Given Crisis, Perhaps Silence Is Best

When a solicitor phoned the other night, Topanga resident Lynn Dickhoff cut him short. “All of Southern California is on fire,” she explained. “I don’t think this is a good time to talk!”

The solicitor hung up without saying a word.

A haunting we shall go: To get you in the mood for Halloween, I offer the following goodies from my files (see accompanying):

* An eerie seafood sighting (photo by Milt Long).

* A possible explanation for the demonic traffic flow in this area (photo by Judy Faulkner).

* A parking area for designers of Halloween outfits (photo by Gail Eichenthal).

* A merchant who was unclear on the concept of Christmas trees (photo by Hal Horne).

* And, finally, a Hancock Park mansion with pumpkin foundations (Dan Fetterly).

Tightwads and tight ends: The outbreak of fires caused officials to switch last Monday night’s Miami-San Diego game from San Diego to Tempe, Ariz., where fans were admitted free -- but urged to make a donation to the victims.

Columnist Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post noted that about $200,000 was raised from the more than 60,000 who showed up.

“Talk about weak,” he wrote. “That works out to about three bucks a person in donations. Moral to the story: Next time some fan gripes about the players being greedy, I’m hitting the mute button.”

Not quite a scientific formula: After aspiring actress Robynn Newton hit the lotto for $26.3 million, she told L.A. Independent columnist Tony Castro that she picked the winning numbers of 6, 9, 17, 29, 32 and 12 because those were symbols of her relationship with fiance Wes Doffi.

“The 6 and the 9, that’s when we were going to get married a few years back,” she explained. “Seventeen is how long we’ve known each other, 29 is our ages, 32 is when he gets out of the Navy and 12 was, uh, I usually pick 13. I don’t know why I picked 12.” Oh well, no harm done!

miscelLAny: The police log of the Los Alamitos News-Enterprise said, “Two men in a black Jeep Cherokee were fighting in the Jeep while they were driving.” Don’t you just hate it when drivers multi-task?

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, Ext. 77083 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com