Which Came First--Money or Poultry Center? : Snapshots of life in the Golden State.
In a new wrinkle on the age-old riddle of the chicken and the egg, officials at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are facing criticism for plans to construct a $3-million poultry center while they are phasing out the school’s poultry science major.
Among those squawking the loudest is Pacific Egg and Poultry Assn. head Dave Goldenberg, who says the center should not be built if the major is scrapped.
“I think it’s the wrong timing,” said Goldenberg, whose trade organization represents fowl producers in 11 western states. “We’ve waited in line for our turn at the trough, now they’re kicking the stool out from under us.”
University officials, who plan to merge the poultry curriculum with agribusiness and food sciences in the face of budget cutbacks, maintain that even thinking about forsaking construction would be looking a gift horse in the mouth. The funds come from a $900-million state bond issue and could not be used for other projects at Cal Poly, says animal sciences department head Phillip Doub. “Do people or facilities drive the program?” asks Doub. “I believe the answer is both.”
Tax Time
The California Franchise Tax Board is expecting 14 million state individual income tax returns to be filed this year. By the end of March, the board had received 5.5 million returns and 4 million refunds had been sent. The average 1992 refund is $290; in 1991, it was $272. Below are the numbers of state income tax returns filed over the last decade and the estimated state population for each year:
YEAR RETURNS (in millions) POP.* (in millions) 1983 10.9 25.3 1984 11.6 25.8 1985 11.8 26.4 1986 12.2 27.1 1987 12.6 27.7 1988 13.1 28.4 1989 13.5 29.1 1990 13.7 29.9 1991 13.9 30.6 1992 **14.0 31.3
*Rounded estimates based on 1980 and 1990 Census figures.
**Estimate
SOURCE: State Franchise Tax Board and California Department of Finance
Compiled by Times researcher Tracy Thomas
Roy Riegels revisited: If you were entertained by the 1929 Rose Bowl fiasco in which the Cal center picked up a Georgia Tech fumble and ran 80 yards the wrong way, consider this: For the first time in memory, a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle has been stolen near San Diego and reappeared south of the border.
What’s more, it happened last Friday--the day Riegels died.
Officials say the theft occurred when an unidentified agent jumped out of his distinctive pale green Ford Bronco to chase several suspects on foot--but left his keys in the ignition. The thieves sped through the Mexican Customs station at Otay Mesa and disappeared into the night. Police found the abandoned vehicle in central Tijuana, where it drew decidedly curious looks from residents. The culprits, who left the Bronco in good condition, have not been apprehended.
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Coffin up fewer bucks: Concerned about the high cost of dying?
An Alameda mortician is peddling an alternative--a set of plans to build your own casket, which, in the pre-afterlife, can double as a coffee table or bookcase.
“When Jessica Mitford came out with her book (‘The American Way of Death’ in 1963), it caused a tremendous amount of discussion but very little change occurred,” said Al Carpenter, owner of Direct Funeral Services. “The attitude of funeral home owners was that eventually, you’re going to have to come to them anyway. This is the first time you can do something on your own.”
Cost for blueprints is $9.95. Time needed for assembly is a couple of hours. As for the bill for pine and screws, it should run about $50, according to Carpenter, who is not a carpenter.
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Business remains dead: Meanwhile, the latest figures on another form of inexpensive housing--mobile homes--are further confirmation of California’s continued weak economy.
Nationwide, manufactured housing sales increased 23% last year to 211,000 units. But in California, sales declined 19%, to 4,813 units. That’s the lowest number in two decades, according to officers of the Manufactured Housing Institute.
“It’s the real estate market as well as the overall economic sluggishness,” said Bruce Savage, spokesman for the Virginia-based institute. “California continues to be in the pits.”
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Young cover girl: Nevertheless, when it comes to glamour and national stature, all is not lost. For the second time in a year, a Californian’s portrait has graced the cover of Time magazine.
Last fall, the subject was actress Candice Bergen, illustrating a feature on Hollywood vs. Dan Quayle. This time, it’s a 7-year-old Southern California native--Sally the chimpanzee. Born in the rural Los Angeles County community of Canyon Country, Sally was hired to sit on a boulder with her paw on her chin to illustrate a story entitled “Can Animals Think?”
The simian starlet, owned by a firm called Animal Rentals Unlimited, has previously posed for Panasonic ads and had bit parts on “Matlock” and in the film “Bird on a Wire.”
EXIT LINE
“It is said that if a cow lies down in California, a seismologist will know it.”
--Author John McPhee in “Assembling California,” his new tome on the geology and geography of the Golden State.
California Dateline appears every other Friday.
