ANXIOUS TIMES: Afraid of open spaces? Find...

ANXIOUS TIMES: Afraid of open spaces? Find yourself obsessed by simple things? . . . Today UCI Medical Center in Orange launches its first Anxiety Disorder Screening Day--a chance to assess your anxieties and perhaps learn where to get help. . . . It’s all part of National Mental Health Month, and organizers say about 25% of Americans suffer some kind of anxiety disorders while few recognize the symptoms. “It’s important to be knowledgeable,” says UCI psychology professor Marsha Stein.

BETTER TOILETS: Someday soon, the roads in Anaheim may be partially paved with crushed toilets . . .To save water, the city this week began collecting old toilets from apartment complexes and delivering replacement ultra-low-flush models. The old toilets will be crushed and used for pavement. City spokeswoman Suzi Brown says Anaheim is giving away 5,200 toilets, worth $510,453, paid for by the city and the Metropolitan Water District. It’s cheaper in the long run to buy the water-saving toilets, says Brown. “It would cost more to buy the water.”

PERSONAL SHIRT: Monsignor Paul M. Martin, longtime pastor of Mission San Juan Capistrano, sleeps sitting up and sometimes wears shirts mended by staples. The reason: his penchant for letting poor people have his personal belongings, a habit city officials hope to change . . . For his birthday this week, he’s getting a bed engraved with his name and a set of personally monogrammed shirts. “That way he can’t give them away,” says Mayor Collene Campbell.

CARRYING ON: The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace marks another passing this week. . . . The library opens the Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Memorial Exhibit on Thursday, featuring California Impressionist art from the collection of Clarke and her daughter Joan Irvine Smith. Clarke, 90-year-old widow of James Irvine III, philanthropist and longtime friend of Nixon, died last year. “Her vision, energy and generosity transformed the face of Orange County,” Nixon said upon her death.