Councilman Who Tried to Take the City for a Ride

To see how times have changed, one need only look at the case of Harold Harby, a Los Angeles city councilman who was forced to resign half a century ago. He committed a crime while in a car. Buying illegal drugs? No, he used a city car to take a two-week pleasure trip to Montana.

Harby first claimed that he was making a study of the Great Falls park system. (This alibi falls into the same category as that of an early century L.A. mayor who was caught in a brothel and explained that he was studying the conditions there.)

Eventually, Harby refunded the city the supposed cost of the trip: $122.12. But he was indicted by a grand jury anyway. He was convicted and ousted from his seat.

Nowadays, a politician in Harby’s predicament would probably claim he was addicted to gasoline fumes and would be allowed to seek treatment. Then he could have the conviction expunged from his record if he stayed away from cars and lawn mowers for a year.

*

A MAN WITH DRIVE: So what happened to ex-Councilman Harby? A year after he was removed, he ran for his seat again and was . . . victorious. Columnist Matt Weinstock speculated that in the minds of voters, “clearly, a man who joy-rides in a car at the taxpayers’ expense is no criminal. If they were councilman, obviously they’d want to do the same.”

It remains to be seen, of course, whether the voters in City Councilman Mike Hernandez’s district will be so forgiving.

*

IT’S ONLY HALF THE JOB: A while back, we published a diagram explaining how to use a drain plug (see accompanying). But Mary Ellen Anderson phoned the other day with a good point. Sure, the drawing shows how to install the plug. But, she asks, how do you remove it? I told her I’d let her know as soon as I found the manual that came with the device.

*

FOR HEAVY LIFTING? Joel Schuette of San Marcos happened upon a storage company that also appears to dabble in farm animals--a company that should know that the plural form of the word is “oxen” (see photo).

*

THE RAIDERS ARE COMING! THE RAIDERS ARE COMING? “I am surprised,” writes Ken McIntyre of Marina del Rey, “that you haven’t mentioned the proliferation of Raider billboards in L.A. lately. I get the feeling that we are being softened up for some kind of Al Davis insurgency. Now might be a good time to barricade the Coliseum in case the Raiders try to take us by surprise.”

Actually, I’ve mentioned the alarming news about the billboards but I am late in printing a disturbing note from Bob Abrahams, who saw an MTA bus with an electronic route sign that said “Go Raiders.”

On the other hand, an ex-governor of California now says he’d like to run for office in Oakland. Who’d want to move out of a city that had Jerry Brown as mayor?

miscelLAny:

Regarding the items here on the pronunciation of jazz great Bix Beiderbecke’s name, Bea Shaw of Toluca Lake recalled the time “I wanted to surprise a friend with an album by his favorite jazz musician--and called all over town trying to find something by the Loneliest Monk.” A Thelonious offense, to say the least.

*

Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.