COST OF TRADITION: What would happen if...

COST OF TRADITION: What would happen if you staged a homecoming and nobody came? Student organizers at Orange Coast College are wondering if the tradition--now 40 years old--is worth the trouble, with attendance so poor last year. . . . The student council is surveying students this week to see if they think Homecoming merits the $5,000 it would cost. If there’s no outcry, the council is likely to tell alumni: Sorry, not this year.

SECOND BASE STOP: With controversy over the future of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, maybe you’ve forgotten there’s a second closure coming. They’re very aware of it in Tustin, where the Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station will close by 1999, and a mixed land-use plan is on the boards. . . . A sizable turnout is expected at the city’s Community Center today at 4 p.m. for a meeting of the Tustin Base Closure Task Force. Says city spokeswoman Christine Shingleton: “Our plans haven’t been controversial, but we’re never short of public input at these meetings.”

HOME GROWN: Ron Dominguez’s loyalty to Disneyland goes beyond his 30 years of service there. He was born on the grounds, back when the property was acres of orange groves, partly owned by his family. . . . The fall issue of Disney Magazine praises Dominguez, who started as a ride operator when it opened in 1955 and retired as a vice president last year. “My summer job lasted 39 years,” he quips. . . . The magazine notes he’s among the few to be honored with his name on a window along Main Street.

HORSE TALK: Salvador Lopez is more than just the general manager for Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, at the Orange County Performing Arts Center this weekend (OC Live! F2). He also performs the rope dance, and does rope tricks he learned on the Mexican rodeo circuit--including the lasso of a lady and drawing her to him for a kiss. . . . Has he done that in real life? Lopez’s coy reply about his current girlfriend: “Let’s just say we agreed that we like horses. That’s very important.”