Station Misses Scoop in Expose of Restaurants

And for its next restaurant expose, KCBS investigates . . . ITS OWN COMMISSARY!

Actually, KCBS missed this story. The L.A. County Health Department is threatening to shut down Channel 2’s commissary because of a delinquent payment due on its public health license. You can almost taste the irony in view of the fact that KCBS recently ran a much-ballyhooed investigative series about unsanitary conditions in restaurants.

Health Department spokesman Fred McFarland said the license expired June 30 and that it was not renewed. The cost of the $469 license, with late fees, now stands at $586, and the department will close the commissary Friday if it ain’t paid.

Fiasco at 11!

AND IN OTHER DEVELOPMENTS . . . A Health Department inspection of the KCBS commissary gave it a relatively good score of 89 (out of 100) but did reveal some minor violations, such as an absence of some towel and soap dispensers in restaurant washrooms. Hey, but nobody’s perfect, right KCBS?

WHOLE LOTTA NOTHING: Arnold Zweig of Studio City wrote here about his son, David, the Irvine accountant who has been involved in a strange correspondence with the good ol’ State Franchise Tax Board. It seems that the board keeps sending unfriendly letters to a client of David Zweig’s, demanding that he cough up some unpaid taxes.

And how much is the tax board demanding? A total of $0.00. That’s right--no dollars and no cents. Nada. Zip. The Big Goose Egg (see accompanying).

And the board wants it fast, saying it’ll levy tax liens, etc.

After the latest government missive, Zweig himself wrote a check for $0.00 and sent it to the board. (Do I hear applause? How many accountants pay their client’s tax bills these days?)

“I told them [the board] that I hoped it wouldn’t bounce,” Zweig added.

BUT CAN IT SKATEBOARD? I’ve seen signs warning visitors of vicious dogs and mean dogs. But The Times’ Clarence Williams found a “strange dog” (see photo). Of course, it was in Venice. . . .

CLERKS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS: Adam Fritzal of Torrance went into a video store and asked for a copy of “Naughty Marietta,” starring Jeanette MacDonald. The clerk’s answer: “It must be in the adult section.”

Robert Miller of Upland, meanwhile, went into a department store and asked where he could find a Hanukkah card. The clerk told him the store had Hallmark, but no Hanukkah.

miscelLAny

Hofstra (N.Y.) University, you may have heard, is planning “Frank Sinatra: The Man, the Music, the Legend,” a scholarly conference that will examine the singer’s life, career and worldwide influence. Worldwide influence? Surely you haven’t forgotten that Sinatra was a symbol of political change in Russia.

Just before the Soviet Union fell, a spokesman for the Soviet Foreign Ministry declared that Moscow was discarding the Brezhnev Doctrine in favor of “the Sinatra Doctrine . . . you know the Frank Sinatra song, ‘I Did It My Way?’ Hungary and Poland are doing it their way.’ ” Doobie, Doobie, Doo. . .

Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at [email protected] and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.