A Suspicious Driver Gives Sheriff’s Deputies in Altadena the Runaround

Two motorists drove into the parking lot of the sheriff’s station in Altadena and seemed ready to fight.

Driver No. 1 said: “This guy is driving crazy and trying to run me off the road!” Driver No. 2 said: “Hey, this guy just stole my car.”

The sheriff’s Star News publication recently said Driver No. 1 offered this explanation: “Sir, I was just walking down the street when I saw this car sitting on the side of the street running with no one around. So I got into the car and drove off so I could bring the car up here to the sheriff’s station. Then this crazy guy starts chasing me ... “

Of course, the car had been reported stolen a half-hour earlier.

Deputies arrested Driver No. 1.

Divorced and out in Beverly Hills? Irwin Zucker of Hollywood chanced upon a garage sale that had a true Westside flavor (see accompanying).

Moving on to store sales: Allan Wallach of L.A. noticed that one company is evidently willing to sell a few items or the entire inventory (see accompanying).

Guide to adventurous dining: Today’s specials du column (see accompanying) include a dish for travelers to an arid region (spotted -- but not prescribed -- by Dr. William Hart) as well as a brutal method for handling non-meat-eaters (Barbara Lim of Long Beach).

School daze: I attended the 40-year reunion of my Hamilton High class the other night, hoping to bump into fellow grad Alan Casden. A developer, he has been mentioned as a possible buyer of the Dodgers and I wanted to tell him I was available to take over as general manager and acquire some hitters (if only to get T.J. Simers off their backs).

After all, I was sports editor of Hami’s Federalist newspaper and I figured Casden wouldn’t remember the time I delivered one week’s stories too late to the printer, resulting in an edition with no sports page.

Alas, Casden didn’t attend the reunion, not that it would have mattered. As I recall, during my three introverted years at Hamilton, I spoke to only eight students. I checked my list and Casden wasn’t on it.

School daze (cont.): But I had a fine time at the reunion anyway even if our name badges were written in letters too small for nearsighted types like me. I found myself constantly lowering my head to view the breast area of other Hamiltonians.

At one point, I bumped into one of our class beauties (also not on my list). She studied me for a moment, then asked, “Are you somebody’s husband?” I was amused to feel I was right back in school -- in the out crowd.

miscelLAny: In the “Decline of the English Language” category, I noticed that my tube of Colgate toothpaste says, “Great Regular Flavor.”

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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 [email protected].