TIGHTENING UP: It’s not that Anaheim’s government...

TIGHTENING UP: It’s not that Anaheim’s government leaders don’t want to be accessible--they just want to have a little more say in who they’re accessible to. The seventh floor at City Hall--where the mayor, city manager and council members have offices--is undergoing renovation that will include new security doors. . . . No single event prompted it, says spokesman Bret Colson: “We want to be proactive, rather than have a tragedy strike and then react.”

GET WELL PRESENT: Huntington Beach’s sister city of Anjo, Japan, had donated money to help rebuild the pier. Now Huntington Beach is giving Anjo something it very much wants--an oil well. . . . The well, donated by Pacific Coast Homes, will soon be dismantled at its location at Golden West and Garfield--to make way for street widening--and shipped to Japan, at Anjo’s cost. . . . Says Councilman Victor Leipzig, who initiated the exchange: “The oil well is a symbol of our city.”

BEHIND THE NUMBERS: Most local cities showed no increase in slayings in 1995; many were actually down some. But Anaheim Police Lt. Stephen Sain offers an interesting explanation: the paramedics. . . . “It’s not that there are fewer violent crimes, it’s that the paramedics are getting really good,” says Sain. “They stabilize the victims, get them to the doctors and lives are saved.” . . . Santa Ana has more than double the slayings of Anaheim, the second highest in the county. More than half of Santa Ana’s 72 slayings were gang-related.

TYING THE KNOTT’S: When Stephanie Richardson met Mike Strong she thought he was a monster. But then, she was too. The Irvine couple met while working as monsters at Knott’s Berry Farm at Halloween time. Which is why they’ve decided to be married there. . . . Turns out they’ll be the 1,000th couple to exchange vows at the amusement park in Buena Park. Bonus wedding gifts from Knott’s: a pair of annual passes and a honeymoon trip to Mexico.