Miss Universe Pageant’s Entry Form Attempts to Cover All the Bases
Miss Universe officials are obviously trying to avoid discrimination lawsuits. Fred Miller of Harbor City noticed that the entry form on the event’s Web site (www.missuniverse.com/howtoenter/index.html) includes this check box: Gender: Male/Female.
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Food for thought: Hugh Moore of Santa Monica took a look at the cover story in the Good News magazine (see above) and wondered what the bad news could be. “Maybe it’s better that I don’t know,” he added.
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And the beat goes on: Dan Fink of L.A. found a restaurant with a celebrity chef (see above).
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Dueling neighbors: In a Long Beach shopping center, John Goodson noticed an unusual pairing (see photo).
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Good guess: The police log of the L.A. Independent reported that a suspect in a clothes-shop theft disclosed to police that he told his girlfriend earlier in the day “that she knew where he would be if she didn’t see him after a while. When police asked if he meant jail, the suspect replied, ‘Yeah.’ ”
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Mystery solved: I mentioned my puzzlement over the 3-cent, 1948 “Youth Week” stamp on a piece of junk mail recently received by Jennifer Fein of Hollywood (see accompanying).
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Kathy Yukl of La Crescenta and Kevin Akin of Riverside told me this is a common occurrence. “Many people bought and saved U.S. stamps thinking their value would raise,” Yukl said. “Just the opposite has proven true.” So, holders of sheets of old stamps often sell them to dealers for 70% or 80% of face value. The dealers then sell them for a smaller discount, say 10%, to mass marketers.
“They’re good for getting people’s attention,” Akin said.
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Unclear on the concept: At an amusement park, Hal Lancaster of Rossmoor spotted a mom who didn’t appreciate the bumper-boat ride she was taking with her young son. She was visibly annoyed when they were jarred by another boat, and even more so when a 6-year-old attacker opened fire with his craft’s squirt gun.
The angry mom finally ordered her disappointed son to pull off into a corner where they could be alone. And she could continue her cell phone conversation.
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miscelLAny: A new version of “Dragnet” returns to television Sunday, complete with LAPD Officer Joe Friday. In his history of the LAPD (“To Protect and To Serve”), author Joe Domanick writes that when “Dragnet” first came to TV in 1952, Chief William Parker demanded that Friday’s badge number be changed because it had gambling connotations. Thus, badge 714 replaced badge 711.
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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.