California IN BRIEF : WALNUT CREEK : Pageant Winner Answers Critics

Newly crowned Miss California USA Shannon La Rhea Marketic said feminists who picketed the pageant missed the point of the 39-year-old event. Asked about demonstrators’ claims that pageants such as the one she won Saturday night are demeaning, the Los Angeles resident said the contests help participants become “whole� women by building self-esteem and self-knowledge. “The people outside don’t really understand what a beauty pageant does for a girl,� said the 20-year-old Marketic, whose dozens of prizes include a 1992 Toyota Paseo, a full-length mink, $12,000 cash, a “dream� shopping spree, a cruise to Mexico, a suede wardrobe and a chance to become Miss USA. Lines of about 60 feminists and animal rights activists waved banners at motorists outside the auditorium as spectators in formal wear strolled by. Marketic, a junior majoring in telecommunications at Pepperdine University, said she hopes to be a children’s defense lawyer. She entered the contest as Miss West Los Angeles.