Check This Out: Deputies Delighted With Drive-Up Arrests at Inspection Area

One of the amusing aspects of the courthouse detail for officers, writes L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Ascolese, is the number of “arrests you can generate just by standing at the inspection area” for vehicles with citations.

“One lady pulled up to have her son’s car checked, only to be dismayed when the car was impounded,” Ascolese related in Star News, a department publication. Reason: The car was stolen.

Shhhh! Long Beach resident John Creamer noticed a hospital’s building directory that might confirm the suspicions of employees everywhere about their bosses (see photo).

They’ll clean your clock: A marquee that seemed to advertise a unique hands-on (and feet-on) approach to laundry caught the eye of Kent Moore of Corona del Mar. Observed Moore: “I suppose this means that they give you the ‘rough and tumble’ with the ‘spin’ service” (see photo).

Something else to kick about: Dennis Williams and Nicholas Hobart noted that in my fascinating discussion of Reseda’s cinematic contributions, I forgot to point out that the main character in “The Karate Kid” moves to that town from New Jersey. Hobart, by the way, wins the award for today’s most far-flung correspondent, having e-mailed from Minnesota.

No hairy situation? Joyce Hiller of Redondo Beach came across an ad for a sales job with an abbreviation that could be mistaken for a health guarantee--a creepy health guarantee (see accompanying).

Food for thought: At a skating event in Japan, George Rossano spotted an apparent reminder to spectators to be sure to fill up on food beforehand (see photo).

Sign of spring: Pasadena police set up a neighborhood traffic check, complete with electronic readout of the speed of passing vehicles. Soon afterward, a dad and his son were observed in the street, wearing baseball gloves. They proceeded to clock the speed of the boy’s pitches.

Double-talk of the day: Walter Gillespie of L.A. forwarded a Medicare form that stated: “This release will be good for a maximum of five years unless you specify a shorter or longer length of time below. Length of time is not to exceed five years.” Someone karate kick the writer awake.

Marquee madness (cont.): Joe Pranzo of Lake Arrowhead recalled a theater sign that combined the titles of two 1949 movies with risque effect: BIG CAT/HOUSE ACROSS THE STREET.

Timothy Leary would have been proud: David Whiteacre remembered an extraordinary closure notice in Chicago before that city’s 2000 marathon. The second line was supposed to say: “Use Lake Shore Drive,” but the sign maker was either lazy or couldn’t fit it all in. So, the sign said: ROAD CLOSED USE LSD.

miscelLAny: This column is also temporarily closing while I take a one-week vacation.

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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.