Ah, Commander, Radar’s Picking Up Some Spherical Objects Off Dana Point

A cost-effective alternative to the “Star Wars” system? The police log of the Dana Point News reported: “Three kids near Sea Canyon Park were using some sort of tube device to launch oranges.”

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At least no one has called him a lemon: I’ve told you how L.A.’s current mayor was identified as “Mike Haan” in a graphic on one network TV newscast and as “James K. Hahn, Major” on an L.A. city Public Works Department sign. Now David Stone of Encino passes along a photo caption from the Buenos Aires Herald that disputes Hahn’s claim to the office--I mean mayor, not major (see accompanying).

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Speaking of the election: Unbelievable as it sounds, I can’t remember hearing any commercials pro or con for one proposition in the sample ballot (see accompanying).

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Kooky calendar: You didn’t want February to end so soon (so maybe you could hear more TV and radio election spots)? Well, William Lee and Michael Dulson found a wine-tasting event for you (see accompanying).

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I guess they’ll bottle anything these days: Harry Hornett of San Juan Capistrano found what must be a post-L.A.-Marathon sale (see photo).

The show that’s never aired on the Food Channel: I recounted the “Alfred Hitchcock” TV episode in which a murderous wife conks her ever-loving hubby on the head with a frozen leg of lamb, then cooks the meat.

But readers Lois McKinney and Barbara Rowland took me to task for leaving out the last plot twist. “She invites the detective to dinner,” McKinney said, “and as he’s putting a forkful of lamb into his mouth, he says he really wishes he could find the murder weapon.”

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How about some alphabet soup on the side? Mention was made here of the billboard from the state Avocado Commission (my favorite commission) that says: “Your BLT Could Use a Vowel.”

Several readers told me they have found BLATs on menus, including Robert Riedel of Torrance.

And Mike Owen of Manhattan Beach swears that he ate--he can’t remember where--a bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado and Swiss cheese sandwich: a BLAST.

Better than a leg-of-lamb sock to the head, I guess.

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Semi-memorable West Valley movie lines: I alleged the other day that Reseda is no doubt jealous of the many references to neighbor Tarzana in the movies--most recently in “Queen of the Damned,” where a groupie tells a vampire rock star, “I came all the way from Tarzana.”

But Reseda has had its moments too. Sort of.

In “A Kid in King Arthur’s Court,” a Little League player who time-travels back to visit the Knights of the Round Table explains he is from Reseda, “the bowling capital of the world.”

And in the film “The Adventures of Ford Fairlane,” detective Fairlane (Andrew Dice Clay) describes a famous heavy metal band in his typical sensitive fashion:

“I thought they were just some lucky [censored] from Reseda.”

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miscelLAny: Bob Patterson points out that a rock group appearing in L.A. this month should have no trouble fitting in. Its name: Swearing at Motorists.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, Ext. 77083; by fax at (213) 237-4712; by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012; and by e-mail at steve. harvey@latimes.com.