FOURTH ANNUAL TRIVIA QUIZ : Orange County 1990

So, you thought you had seen your last pop quiz when you got out of school? Wrong! There are fewer than 48 hours left until the new year begins, so it’s final exam time, to see just how close you were paying attention to the news in 1990. That’s right, it’s the fourth annual Times Orange County Trivia Quiz. Don’t bone up on subject areas such as world peace, global warming or the size of the federal deficit. You’ll be better prepared if you know such important facts as the cost of an official souvenir tie at the Richard M. Nixon Library & Birthplace ($25), how many times bigger the new John Wayne Airport terminal is than the old (12), and what Bishop Desmond Tutu’s least favorite ride was when he visited Disneyland (Splash Mountain). Answer 35 to 40 right and you can rent yourself out to the public library’s local history room. Get 25 to 34 right, and go to the head of the metered on-ramp. Get 15 to 24 correct, and go to the back of the line of the metered on-ramp. Fewer than 15 right? Move to Los Angeles County. But don’t worry, this is an open-book test. So pull out the last 364 issues of the daily newspaper and let’s get trivial. For answers see B12.

1. Q: Who was the skipper of the American Trader, which spilled 400,000 gallons of crude oil as it tried to moor off Huntington Beach? a. Capt. Joseph Hazelwood. b. Capt. Lloyd Bucher. c. Capt. Robert La Ware. d. Skipper Jonas Grumby. 2. Q: Muckenthaler Cultural Center officials in Fullerton briefly removed, then reinstated, a photograph from the center’s “Heroes, Heroines, Idols and Icons” exhibit that showed: a. Beatle John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono thumbing their noses at Paul and Linda McCartney. b. Beatle George Harrison, wearing only a loincloth, embracing the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. c. Beatle John Lennon, nude, embracing his fully clothed wife, Yoko Ono. d. Beatle Ringo Starr embracing Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat. 3. Q: Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic, who was portrayed by Tom Cruise in the movie “Born on the Fourth of July,” very nearly ran for Congress in Orange County. His opponent, if Kovic had not decided to withdraw at the last minute, would have been: a. Robert K. Dornan. b. Curt Pringle. c. William C. Dannemeyer. d. Tom Hayden. 4. Q: Which of the following improvements can not be found at the new and improved John Wayne Airport? a. A colorized bronze statue of John Wayne. b. Fax machines for frequent-flier club members. c. Valet parking. d. Perennially green, freeze-dried palm trees. 5. Q: The Orange County Performing Arts Center’s top official blamed the facility’s worst financial year and its potential $1-million deficit in part on: a. Bad reviews. b. Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. c. A budget top-heavy with management salaries. d. Competition for leisure dollars from nearby South Coast Plaza. 6. Q: Winston, the Orange County Sheriffs Department’s successful drug-sniffing police dog, had to hang up his badge this year because: a. He bit Sheriff Brad Gates. b. He badly bit a drug suspect during a raid. c. He was caught with two ounces of cocaine in his doghouse. d. He was getting along in years. 7. Q: Name the two Orange County private investigators who collected a $616,000 court judgment because Sheriff Brad Gates improperly denied them concealed-weapon permits. a. Tex Ritter b. Frank Ritter c. John Ritter d. Ty Ritter 8. Q: County budget-cutters recently considered doing away with the: a. Board of Supervisors. b. Orange County Cemetery District. c. Food Sanitation Advisory Council. d. Commission on the Status of Women. 9. Q: The Laguna Hills High School academic decathlon team, the reigning California champs, went to Des Moines for the national championships and: a. Placed first. b. Placed second. c. Placed third. d. Overslept and missed the final round of competition. 10. Q: Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic candidate for governor in 1990, is married to an investment banker whose sale of stock in an Orange County-based company generated controversy during the campaign. Who is Feinstein’s husband? a. John Zaccaro. b. John Feinstein. c. Richard Blum. d. John Warner. 11. Q: What was the name of that company? a. National Education Corp. b. URS Corp. c. Lincoln Savings & Loan d. Western Digital Corp. 12. When the U.S. Census Bureau counted the homeless, agency workers: a. Dressed up like street people and camped out under bridges. b. Used satellite photos. c. Dressed normally and went out to known homeless hangouts. d. Consulted with psychics. 13. The Keating Five refers to: a. The latest streetwise handshake. b. Quintuplets born this year to Chuck and Carrie Keating of Garden Grove. c. Five U.S. senators who accepted large campaign contributions from Irvine-based S&L; exec Charles H. Keating Jr. d. Five savings and loans that Keating ran into the ground. 14. Approximately how many prisoners did Sheriff Brad Gates let out early in 1990 to relieve overcrowding in the county jails? a. 2,500. b. 5,000. c. 25,000. d. More than 35,000. 15. A Costa Mesa city policy drew the wrath of U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp, who called it “un-American.” The policy proposed to: a. Ban dayworkers from using leaf blowers before 7 a.m. b. Withhold federal grant money from programs that serve illegal aliens. c. Restrict the sale of British-made goods at South Coast Plaza. d. Deny city grants to artists who create works deemed “obscene.” 