English spoken . . . there:”Exploring the...

English spoken . . . there:

“Exploring the old city of Tallinn, Estonia, I found myself lost,” begins Carroll Haeske of Arcadia. “I approached a group waiting for a bus and asked, ‘Does anyone here speak English?’ Three came forward and one walked me about a quarter of a mile to my hotel.”

Two weeks later, he was on a crowded bus in L.A. “and heard a frustrated voice say, ‘Does anyone here speak English?’ There was no answer.”

Haeske then spoke to the puzzled tourist, who was from New Zealand, telling him that many bus riders in Southern California don’t speak English--at least not to strangers.

MAYBE AN ESTONIAN COULD TRANSLATE IT: Brian Brick of Altadena, who contributed the accompanying ad from the L.A. Daily Journal, says: “I’m not certain what ‘? preferred’ means but I’m certain that if any city has rec/tel/secs with such qualifications, Los Angeles does.”

LIST OF THE DAY: An Arleta truck driver, riding on two rims, leads police on a 150-mile, 2 1/2-hour chase that includes a jaunt down Venice’s pedestrian walkway, the Boardwalk. Just another day in L.A. Here are a few other unusual pursuits (excluding those involving Ford Broncos) of recent years:

--1994: A Los Angeles police officer, whose unattended bicycle was stolen on Ventura Boulevard, caught the thief after running several blocks on foot, then catching an automobile ride from a motorist, then remounting his stolen bike, which had been abandoned.

--1991: Two pigs--one weighing 300 pounds--were pursued by authorities for four hours through the streets of Chatsworth before the porkers were captured by residents and animal control officers. Five people had to sit on the 300-pound pig in order to subdue it.

--1990: A man with a six-foot boa constrictor wrapped around his neck was chased by police for 2 1/2 hours, crisscrossing the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys at speeds of more than 100 m.p.h. before a CHP officer rammed his car. Neither the driver nor the reptile were hurt.

--1989: A drunk-driving suspect ended a 14-minute pursuit by pulling into the parking lot of the Downtown city jail, telling officers he had been arrested before and “knew where to go.”

--1989: An East L.A. man stole a steamroller and led police officers on a low-speed chase for a few blocks before surrendering. He said he took the steamroller because he was tired of walking.

ANAGRAM OF THE DAY: CANOGA PARK--PACK A GROAN (Phil Frankenfeld).

CLASS--WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?Dana Rose Lavi of Santa Monica shot the accompanying sign at her brother’s graduation ceremony at Cal State Fullerton. Packs a groan, doesn’t it?

miscelLAny Erik Gerhardt of Hawthorne sent along a resolution from the local City Council that revised a working agreement with the Fire Department to include references to color, ancestry, sexual orientation and “martial” status. More evidence of the militia movement?