CARVING CRIME: Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama...

CARVING CRIME: Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) fears that Republican attempts to retool the crime bill may mean fewer officers on the streets. . . . At a Capitol news conference Tuesday with leaders of two police organizations, Berman called the GOP’s revised crime bill “a dagger right in the heart of the program.”

MEANWHILE: Last year’s crime bill is slowly but surely beefing up the Valley’s police presence. President Clinton will announce today that the city of San Fernando will receive $75,000 to add one officer to its 35-member force. “We cover 2.42 miles, and every officer makes a difference,” San Fernando Police Lt. Dan Peavy said.

CLEANING CREW: Bonnie Dervinsky may be a former housekeeper, but she can’t clean her own house. . . . Along with husband Mark (above), Bonnie is homeless. But living on the streets doesn’t mean that the couple can’t care about cleanliness: Their effort to beautify a Mission Hills park is recruiting local residents (B1).

VISION QUEST: Time Warner Inc. has made a $2.6-billion deal to buy Cablevision Industries (D1), a move that Cablevision execs say will improve Valley services . . . without rate hikes. The buy gives Time Warner about 11.5 million subscribers. Cablevision executive Thomas Schaeffer said CVI’s 1.5 million subscribers nationwide, including 97,000 in the West Valley, were “not enough to exist in this market.”

GOOD DEEDS: After he was robbed at gunpoint Monday in Van Nuys, catering truck driver Gordon Clayton ran, borrowed a bicycle and hitched a ride during a two-mile chase that helped police arrest the alleged thief. Now Van Nuys Detective Mel Arnold wants to honor the unknown men who lent Clayton the bicycle and gave him a ride. . . . Said Arnold: “If it hadn’t been for the efforts of all these people, this robber would still be out on the streets.”