SOUTH VS. NORTH? How do you get...

SOUTH VS. NORTH? How do you get out from under Orange County’s bankruptcy? Form your own county. There’s been small talk about this before, of course. But now Irvine Councilman Greg Smith is serious about it. . . . The county’s southern cities, he says, have had it with county supervisors over the El Toro air base feud and the county’s bankruptcy. He adds: “Forming a new county is an alternative we need to look at.” . . . Question is: What would he call it?

DIAL-A-MATH: If your children are having trouble with their math or science at school and it’s too over your head to help them, there is a Homework Hotline they can call. It’s (714) 896-5569 or (800) 876-3867, with assistance available during after-school hours. It was started two years ago by a group of whiz minds from the Huntington Beach office of McDonnell Douglas. Says one of its engineers, John Grefe: “We help them through the problem but we don’t give them the answer. We love the subjects. Our reward is when we inspire them.”

SUPERIOR IDEA: Only four women sit on Superior Court here. Central Municipal Judge Marjorie Laird Carter wants to see those numbers improved--and not because she wants herself elevated. . . . “We have many, many women Municipal Court judges who are eminently qualified for Superior Court,” she says. Carter recently was elected to the National Assn. of Women Judges board. One of its major goals: Getting more women on the bench.

MILITANT BIKERS: After claiming victory in a battle to get bike lanes on Laguna Canyon Road, the Orange County Bicycle Coalition has a new target: Imperial Highway. The coalition is urging bicycle riders to lobby Yorba Linda and La Habra officials to support bike lanes for Imperial Highway when it’s improved and renovated. . . . Says coalition spokesman Don Harvey: “It’s not smart to build a street without bike lanes, especially one of the very few major east-west routes in North County.”