Cooler Summer Keeps Fire Season From Sizzling

Just two months ago, state forestry officials warned that the combined effects of the five-year drought and the winter freeze could make this fire season a disastrous one. So far, another weather wrinkle--gray skies--has helped prevent the woods from erupting in flame.

About 5,200 of the 44 million acres administered by the state Department of Forestry have burned to date--one-sixth the normal amount.

“The weather has served us well--low temperatures, higher humidities, winds off the ocean instead of the land and moisture accompanying lightning,” said spokeswoman Karen Terrill.

While beach-lovers curse their fate, officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the weather pattern holds. “We still have 10 million dead trees and thousands of acres of dead brush out there,” Terrill said, adding the potential for a terrible fire season still exists.

CAPITOL INSIDER

Receptionist’s Recollections: As the receptionist for California’s governors for the last 46 years, Jackie Habecker Grunwald held a unique post from which to observe the state’s chief executives. Among her impressions:

- Republican Earl Warren, 1943-53: “He was the father type. We had Christmas parties and he played Santa Claus.”

- Democrat Pat Brown, 1959-67: “He loved being governor. I think he’d love to be governor today.”

- Republican Ronald Reagan, 1967-75: “He was very friendly. He’d always say good morning on his way to press conferences.”

- Democrat Jerry Brown, 1975-83: “We’d work long hours, long days. I think he was perhaps a little aloof with some people.”

- Republican George Deukmejian, 1983-91: “Very much a family man and very gentlemanly. . . . He’d go out of his way not to ignore someone.”

Between the Covers: Assemblyman Dave Elder (D-Long Beach), whose ex-wife Linda Proaps has penned a steamy novel about life as a lawmaker’s wife, is telling colleagues the book’s publication is his “mid-wife crisis.”

Proaps, a Sacramento lawyer who served as a legislative aide, was the second of Elder’s three wives. Her “Capitol Punishment,” which depicts state legislators as power-hungry philanderers, features a scathing portrait of a fictional Long Beach assemblyman in the throes of an extramarital affair.

CALIFORNIA FACT

Is it just an interesting coincidence or are State Bar members planning a man-to-man defense of convicted felons?

- Number of California state prison inmates: 101,738

- Number of practicing California attorneys: 102,810.

1990 California Vehicle Thefts

Almost 300,000 vehicles worth $988 million were stolen in California last year. Nearly half of the thefts were reported in Los Angeles County, with San Diego and Orange counties ranking second and third: Authorities say that 89.5% of the stolen vehicles were recovered. Below are the 10 counties with the most vehicles stolen. Also shown are the cars most frequently stolen.

County Vehicles Stolen* Los Angeles 129,051 San Diego 39,843 Orange: 20,067 San Bernardino 14,521 Riverside 11,936 Sacramento 11,906 San Francisco 11,763 Alameda 10,311 Fresno 7,606 Santa Clara 6,520

Most Frequently Stolen Cars

Rank year Make Model Thefts 1 ’88 Hyundai Excel 2,020 2 ’79 Oldsmobile Cutlass 1,433 3 ’78 Toyota Celica 1,381 4 ’80 Toyota Celica 1,342 5 ’83 Toyota Celica 1,328 6 ’82 Toyota Celica 1,273 7 ’79 Toyota Celica 1,258 8 ’80 Toyota Corolla 1,227 9 ’78 Oldsmobile Cutlass 1,217 10 ’77 Toyota Celica 1,201

* includes cars, trucks, motorcycles and recreational vehicles.

Source: California Highway Patrol

Compiled by Times researcher Tracy Thomas

MEDIA WATCH

Time for Good Behavior: A proposed ballot measure guaranteeing upstanding California workers six-week annual vacations is drawing envious--albeit tongue-in-cheek--reactions elsewhere in the nation.

Boston Globe columnist Susan Trausch declared the initiative “words of wisdom. . . . Let us hope they take root, travel east, and become as popular as the Beach Boys.”

The measure, which needs the signatures of 615,958 registered voters to qualify for the June, 1992, ballot, would guarantee six-week vacations to full-time workers who meet five of six conditions: voting in the most recent election, graduating from high school, taking no more than 80 hours of sick leave a year, having no drunk driving or drug convictions in 10 years, not smoking on the job, and commuting to work by public transit 80% of the time.

Meanwhile, the conservative Washington Times has noted that few people are still laughing at the effort by Assemblyman John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) to promote the concept of self-esteem.

“Mr. Vasconcellos continues to win adherents,” the Times writes, “as he seeks to lift the insights of individual self-esteem therapy into government-sanctioned or required programs.”

At least 12 self-esteem conferences are scheduled across the nation this year, the Times reports, and three states have joined California in establishing self-esteem task forces.

EXIT LINE

“This year’s election turns on more than current politics and policies. It’s a watershed contest with the historic subtheme: Who lost San Francisco? There’s an assumption among its citizens that San Francisco is in decline, that the once-perfect whitewashed city on the hills has too many problems for even its most ardent lovers to ignore.”

--San Francisco Examiner columnist Bill Mandel, on the opening of the San Francisco mayoral race among incumbent Art Agnos and three challengers--Supervisor Tom Hsieh, Assessor Richard Hongisto and former Police Chief Frank Jordan.