The drought? It’s officially over--by order of U.S. District Judge Samuel King.

And it might have ended much earlier if the judge hadn’t forgotten a previous motion.

Presiding over a 1986 murder trial in San Francisco, King became so annoyed about jurors being absent because of heavy rains, he declared: “I hereby order that it cease raining by Tuesday morning. Let’s see how that works.”

The rest, of course, is history: California is entering its fifth year of drought.


Recently, the judge was reminded of the motion, which is mentioned in author Vincent Bugliosi’s book about the trial, “And the Sea Will Tell,” (a recent TV movie).

So, King proclaimed: “I hereby rescind my order of Feb. 18, 1986. It is hereby ordered that rain shall fall in California beginning Feb. 27, 1991.”

And so it did--especially in Southern California.

“Proof positive,” the judge wrote to Only in L.A., “that we are a nation governed by laws.”


Spotlight, the L.A. Unified School District’s publication, thought of an eye-catching way (see photo) to call attention to the problem of literacy.

L.A. and Pittsburgh have just about reached the feuding stage. Several months ago, Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Masloff visited here and commented: “The experts told me the city of L.A. was the city of the future. What a bunch of baloney.”

And now the Allegheny County (Pa.) coroner has rejected an offer to take the L.A. County coroner’s job after his wife made a house-hunting trip here. “Everything looks like a slum,” she said, adding, “I understand that there is a drought, but people can at least rake their yards.”

Doesn’t she know that we’re saving energy by using our leaf-blowers less?


You might think that a showing of “The Doors,” a movie about the drug-shortened life of rock star Jim Morrison, would be the last place to collect signatures for the legalization of marijuana. But pro-pot folks were outside the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood the other night, collaring passers-by.

We’re reminded of the old George Carlin line about the reason marijuana supporters never got the drug legalized: “They kept forgetting where they put the petitions.”

miscelLAny:

An exhibit about U.S. marshals, coming to the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum this month, reveals that only two people have been given the title on an honorary basis: former President Ronald Reagan and actor James Arness, who played Marshal Matt Dillon in TV’s “Gunsmoke.”