BASKETBALL BUCKS: Cherokee Parks’ three-year, $3.35-million contract,...

BASKETBALL BUCKS: Cherokee Parks’ three-year, $3.35-million contract, which he signed Thursday with the Dallas Mavericks, pales in comparison to past rookie deals. New NBA rules put restrictions on rookie salaries. . . . Parks, a former standout at Marina High in Huntington Beach, potentially could have earned millions more if he had turned pro after his junior year at Duke, but he says he wasn’t ready: “Having a long, guaranteed contract would have been nice. But I can come in and prove myself in three years, and that will help me [as a free agent].”

NEW RENTAL AGENCY: City officials in Orange are finding it expensive to be in the real estate business. The city must pay $17,000 in relocation costs for Adam and Anna Dehm of Alpine Road, whose rental home stands in the way of a street-widening project. . . . The couple had been paying low rent there for 20 years, and to meet state codes the city is forced to pay stiff fees for comparable housing. . . . But, without the law, says city property representative Robert Stolhand, “They would have been on their own.”

MOUNTAIN LADY: At 23, Leigh Donovan of Mission Viejo is a veteran bicycle rider--racing competitively since she was 11. Last week was her crowning glory: She won the women’s mountain bike World Championships in Kirchzarten, Germany. . . . Says Donovan, who was already the U.S. women’s champion: “The course was muddy and slippery, but somehow everything just felt right for me.”

KENNEDY COINS: For another million pennies--give or take a few--Kennedy Elementary Principal Sally Melton figures to send her whole school--770 students--to Disneyland. This year’s penny campaign for Kennedy, which is in a low economic area in Santa Ana, kicks off today. “Many of our students live in one-bedroom homes, and 85% have never been to Disneyland,” says Melton. . . . The students, who come up with the pennies on their own, raised some 750,000 last year--less than half of what they’ll need.