SWEET TALK: Lawyers and others taking a...

SWEET TALK: Lawyers and others taking a computer course from Family Court Commissioner Richard Vogl had better fork out the . . . candy. Vogl is teaching a course Nov. 9 on the Dissomaster, a computer program that spits out child support payments after calculating income and expenses. His fee: Participants must bring in five pounds of wrapped hard candy to replenish the stock he keeps in his courtroom. . . . “It makes a friendlier court in the nervousness of a family law environment,” Vogl says.

IN THE MAIL? The elite Pacific Club in Newport Beach decided that one way to embarrass delinquent members into paying their tabs would be to post their names in the restrooms. But it probably won’t collect from everyone. . . . One name listed is Michael E. Parker, whose debt at the private dining club stands at $1,511. And 16 cents. . . . Parker was sentenced to 11 years in prison Monday following his conviction for defrauding Columbia Savings & Loan and was ordered to pay $11 million in restitution.

POST CHEKHOV: Actress Karen Hensel, now teaching at South Coast Repertory, has done movies, TV, plays. But she’s also co-author of “Going to See the Elephant,” based on the actual diaries of pioneer women, now on stage at the Alternative Repertory Theatre in Santa Ana. . . . “These women had been through shocking, personal tragedy, yet they kept going,” she says. And why she turned to writing: “After years of acting in Chekhov, Shaw, and Miller, you have to aspire to write.”

NAME DROPPING: “Dreams to Reality,” a new book about Anaheim, commissioned by the Anaheim Arena folks, points out that Disneyland’s 300 million visitors have included some mighty important people. . . . Such as: Seven presidents (Lyndon Johnson never found the time), an assortment of kings and princesses, plus stars like Cary Grant, Dustin Hoffman, and Barbra Streisand. The big name missing, of course, is Nikita Khruschev.