His Forgotten Cell Phone Might Land Burglar in Another Kind of Cell

In the never-ending stupid criminal tricks competition, a young man burglarized the home of a Riverside couple but left something of his own behind. His cell phone. (You know how you have to rush when you’re pulling off a burglary.) Anyway, a detective scrolled through the phone’s directory and stopped when he got to “Mom.” The burglary suspect was arrested soon afterward. A double catastrophe for him, what with the detective having used some of his minutes.

Good service isn’t enough these days: Customers want to deal with people with a pleasing appearance, so I’m pleased to present evidence that two types of professionals are sprucing themselves up (photo by Daniel Giang).

Where parking is really street sorrow: As any driver who has ever stopped in Santa Monica knows, about one-fifth of that city’s citizens seem to be parking enforcement officers, bringing in millions of dollars a year. But I never knew how seriously the city backed its parking regulations until I heard from Jim Manley (see photo).

From nobodies to ... ? It’s World Series time, and no doubt every Anaheim fan can recall with fondness last year’s championship and the honors that followed, including a local congressman’s tribute to the team, whatever it’s called (see accompanying).

In other action ... : The fall Little League season has started in Long Beach and, as always, it takes a while for the players to become acquainted with the basics -- and themselves.

I saw a 9-ish hurler unleash a wild pitch, setting off a stampede of runners around the bases. The catcher, after finally chasing down the ball, stood transfixed. “Throw it back to the pitcher,” his coach yelled.

The catcher didn’t move. “Throw it back to the pitcher,” the coach repeated. Finally, the catcher cried out, “I can’t find him.” I looked out at the mound and, sure enough, the tiny pitcher had somehow positioned himself behind the umpire while calmly bending down to tie his shoe, thereby reducing his size to approximately that of a dirt clod.

miscelLAny: You could call it the quintessential Southland voting snafu. Two Rossmoor polling places found themselves out of ballots election day evening. “They were bringing more from Santa Ana,” an inspector told the Los Alamitos News-Enterprise, “but the person was on the Garden Grove Freeway and got stuck in traffic.” Luckily, extras were found in nearby Seal Beach.

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