Ninth Annual News Trivia Quiz

L.A. Times Archives

Dec. 31, 1995 12 AM PT

For Orange County, it was the year of a happy “Wild Bill” and a hapless Wild Wing, of goodbye to the Rams and good try to the Angels, of post-bankruptcy lows and Nobel Prize highs. We look back on 1995 with the annual news trivia quiz, a review of the events that made headlines in the first year following the nation’s worst municipal bankruptcy. For the bankruptcy challenged, skip right to question No. 25--this one’s for you.

Government and Politics:

1. What did she expect: A whirl through Alice’s Wonderland?

Assemblywoman Doris Allen stepped down from her position as speaker of the Assembly in September, comparing her three-month tenure to:

A. A stay in Dante’s inferno;

B. A romp through Kubla Khan’s Xanadu;

C. A Sisyphean roll through Hades.

2. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

The last Orange County supervisor to succumb to political fallout from the county’s financial disaster by either resigning or deciding to not seek reelection was:

A. William G. Steiner;

B. Gaddi H. Vasquez;

C. Roger R. Stanton.

3. Even we make more than he did.

Millionaire William J. Popejoy, who resigned from his position as the county’s chief executive officer, made this salary for his efforts to try to lead the county out of bankruptcy:

A. Zero;

B. $1 a year;

C. $10 a year.

4. For another take, see Popejoy, William J.

Huntington Beach was forced by court order to reveal the city’s highest-paid employees--by name, position and total salary, including overtime and benefits--following an activist’s campaign to get the information. Here are the top three earners; who was the No. 1 earner, with a total compensation package of $174,511?

A. City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga;

B. Police Chief Ronald E. Lowenberg;

C. Retiring Police Capt. James Price.

Sports, arts and leisure: 5. No need to close your eyes during the scary parts.

Which well-known goremeister exhibited paintings at Laguna Art Museum’s satellite gallery in South Coast Plaza this summer?

A: Stephen King;

B: Clive Barker;

C: Martin Scorsese.

6. Duck, duck, (whoops) seared foie gras!

The not-so Mighty Ducks’ mascot, Wild Wing, suffered bruises after trying this bungled pre-game stunt at The Pond of Anaheim:

A. A leap through a wall of flames;

B. A dive through fire and ice;

C. A fire-swallowing exhibition.

7. It’s a Small World, after all.

In a blow to Southern California’s tourism industry, the Walt Disney Co. decided against building a $3-billion resort next to Disneyland, settling instead on this greatly pared-down version:

A. A $17-million “Beauty and the Beast”-themed hotel, featuring separate spas for “beauties” and “beasts”;

B. A $50-million “Disney Retro” theme park, with E-ticket coupons, America Sings and sweater-wearing Mouseketeers;

C. A plan that has yet to be announced.

8. Frankly, we’ve seen bigger crowds in line at Starbucks.

How many Angels fans showed up for the first day of ticket sales for the American League West championship, hoping the team would make the playoffs? (They didn’t.)

A. 30;

B. 300;

C. 3,000.

9. But what’s playing at the mall?

The new Irvine Entertainment Center, a $50-million complex with a Moroccan theme, does not include:

A. A 3-D theater;

B. A 21-screen complex;

C. A virtual reality theater.

10. No spitting, please.

The Walt Disney Co., owner of the Mighty Ducks hockey franchise, is waiting for Major League Baseball approval to take over day-to-day operations of the Angels, saying it wants to make the sport more family-oriented. If the deal is approved, Disney would own what percentage of the team?

A. 25%;

B. 50%;

C. 75%.

11. Hint: It’s not Tony Bennett.

The band Offspring’s smashing success has brought Orange County’s rich punk rock heritage into a national spotlight as never before, prompting which local punk band to reissue long out-of-print material from its archives, including a home video of a tour titled “Another State of Mind”?

A. Adolescents;

B. Agent Orange;

C. Social Distortion.

12. Rams punt to St. Louis.

The Rams left Anaheim for St. Louis, having reached the playoffs how many times since Georgia Frontiere’s late husband Carroll Rosenbloom brought the team to Orange County in 1980?

