The newspaper ad’s bold blue headline declared:...

The newspaper ad’s bold blue headline declared: “15 SILO SITES PROPOSED FOR DENSELY POPULATED AREAS.”

Underneath a map of the proposed sites, it declared: “They say that they’ll create jobs and save us taxpayers money. And they say the Silos are here for our protection. But shouldn’t we know more?”

Several readers were so alarmed that they failed to notice the 800 number listed in the ad and instead telephoned The Times for an explanation.

Those who did phone the 800 number--a reported 12,000 since the campaign began a week ago--learned the less-than-sensational news that Silo is the name of a Philadelphia-based chain of consumer electronics stores that is opening outlets in Southern California.

“Our intent was to draw attention to Silo with a good-natured play of words on the Silo name,” a spokesman said.

OK, you’ve got our attention, now where’s the nearest Circuit City?

Then there are those IDA-H20 ads, purchased by the state of Idaho, that are popping up on billboards around L.A. They also have people worried--mainly, visiting Idahoans (admittedly not a great army of tourists). They feared that their state had decided to ship water here, as L.A. County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn proposed a few months ago.

“My blood pressure went through the ceiling,” said Brad Wright, an Idaho Falls attorney. “I thought, ‘They’re really serious about this.’ ” As for Angelenos who’ve dialed the toll-free number on the billboard, some “thought it was a water company,” said Grant Jones of the Boise Visitors Bureau. “So we had requests for bottled water.”

Actually, the ads are a pitch for white-water rafting vacations in Idaho.

That’s not the Iraqi president shaking hands with Gov. George Deukmejian in the accompanying photo. It’s lobbyist Jerry Haleva, who was recently signed by Ron Smith’s Celebrity Look-Alikes in Hollywood as a Saddam Hussein imitator. We’re reasonably certain that’s the real George Deukmejian.

Our fourth, and final, example of sneakiness concerns Riverside’s bid to grab a share of the film industry.

Noticing a recent mention here of the debut of “Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death” on cable TV, UC Riverside spokesman Jack Chappell wrote to reveal that it was “filmed in UCR’s very own avocado jungle.”

Several professors, as well as Chappell’s wife, were used as extras in the Guacamole Films production about an anthropologist who stumbles upon a tribe of man-(and-Doritos?)-eaters in Southern California. Chappell added that “Cannibal” was filmed “during the writers’ strike and was something of a clandestine undertaking.”

Fortunately, those avocado trees offer a lot of cover.

miscelLAny

The all-time parking tab at LAX is believed to have been chalked up a few years ago by a Bentley owner who maintained residences on each side of the country. Cost of docking his car for one stay at the airport for nearly six months: $1,700.