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Screaming for Ice Cream

If something seems a little off on your next visit to Dodger Stadium, it might be this: You’re no longer hearing the distinctive sound of concessionaires yelling “Cool-A-Coo! Cool-A-Coo!”

A dispute between Whittier-based Cool-A-Coo Ice Cream Co. Inc. and the Dodgers has ended the selling of the Cool-A-Coo a chocolate-covered sandwich with a scoop of vanilla ice cream between two oatmeal cookies that’s been a stadium staple for more than 25 years.

Leo Politis, president and owner of Cool-A-Coo, said the Dodgers demanded a fee exactly how much is not clear in order to sell the item. Such a fee has long been standard for larger vendors, he said, but was never charged to his relatively small firm until Peter O’Malley sold the team to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

Sam Fernandez, general counsel for the team, would not discuss the dispute. “It’s not sold anymore at Dodger Stadium, and I’m not going to comment as to why at this time,” he said.

Tough Competition

You might think an adult entertainment convention would be a big draw in L.A. But the organizers of Erotic L.A. had their doubts about how many people would be drawn to this month’s event at the Convention Center.

So they took lots of steps to create a comfortable, non-threatening environment so the public would feel good about attending. Among other things, they worked in advance with the LAPD to make sure everyone was clear on where to draw the line on exhibiting such explicit material.

But the real problem was the plethora of adult theaters and shops around town.

“L.A. is probably a tougher market than other cities to draw people to this type of event, because there is already an enormous availability of adult entertainment here.” said organizer Ron Miller.

Favorite Target

At this year’s Greater Los Angeles Press Club journalism awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, actor and National Rifle Association President Charlton Heston took quite a beating in absentia.

Among his biggest critics was Larry Gelbart the famed writer of “Tootsie” and executive producer of the M*A*S*H* television series who presented the Joseph Quinn Memorial Award to Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd.

“In my house, Mr. Heston is known as Moses Gun,” Gelbart said.

Scary Stuff

So really, how scary is the millennium bug?

With 200 days to go before the dawn of Y2K, the L.A. office of the Federal Reserve put that question to fifth-graders throughout the city as part of a special contest and got some interesting answers back.

The first prize drawing depicts the inner workings of a behemoth computer set upon by a T-Rex fighting off spaceships, tanks, soldiers, cannons and a really big “bug buster” gun.

Nearby is a glass case containing a hammer with a sign reading. “In case of Y2K bug, break glass.”

“It’s not meant to be literal,” says Calvin Naito, a Federal Reserve spokesman. “The point is, it shows a team approach is needed to tackle the problem.”

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