The Hawaiian islands: Maui, Oahu, Molakai, Lanai, Kauai . . . Catalina?

CATALINA CACKLES: Imagine taking a trip to Hawaii, and getting there in just an hour by ferry.

The House of Representatives subcommittee that usually oversees distant U.S. territories such as American Samoa, Guam and the Virgin Islands focused briefly on Catalina Island recently. While discussing a bill that would put seven small South Pacific islands--relatively unknown places like Howland Island and Kingman Reef--under Hawaii’s jurisdiction, American Samoa Delegate Eni F.H. Faleomavaega suggested that Catalina be added to the list.

But Catalina residents need not fear a change of statehood.

Faleomavaega’s suggestion was really a friendly jab at the new chairman of the subcommittee on Native American and insular affairs, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), whose district once included Catalina.

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NO JETS ALLOWED: A sign with eight-foot-tall letters reading “Unsafe Area for Jets” had been El Segundo’s way of fending off commercial planes from the city’s airspace.

But now that it has accomplished its purpose, some city officials say the sign has become an eyesore.

The sign, located on a slope on Imperial Highway just south of the airport, has been covered since 1990 with a black tarp that has become weather-beaten and a bit unsightly.

“There are concerns about (its) appearance,” said Harvey Holden, the city’s airport projects administrator.

Some have recommended that the best solution is simply to remove the sign.

The city erected the sign in the late 1980s, hoping to gain the attention of LAX and the Federal Aviation Administration, which had failed to act on the city’s demands that flights be directed elsewhere. Residents long had complained of noise and pollution from passing aircraft, as well as the prospect of a crash in their neighborhoods.

So the city took up the suggestion of former Councilman Jim Clutter and put up the warning. He even spent his own money light the message at night.

“He thought the best way to get through to them was embarrassment,” said the councilman’s widow, Mary Jane Clutter. “It got their attention.”

In 1990, LAX and the FAA agreed to reroute commercial planes over the ocean after takeoff rather than over El Segundo homes. And in turn, the city agreed to cover the sign.

Despite suggestions that the sign has outlived its usefulness, Clutter wants it kept as is. It is the best bargaining chip the city has with LAX, she says, because officials can always threaten to remove the tarp should the big jets return to El Segundo airspace.

“My thinking is, if it works once, it would probably work again,” she said.

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SPACE SEEDS: Scientist Andrew B. Christensen of the Aerospace Corp. in El Segundo dubbed it the “National Space Seed” experiment.

At the request of elementary school children and his own grandchildren, Christensen found a way to place seeds on a rocket launched 150 miles into space last week to go through the aurora borealis in Alaska. About five dozen vegetable seeds--from beets to lettuce--were vacuum-packed and placed in the rocket’s payload. When returned in the coming weeks to elementary schools in Long Beach and three other cities, the seeds will be planted to see if they grow faster than ones that have stayed on Earth.

“We wanted to see if the aurora would have impact on their growth,” Christensen said. Though NASA has placed seeds on Space Shuttle payloads, this was believed to be the first batch of seeds sent through the aurora, also called the northern lights.

The real purpose of the NASA-funded mission was to study the impact of the aurora and harsh weather on spacecraft. Christensen and other scientists found a way to place the seeds on the payload without adding much weight or jeopardizing the electronic equipment.

It will be up to the students to see if the aurora acts as a sort of atmospheric Miracle-Gro. But Christensen said that none of the seeds were damaged--nor had any sprouted--when he recovered them from the rocket. The seeds “were all dormant like they were when they left,” he said.

--Compiled by TED JOHNSON