INSIDE SCOOPS

Anyone who knows Sid Soffer knows it doesn’t take much to get him

hot under the collar. Especially now that he makes his home in Las Vegas,

a place where the temperatures sizzle above the century mark a good third

of the year.

So he was really steamed a few weeks back when he read how Gary

Monahan joked about not letting “insects” close down his place like they

did Sid’s Steakhouse.

Soffer didn’t find the joke very funny.

You see, as he correctly points out, the insects had nothing to do

with the closure of his steakhouse. Sure, he admits that the county

Health Department ordered him to close down for sanitary reasons.

But when has Soffer ever let some bureaucrat call the shots?

“I kept my place open a month after they ordered me to shut it down,”

Soffer growled.

Soffer said the health officials’ order and the steakhouse’s closure

were pure coincidence. He closed it, he said, partly because the food and

service was starting to slip a notch.

But more important, he said, operation of the steakhouse was

interfering with the legal research he’s doing to settle his

long-standing feud with Costa Mesa officials.

RODMAN’S FOLLOWING

Following the Pilot’s column on Dennis Rodman running for City Council

-- which was intended to be humorous, Councilwoman Jan Debay was

inundated with calls from the press and residents.

Either the column wasn’t that funny or Rodman has a growing

constituency.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Debay tried to clear up the confusion.

“I’ve gotten several calls about Dennis Rodman,” she said. “He’s not a

registered voter. Dennis Rodman is not running for my district.”

JESSIE’S GUY

Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona was on special detail at the fair

Wednesday night.

He must be an ‘80s guy.

He was seen rocking out to pop star Rick Springfield as the singer

crooned “Jessie’s Girl,” “Don’t Talk to Strangers” and other hits from

the “Me Decade.”

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING?

One of the awards given every year in the Flight of the Lasers boat

race is for the oldest skipper to sail in the event.

In theory, it sounds like a fun prize. But Seymour Beek, event

chairman, said one old sailor has the prize locked up. He’s carried away

the trophy for five years in a row.

And he’s getting harder and harder to defeat; every time the race

comes around again, he’s a little bit older than he was the last time.

-- Compiled by the Daily Pilot staff