Snapshots of life in the Golden State. : CHP Throws a Curve--Drivers Stay in Fast Lane

Is Broderick Crawford spinning in his grave?

California Highway Patrol officials have turned into scofflaws, announcing this week they will disregard a federal directive to lower the speed limit from 65 m.p.h. down to 55 m.p.h. on two state highways.

Their defiance follows the expiration of a federal experiment that allowed a 65 m.p.h. limit on portions of California 99 in the Central Valley and U.S. 215 near Temecula.

CHP and Caltrans officials received a warning this week from the Federal Highway Administration to re-lower the speeds or risk the loss of highway funds. But so far, they are not budging.

“There are legislative proposals pending to make (the higher limit) permanent,” said CHP spokesman Steve Kohler. “So it doesn’t make a lot of sense to lower the speed limit.”

In practical terms, motorists on a 141-mile stretch of California 99 can continue to save 23 minutes in travel time--as well as the cost of a speeding ticket. On 11 miles of U.S. 215 near Temecula, the saving is just under two minutes.

DRIVE TIME

Ticket talk: Those who do get tickets may have discovered the latest twist in wringing money out of motorists--they have to pay the full fine even if they attend traffic school.

Therefore, such selling points as laughs, lifestyle statements and culinary concoctions are more important than ever for the 501 schools across the state.

Hungry drivers these days can attend the Free Pizza, Coffee and Pastries or Lunch N Learn at Fine Restaurants traffic schools--as well as the Lettuce Amuse U, Lifesavers Entertains U or Orange (in Garden Grove) schools.

Speaking of oranges, drivers wishing to make a social statement--in the aftermath of Gov. Wilson’s veto of the gay rights bill and subsequent Stanford food-throwing incident--can choose the Finally . . . A Gay Traffic School, with courses in 15 locations.

As for those who like a good laugh in Chinese, there’s the Low Cost N Fun/Laff Learning School in Monterey Park. The all-day class is available in Mandarin, Cantonese and Taiwanese dialects.

AIDS in California

A look at the cumulative number of AIDS cases reported in the top 10 California counties through August 31, 1991. Counties are ranked by the total number of cases since 1981

Total Total Mortality No. Cases County No. Cases No. Deaths Rate % Per 100,000* 1. Los Angeles 13,147 9,217 70.1 148 2. San Francisco 9,889 6,965 70.4 1,366 3. San Diego 2,647 1,750 66.1 106 4. Alameda 1,725 1,054 61.1 135 5. Orange 1,605 1,055 65.7 67 6. Santa Clara 851 592 69.6 57 7. Sacramento 707 472 66.8 68 8. Riverside 678 495 73.0 58 9. Contra Costa 643 390 60.7 80 10. San Mateo 625 382 61.1 96

* Incidence per 100,000 rate is based on population totals from the 1990 Census. Figures in this category are rounded off.

SOURCE: California Office of AIDS

Compiled by Times editorial researcher Tracy Thomas

POLITICAL INSIDER

Sonny sings: In an era of full disclosure, some candidates resemble NFL halfbacks the way they shimmy and sway to avoid those sticky personal questions posed by pesky reporters.

Newly announced U.S. Senate candidate Sonny Bono won’t have to worry about that. In his recent autobiography, the mayor of Palm Springs reveals more than the nosiest journalist might ever want to know.

Unlike another prominent Republican, Vice President Dan Quayle, Bono makes clear his school record: “My lack of academic ability was always a popular topic of discussion whenever family gathered.”

The former pop singer is also not shy about the lust in his heart--beginning when he was a pre-teen. “About two years after we moved to Hawthorne (Ca.),” he writes, “I was offered my first glimpse of heaven: a girl’s (private parts).”

Finally, there is Bono’s reaction to then-wife Cher’s announcement that she had fallen in love with their band’s guitarist and was kicking Sonny out of their Las Vegas suite to make room for the younger musician: “No yelling. No slamming the door. I was a zombie who’d been defeated. I went downstairs to the casino and began playing blackjack. . . .”

Later in the evening, Bono continues, he bumped into the guitarist’s girlfriend--and took her to bed.

MEDIA WATCH

Political muscle: Talk about celebrity politics, M Inc. magazine weighs in this month with a cover story speculating that Arnold Schwarzenegger may someday run for governor.

Writer Aaron Latham does not pose the question to The Terminator himself. But he does quote sources including Gov. Wilson’s deputy press secretary, James Lee: “No deficit of any size would be too heavy to lift”; and Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies in West Los Angeles: “He would be a workaholic, unlike Reagan.”

Talking trash: Meanwhile, Garbage magazine has named an Arcata recycling specialist as one of four national visionaries in the art of trash disposal.

Margaret Gainer, the magazine reports, has brought the “small is beautiful” approach to recycling by advising small town governments and entrepreneurs on how to work together to reuse glass, aluminum and newspapers.

Calling the designation “an honor,” Gainer told The Times, “My mother, when she heard I was almost the centerfold of Garbage magazine, said, ‘That’s very nice dear. But what do I tell my friends?”’

EXIT LINE

“And poor Mr. Potter, T-crosser, I-dotter.

He has to cross t ‘s

And he has to dot i ‘s

In an I and T factory, out in Van Nuys!”

The late Theodor (Dr. Seuss) Geisel, who moved to La Jolla from Los Angeles more than four decades ago, in his book “Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?”

California Dateline appears every other Friday.