Pyrrhic Victory

    This corner keeps advising motorists never to make a left turn because big boy blue may be watching you and you'll be wrong if you think you are right — but nobody pays attention.

    There was John W. Dailey, heading north on Sepulveda Blvd., waiting in the center lane to make a left turn at 80th St.  The center lane southbound cleared and he moved into position, waited for oncoming cars in the other two lanes to clear, then turned.  An officer disapproved and wrote a ticket for an illegal left turn.

    Dailey posted $11 bail, pleaded not guilty and appeared in court with a  detailed drawing of the circumstances.  He is an engineer.  After hearing both sides, the judge dismissed the charge.

    TO DAILEY it was simple case of triumph of justice.  He was not indignant.  He felt it was his duty as a  citizen to correct a mistake.

Pity the Candidate

    Now it's time for all good men to come to the aid of the poor, frustrated candidates, trying to hack out a platform that will please almost everyone, offend hardly anyone.

    It can't be done, of course.  Never in history have people been so sensitive.  To make matters worse, they never had such power of retaliation.

    It used to be safe to come out flatly for, say, Christmas.  No more.  People are still angrily paying their bills on last yuletide's excesses.

    It's even controversial to come out for motherhood, a traditional bulwark of political oratory.  It seems we're caught in a nasty population explosion and sociologists and other people contemplating an overcrowded planet are rather against it.

    YOU'D THINK pounding the table against traffic accidents on freeways would be okay.   But hark.  What about the tow truck and repair people?  They vote, too.