NEW JOINT: After meeting in parks or...

NEW JOINT: After meeting in parks or private homes the last four years, the Orange County Hemp Council--an education group in favor of marijuana legalization--now has its own office, in Huntington Beach. Says co-founder Dave Myers, 33, an industrial electrician: “It’s hard for people to take you seriously when you say you’re meeting at the city park. It doesn’t carry the clout as if you were in an office.” . . . From its recent issue of Hemp Journal: “How can a bankrupt county afford to arrest people for smoking a joint?”

BUSTING OUT: Lawyers defending accused serial killer Charles Ng will finally get some breathing room. County supervisors have agreed to lease extra space for the public defender’s office as it prepares for Ng’s trial here on a change of venue from Northern California, where he’s accused of 12 murders in 1984 and 1985. . . . The state will pay the $2,929 monthly fee for the extra space. “This is 10 years’ worth of files,” one county official says. The space will be used mainly to store more than 100,000 pages of documents.

STRIP VETERAN: Kevin Fagan of Mission Viejo, once the youngest syndicated cartoonist in America, has been drawing his newspaper strip “Drabble” for 16 years (E1). Fagan, 39, has generated a lot of laughs since turning middle-aged Ralph Drabble into a mall security officer a few years ago. . . . Fagan, however, does not find much inspiration hanging out at shopping malls. “It’s a complete waste of time,” he says. “I just end up spending money.”

HUNDRED-YARD CLASS: Is this you: Your husband--or wife--is glued to “Monday Night Football” on TV but you feel left out because you know so little about the game? For $33, you can learn enough to make it a family affair. . . . The two-night course at the Oasis Senior Center in Corona del Mar--next Monday and Oct. 16--is called “Women’s Intro to Football.” But it’s open to anyone. . . . It’s taught by Dorothy Sirus, a former football magazine editor, who’ll analyze the game in progress. Register at Newport Beach City Hall.