Even Ice Cream Seems to Have Lost Its Innocence

Who would ever have imagined that ice cream would become so menacing?

First, there was the manager of Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour in Escondido who went tutti-frutti.

He liked to secretly videotape female employees undressing and changing into their work uniforms.

He even joked to the employees that, ha, ha, be sure to face the door so the camera can see you. Chutzpah meets jamocha almond fudge.

When he was caught, he called it a prank. A judge last week called it a felony and gave the voyeur six months in jail.

Naturally, “Inside Edition,” the television tabloid, is sniffing the case.

Stand by for “He Had His Own Flavor of the Month.” Or maybe: “Scoops of Pleasure.”

As if that isn’t bad news enough for ice cream, now comes word from Vista that homeowners are fighting mad about ice cream trucks prowling their neighborhoods.

They’re mad about the number of trucks (10 in one hour down one street) and the insipid amplified music used to lure kids.

They’re mad about ice cream that has been frozen and frozen into tasteless slush. They’re mad about trucks that supposedly sell things to the kids other than just ice cream (like condoms and cigarettes).

“Now I understand how people can go berserk,” said Ann Pion, 66, who has lived on the same street for 22 years.

“The music is so loud I have to close the doors to watch the news. I thought of getting a .410 and just blasting away.”

Pion and 2 dozen others picketed Vista City Hall.

In response, the Vista City Council on Tuesday passed an emergency ice cream ordinance: calling for safety inspections of the trucks, restrictions on operating hours, curbs on selling anything but ice cream, and more.

Another concern has been about the character of those driving the ice cream trucks.

One driver was arrested for carrying a loaded gun.

I suggest that something is seriously askew in North County when the Good Humor Man starts packing heat.

Skateboarding to El Norte

The meaning of things.

* Closing four lanes of Interstate 5 near San Ysidro to help illegal immigrants avoid being hit by cars has led to some odd sights.

Times photographer Vince Compagnone spotted one youth zipping northward in one of the closed lanes on a skateboard.

* No liquor sales in Tijuana on Saturday or Sunday because of election day. Also, the bullfights have been canceled.

* Different styles.

In Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony is set to address a rally Saturday that will begin a week of prayer vigils outside abortion clinics by anti-abortion activists.

In San Diego, Catholic Bishop Robert H. Brom has no similar plans to address or even attend a similar rally here tonight.

As he did with peace rallies during the Persian Gulf War, Brom is issuing a statement of support but delegating direct involvement to others in the diocese.

San Diego anti-abortion activists, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, are disappointed at Brom’s hands-off approach.

* San Diego bumper sticker, on a Cadillac Seville: “God Is My Rock, I’m on His Roll. “

$2.3-Million Rule Change

Inquiring minds.

Now that Susan Bray has filed a lawsuit, it reheats an ethical debate in various San Diego newsrooms: How much of Bray’s past should be reported?

In the weeks after the $100,000 sex scandal broke, newspaper and television reporters began digging into Bray’s marital history, her life in Nebraska, her lifestyle/partystyle after coming to San Diego, and her reputation among Gaslamp Quarter merchants and nightspot operators.

Most of the information was never used.

In one newsroom, feminists asserted that doing a profile of Bray would amount to “victimizing the victim.”

The question now before the journalistic court:

Do the same rules apply since Bray has gone from a victim suffering in silence to a litigant seeking $2.35 million-plus from taxpayers?