DOG’S BEST FRIEND: Remember Lazarus, the Rottweiler...

DOG’S BEST FRIEND: Remember Lazarus, the Rottweiler rescued from a Santa Ana trash can in July, where he’d been left to die in a plastic bag with his mouth and legs duct-taped? The local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is still fighting back. . . . It’s now set up the Lazarus Fund to pay small rewards to people who call in information leading to the arrest of anyone abusing an animal. You can call its number--(714) 536-0050--to report someone or to contribute to the new fund.

LESS JUICE? The Orange County Urban League had bad luck with timing at its last job fair on June 17. It happened to be the day that O.J. Simpson led the police on a freeway chase through the length of Orange County. . . . “It definitely cut back attendance,” says the local affiliate’s president, George Williams. The Urban League has another job fair today--9 a.m. to 4 p.m.--at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Anaheim. “Anybody interested in employment is welcome,” he says. Nearly two dozen businesses will be there to recruit.

BASEBALL BANK: The California Angels are making an offer to season ticket holders they hope is too good to be refused: If there’s no baseball in 1995, or some games are canceled, the Angels will refund season ticket holders’ money, with interest. Angels President Richard Brown has written to new season ticket holders that if there is a strike in 1995, the Angels will pay back 5% interest with their refund--for the ’94 people, it would accrue all the way back to Aug. 23--date of the first strike-canceled home game.

FAINT PRAISE? You have to read between the lines perhaps, but Brown’s letter to Angels fans shows he’s not expecting a winner in ‘95, the team’s 35th season. Brown says it will be an exciting year for fans to “help us achieve our goal in building a championship contender.” The Angels were in last place in the American League West when the strike began. Brown adds: “We are confident there will be a baseball season in 1995.”