What’s that about no honor among thieves?”Our...

What’s that about no honor among thieves?”Our car was stolen from my husband’s office parking lot,” wrote Julia Chang of Monterey Park. “Fortunately, in less than 48 hours, we were notified by the police that the car was recovered and the suspects arrested. The detective who called us said, ‘Your Club is still on your steering wheel.’ ”

Funny thing.

“We do not own a Club,” Chang said. “Apparently, the thieves didn’t want our car stolen from them !”

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Long Beach connection: The revelation that Paula Jones, the woman suing President Clinton for sexual harassment, lives in Long Beach reminded us of a prophetic article in that city’s Press-Telegram last December. “What’s Behind L.B.’s Link to Disasters?” the headline said. “Events Near and Far Seem to Have Local Ties.”

Although Jones’ lawsuit may not qualify as a disaster--yet--several other national stories have had a Long Beach angle.

The alleged killer of five on a New York train . . . the Orange County postal worker suspected of murdering his mother . . . the rap star (Snoop Doggy Dogg) charged with murder--all were onetime Long Beach residents. (And the suspected assassin of Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio lived in nearby San Pedro.)

Press-Telegram writer Dorothy Korber pointed out, however, that the phenomenon is illusory. It isn’t as though fumes from the harbor are causing strange behavior. First, Long Beach, with a population of about 450,000, is no village. And, second, Southern Californians are more likely to notice local links because we watch for them.

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But enough about Long Beach: You may have read that the gun reportedly used to kill Huey Long has been turned over to the Louisiana State Police. Why do we mention it? Well, in the novel, “All the King’s Men”--based on the politician’s life--narrator Jack Burden becomes so disillusioned with the main character’s corruption that he drives out of Baton Rouge and doesn’t stop until he arrives in. . . .

Long Beach.

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Poem of the Day: While we’re on a literary kick, Ralph and Silvia Terrones photographed a warning that they found in a theater in Alhambra (a city about 30 miles north of Long Beach).

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Translator, please: Ken and Judi Jaffe, meanwhile, forwarded us an example of the danger of allowing “computers to address and mail your letters for you.” The correct name on the account, by the way, is “L.A.-Westside Men’s Senior Baseball League.”

We were once hooked on Brigitte Bardot: John M. Wilson of West Hollywood notes that a Publishers Weekly blurb on the book “Prisoner of Woodstock” mentions author/musician Dallas Taylor’s bout with “heroine” addiction.

miscelLAny:

May being National Bike Month, we felt reassured to find that the magazine Southern California Bicyclist carries four ads for bike injury lawyers, including one who says he has been “personally involved in two cycling accidents.” Yes, he has an office in Long Beach.