Governor’s Spouse May Have Future as a Diplomat

In the midst of Women’s History Month, it was a day for Women of the Year--and the woman for the next four.

One of the state Assembly’s occasional feel-good duties is the handing out of be-ribboned plaudits, as in a recent ceremony honoring someone in each member’s district who had distinguished herself.

Most were unsung activists and volunteers, but the winning constituent from Wally Knox’s 42nd Assembly District on the Westside goes by the name of Sharon Davis, and is married to a man named Gray--the governor.

Things never being only what they seem in politics, this demands some deconstructing. When term limits force Sen. Tom Hayden to bail from his Senate seat next year, Knox is expected to run for it against Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl. And Kuehl was one of Gray Davis’ earliest supporters.

So, very diplomatically, Sharon Davis allowed as how she was honored by the honor, but in accepting it from Knox, “no endorsement” should be implied. “I like Wally. He’s been our representative in the Legislature. When he asked me, I was very happy to accept, but I also took the time to call Sheila Kuehl and tell her it was not an endorsement for Wally. She’s also a very dear friend.”

How’s that for politic?

*

Hooky dot com: Hey kids! What time is it?

Time to get to class, or Big Brother--and mother and father--will know the reason why.

An upgraded software program from a Cupertino company named SchoolSoft allows parents to track their children’s schoolwork via the Internet. The software works with a hand-held computer called the PalmPilot, which teachers can use to record attendance, homework, grades, and send that information to a central server which parents can hook into.

At present, some 330 schools have signed on to the program, according to SchoolSoft’s founder, Jim Weldon. The program prices out at about $20,000 per school and $360 a year for each PalmPilot.

While the package includes training for school staff, parents who want to use it are on their own--unless they can get their kids to show them how.

*

No doll’s house: How do you operate a Hall of Fame without a hall--or even a roof, come to that?

The Palo Alto property that has served for years as the Mattel Mecca known as the Barbie Hall of Fame is giving Barbie the boot.

Even though 21,000 Barbies live there, among them tattooed Barbie and astronaut Barbie, it wasn’t zoning violations that got Barbie evicted; Barbieleologist Evelyn Burkhalter’s lease was up, and the restaurant next door wanted to expand its premises.

Thus, 40 years of Barbie history have been stacked in pink boxes as Burkhalter began her hunt for a new Hall of Fame property; failing that, Barbie, rather than take up residence on a park bench, will have to live virtually, on the Internet.

*

*

One-offs: In a field test for a Silicon Valley school district, one Palo Alto middle school is trying sushi ($2 for five, $3 for 10, but nothing raw) on its lunch menu . . . A Fairfield man and his dog were killed by an Amtrak train after the man moved off the tracks when he heard the train whistle, but returned to try to save his dog . . . The state legislative analyst’s budget analysis questions the expenditure of $62 million and 91 employees to run a program to help poor people make their cars smog-compliant, after it only helped 25 motorists last year . . . With donations ranging from pennies to $1.25 million, the public has raised the necessary $5 million of the $15-million cost of saving the 1,626-acre Bair Island wetlands from development, to become part of a Bay Area wildlife refuge . . . Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo) and his wife have been honored by Concern for Helping Animals in Israel for their work in getting veterinary ambulances allowed into Israel duty-free.

*

EXIT LINE

“He doesn’t look 65. When he wears his hat he looks 55 at most. Without it, 60. We tell him to wear his hat.”

--Stanlee Gatti, friend of San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who just marked--celebrated would be overstating it--his 65th birthday.

California Dateline appears every other Tuesday.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Breast Cancer Stamps

Five California postal districts rank in the top 10 nationally in sales of the breast cancer research stamp. The first-class stamp costs 40 cents because 7 cents go directly to research on the deadly disease. The stamp is on sale until July 2000.

*--*

Revenue to Postal Districts* Stamps Sold** Research Sacramento 3,004,266 $233,943 San Francisco 2,812,375 $219,102 Oakland 1,852,657 $145,006 Seattle 1,838,390 $143,627 New York City 1,809,095 $141,052 Washington, D.C. 1,783,475 $140,148 Colorado/Wyoming 1,643,977 $128,643 Atlanta 1,586,631 $123,656 San Diego 1,524,680 $119,119 Van Nuys 1,477,082 $116,308

*--*

* The entire nation is made up of 80 postal districts.

** As of 3/12/99.

Source: United States Postal Service

Researched by TRACY THOMAS/Los Angeles Times