<i> Snapshots of life in the Golden State.</i> : Will It Be Paper, Plastic or Immigration Controversy?

The bags are back. Fated for the recycling bin in green Marin County, some 40,000 paper grocery bags are being recycled politically. Printed up for United Markets, they tell the tale of an unnamed Salvadoran fourth-grader at a local elementary school and his dangerous journey north to join his family here--illegally.

The stores’ co-owner and president, Bill Daniels, was taken aback when protesters declared that the bag--the first in a series about children--condoned illegal immigration. Marin has had its turmoil about day laborers, and the chairman of November’s S.O.S. ballot measure campaign lives in the area.

Daniels agreed to toss the bags, but counter-protests changed his mind. Now they are given out at customers’ requests only. College professors have asked to use them in classes. “It’s a good thing,” says Daniels, “that we didn’t dump ‘em.”

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If you plow it, they will come: How big a Dan Lungren fan is Danny Merkley? About 150 by 1,000 feet. In a field of oat-hay stubble outside Dixon, the 37-year-old farmer carefully disc-ed the attorney general’s name, campaign logo-style.

Why?

“I was bored. No, I just got to know Dan and . . . thought it would be an interesting and different way to help show my support” beyond the recent fund-raiser Merkley hosted.

Britain’s crop circles are kindergarten quality next to this. “Apparently,” Merkley quipped, “the aliens that did the crop circles in England have come over here to support Dan Lungren.”

Merkley used math, not calligraphy, to create the logo. “The hardest part was actually getting started because I couldn’t remember the Pythagorean theorem from high school” to get the right angles right. “I had a heck of a time remembering that.” (Hey--same here.)

The logo is across the highway from Danyl Farms, on his father’s land, and therein lies the suspense. Does it stay until Election Day? “I don’t know. My dad is getting antsy to get the field worked up because there are some weeds starting.”

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The Phony War, Round II: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Brown accuses Republican Gov. Pete Wilson of mismanaging the state’s parole system. Wilson’s response, July 8, on KCRA-TV in Sacramento: “She’s a phony on this issue.”

Later, Brown calls Wilson a “phony” on illegal immigration. Wilson’s response, July 23, in the San Diego Union-Tribune: “Shame on her. A candidate for governor ought to be above that kind of childish name-calling.”

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Will werk for IQ points: The executive search committee of the still-formative Local Initiative Health Authority for Los Angeles County compiled the qualifications it wants in a CEO, ranking the most and least essential qualities. Among the most important: embraces diversity, excellent communicator. Among the least essential: optimistic, smart.

Too Many Inmates: The number of state and federal prison inmates in the United States climbed to a record 948,881 last year--triple 1980’s prison

population--and California, the most populous state, had the dubious distinction of being in first place. Statisticians attribute half the growth to an increase

in drug crimes. Here are the six states with the most and fewest inmates at the end of 1993 and the percentage of the state’s population that is behind bars:

Most Percentage State Inmates of Population 1. California 119,951 0.39% 2. Texas 71,103 0.40% 3. New York 64,569 0.35%

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Fewest Percentage State Inmates of Population 1. Wyoming 1,081 0.23% 2. Vermont 1,223 0.21% 3. Montana 1,454 0.17%

* April, 1993, population estimates from the World Almanac and Book Of Facts, 1994.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

Compiled by researcher TRACY THOMAS

Heated words and hot togs: Pity the weather writers. We are barely out of the puppy days of summer and into the relentless dog days and already, reporters from the desert to the sea have exhausted synonyms for hot. A sample of infernal word-hunting from a four-day forecast in the Bakersfield Californian: “Plenty of sunshine and still hot . . . bright sunshine, a hot afternoon . . . plenty of sunshine and very warm . . . bright sunshine and very warm.”

UCLA doesn’t get such temperatures, but some administrative staff members at the Children’s Health Center are sweating nonetheless--over a dress code declaring, “No bare legs. Nylons or hose must be worn with all dresses and skirts. No sandals. . . . Open-toed dress shoes may be worn, but you must wear ankle nylons if you are wearing them with dress pants.”

It’s a three-strikes code: after two warnings, you get sent home.

Or shopping with the principal.

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There’ll always be a United Kingdom: In the greatest comeback since, oh, Norma Desmond’s, the late English actor Ronald Coleman appeared briefly in the O.J. Simpson saga. Not on film--nothing has been aired yet, but don’t blink. However, the British news agency Reuter referred in one of its stories to victim “Ronald Coleman,” then hastily corrected it to “Ronald Goldman.” A far, far better thing, too.

EXIT LINE

“Periodically, I go to new places and get recognized, and that’s very uncomfortable for me. I feel like crawling under the sofa or something.”

--The Davis woman cited for violating a noise ordinance after a neighbor in the next condo complained about her snoring is suing the city for emotional distress. The case was dismissed--too late, she contends, to avoid the nation’s sniggers.

California Dateline appears every other Friday.