TAG, YOU’RE IT: The courts and schools...

TAG, YOU’RE IT: The courts and schools have decided to make more clear to young people the downside of tagging--scrawling graffiti. Students countywide have been receiving notices on Superior Court stationery outlining new graffiti penalties: One-year suspension of your driver’s license (or a year’s delay for new applicants); 20 days of Caltrans freeway cleanup, and a $250 fine plus restitution. . . . Says Juvenile Presiding Judge Francisco P. Briseno: “We want to convey the message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.”

MAKING IT WORK: Fear is a given for his graduating class, says Mark Austin of Irvine High School (E1, Salute to Seniors): “I know people who really excelled in high school, but now in college they’re really afraid of what’s out there for them.” But Austin, who set a record for appearing in 13 school drama productions, says he’s ready. “I’m more excited than afraid,” he says. With a 3.92 grade average, he’s headed for UC Irvine’s drama department.

MURDERED BOOKS: UC Irvine history professor Jon Wiener writes in a Nation magazine cover story that publishers sometimes kill controversial books under pressure from offended corporations. . . . Two of the books he cites are unflattering profiles of Walt Disney. Wiener, the author of three books himself, including one on John Lennon, says he’s never faced such pressure. His publisher, Random House, he says, “seems to have more integrity than some of the others; it’s not yet become part of a conglomerate.”

DIFFERENT PASTIME: Angels Manager Buck Rodgers became a hockey fan when he managed the Montreal Expos, and he still follows the game. Monday night, after the Angels lost at Toronto, he turned on the Hockey Night in Canada telecast of the Kings-Montreal Canadiens game. . . . “The Mighty Ducks will be playing not far from where I live and they’ll see me often; I was one of the first to buy my season tickets for their first NHL season,” he told the Journal de Montreal.