Bare Truth: When Lyle Menendez arrived at...

Bare Truth: When Lyle Menendez arrived at the California Correctional Institution near Tehachapi to begin serving a life sentence, officials took his toupee. Inmates can wear baseball caps or knit stocking caps, but not hairpieces. . . . “It’s a safety precaution,” said Jack Pitko, a prison spokesman. “They could give it to other inmates to use for a disguise or they could hide contraband under it.”

90210: Lyle is Tehachapi’s only high-profile inmate. His brother, Erik, meanwhile, shares the California State Prison near Sacramento with two other convicted killers from Beverly Hills. . . . Also serving time there are Reza Eslaminia and Arben (Ben) Dosti of the notorious Billionaire Boys Club, whose 1980s business ventures turned murderous.

Quick Start: With Southern California theme parks gearing up to entice Halloween crowds, the competition is positively frightening (D1). . . . Universal Studios Hollywood gets a jump on the pack with its Chamber of Chills, above, which opens today at CityWalk. The haunted house offers daytime shows for kids and a scarier, adult version at night.

Money Talks: The debate between civil rights activist Joe Hicks and former Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, set for Sept. 25 at CSUN, heated up early when it was learned that Hicks would be paid $3,000 less than his opponent (B1). . . . Student leaders decided Thursday to pay both men equally, though Hicks said he “did not want the issue of who was getting paid what to become a distraction.”