Inquiring minds:A West Hills resident called the...

Inquiring minds:

A West Hills resident called the office of City Councilwoman Laura Chick on Tuesday, “insisting to know why there was so much smoke.” Eric Rose, Chick’s chief deputy, said the resident “wondered if there was a fire.”

YOU’VE COME TO THE WRONG PLACE: It was a tense moment during a debate over the ethics of granting a subway contract on the Eastside to a politically connected but low-rated business team. One member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board sought an opinion from the transit agency’s ethics department. But the wording of the request made it sound like a desperate plea:

“Do we have an ethical person here?”

JUST RENAME IT SHERMAN BEACH: Sherman Oaks seems to have been misplaced again. You may recall, especially if you live there, that the San Fernando Valley community was moved to the Westside in a Time magazine map following the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Now, Ken McIntyre of Marina del Rey has noticed that a British map maker inserted the rambling town between Hermosa and Redondo beaches (see maps).

Maybe the map maker was confused by the movie “Escape from L.A.,” in which a quake leaves the Valley submerged in the San Fernando Sea.

BUT IS IT IN THE DICTIONARY? The hand-lettered poster for a student government event at College of the Canyons in Valencia said: “Let’s teach the politicians a new word--accontablity.”

A new spelling might be more accurate.

IT’S EASY TO LOSE TRACK OVER THE CENTURIES: Actress Shirley MacLaine told KCBS-TV’s David Sheehan that this is the 10th major fire she has experienced in Malibu--at least in this lifetime. “I don’t know how many more” there’ve been, or where, she said. “I suppose I was in Atlantis; I suppose I was in San Francisco.”

WE’D HAVE SWEPT THIS FINDING UNDER THE RUG: In “Yankee Bugle,” the newsletter of the Hamilton High Alumni Assn., Pat Griffin reveals that her husband, Bob, was once part of a massive construction project in Saudi Arabia. The Griffins were among those invited to tour the royal palace afterward.

“The living room was huge and the floor covered by the most beautiful Oriental rug in shades of pine and blue,” Pat said. “Everyone wondered where it was woven it was so big. Bob lifted the end of the rug. It was made in the U.S.”

SEER ALERT: Most motorists traveling south on the Santa Ana Freeway ignore a lighted sign that says STOP NOW off one exit. They’re in no danger of being ticketed for their noncooperation. Whether they’re tempting fate is another question. The STOP NOW sign is atop a shop owned by a fortune teller named Rose.

We’re tempted to test her accuracy at predicting traffic jams.

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Ever wonder what type of pavement is preferred by your favorite star? You can find out because “Driveways of the Rich and Famous,” a TV show that has had limited exposure on cable channels, has its own Web site. Yes, now you can go virtual trick-or-treating to the estates owned by Elizabeth Taylor, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty and Brad Pitt. And, best of all, you’ll run no risk of being attacked by a trained Doberman pinscher or clubbed to the ground by a security guard.