GARBAGE CLEANUP: If you live in Santa...

GARBAGE CLEANUP: If you live in Santa Ana, the city wants you to tidy up your garbage a bit before setting it out for collection. A few of the new rules the city is considering: Kitchen waste, hair clippings and floor sweepings must be securely wrapped. Cardboard, magazines and palm fronds must be tied in bundles. Also, nothing over 200 pounds any more. . . . And if you fill up and decide to dump any leftovers into your neighbors’ trash, it will cost you a $50 fine--unless, of course, it’s with their consent.

NOTE OF THANKS: The May 6 shooting rampage at the Dana Point post office left a swath of trauma. . . . Recently, postal officials slipped notes into the mailboxes of South County residents thanking them for picking up their own mail on the day of “the event.” Letters of support from residents have “served to remind us that our efforts are appreciated and have helped lead us toward recovery,” wrote Arthur O. Martinez, U.S. Postal Service district manager.

BLUES BEATING: Rod Steiger, Oscar winner for “In the Heat of the Night,” not only won his battle with manic depression, he has become an advocate of research on mental illness. One byproduct of his efforts: He was honored Monday by the Brain Imaging Center of UC Irvine with its Silver Ribbon Award for his “courageous outspokenness.” Says Steiger: “The stigma of clinical depression is as strong as racial prejudice. If I were 40 and my career was hot, I’d keep quiet; but I’m 68. It’s time to speak up.”

SAUCY DAYS: It’s shaping up as a pretty good week for the Taco Bell people. Beside luring local restaurateur David Wilhelm to help launch a new chain of sit-down eateries (A1), the fast-food chain will open its 4,000th operation Thursday, in Toronto, Canada. . . . The city of Irvine, where Taco Bell is based, will honor the company tonight with a proclamation for serving “30 million people weekly, with quality food at an exceptional value.”