A. 7;

B. 10;

C. 12.

Orange County’s bankruptcy:

13. The message: No way.

Orange County voters overwhelmingly rejected a half-cent sales tax increase, known as Measure R, which drew a 33% voter turnout and lost by this margin:

A. 2 to 1;

B. 3 to 2;

C. 3 to 1.

14. School daze.

After the county’s investment pool collapsed, nearly every school district panicked, freezing vacant positions and canceling all trips. School districts suffered but did not become incapacitated, despite a combined loss of:

A. $52 million;

B. $63 million;

C. $74 million.

15. State of mind.

Former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron contends in legal documents that he suffered from which mental impairment before his bad investments pushed the county into bankruptcy?

A. Paranoia;

B. Dementia;

C. Manic depression.

Cops and courts:

16. A family’s sorrow.

In a clash with a group of teens at a San Clemente beach, 17-year-old Steve Woods was killed when he was struck by a paint roller. His family staged a protest over the sentencing of two 18-year-old defendants convicted in the killing. The sentence was:

A. 10 years in state prison;

B. 15 years at San Quentin;

C. Confinement in a California Youth Authority facility until they turn 25.

17. This wouldn’t have happened in King Arthur’s court.

The owner of an incomplete three-story castle in Irvine filed suit against the local businessman who saved her house from a city demolition crew, saying the workers he hired to finish the job were careless. The savior who got slapped with the lawsuit:

A. The owner of a Lake Forest bar called Captain Creams, where topless women dance;

B. The owner of the local Round Table Pizza restaurant, where sightseers often stop after gawking at the castle;

C. The designer of Disneyland’s Cinderella Castle, who said the Irvine knockoff gave him chills.

18. Don’t tell Professor Harold Hill.

The parents of Olympic champion swimmer Janet Evans sued neighboring El Dorado High School, her alma mater, contending that the marching band’s early-morning practices are too loud, specifically citing the:

A. 76 trombones;

B. Drum corps;

C. Whooping drum majorette.

19. Free as a bird.

Two weeks after his acquittal for double murder, O.J. Simpson spent his daughter Sydney’s 10th birthday:

A. Playing golf in the company of then-girlfriend Paula Barbieri in Florida;

B. Celebrating with Sydney and her brother, Justin, at the Brown family’s home in Dana Point;

C. Chipping golf balls in the backyard of his Brentwood estate.

Universities:

20. Maybe he meant “jeans.”

Which doctor associated with UC Irvine’s fertility scandal appeared on “PrimeTime Live” with Diane Sawyer in November, suggesting that Americans are overly possessive of their genes?

A. Dr. Sergio C. Stone;

B. Dr. Jose P. Balmaceda;

C. Dr. Ricardo H. Asch.

21. Hint: It’s smaller than a pinhead (that much we’re pretty sure of).

UCI professor emeritus Frederick Reines, 77, was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for tracking down one of the universe’s smallest particles. It is:

A. The subatom;

B. The proton;

C. The neutrino.

22. UCI hunger strikers

Five Latino UC Irvine students staged a liquid-only fast for how many days to protest a decision by the UC Board of Regents to abolish affirmative actions programs?

A. 13 days;

B. 15 days;

C. 17 days.

Odds and ends:

23. People who share.

“Wild Bill” Goodwin, 71, successfully fought which city’s attempt to end the partner-swapping parties at his home, complete with dark booths and a 40-person Jacuzzi?

A. Costa Mesa;

B. Newport Beach;

C. Laguna Beach.

24. (Animal) Rescue 911.

Harrowing tales of animal rescue this year did not include:

A. A tabby cat named T.S. Eliot who was stuck in a storm pipe until firefighters used a chain saw to get him out;

B. A rotund raccoon rescued from a Laguna Beach storm drain by emergency workers who used sudsy soap to slide him out;

C. A brown stallion who fell 15 feet into a narrow crevasse in the hills near Crystal Cove State Park, lifted out by 27 rescue workers.

25. And far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife:

Sutton Place Hotel in Newport Beach offers a line of signature martinis that does not include the:

A. Chocolate Martini (vodka and chocolate liqueur, rimmed with cocoa);

B. Black Martini (vodka and Chambord liqueur with a twist);