Elected St. Chad Not One to Hang On

Most of the election glitches Tuesday were electronic, which was fitting, in a way. After all, as Dan Engler pointed out, the balloting was on the feast day of St. Chad, who was a bishop in 7th century England.

A place where he’d be appreciated: Peter Lee noticed that on the new InkaVote system, used in L.A. County, a demonstration ballot listed Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Carol Burnett and Lily Tomlin as candidates for California’s minister of comic relief. Hey, that’s the post that bombastic Bob Dornan should have sought instead of incumbent Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s seat!

Guide to dining adventurously: Today’s specials du column (see photos) include:

* Some waffles that I hope have aged well. (Norm Loranger)

* A buffet where it would seem difficult to get anything to eat or drink. (Judy Carr)

* And, finally, a vegetarian dish in a San Gabriel Valley restaurant that, David Chan observed, might be a bit too regional for some Southern California diners.

Department of Redundancy Dept.: Behold the no-parking signs in all their duplicate delirium (see photo), Russell Jeans of San Pedro said, “I get a kick out of them because the ‘No Stopping Any Time’ sign is the permanent one.”

Name game: Gail Lonne of Mammoth Lakes read that Gov. Schwarzenegger had appointed Lester Snow to head the state Department of Water Resources.

“Considering the drought we’ve been experiencing,” she said, “shouldn’t the Guv have appointed someone with a more optimistic name than Les Snow -- say a Moore Snow?”

Now it can be told: In the discussions of misunderstood lyrics, I’ve heard confessions about childhood, including these:

* “When I was 4,” wrote Holly Klotz of Pasadena, “I thought the phrase in the hymn ‘O come all King Eternal’ was ‘O come all Kingy Turtle.’ I thought God had a pet turtle named Kingy that was lost, and we were singing to find it.”

* “My favorite is still the hymn I learned as a child about ‘Gladly, the cross-eyed bear,’ ” said Bob Boyd of La Canada Flintridge, who later learned it was “Gladly the cross I bear.”

For Kingy, Gladly and everyone else here, I wish you good day.

miscelLAny: St. Chad, the 7th century English bishop, had an election problem of his own. The king procured the election of Chad to become bishop of York after the incumbent stayed away too long on a trip to France. But when the incumbent returned in 666, the archbishop of Canterbury demanded that Chad leave office.

Chad did so -- without consulting any attorneys -- and, because of his humility, was given another bishopric.

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012, and by e-mail at [email protected].