An untherapeutic soak:Tim Williams, an L.A. County...

An untherapeutic soak:

Tim Williams, an L.A. County sheriff’s deputy, pursued a suspected car thief on foot through the city of Paramount and found him hiding in a hot tub. Under the cover.

DOES THAT INCLUDE BREAKING KNEES? In these uncertain economic times, Ed Rea Jr. of Redondo Beach noticed that one manufacturer’s price list takes a rather pugnacious approach toward late payments (see excerpt).

FROM OUR “DUH!” FILES: Jean Conrad of Alhambra contributed another one of those seemingly obvious warnings for consumers, this from her car’s windshield sunshade (see excerpt). Of course, if you’re trying to hide from the cops, or creditors, you might want to ignore the warning.

$43,000 FOR YOUR THOUGHTS, UNION BANK: Several weeks ago, a group of disabled adults at a downtown vocational workshop were performing one of their tasks--sorting out empty coin bags from the Union Bank of California--when one of the bags yielded $43,000 in checks and cash.

Rather than book the next flight to Hawaii, the crew members turned in the loot.

“Most of the workers on my station are people with severe developmental disabilities,” said Greg Jones, their supervisor at the workshop, which is operated by the Crippled Children’s Society. “But they understand the value of money as well as hard work, and they clearly understand that you can’t keep something that doesn’t belong to you.”

What the Crippled Children’s Society can’t understand is the lack of response from Union Bank. “Our people did the right thing,” spokesman Bernie Sandalow said. “They [Union] were supposedly going to present some sort of certificates or other recognition--but, so far, nothing.”

NO WONDER THEY CAN’T BE SURE OF THE TIME: The police log in USC’s Daily Trojan the other day said: “A suspect entered an unlocked office in Waite Phillips Hall and removed a roll of stamps and a wall clock around 1:30 p.m. Thursday.”

FOLLOWING THE PAPER TRAIL: On election day, Liz Cotten came upon an interesting note lying on the ground at a San Fernando Valley elementary school being used as a polling place. The note had obviously been written by a teacher to a student’s mother about a coming field trip. The teacher wanted the mom’s guarantee that the student would behave, rather than continue to show a “lack of respect” for his teachers.

The teacher said that she had previously tried to contact the mother “by phone but the person who answered fell asleep after saying he would get you. When I phoned back the line was busy. . . .”

Incidentally, Cotten found the never-delivered note near a trash can, leading her to conclude that the kid had “missed the toss to the can.”

miscel LA ny:

During the nationally televised Lakers game Sunday at the Forum in Inglewood, a fan held up a piece of metal that said, LAKR CZY. The piece of metal was a license plate. How does that saying go? You can take an Angeleno out of his car but. . . .