COMMUNITY CLOUT: Don’t mess with the Sherman...

COMMUNITY CLOUT: Don’t mess with the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. The feisty group is gearing up to fight a proposed 80-acre luxury housing development in Deervale Canyon (B1). . . . Led by Richard Close, the organization is no stranger to neighborhood battles. Just ask the Insomnia Cafe, which cut its hours and ultimately became a private club last summer in response to the group’s complaints.

MORE CLOUT: Other battles fought by the Sherman Oaks folks include one against a state parole office in the neighborhood. Less than a month after it opened in 1994, state officials bowed to the group’s pressure and abandoned the site. . . . The organization recently announced it was suing the city of Los Angeles over a redevelopment plan to repair quake-damaged neighborhoods.

PAWS AND JAWS: Former soft drink magnate Randy Miller has a new passion. At his six-acre wild animal compound in Acton, he is teaching lions and tigers to bite and claw, on cue, for Hollywood. . . . “Nobody’s doing this,” said Miller, who made millions in the ‘80s marketing Original New York Seltzer. (B1)

ACTING BUSY: By day, he’s just another Valley high school student. But on Tuesday nights, 15-year-old Joey Gordon-Levitt stars in NBC’s unexpected Top 10 sitcom, “3rd Rock From the Sun” (B3) . . . The busy actor got his start in commercials eight years ago but hopes to never do another. Except maybe a “Got Milk?” ad, that is. . . . “Those are cool,” he says.

MENENDEZ MANIA: As the retrial of Lyle and Erik Menendez nears its final act, interest in the proceedings appears to be on the rise. . . . The word among devotees of an electronic bulletin board dedicated to the case is that the groupies who were numerous during the first trial will return to the Van Nuys courthouse today, when attorneys are expected to begin their closing arguments.