HOUSE DADS: Fathers in the San Fernando...

HOUSE DADS: Fathers in the San Fernando Valley fare better than dads nationwide, but a high number of Valley families with children are still headed by single men. . . . The highest numbers of single-father families occur in the largely economically depressed northeast Valley.

LOST AND FOUND: The good news is that the van Bill Tebbs rented to haul his team of mentally handicapped softball players from Sylmar to a San Diego tournament wasn’t stolen after all (B1). . . . The bad news is that it was towed away, and Coach Tebbs didn’t know it for nearly a day.

POET LARIAT: Roses are red, horses are brown. . . . Oh, well. Clearly, being a cowboy poet isn’t as easy as it looks. But the Santa Clarita Valley is home to two of the best-known practitioners of the art this side of the Los Angeles County line--Les Buffham of Castaic and Earl Wayne (Duke) Davis of Canyon Country (B1). . . . Through verse they speak of life on the range and ask if a cowboy’s still a cowboy when he’s forced to drive a truck.

FAVORITE TEACHER: Blanche Wadleigh Bettington taught for 42 years in Los Angeles schools, 26 of them at Canoga Park High. On Sunday, more than 200 grateful former students gathered to praise the retired civics teacher, still dynamic and outspoken at 92. Among the memories she shared: how her liberal views once prompted former Reagan White House adviser Lyn Nofziger, “one of my most peculiar students,” to accuse her of being a Communist (B8).

Mr. Mom

About 14,000 families in the San Fernando Valley, or 5%, are headed by single fathers. Highest percentage of single-parent Valley households headed by men: Arleta-Pacoima: 8.5% North Hollywood: 6.5% Sun Valley: 6.5% Mission Hills*: 6.2% Sunland-Tujunga: 5.9% U.S. average: 14% * Includes Panorama City and Sylmar

Source: 1990 U.S. Census