THE RIGHT SPIRIT: The Nixon Center for...

THE RIGHT SPIRIT: The Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom--formed by Richard Nixon and his presidential library in Yorba Linda shortly before his death last year--will present its first Architect of the New Century Award on Monday. While center officials say the award is given “without regard to party,” are you surprised that the first one is going to a Republican? House Speaker Newt Gingrich will accept the honor in Washington. . . . It’s for a leader who “acts in the Nixonian spirit of enlightened national interest.”

PEDAL POWER: Steve Hegg’s cycling career didn’t peak with a gold medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics--it was just getting started. Hegg of Dana Point is still among cycling’s elite. . . . His latest victory came Thursday in the prologue of the Tour of China. He covered the 2 1/2-mile time trial in 5 minutes, 2.141 seconds. Thursday’s event is part of an 11-day, 310-mile tour.

GROUNDBREAKER: In her new autobiography, “After All,” Mary Tyler Moore has nothing but praise for “Dick Van Dyke Show” creator Carl Reiner. “He broke ground in every area,” she states. . . . Reiner has other fans. He’s already received two major awards this year, and today the Anti-Defamation League of Orange County/Long Beach honors him with its Artistic Achievement Award at an Irvine Marriott hotel brunch. . . . Its executive director, Joyce Greenspan, says of Reiner, active in Jewish causes: “He has contributed to our culture, our country and our heritage.”

NOT FORGOTTEN: William Cameron Townsend, founder of Huntington Beach-based Wycliffe Bible Translators, died in 1983 but is hardly forgotten within the group (E1). . . . Planning is underway for next year’s 100th birthday celebration for “Uncle Cam.” Townsend was “an eternal optimist. He never gave up,” says Bernie May, a Wycliffe administrator. “With Uncle Cam, no was not a negative.”