City Hall learns an old manure pile proves a fertile area for litigation.

Three city officials in Rolling Hills Estates could soon find themselves in court being grilled about horse manure.

That’s right, horse manure.

Mayor Barbara Rauch, Councilman Robert Beck and City Manager Doug Prichard have been subpoenaed by an attorney representing the Empty Saddle Club in a lawsuit filed by one of the owners of a property next to the riding club. The property owner, John Robertson Jr., is suing the club for dumping a reported 50-foot-high pile of manure and other waste onto the Chandler Trust property next door. He says the manure has been piling up for years, and, for fairly obvious reasons, he wants it to stop.

The club maintains it was given permission for the manure dumping by Robertson’s grandfather, Linden H. Chandler, a long time ago. Meanwhile, the city, which has been asked by attorney Robert L. Luty to provide documents and testify in court concerning the dumping, says it does not want to get involved.

“We want to see that thing cleaned up, but we don’t know who’s at fault,” Prichard said.

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When you think about farming, you probably envision rich, fertile fields, golden rows of wheat, fluffy bolls of cotton or maybe some contented cows grazing in a vast pasture.

But that’s not farming in Los Angeles County, and the 48th (Assembly) District Agricultural Assn., a group that promotes farming education in urban areas, wants city kids to know that they don’t have to live out in the country to farm.

The group offers free materials for projects about plants, animals and the joys of farming to area schools, including Catskill Elementary and Del Amo Elementary in Carson and Rogers Intermediate in Lawndale.

“The whole trick here is showing the kids that when you talk agriculture, you’re not talking just cows and horses and being out on the farm,” said Yvonne Savio, a spokeswoman for the program. “It’s hydroponics (farming without soil) and science and math as well. . . . We try to show them that growing your own little garden means having food, and growing cotton means T-shirts,” Savio said.

Last year, students and entire classrooms won more than $18,000 for exhibits they made for the program, and several teachers who participated won computers for their classrooms.

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There may not be enough room in Redondo Beach for the both of ‘em.

Redondo Beach City Treasurer Alice E. DeLong says she doesn’t want City Councilman Joseph Dawidziak near her because he causes her “distress.” She also filed an incident report with the Police Department last weekend, complaining that she felt Dawidziak was watching her.

She made the report after an angry confrontation with the councilman Friday in City Hall about a memo Dawidziak had written accusing Delong of a possible ethics violation. According to Dawidziak, DeLong confronted him in an “agitated state,” yelling and waving her arms about.

“She brought it all up,” Dawidziak said at this week’s council meeting. “Called me the ‘Bad Man of the West.’ It’s not true.”

DeLong said the allegations against her are politically motivated.

“There’s absolutely no conflict of interest,” DeLong said, adding that she has reported the business interest Dawidziak talked about in his memo every year on the disclosure documents she files.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“See, at school I get respect for being smart, but on the street I get respect for being cool.”

George Lupersio, 14, who just finished eighth grade at Lennox Middle School, on the pull between continuing with his education or joining a gang. J10