Protection from above: Our mention of the...

Protection from above: Our mention of the newly marketed bulletproof Bible--”God’s Armour”--prompted Dann Green of West L.A. to recall the strange story of the shooting of a Baptist minister in Compton.

Green referred us to a Nov. 19, 1968, Times story. It reported that the Rev. Ross Owens, Green’s grandfather, was at a hamburger stand when a young thug jammed a .22-caliber revolver into his chest and squeezed the trigger. The gun misfired. So the assailant’s companion grabbed the gun and fired a second time.

“I was supposed to fall over and die, but nothing happened,” Owens said later. “They were as confused as I was and didn’t know what to do.”

Police, alerted by witnesses, arrived in time to arrest the duo. Owens, meanwhile, found a hole in his coat but no blood. Reaching into his coat pocket, he extracted not a bulletproof Bible but a wad of religious tracts. In the bottom of the pocket was a spent bullet.

Green adds that the tracts were titled “The Blood of Christ.”

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No wonder the roads are scarier than ever: A while back we ran a photo of a car with a sign that said: “Student Driver From Hell.”

Now a colleague tells us that the other night on the Hollywood Freeway motorists were giving wide berth to a “Charlie’s Driving School” sedan that displayed a license plate frame that said, “Driving School Dropout.”

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Kato Kaelin, role model: Phyllis Waggner of West Hollywood came upon a notice in a Pacific Palisades newspaper from a fellow who’d like to be the typical Westside housesitter (see excerpt).

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The neighbors don’t like him, either: Paul Horcher isn’t the most popular person among Republicans. The Diamond Bar assemblyman, who switched from Republican to independent status and enabled Democrat Willie Brown to retain his Assembly speakership, faces a recall election next week. Howard Cohen of West Hills spotted a “Recall Horcher” lawn sign in his San Fernando Valley neighborhood--about 40 miles from Horcher’s district.

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You have to admire the honesty: James Litz of West Hollywood found an ad in a shopper for an item whose price is “unbelievable” in more than one sense (see ad).

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He’ll probably start wearing his hair as long as Kato’s: An Angeleno had been spotted giving autographs to tourists outside the congressional gallery in Washington, D.C. Then he was greeted by Sen. Robert Dole, the Republican presidential hopeful, who said: “I’ve seen you on TV!”

The celebrity? None other than Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, who had come with other county officials on their annual trip to beg for federal funds.

Dole, by the way, hastened to add that while he has followed the Simpson trial, “I’m no fanatic.”

MiscelLAny:

Bob Patterson of Marina del Rey tipped us that a Venice company is marketing the “Bat-Cane,” a walking stick in the shape of a Louisville Slugger. Cost: $49.95 for a 33- or 36-inch model. The company, Star Data, says the bat is “a boon for people with knee, ankle or foot problems.” Or problems with baseball players who won’t give autographs.