Bridge Over Interstate 15 Bears No Sign of Richard T. Silberman

If it matters.

* Signs of the times.

Caltrans has no plans to replace the sign on the Richard T. Silberman Bridge over Interstate 15.

Souvenir hunters took the signs soon after Silberman’s criminal problems, and Caltrans figures new signs would only suffer a similar fate.

* A bridge too far?

Speaking of the Silberman sign, it can now be revealed that the sign played a tiny role in the drug-money laundering case that landed him in the federal can.

Explanation: When the FBI agents wiretapping Chris Petti first started hearing the name Silberman, they assumed he was a money-launderer or minor crime figure out of Los Angeles (not a big-time politico from San Diego).

Then an FBI secretary who had been typing up the wiretap transcripts happened to notice the bridge sign on her way to work.

She asked her bosses: Do you think the Silberman on the wiretaps and the Silberman on the bridge could possibly be the same guy?

The agents did some checking. Bingo. Suddenly the case got more important.

* CBS News had a crew in San Diego for several days last week for a story on “neighborhood policing� where citizen volunteers help cops--like the patrols now under way in North Park/Hillcrest.

* For the first time, a witness in San Diego court has provided testimony in Esperanto.

When a translator in the witness’ native language, German, was not available. One of the attorneys in the case knew Esperanto, the “international� language.

* No help wanted.

Because of the recession, county government is not filling 1,700 jobs (10% of the overall work force).

* Opponents of Operation Desert Storm plan an anniversary observance Thursday at the Normal Heights Community Center, 7:30 p.m.

Including a member of the Harvard Study Team that went to Iraq to study the war’s impact on Iraqi and Kurdish children.

All Sorts of Things

Shirts, dogs, death and money.

* A birthday roast of Dist. Atty. Ed Miller is planned for Friday at Loews Coronado Bay Resort as a fund-raiser for the San Diego Crime Commission.

As such, put-downs by attorneys are being gathered.

Like the observation by an attorney who attended a legal convention in Hawaii with the longtime D.A. that Miller wearing a Hawaiian shirt looks like “Roseanne Barr after a food fight.�

* The San Diego-based Elephant Alliance hosts British zoologist/animal psychologist/radio personality Roger Mugford for a lecture Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Fellowship Hall of La Jolla United Methodist Church.

His claim to fame: He persuaded Queen Elizabeth’s Welsh corgis to stop nipping the heels of royal visitors.

* San Diego homicide detectives have an informal poll on how many cases they expect this year.

Every one of them is betting the city breaks its record of 179 homicides, set just last year.

* Scripps Clinic & Research Foundation in La Jolla is treating Mother Teresa for free.

But the clinic’s concern for the health needs of those without money has its limits. The clinic does not treat Medi-Cal patients.

* John Cross, the San Diegan seeking fame and fortune doing Hot Body Intl. videos, is set to appear on the Maury Povich show.

* Down on deadbeats.

The January edition of Governing magazine praises the city of San Diego’s get-tough attitude toward collecting delinquent taxes, fees and fines.

Part of the punch is new computer software that sends dunning letters that start off friendly and then escalate to pit-bullish.

In 1982, the city collected $147,000. In 1991, $3 million.

Take Another Stab at It

More proof that our education system needs help.

Ross Rembec of San Diego saw that the marquee at the Wendy’s Hamburgers in Mission Valley had a misspelling, as in “Try our Ceasar salad . . . “ He called the manager.

The manager offered an apology for the goofed word:

“The employee who put it up didn’t know there’s a z in it.