THE BASICS: Among successes noted at Venado...
THE BASICS: Among successes noted at Venado Middle School’s graduation Thursday was this: toilet paper. The Irvine school faced a minor crisis June 7. “[A custodian] came in and said, ‘I just hung the last roll of toilet paper,’ ” Principal Robert Bruce said. Bankruptcy cuts left the district supply empty. So the PTA put up cash for a shopping trip. . . . “You don’t really think of the PTA taking up a collection to buy toilet paper. But these days you do what you have to,” Bruce said.
BE PREPARED: Voters won’t decide the fate of the proposed half-cent sales tax until Tuesday, but applications are out already for five seats on a panel to oversee spending of tax proceeds. Members should have financial know-how, said Jodie Harrod of the Orange County Grand Jurors Assn. . . . If the tax fails, the effort stops. “We’re not jumping the gun. We just can’t wait until the last minute,” Harrod said. (714) 835-6209.
DRESS-UP DAY: County libraries get help today from Mr. Blackwell, the couturier known for his worst-dressed list. Blackwell’s new autobiography--telling of affairs with Tyrone Power, Cary Grant and Randolph Scott--is on sale at a Friends of the Library Foundation lunch at the Center Club in Costa Mesa. The library backers get half of proceeds. . . . “A lot of luncheon guests will be checking themselves in the mirror,” said president Martha Lydick.
WASH AND WAR: Westminster officials threw cold water on fund-raising carwashes at a local Carl’s Jr. The owner of a carwash nearby complained that the biweekly benefits at the restaurant were hurting business. So the city told Carl’s Jr. manager Rick Graff to turn off the spigots. But grousing from the nonprofit groups pushed city staffers to work out a compromise: Carl’s Jr. must apply for a special permit for up to six carwashes a year. . . . Graff denied the benefits were a bother. “The whole thing stinks,” he said.
TONIGHT: Blues great B.B. King headlines the Taste of Orange County festival at Irvine Spectrum. 5 p.m. to midnight. $3-$6. Through Sunday. (714) 490-4944.
WEATHER: Night and morning low clouds and fog along the coast. Highs in the low 80s; lows in the low 60s.
