Cross-contamination: “While watching the Simpson trial, I...

Cross-contamination: “While watching the Simpson trial, I saw attorney Barry Scheck put his pen in his mouth,” writes Richard Casey of Palos Verdes Estates. “A little later, Scheck let witness Collin Yamauchi use the same pen to number some pages. No gloves were used between the two parties in handling this potentially germ-laden instrument.”

One more reason this trial shouldn’t be on TV.

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Up, up and awry!Things could be going worse for Judge Ito. You may recall that one of the treats conferred on the Simpson jurors was a ride in the Goodyear blimp, Eagle. Well, a few days after that event, the airship suffered a mishap while attempting to take off with another load of passengers. A gust of wind blew it across its landing strip in Carson, breaking its tail and tearing a 9-foot gash in the blimp’s fabric skin. No one was injured in that incident. But with Ito’s luck, he must feel fortunate that there were no jurors aboard that day.

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A novel point: Referring to the misspelling of a 19th-Century classic as “Withering Heights,” we paraphrased Sam Goldwyn by commenting that if Emily Bronte were alive she’d be spinning in her grave.

“It’s ironic that you mention Sam Goldwyn in connection with this,” writes film historian Lee Harris, “because not only did his company produce the movie of ‘Wuthering Heights,’ but he always referred to it as ‘Withering Heights.’ ”

Harris adds that that wasn’t the only title the film mogul mangled: “He also repeatedly infuriated Lillian Hellman by referring to her work, ‘The Little Foxes,’ as ‘The Three Little Foxes.’ ”

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Spelling that makes one quake: Betty Manheimer of West L.A. noticed a sign that implied that one of the criteria FEMA seems to use in aiding quake victims is proximity to the ocean. And let’s leave it up to the homeowners to judge whether things will turn out “100% grand.”

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Good golly, Mali: So the U.S. Postal Service’s Marilyn Monroe stamp is a big hit. Great idea--even if the agency did wait until almost 33 years after her death. Even the African country of Mali came up with a Monroe stamp a couple years ago.

Yeah, but the U.S. Postal Service did beat Mali on Richard Nixon.

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Rock ‘n’ roll highs: Some notable singers, writers and musicians who attended local schools, culled from Art Fein’s “The L.A. Musical History Tour:”

* Antelope Valley High: Frank Zappa.

* Arcadia: Stevie Nicks.

* Birmingham: Bobby Sherman.

* Fairfax: Herb Alpert.

* Garfield: Cesar Rosas, Conrad Lozano, David Hidalgo, Louie Perez (Los Lobos).

* Immaculate Heart: Natalie Cole.

* Inglewood: Sonny Bono (ex-wife Cheryl Sarkisian, aka Cher, attended Montclair).

* Jefferson: Richard Berry (wrote “Louie Louie”).

* Newbury Park: Belinda Carlisle (Go-Go’s)

* Sunny Hills (Fullerton): Jackson Browne.

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Traffic obstacle du jour: KNX radio’s Jill Angel warned drivers that there was a duck loose on the Santa Ana Freeway, and added she hoped that it wouldn’t cause a “quack-up.”

miscelLAny In its “Best (and Worst) of San Diego” reader survey, San Diego Magazine had to disqualify some nominees for “Most Annoying Local News Story.” The editors explained: “The O.J. Simpson trial is not local, folks.” Given the publicity it receives in every nook and cranny of the United States, the Simpson trial no doubt feels like a local news story to many Americans.