THAT BAD? What do other countries think...
THAT BAD? What do other countries think of Orange County’s bankruptcy? Der Spiegel, the German newsmagazine, says in its latest issue that “in Orange County, nothing is in order. . . the fiscal collapse is astonishing.” The magazine saves its harshest judgment for former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron, who resigned after his risky handling of the county’s finances was revealed. . . . Der Spiegel calls the debacle “Citron’s poker game” and adds about him: “He’s become the most hated man in Southern California.”
CELEBRATE WHAT? One of Sears’ hottest selling Christmas gifts this year: “Orange County, an Economic Celebration.” It’s a picture-loaded, $34.95 coffee table book written in 1988 by local author Janet E. Graebner, for the county’s Chamber of Commerce--now selling for $2.98. . . . A clerk at Sears at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, which has more than 200 copies left, says sales have been brisk: “Most people are buying it as kind of a joke, with all that’s going on. But one businesswoman bought 100 of them to give to clients.”
LOCAL JUNGLE BOY: If seeing “Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book” is on your list of Christmas things to do--it’s playing on 21 screens in the county today--you might not know that its young star, Jason Scott Lee, first got into acting here. . . . Lee was a drama student at Fullerton College in the late ‘80s. “Very, very hard-working, but always with a twinkle in his eye,” says one of his Fullerton College instructors, Bob Jensen. “It’s no surprise he is doing so well. It’s nice to see his hard work pay off.”
DUCK POWER: It’s college bowl season. Of all the county’s former high school quarterbacks tearing up the Pac-10, Oregon’s Danny O’Neil is probably the least well-known. But he’s the one playing in the Rose Bowl. . . . O’Neil, from Santa Ana’s Mater Dei High, leads the Ducks (9-3) against Penn State (11-0) on Jan. 2 at Pasadena. . . . He was sidelined early in the season after undergoing finger surgery on his passing hand but came back strong. O’Neil led the Ducks to six consecutive wins--plus their first Rose Bowl bid since 1957.
* The Top of Today’s News is on A2
