Perhaps Cliff Notes Should Be Part of U.S. Aid to Democracy Seekers

Heavy winter, heavy reading.

The sister-city contingent from Vladivostok in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (or what’s left of it) has come and gone from San Diego.

And left behind a plaintive request of their San Diego hosts: Please to send us books about democracy, free market and capitalism.

The official chore of selecting the books fell to the Economic Development Corp., which began by gathering up half a dozen texts on good business management. Including “Dave’s Way,” by Wendy’s founder R. David Thomas.

If you hear about a chain of borscht-burger stands opening in Vladivostok, remember it started in San Diego.

To round out the list, EDC boss Daniel Pegg visited the government publishing office in Washington, D.C. He came away with two dozen books that are long on how-to but a brick short on page-turning potential.

These are not books likely to be devoured by sunbathers lounging on the beach at Peter the Great Bay.

Among the tomes: “Franchising in the Economy 1986-88,” “White Collar Pay: Private Goods Producing Industries,” “The U.S. Tax Court” and, my personal favorite, “A Five-Year Plan for Meeting the Automatic Data Processing & Telecommunication Needs of the Federal Government.”

It’s hard to imagine anyone entranced by “Environmental Restoration and Waste Management” or “Employee Benefits in Medium and Large Firms in 1989.”

Also on the reading list is the San Diego City Council Policy Booklet.

Now, there’s a sobering thought: The Vladivostokians, after 75 years of oppression, learning about democracy from that unrepentant gang of political mud-wrestlers called the San Diego City Council.

If you hear about the sanguine folk of Vladivostok (“We’ve seen the future and it’s a mess”) saying to hell with self-governance and instead opting for monarchy, just remember:

That, too, started in San Diego.

Rolling Right Along

Less art, more matter.

* Floyd redux.

Frequent candidate Floyd Morrow says he’s considering running for mayor of San Diego in 1992, if his other ventures don’t require too much time.

Among those ventures is the manufacture of his Morrow Mobiles, expandable fiberglass travel trailers. Prototypes are being built in El Cajon.

Morrow hopes to interest the Soviets in manufacturing them for the Soviet market.

He already has a Moscovite general manager, Olga Nickolaevna Goriouchkina, for the project.

* North County bumper sticker: “My Dad Was Trusty of the Month at S.D. County Jail.”

* The body of Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Stanewich is still at the mortuary: three months after Stanewich was shot to death by a fellow deputy while robbing a home in Olivenhain.

No one is saying why no burial or cremation.

* Diversity.

Using the Del Mar Fairgrounds at the same time last weekend: The San Diego Gun Show, the San Diego Antique Motorcycle Show, and a gay rodeo.

* Anti-panhandling T-shirt, seen in downtown San Diego: “No. I Don’t Have a Quarter.”

Campground Spirits Laid to Rest

Ghost busting.

It used to be a staple of the 6th-grade outdoor camp run by the county Office of Education in the woods of North County: Scary stories told around a campfire.

No more.

Dan Baker, the county’s director of outdoor education, said he decided the scary stories didn’t fit into the educational goals of the program: a week’s dose of science, math, crafts and survival skills.

Baker said some camp counselors grumbled about dropping their favorite stories. Training sessions were held to learn new stories.

Replacing the old stories of headless horsemen and other Stephen King-like terrors are new stories about sports, Indian legends and ethical behavior among children.

So far, Baker said, there have been no complaints, apparitional or otherwise.