For Father and Son, Signs of a Bump on the Road of Life

It’s almost a complete 180-degree take on the old allowance problem between fathers and sons:

As the Legislature wrapped up for the year, retired Assemblyman Willard Murray, hereafter known as “dad,” was in town on various tasks, and approached Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City), hereafter known as “son,” for help in getting a sign put up on that portion of the 91 Freeway through dad’s old district. That stretch of freeway is dedicated to Murray senior, but no sign is there to say so.

Dad: “What are you doing about my freeway?”

Son: “I’m working on it.”

Dad: “It’s not that hard.”

Son agrees that it’s not hard, but it does take money. Dad says it’s only $2,000. Son says it’s more like $4,000, which he will raise as he gets time.

The scene ends with both walking off in opposite directions. Out of earshot of dad, son mutters: “I’m the only legislator around who gets lobbied by his father on the floor--openly.”

Son Murray says he’s already raised some money, and for the rest, “I’ll pay it myself if he keeps bothering me about it.”

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Monumental mess: You’ve got to hand it to California--even our trash is interesting.

A headstone from San Antonio, a love letter in a bottle, a black bear skeleton and a pumpkin full of cooked eggs turned up last weekend among the detritus in the state’s 15th annual Coastal Cleanup Day. The grave marker won the $500 award for the most unusual item; finder George Becker Sr. of Concord, one of 39,000-plus volunteers, came across it on a San Francisco beach.

The rest of the junk made up in poundage what it lacked in interest--251 tons, nearly 20 tons of it recyclable, meaning it could turn up discarded in another incarnation at next year’s cleanup.

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Sacramento sound bites: Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), after seeing that Gov. Gray Davis’ parental contract legislation included several programs named for their sponsoring Democratic legislators: “I noticed that every section of this bill is named for somebody and I wondered if I could dedicate my aye vote to myself.”

* Instructions from Assemblyman Fred Keeley (D-Boulder Creek) as he presided over the body at the start of its final week: “Members, return your seat backs and tray tables to their upright position because we’re going to take off and not land this thing until we’re done.”

* Gov. Davis delivering new books to an elementary school in Sacramento and explaining to a third-grade class what a governor is: “It’s like a little president.”

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Homing bells Two tales of the return of stolen tolling bells: Three bells given to the country’s oldest Eastern Orthodox parish--donated in 1888 by Czar Alexander III, father of Russia’s last czar--were stolen from San Francisco’s Holy Trinity Cathedral. The bells commemorate the czar’s escape from an assassination attempt on the imperial train.

Three days after the church choir director went to ring the bells and found them missing, they were back, left on the church steps. Church bells are rare in Russia, where they were turned into bullets during the world wars.

And in Moraga, a bell that was a trophy in a football rivalry was returned to St. Mary’s College seven years after it disappeared. A man who said only, “This is yours,” left the bell. Later, a group called the Let Them Play Foundation said it received an anonymous call saying only, “Mission accomplished.”

The foundation is dedicated to returning football to Santa Clara University, which dropped the sport shortly after the bell vanished. “If Santa Clara plays football again,” says St. Mary’s Athletics Director Rick Mazzuto, “that’s what we’ll play for.”

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One-offs: Reports in Japan that pomegranates possess Viagra-like qualities presage a California boost in demand for the many-seeded fruit. . . . San Diego police, not to mention football fans, want to know who swiped three San Diego Chargers banners valued at $6,500. . . . For the ninth year, a Torrance firm has published a who’s who of the nation’s Death Row inmates. . . . Angry Visalia parents threatened to recall school board members who proposed cutting back field trips after young students scored poorly in math and reading. . . . Following the example of Los Angeles International, Sacramento’s airport has added electric cars to its rental-car fleet.

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Pears to Spare

September is Bartlett pear time in California, which typically grows 60% of the nation’s Bartletts. Because of a cool, dry spring and late summer, growers predict a larger than normal supply.

Here are the five counties that grew the most Bartletts last year and the crop’s total value:

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Source: California Agricultural Statistics Service

Researched by TRACY THOMAS/Los Angeles Times

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EXIT LINE

“I refuse to consider a tin shed a structure of merit.”

--Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean, annoyed that preservationists have declared that an 1899 corrugated metal warehouse slated for destruction is a historical and industrial “structure of merit.”

California Dateline appears every other Tuesday.