STAR POWER: Sheriff Sherman Block was asked...

STAR POWER: Sheriff Sherman Block was asked about that internal LAPD memo suggesting that his department take over policing the San Fernando Valley. “We could do it very well,” the sheriff replied, noting that his deputies now patrol part of Long Beach. “But we’ve not been asked. . . . I don’t think that anybody has given it any really serious consideration.” Block, who lives in West Hills, couldn’t resist joking: “As a Valley resident, I’d appreciate the improved level of service.”

MOTHER MOOCH: Schools are strapped. Teachers must be scrounges. Elizabeth Teicher of North Hollywood School elevates this to an art form. From pencils to Willie Nelson, from Marines (they taught the kids left from right) to the cheese company guy in the dinosaur suit, Teicher is a whirlwind at getting outsiders to help her kids (E1). She even mobilized a movie studio as the school sponsor. . . . You have a spare public address system? Look out, here she comes.

HORSELESS POLO: Growing up in Sherman Oaks, Christy Parker competed in swimming, basketball, volleyball, soccer and swimming--not water polo. Nevertheless, it’s water polo that she made all-American in at UC San Diego (C10). . . . Now Parker’s starring for the West team at the U. S. Olympic Festival.

BURNING ORDEAL: Heroism carries a high price--death, dismemberment or disgrace, perhaps. . . . But in a media town like L. A., it means dealing with those fabled 15 minutes of fame. For a firefighter who battered his way out of an inferno, the flames may have been easier to take than the interviews. Around The Valley (B5)

AGING GRACEFULLY: Old and lonely in a foreign land. That’s what many elderly Koreans in the Valley once were. Now they have the Korean Senior Citizens Assn., providing free lunches, arts classes and English lessons (B3). . . . Begun with 15 members, the association has grown to 925, reflecting the Valley’s rapidly increasing Korean population.