BACK OF THE BUS: If Don Roth’s...

BACK OF THE BUS: If Don Roth’s legal troubles hadn’t forced him to resign as a county supervisor, he would have become vice chairman at ceremonies today and then chairman in 1995. But that does not mean his appointed successor, William G. Steiner, will step into his place. Steiner learned recently he must go to the bottom of the rotation. . . . The beneficiary: Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, who becomes vice chairman today when Supervisor Thomas F. Riley takes over as chairman.

SHE’S 41: Clare Walker was twice named the most valuable girls’ basketball player of the Sunset League, and tonight in a ceremony before its 7 p.m. tip-off against fifth-ranked Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach will retire her jersey No. 41. . . . During her senior season, Walker averaged 20.7 points and 14.7 rebounds per game and helped the Oilers win the league title. Now a redshirt freshman at Pepperdine, she is sitting out this year because of a knee injury but expects to make a full recovery.

REAL PEACE? General Ariel Sharon, above, hero of the Yom Kippur War and still politically active in Israel, will speak to local Jewish groups at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Irvine Thursday night. His topic: the latest Middle East peace agreement. “He’s not happy with it and neither are many of us,” says Rabbi David Eliezrie from the North County Chabad Center. . . . Sharon, who’s on a national tour, will hold other meetings that day with local Jewish leaders.

HOT TALK? “Subversity,” a public affairs program at UC Irvine radio station KUCI, kicks off its new season today, and for the first time it’s a call-in show. Host Daniel C. Tsang expects strong reaction to the first guests: Members of the Fountain Valley Student Alliance, the gay support group at the high school. . . . The Huntington Beach Union High School District board will discuss tonight whether the group should be allowed to meet. “It’s a hot topic,” says Tsang, “but we’re hoping for a reasonable discussion.”