16. After the Costa Mesa City Council adopted a policy forbidding the use of city arts rants for “obscenity” or for religious or political activities, which of the following did local arts activists not do to protest? a. Stage a guerrilla theater piece in council chambers during which they symbolically stripped the city of its self-proclaimed status as “City of the Arts.” b. Stage a guerrilla theater piece during which they donned masks of former Mayor Peter F. Buffa. c. Stage a guerrilla theater piece during which they disrobed, then performed excerpts from Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” naked. The performance ended in their arrest. d. Present the city with a check for $3.72, which they said represented the amount in arts grants paid to the city by the two residents whose complaints led to the restrictions. 17. James G. Enright retired after 30-plus years of service with Orange County. He was: a. Chief deputy district attorney. b. Chief Superior Court clerk. c. Chief Superior Court administrator. d. Chief deputy public defender. 18. In his mob-related trial, Michael Rizzitello was convicted of attempted murder in connection with an extortion attempt to take control of the Mustang Theater in Santa Ana, which has since been destroyed by arson. The Mustang Theater was: a. A drive-in theater. b. A square-dance hall. c. A rock ‘n’ roll night club. d. A topless bar. 19. Randy Steven Kraft, convicted in 1989 of 16 Orange County murders, made the news this year because of a card game he is involved in on Death Row with three other murderers, two of them notorious serial killers. The card game is: a. Poker. b. Pinochle. c. Bridge. d. Crazy Eights. 20. Michael R. Capizzi was appointed district attorney by the Board of Supervisors in January, replacing longtime district attorney Cecil Hicks. Hicks resigned from office to: a. Join F. Lee Bailey’s law firm. b. Become a Superior Court judge. c. Become a justice on the 4th District Court of Appeal. d. Enjoy retirement. 21. Thomas Maniscalco, a lawyer and former head of the Hessians motorcycle gang, went on trial accused of masterminding a triple slaying in Westminster 10 years ago in a biker feud. During the course of the case, which ended in a mistrial: a. His own lawyer was arrested and charged with filing false voter registration information. b. His trial judge committed suicide after a serious illness. c. He became popular among inmates for leading the case for better conditions at the Orange County Jail. d. None of the above. e. All of the above. 22. Leaders of what Orange County landmark sparked controversy by getting a state exemption from a night of malathion spraying because they were holding an outdoor party? a. The Performing Arts Center. b. Crystal Cathedral. c. Disneyland. d. Cook’s Corner. 23. And the state caused its own problems by exempting another targeted spray area because officials were worried about harming what endangered species? a. The Mediterranean fruit fly. b. The bald eagle. c. The kangaroo rat. d. Orange County Democrats. 24. The Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, which unveiled expansion plans this year, says it stores tons of ammunition but would not comment on: a. The fate of red foxes. b. Least tern populations. c. The loading of Standard missiles. d. The presence of nuclear weapons. 25. Mission Viejo Councilman Robert A. Curtis was the target of a hotly disputed recall attempt that was supported by the Mission Viejo Co. The councilman, who is now mayor, and the developer were partly at odds because Curtis: a. Proposed to rename the city Mission Nueva. b. Led an unsuccessful drive to annex nearby Aegean Hills into the planned community. c. Wanted to outlaw red tile roofs in the city. d. Denied a permit for the company’s floating Christmas party on Lake Mission Viejo. 26. Which pitcher led the Angels’ staff with 18 wins? a. Chuck Finley. b. Mark Langston. c. Jim Abbott. d. Nolan Ryan. 27. Charles David Rothenberg was paroled from prison in January after serving his sentence for setting fire to his son in 1983, but was back behind bars eight months later after he: a. Took off his electronic anklet that alerted authorities when he left the area. b. Eluded his round-the-clock parole agents. c. Did not show up for work at a doughnut shop. d. Took a trip to Disneyland. 28. A judge awarded Joan Irvine Smith how much in her seven-year legal battle with the Irvine Co.? a. $149. b. $1.49 million. c. $149.5 million. d. $1.49 billion. 29. In an effort to improve role models for young children, Jamie Brown, principal of Cambridge Elementary School in Orange, decided to: a. Send teachers to self-improvement camp. b. Ban Bart Simpson T-shirts. c. Invite astronauts to speak at lunchtime. d. Forbid television watching by children under 11. 30. In order to make Orange County-reared Todd Marinovich, now USC’s star quarterback, a more perfect athlete, which technique did his father Marv not employ? a. Take vitamins before Todd was conceived. b. Give the infant Todd frozen raw kidney to teethe on. c. Make the grade school-aged Todd run alongside the car from Huntington Beach to Newport after he had not played his best in a game. d. Place subliminal self-improvement tapes under the teen-aged Todd’s pillow at night. 