is ideal for anyone who has ever waited years to see an old movie or other type of program only to discover, after the fact, that it recently aired,” noted company President Lauren Weinstein.

Personally, we’re excited. We wouldn’t want to take a chance of missing a repeat of KCBS Action News’ highly acclaimed “Search for Sleaze” series.

So now gubernatorial hopeful Dianne Feinstein says it’s time to stop the aerial spraying of malathion.

How to kill Medflies--the other death penalty debate.

miscelLAny:

Chumash Indian lore says the boulder for which Eagle Rock is named gained its shape after an eagle snatched a baby nearby. When the child’s mother screamed, the eagle dropped the infant. As the bird looked back, it smashed into the rock, leaving its imprint. Happens to Wily Coyote in Roadrunner cartoons all the time.