DEATH ROW COUNTDOWN: It was six years...

DEATH ROW COUNTDOWN: It was six years ago this week that computer consultant Randy Kraft was sentenced to death for 16 Orange County murders. Lawyers agreed then his appeal would run about 10 years. How close will they be? . . . Kraft’s appeal hasn’t yet reached federal court--or even the state Supreme Court. But his prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Bryan Brown, is convinced that new federal streamlining on appeals still makes that 10-year prediction accurate: “I think Mr. Kraft will see justice by then.”

BRIGHTER IMAGE: Mired in a bankruptcy quagmire--that’s not exactly how everyone sees Orange County. . . . The day after Northwestern clinched its Rose Bowl ticket, the university’s Alumni Assn. was pushing a color brochure promising hotel rooms on “California’s Riviera”--meaning Orange County’s beaches. (“The sun glows orange and red on the Pacific horizon. Sailboats sway in gentle marina tides.”) . . . The alumni group is putting up its members at six major hotels in Newport Beach, Irvine and Costa Mesa.

SPACE RIDE: With “Apollo 13” now out on video, there’s renewed interest in astronauts and space danger. Two former U.S. astronauts are making local appearances. . . . Sally Ride, first U.S. woman in space, signs her two children’s books--both about space--at the Launch Pad Science Store in Costa Mesa today. Charles Walker, who worked on three missions, appears Thursday at a pizza dinner at McDonnell Douglas in Huntington Beach--hosted by the Orange County Space Society.

MARINA MAN: Marina High School in Huntington Beach is where Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen coach Mark Cresse went to school and where his son Brad is a senior. So Marina High is the beneficiary of Cresse’s youngsters clinic today at the Batting Cages in Lakewood--all proceeds go to its baseball team. . . . Son Brad is listed by High School Baseball U.S.A. as the 22nd best player at that level. “He really should have been higher,” Cresse says. “But then, I’m his dad.”