BUSY BODY: When a Van Nuys businessman...

BUSY BODY: When a Van Nuys businessman discovered a stone-still, plastic-wrapped man in a dumpster last week he assumed it was a corpse. So did police, who sealed off the scene with yellow crime tape. . . . But when two veteran cops peered inside, the “corpse” reached up and pushed back his hair. A homeless man had wrapped himself to keep warm. “It scared the daylights out of them,” Sgt. John Herkowitz said laughing, days later. “All the officers there swore they’d keep it to themselves for fear of embarrassment, but word spread.”

QUIZ TIME: So how did a woman who sued actor Michael J. Fox describe his former bedroom in the house she purchased from him in Studio City? Was it “very Laura Ashley” or “a teen-age boy’s fantasy of a playboy’s life”? . . . For the answer to this question and others about odd events of 1993, see the Valley Trivia Quiz on B1.

UNHAPPY TRAIL: Authorities say someone illegally graded state parkland in Chatsworth, plowing across the historic Old Stage Coach Trail, an early link between Los Angeles and Ventura counties and a listing on the National Register of Historic Places. . . . Suzanne Goode and Neil Braunstein, above, of the state parks department, inspect the damage (B1).

TOP PERFORMERS: The pitching of Randy Wolf last spring ranks among the best in any year, not just tops among Valley athletes in 1993. . . . The left-hander from El Camino Real High in Woodland Hills (C12) followed a no-hitter against Taft with a perfect game against Banning. He is one of 10 area athletes remembered in ’93.

BOXING BASINGER: After refusing to star in “Boxing Helena”--and losing a breach-of-contract suit to the tune of $8.1 million--a lot has changed for Kim Basinger. She’s focused on a new marriage and rebuilding her shattered career. “I feel as though I have been through a crash course in life,” says Basinger, who still lives in the Woodland Hills home she bought 14 years ago. Calendar, Page 6