Police Turn a Deaf Ear to Resident’s Complaints About a Noisy Neighbor

Residents complaining about noise from their neighbors’ stereos or TV sets or power tools are not uncommon. But here’s a beef I hadn’t heard before: The Seal Beach Sun said that police received an angry call from someone who “reported hearing constant noise from a neighbor upstairs mixing up dominoes on a table.”

The cops didn’t send a black and white to investigate the black and whites.

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And they’re off! Joyce Yuska of Torrance came across a lawyer who apparently won’t consult with customers until after Santa Anita and Hollywood Park shut down (see accompanying).

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From lawyers to reptiles ... : The Laguna News-Post reported that a resident called police when she found a surprise dinner guest: a snake in her dining room.

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From reptiles to oilmen: Ken Higman received a solicitation for an oil industry newsletter with a price that moved him to comment: “This newsletter must be from the Enron House of Publishing” (see accompanying).

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Unclear on the concept: Craftsmen often display examples of their work in front of their businesses. Let’s hope that’s not the case with the business spotted in Alaska by Neil Carman of Huntington Beach (see photo).

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Still on the road: Hey, it’s summer; my mind’s on traveling. While in Georgia, Bill Parry found an area that puts a hex on litterbugs (see photo).

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The suspense is over ... : We can all resume our lives again. After a long search, Long Beach has chosen a civic slogan: “Gateway to the Pacific.”

Well, I suppose it is snappier than “Gateway to Lakewood.”

Long Beach’s previous tries at a moniker that would lure tourists included: “Most on the Coast,” “Opposites Attract,” “Queen City” and “International City.”

I sort of liked “International City” because it was a reference to the Miss Universe competition that Long Beach staged a half-century ago. This was back in the city’s more freewheeling days, and stories about the behind-the-scenes antics at the beauty competition were numerous.

The book “Long Beach: The City and Its People” recounts the case of a Miss Chile who “turned out to be a native of Van Nuys and the ‘personal assistant’ of a contest judge.”

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Read my lips -- just try! One of the absurd trends of TV sports is the custom of baseball players covering their mouth with their gloves while conferring on the field so that the enemy can’t see what brilliant stratagems they’re planning.

Tom FitzGerald’s San Francisco Chronicle column noted that Dodger relief pitcher Eric Gagne did the “mitt thing” as he walked off the field with catcher Paul Lo Duca after a recent game against the Giants.

“For crying out loud, the game was over!” lamented Mike Pulsipher of KCBS-AM (740). “What didn’t he want the Giants to know? Where he was going to dinner? His pick in the sixth at Hollywood Park?”

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miscelLAny: In another example of the decline of the English language, First Republic Bank calls its loan officers “relationship managers.”

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Reach Steve Harvey at (800) LA-TIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., CA 90012 or steve.harvey@latimes.com.