<i> Snapshots of life in the Golden State.</i> : Court Throws Its Weight Behind Slim, Trim Jurors

When it comes to body fat, the California Supreme Court has decided it’s bad for juries. The high court has declined to review an appellate ruling that let an Alameda County prosecutor challenge prospective female jurors because they were overweight and loudly dressed.

Alameda County Deputy Dist. Atty. William Tingle used peremptory challenges to keep three African American women off a jury in a criminal case against a black man. Tingle, who denied race was an issue, said one woman was “grossly overweight” and “wore a little tiny skirt.” Another was eliminated because her hair was braided and a third was challenged because she was large and dressed in a manner “to draw attention to herself.”

An appellate court agreed with Tingle, saying his reasons were “clearly” adequate. Despite the objections of defense attorney Julie Schumer, the Supreme Court agreed with the lower court.

Tingle said he always avoids “young, obese black women” on a jury because of past experiences in previous trials.

*

Presidential ship ahoy! The yacht Potomac, which served as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s floating White House for six years, will be back in service after an $8.2-million overhaul that took 14 years. The 165-foot-long craft will be opened to the public May 20 as the centerpiece of Oakland’s Maritime Day.

The Potomac, built in 1934, was owned at one time by celebrities Elvis Presley and Danny Thomas, but it hit bottom when it sank after being captured in a drug raid. The yacht was raised, and the Port of Oakland paid $15,000 for it at an auction.

The yacht now looks as it did when FDR used it to escape Washington on weekends. Only the compass binnacle, wheelhouse doors, wheel and a few other items are original. The rest of the yacht is equipped with replicas, right down to Roosevelt’s Spartan cabin and the elevator used by the President, who could not walk unaided. The President operated the elevator by hand, but it’s now powered by electricity.

The newly renovated yacht can be chartered for $2,500 for a three-hour cruise on San Francisco Bay.

*

Dogs will be dogs: Officials in Tiburon are, well, p.o.’d that the Northern California town’s $20,000 sidewalk lighting system is being short-circuited by dogs that use them instead of fire hydrants. Damage to the foot-tall lights that illuminate the downtown Shoreline Park walkway is costing the community $200 a month.

“All it takes is one dog to pee on it, and then it’s over. Every dog in the world wants to pee on them,” complains Tiburon Public Works Director Tony Iacoppi. “They are corroding all the fixtures and all the wiring.”

Tiburon Town Manager Bob Kleinert is budgeting $4,500 next year to repair the lights, but he says it may be cheaper in the long run to scrap the system and replace it with fixtures that are out of reach.

*

The Check Is in the Mail

If you mail a letter in Long Beach, it is much more likely to reach its destination overnight than if you mail it in Los Angeles. Nationally, 85% of all local first-class mail was delivered overnight. Here is a look at how California postal processing centers performed during a recent four-month period:

Postal Center Overnight Delivery Long Beach/South Bay 90% Orange County 89% San Gabriel Valley 88% San Fernando Valley 88% Sacramento 87% San Diego 85%

*

Postal Center Overnight Delivery U.S. average 85% Inglewood/Beaches 84% Oakland 84% San Francisco 83% San Jose 83% Los Angeles 82%

Source: U.S. Postal Service Researched by NONA YATES/Los Angeles Times

*

Save the lake: California motorists who want to help preserve Lake Tahoe and its surrounding watershed can purchase special “Preserve Tahoe” license plates. The multicolored license plate--showing the lake, forests and snowcapped mountains--will go for $50 in addition to the usual annual registration fee.

By buying the plates immediately, Tahoe lovers can help kick-start the program because the plates can’t be issued unless at least 5,000 have been sold by Oct. 11, officials said.

Revenue from the program, minus the Department of Motor Vehicles’ onetime cost for the plates, will be administered by the California Tahoe Conservancy, a state agency that has helped fund projects at the lake for almost a decade.

*

Cutting up all that jazz: Pianist and bass player Mick Gannon quickly agreed when the library at UC Santa Cruz asked to borrow part of his priceless jazz memorabilia collection. But he was horrified to learn that some of the irreplaceable photos--including several autographed to him personally--were cut up to make a collage.

Someone sheared the signature off a $2,000 photo of saxophonist Charlie Parker, considered one of the greatest of jazz musicians. Trumpeter Miles Davis was cropped. Lady Day, the legendary Billie Holiday, lost her legs to scissors in a photo valued between $1,200 and $2,000.

University officials profusely apologized and offered to make restitution, but Gannon, who lives in Santa Cruz, can’t put a price on the loss. “I don’t know what I want,” he said. “These things can’t be replaced. . . . It’s just such a personal loss.”

EXIT LINE

“In a free society, there is no reason for discriminating against anybody, not even white men, although they deserve it from time to time.”

Affirmative action critic Barbara Stone, a Republican on the ballot in Tuesday’s recall election against Assemblyman Paul Horcher (I-Diamond Bar).

California Dateline appears every other Friday.