Mystery of the Spruced-Up Condo: Guilty Party Gets Clean Away

In the police log of the Irvine World News, Mike McGinnis of Huntington Beach noticed this item: “Reporting party returned home to find his condo cleaned and reorganized, and there were no signs of forced entry.”

A case where good help was truly hard to find.

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THE RODENT FLAG OF CALIFORNIA: My thanks to the readers who tried to identify the creature on the state of California freeway sign (see photo). The last I’d heard, the grizzly bear was the official animal of California, but obviously another beast has been substituted.

Raul Blacksten, Scott McCarty and Beverly Antel concluded that the new state mammal is a giant rodent--the capybara, a South American creature that can grow to more than four feet.

“Probably modeled after the huge specimens at the Santa Barbara Zoo,” McCarty said.

“Not quite a rat, but close!” commented Antel, who sent along an engraving of the creature (see accompanying).

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WHO SWALLOWED ALL THAT DESERT? Michael Helwig, meanwhile, was intrigued not so much by the new state mammal but by the new state outline. “I think this is part of Nevada’s secret plan to annex parts of California,” he said.

I’m worried that we may have lost Needles.

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“DUH” AWARD: On a recent trip to the Grand Canyon, Dan Fink of L.A. came upon a restroom where a sticker on the toilet tank said: “Reclaimed water. Do not drink.”

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Steve Harvey’s e-mail: steve.harvey@latimes.com.