Schools Always Had Bullies, but They Weren’t Armed

Put this in your granola and stir it. . . .

* Remember when kids used to carry tubas to school instead of pistols? But before we glorify the old days, I remember walking home from school 30 years ago and re-routing myself around a group of punks who liked to pick fights. My point is, we’ve always had thugs hanging around the schoolyard; the difference now is the weaponry. . . .

* What’s the status of the district attorney’s investigation into allegations that Supervisor Don Roth made personal financial deals with people doing business before the board? Are questions about the public trust that low a priority, or is the case just that complicated? . . .

* For all the knocks he’s taken the past year about his quixotic presidential bid, wasn’t former Irvine mayor Larry Agran way ahead of the curve when he talked a few years ago about retooling the economy from a Cold War mentality? . . .

* You’ve got to see Woody Allen’s new movie, “Husbands and Wives,” if for no other reason than to roar at the breakup scene between the middle-aged man played by Sydney Pollack and his 20ish, astrology-minded girlfriend. Word of advice: Don’t see the movie with your spouse. . . .

* Wouldn’t it have been a great presidential campaign if the only two candidates were Ross Perot and Jesse Jackson? Tell me you wouldn’t skip everything to watch that debate . . . .

* At least one knowledgeable government official I know of thinks the Anaheim Arena will make money even if no professional sports teams are ever landed. Looks like we’re going to find out. Hmm, do the Chinese still send out touring Ping-Pong teams, and do you think they could pack the arena? Just wondering. And if the thing eventually winds up costing Anaheim taxpayers a bundle, remember that Anaheim Councilman Irv Pickler was the only member who opposed the project. . . .

* Robert Redford is one of those lucky slobs who’s always going to look good. He’ll be a sandy-haired Ronald Reagan when he’s 80. Of course, Reagan will be about 105 by then and still looking great. . . .

* Have the people who genuinely care about family values figured out yet that they were exploited by the Bush-Quayle team? For an issue supposedly of such deep concern, it seems to have vanished from the campaign as soon as polls showed it wasn’t playing well. . . . * Story in the newspaper this summer said 88 Orange County officials get a car allowance ranging from $715 to $823 a month. Supervisor Roger Stanton says he doesn’t know of anyone who uses the full amount, but considering that the state Legislature cut the monthly allotment for a welfare mother with two kids from $663 to $633, pardon me if I don’t applaud our frugal public servants. . . .

* Is it just me or do you find yourself tilting more and more toward the people who want to legalize drugs? I grant you the idea still sounds raw to the senses, but don’t you have the sense that all the statistics about decreasing drug use, etc., just don’t square with your gut feeling that the problem is getting worse? Could one state or large city experiment for a year and see what happens? . . .

* I may have missed it, but has Bob Dornan linked Bill Clinton to the Kennedy assassination?

* Is it a pipe dream to wish that governmental agencies all worked toward the same goal? At a time when the Air Quality Management District wants people to drive less, school districts price school bus rides out of people’s budgets. Result: more people driving their kids to school. . . .

* I don’t care how confident county GOP Chairman Tom Fuentes sounds; he’s biting his fingernails waiting to see how Orange County Republicans vote next month. If familiar party warhorses like Bush, Seymour and Herschensohn don’t win big here, especially with the latter two running against Democratic women candidates, it’ll make national news.

* Anybody but me think Blondie and Dagwood’s new catering business is anything more than a front for an outcall escort service? . . .