Walking on a StarValley rocker Tom Petty...

Walking on a Star

Valley rocker Tom Petty was one of 14 luminaries chosen Monday to receive stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1997. Petty, who won this year’s Grammy for male rock vocal, not only lives in the Valley, he also sang about it in his 1989 hit “Free Falling.” . . . The lyrics included: “It’s a long day living in Reseda./There’s a freeway running through the yard./ All the vampires walking through the Valley/Move west down Ventura Boulevard.”

Prison PR

What self-respecting celebrity doesn’t have a press rep these days, even in prison? Evangelist Tony Alamo, who once headed a multimillion-dollar church based in Saugus where he promised to raise his wife’s body from the dead, is currently incarcerated on a tax evasion conviction. When he filed suit Monday against federal officials because his parole bid was denied, it was a Washington-based PR firm, Ross & Green, that alerted the press. . . . “I worked on the Waco thing, too,” said Nancy Ross.

Slow Burn

This firefighter just started a forest fire! And he got paid to do it! But nothing underhanded here. . . . It was all in a day’s work for Mitch Gillespie and 120 other crew members participating in a controlled burn in San Francisquito Canyon (B14). This completed a seven-year project to destroy 3,000 acres of brush and therefore help contain future brush fires.

Internet for Kids

While many groups warn of online evils, Sherman Oaks-based Women in Technology International is sponsoring a Take Your Children on the Internet Week to promote the vast educational resources available on the Net. Their Web site can be found at https://www.witi.com.