SUPER DEAL? County bus service to Leisure...

SUPER DEAL? County bus service to Leisure World in Laguna Hills stopped last summer. So resident Dorothy Novick cooked up an unorthodox deal with SuperShuttle of Anaheim, which primarily runs people to airports. SuperShuttle has operated a Leisure World supermarket run at a loss for three months, to give Novick time to come up with broader financing. She’s signing up new riders every day. . . . Why is it better than Leisure World’s own bus runs? Says Novick: “The driver will carry groceries into the house for you.”

SUPER DAY: Some people win theater tickets in a raffle. Liz Kelly won a school superintendent. Tustin Unified Supt. David L. Andrews recently taught her first-grade class at Marjorie Veeh Elementary School after she won his services at a school fund-raiser. Andrews even helped with a dinosaur project and show and tell. “He was a tremendous help,” says Kelly. “It gave me a chance to catch up on my work.”

HEROES WEEK: Pearl Harbor Day is Wednesday, Dec. 7, but Brian Barrett has his mind on Thursday, Dec. 8--the 14th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. . . . The Newport Beach blues singer says he recalls that Lennon’s death “affected us kids the way John Kennedy’s death affected adults.” So Barrett, who plays at the no-smoking Sid’s nightclub in Newport Beach three nights a week, will sing only John Lennon songs Thursday night. . . . Says Barrett: “He had a great impact on me. I want everyone to remember him.”

ANY OLD TIME: There’s a new approach for doing business with the city of Villa Park: Just say you’ll do the work--when you get around to it. . . . Actually, it was Councilman John Frackelton’s idea--time options on some routine city bids. It lets a contractor do the work any time within a year, whenever it’s most convenient to that company. Says Frackelton: “Sometimes you can get a better price that way.” . . . It worked on the first bid, saving the city about $5,000.

TONIGHT: The Irvine Ballet Company dances “Christmas Traditions Around the World,” at 7:30, the Irvine Barclay Theatre, Irvine. (714) 854-4646.

WEATHER: Party cloudy with highs near 70 and lows in the mid-60s. (B8)

* The Top of Today’s News is on A2