31. Which work of art created a ruckus in Orange County last year? a. A nude statue of a Greek god, erected by a developer in Irvine. b. A painting juxtaposing the images of Marilyn Monroe and John and Robert Kennedy, on display at a Laguna Beach gallery. c. A painting of the Greek mythological figure Icarus, featuring nudity but no airplanes, that was intended for a poster commemorating the renovation of the John Wayne Airport. d. A project by a New York artist at Newport Harbor Art Museum that involved a heap of garbage and a live ox. 32. A Superior Court commissioner temporarily blocked Mola Development Corp.’s plans to build housing on the old Hellman Ranch property in Seal Beach because: a. There was an earthquake fault beneath the land. b. Mola had filed a lawsuit against the city. c. There was a pending referendum on the project. d. The city’s housing plan was out of date. 33. Huntington Beach city government ran into land-title problems in the Central Park area. The owners of some small lots in that area are difficult to find because: a. An encyclopedia company once gave away the lots to people buying its books. b. Hippies bought the land for communal farms in the 1960s. c. Small oil companies that once owned the land are now defunct. d. A coastal Indian tribe, now scattered, owns the land. 34. Orange County’s Gilbert Hyatt gained national attention for: a. Claiming in a lawsuit that he was cheated out of a share of the Hyatt Hotel chain. b. Becoming the first local man named to a Presidential Commission on Human Rights. c. Winning $40 million in the California Lottery. d. Being awarded a patent for inventing the design for the computer-on-a-chip. 35. The phone company has announced a proposal to create a new area code in the current 714 area. The new area code will be: a. 707 b. 909 c. 713 d. 666 36. In a lengthy article appearing in the conservative publication the American Spectator, former Irvine mayor and acclaimed liberal Larry Agran was dubbed: a. The Evil Emperor. b. The Evil King. c. The Evil Democrat. d. That Rotten Liberal. 37. From the San Bernardino foothills to the coast of Orange County, Southern Californians in 1990 breathed air that set records for: a. Being cleanest. b. Being smoggiest. c. Having the most carbon monoxide. d. Causing lung damage. 38. An attempt by the Pacific Amphitheatre’s owners to gain a controlling interest in the rival Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre failed because: a. Michael Jackson vowed never to play in Orange County again if the deal went through. b. Corporate raider T. Boone Pickens weighed in with a higher bid. c. The Irvine Co., which owns the land, announced plans to build a new planned community on the site. d. Antitrust lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice sued to stop the proposed merger, saying it would create a concert monopoly in Orange County. 39. Real estate developer Arthur B. Birtcher and his wife pledged $15 million to: a. The construction of a new building at UC Irvine. b. The American Heart Assn. c. A building industry program to assist the homeless. d. The Papal Foundation to help the Pope carry out Roman Catholic missions worldwide. 40. There are 30 Time magazine covers featuring Richard M. Nixon hanging in the new presidential library in Yorba Linda. How many times, total, has Nixon appeared on the news magazine’s cover? a. 30 b. 54 c. 66 d. 75

TRIVIA QUIZ ANSWERS 1. c. La Ware was captain of the American Trader. (Hazelwood piloted the Exxon Valdez, Bucher was in charge of the USS Pueblo, and Grumby was the skipper of the Minnow, the shipwrecked boat on “Gilligan’s Island.”) 2. c. Lennon was pictured nude, embracing his wife. 3. a. Dornan would have been Kovic’s opponent. 4. c. There is no valet parking at the airport. Yet. 5. b. Hussein’s invasion created uncertainty about the economy and was partly blamed for the center’s losses. 6. d. Winston reached retirement age. 7. b and d. Frank and Ty Ritter were awarded the judgment. 8. d. The Commission on the Status of Women was considered for a budget cut. 9. b. The decathlon team placed second. 10. c. Blum is Feinstein’s husband. 11. a. National Education Corp. was the stock Blum sold. 12. c. Census workers dressed normally and went to homeless hangouts. 13. c. The Keating Five are five U.S. senators. 14. d. The sheriff released more than 35,000 prisoners early. 15. b. Kemp opposed withholding federal funds from programs that serve illegal aliens. 16. c. Activists did not perform “Twelfth Night” in the nude. 17. a. Enright was chief deputy district attorney. 18. d. The Mustang Theater was a topless bar. 19. c. Kraft plays bridge with other Death Row murderers. 20. b. Hicks became a Superior Court judge. 21. e. All of those developments occurred during Maniscalco’s trial. 22. b. The Crystal Cathedral was exempted from spraying. 23. c. The kangaroo rat prompted a spraying exemption. 24. d. Naval weapons station officials won’t comment on nuclear weapons. 25. b. Curtis wanted to annex Aegean Hills. 26. a. Finley had 18 wins. 27. b. Rothenberg eluded parole agents. 28. c. Smith was awarded $149.5 million. 29. b. Bart Simpson T-shirts were banned. 30. d. The younger Marinovich did not listen to subliminal tape recordings. 31. c. The painting of Icarus was rejected for an airport poster. 32. d. Mola’s plans were blocked because of the outdated housing plan. 33. a. “Encyclopedia lots” caused land-title problems. 34. d. Hyatt received the patent for designing the computer-on-a-chip. 35. b. The new area code will be 909. 36. a. Agran was called The Evil Emperor. 37. a. There were fewer smog alerts in 1990. 38. d. Antitrust lawyers opposed the proposed merger. 39. d. Birtcher gave $15 million to the Pope. 40. c. Nixon was on 66 Time magazine covers.