A Beef From Whine Country

A different kind of chip on their shoulder: Marci Simonson of Fremont, Calif., noticed that the San Jose Mercury News accused Disney’s new amusement park, California Adventure, of snubbing the birthplace of high-tech.

“A preview this month found one La-La Land thing after another,” said one writer. “What was missing was any recognition of Silicon Valley.”

Hey, I’ve got an idea! How about a ghost town of failed dot-coms?

SEAL APPROVAL: Three summers ago, I recounted how Bonnie Tiegel awoke at Santa Monica beach and discovered a snoozing seal on her blanket. The creature had ambled out of the ocean to catch a few rays.

I asked if anyone had snapped a shot of the scene, but no one responded (some readers no doubt thinking I had spent too much time in the sun).

But Tiegel kept asking around. And one day, a friend mentioned the story to a business associate. The business associate remembered that her niece and nephew, Caitlin and Ryan Fitzpatrick, had seen a sun-bathing seal in Santa Monica a few years ago while visiting from St. Paul, Minn.

But had they taken a snapshot? Well, they were tourists, weren’t they? (See photo.)

Tiegel recognized the blanket. And those are her legs in the background.

BUT WHAT OF THE SEAL? Concerned about the creature that day, lifeguards summoned a wildlife expert, who concluded that it was not sick. One lifeguard posted a sign near the animal that said, “Do Not Disturb. $10,000 Fine.” Tiegel later said she wasn’t sure “whether this applied to both of us.”

After several minutes, the flippered one awoke and ambled back to the sea. And people stopped coming up to Tiegel to ask, “Is that your seal?”

PARDON ME? One person who was not pardoned by outgoing President Bill Clinton was Billy the Kid. But a New Mexico legislator says that descendants of the gunfighter want Gov. Gary Johnson to perform that service.

Chances seem slim, what with Billy’s resume showing all those killings (not to mention the fact that he’s dead and doesn’t need to have his voting privileges restored).

But I bring it up because I’ve felt close to the Kid ever since his tombstone was stolen from a Ft. Sumner, N.M., cemetery in 1981 and found in the bedroom of a Huntington Beach truck driver.

The driver was also from New Mexico and when asked why he would purloin a grave marker, he responded: “I just wanted something to remind me of home.”

SHELLACKED! Warda Mauro noticed a typo in a flier that gave the impression that one car shop was discriminating against an oil company (see accompanying).

STUPID DRIVER TRICKS: What can top a recent item here about a man brushing his teeth while driving? Well, how about a more crowded bathroom/car?

Alessandra Re of Corona del Mar was at a red light on Coast Highway in Newport Beach when she saw “a middle-age woman and a teenage boy brushing their teeth with (nonelectric) toothbrushes. They rinsed their mouths with mineral water and opened the doors to spit.”

The light then turned green and Re turned, so “I don’t know what happened afterward. I found myself laughing while driving (but not eating, drinking, putting on makeup, etc. etc.)”

miscelLAny:

Ron Burkhart of Fullerton spotted a sign that said a shop specialized in truck “reair,” including such areas as brakes, transmission and “clucht.”

What also caught Burkhart’s eye was an accompanying sign that said, “Ask Us About Truck Lettering!”