A Car Passenger ID Blackout Plan

Speaking of the new intersection cameras intended to photograph traffic violators in West Hollywood, the L.A. Business Journal says that offending drivers will be mailed a copy of the snapshot.

But, the newspaper adds, “out of courtesy for those who may not want their driving companion’s identity known, all images of passengers in the offending car will be blacked out.”

A good way of saving marriages.

I’m reminded of the story of the new hotel vice president who thought he’d drum up good will by mailing thank you notes to the homes of guests.

The notes said something like, “Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. --- for patronizing our hotel. . . .”

Soon he was besieged by calls from wives saying, “Whadaya mean my husband and I stayed at your hotel?”

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ARE WE SURE IT WAS A MAN? In the police log of a Wilshire-area newspaper, Ed Ikuta noticed this passage:

“The suspect has been described as an African American, Latino or Caucasian man, 5-feet-9 to 6-feet-1 inches tall, between 180 and 220 pounds and 25 to 35 years old. . . . Also, he has either a goatee, beard or unshaven appearance.”

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DINING GUIDE FOR THE ADVENTUROUS: Today’s selections (see accompanying) include:

* A coffee shop whose tables seem to be on an indoor golf course (submitted by Gerald Jones of L.A.),

* A “free liver” sign that used to say “free delivery” (Nick Larsen of Simi Valley),

* A recipe for a stringy cake (Michele Haines of Santa Clarita), and,

* A post-meal goodie, bubble gum with something “new”--the “original flavor.” (from Susan Selvaggio of Simi Valley).

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DRY WIT: In the “Ask the Judge” section of the L.A. County World Wide Web site, Superior Court Judge Gregory O’Brien said one of the most unusual questions posed to him came from a little girl who wondered, “if I ever spill my water pitcher.”

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I TOLD YOU NEVER TO PHONE ME IN ENGLISH CLASS: Mary-Claudia Inadomi, a student at Harvard-Westlake School, sent me a note about a typical day in class:

“Pagers and cell-phones aren’t really allowed at school but because so many people have them the rule isn’t completely enforced,” she began.

“My English class was having a writing period to work on our essays when Anup’s pager went off and it made the ‘Roadrunner’ (cartoon) song. And then Brooke’s pager went off. And then Mike got out his cell phone to page Anup (Mike is also in my class).

“So my friend Roz and I took a poll of the class to find out who had a cell phone or a pager and nearly half the class has both! Mike has two phones. And there was only one student who had neither.”

miscelLAny:

Maggie O’Donnell of Pico Rivera was on the San Gabriel River Freeway when she spotted a biker with the following printed in large letters on the back of his shirt: “If you can read this, my wife fell off!”

Or escaped.

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Steve Harvey an 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.