A Word to the Wise If You’re a Joy Rider
It pays to pay attention.
* A sharp-eyed cop in Long Beach saw six teen-agers in a 1984 Chevrolet Suburban and had a hunch that something was amiss.
He pulled them over and discovered that the Suburban had been swiped in San Diego. The six, all from Los Angeles, were booked for grand theft auto.
And what was it that made the cop think the six didn’t belong?
A license plate holder that read, “Happiness Is Being a Grandparent.”
* Horses and lawyers.
Jeffrey Shohet, commercial litigator for the San Diego firm Gray, Cary, Ames & Frye, is just back from arguing a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Sports Spectrum Inc. and Kenneth B. Leighton vs. Shirley McQuillan.
McQuillan is a Carlsbad horse trainer who says she was swindled by Sports Spectrum of Cleveland.
She was a Spectrum distributor for a spongy shock-absorbent product called sorbothane and was making a tidy living selling the stuff as a horseshoe pad to keep nags from hurting their feet.
Then the product appeared on the TV show “That’s Incredible,” with hosts John Davidson and Fran Tarkenton calling it the ninth wonder of the world and such.
One thing led to another and, according to Shohet and McQuillan, Spectrum illegally tried to withdraw her distributorship. Shohet filed suit in 1984 and a couple of years later won McQuillan a jury award of $8.3 million.
Spectrum appealed and last week was the one-hour hearing before the U.S. Supreme. Shohet figures he gave as well as he got and feels confident about the outcome.
But at the very least he got the souvenir quill pen given to all lawyers by the high court. Plus he got to exchange hellos in the anteroom with another lawyer waiting to plead another case on the docket: Robert Bork.
“It was an incredible experience from beginning to end,” says Shohet.
* It’s said Councilman Ron Roberts took his failure to get the Chamber of Commerce job real hard.
A New Image?
Take notes (there’ll be a test).
* Knickknacks and a Ph.D.
The Salk Institute in La Jolla has always had a reputation for both scientific excellence and an aloof attitude toward the common things (and people) of life.
The former is strong as ever. The latter may be changing.
At the groundbreaking last week for a $21-million addition, the institute was selling Salk T-shirts, Salk coffee cups and Salk nightgowns.
* Hey, I know that clown!
Civic movers and shakers will pay $300 to dress like clowns in the Holiday Bowl Parade on Dec. 30.
* First and 10 and don’t scratch the couch.
The latest thing is for commercial tie-ins to the Super Bowl, viz. the Bud Bowl sponsored by Budweiser beer.
Now comes “The Food and Water Bowl II,” a cat show set for Golden Hall the weekend (Jan. 23-24) before Super Bowl XXVIII.
The hall will be done up in a football theme, complete with Charger and Aztec paraphernalia.
* William Windom brings his one-man show of James Thurber to the Poway Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday. And welcome to it.
* ABC’s “20-20” is set to use its exclusive interview with rapist-cop Henry Hubbard on Friday’s show.
He told the interviewer that he’s grappling with his emotions and trying to figure why he did what he did.
* No that isn’t J.D. Crowe, the former San Diego Tribune editorial cartoonist, who is peddling washable tattoos in an ad in Penthouse magazine (page 159, next to the Gennifer Flowers interview).
It’s a different J.D. Crowe. I checked.
Talk About Generic Labels
Don Boomer, a free-lance photographer, and his wife, Carmen Molina-Boomer, are at home in Escondido with their new daughter (their first offspring).
She entered the world at 7 pounds, 8 ounces, and is doing fine, thank you.
She’s been named Chelsea Lynn. There were people, though, who suggested another name.
A lot of them, says the father, suggested the infant be left with just a generic label: Baby Boomer.
