Wonder-ful Song: ‘Don’t Drive Drunk’

Stevie Wonder, rock music superstar, was recently issued citations by the state Highway Patrol and the Department of Motor Vehicles--citations that praised him for his “Don’t Drive Drunk” song.

“When I was 15, I was very close to losing my life at the hands of a drunk driver who hit our family car,” Wonder said. He wrote “Don’t Drive Drunk” several years ago for a movie, “The Woman in Red,” with the idea that its success would make his fans aware of the folly of driving while intoxicated.

Sgt. Mark A. Lunn, public affairs coordinator for the California Highway Patrol, said 347,797 people were arrested in California for drunk driving last year and 2,412 people died in traffic accidents where alcohol was involved. California has 17 1/2 million licensed drivers.

“Awareness is the key,” Lunn said. “There was a big reduction in drunk-driving citations in 1982, the first year stiffer penalties went into effect. The tremendous decrease was directly attributed to awareness. Since then, drunk-driving arrests have started to rise, with 1984 a record year.”

Lunn said a first offense costs an average of $2,000 in fines, legal fees and loss of work. The offender also has his driver’s license restricted for 90 days and must attend alcohol rehabilitation classes during that time.

The blind singer gave posters of himself to the officials from the governor’s office, the state patrol and the Department of Motor Vehicles who presented him with proclamations. His poster says, “Before I’ll ride with a drunk driver, I’ll drive myself.”

A Breathless Week

Epicures may detect a hint of garlic floating in the air Sunday as the Fourth Annual Los Angeles Garlic Week seasons the West Hollywood scene.

Open-air food booths on the west side of San Vicente Boulevard between Melrose Avenue and Beverly Boulevard on Sunday evening will be the highlight of the week to honor the reputedly healthy herb. The remainder of the week the celebration moves indoors to participating restaurants, which will feature dishes containing the savory clove on their menus.

“Garlic is the only herb I can think of that everybody wants to cook with, but no one wants to eat,” said Katherine Veniero, owner of a Los Angeles restaurant and one of the originators of garlic week in Los Angeles. “That’s what is so fun about this. Everyone is in there together and nobody thinks about their breath.”

Thirty restaurants representing foods from around the world will serve a variety of dishes from alligator jambalaya and Korean kim chee to garlic-grapefruit sherbet and garlic brownies. The carnival midway atmosphere will become an onslaught of the senses as jazz musicians provide entertainment for Sunday’s event, which will run from 5 to 10 p.m.

Admission is a $5 donation for adults and $2.50 for children with proceeds to benefit the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Red Cross. Individual dishes, which may be purchased from each restaurant’s booth, range from $1 to $3.

“Once you get over worrying about your breath, you can just sit back and enjoy it,” Veniero said.

Where Is Jimmy?

St. Iggie’s Class of ’61 is having a reunion Saturday, but they can’t find Jimmy Halverson.

“I know Jimmy wouldn’t miss this if he knew about it,” said Sharon Cimarusti Benoit, organizer of the reunion, which will be held at her mother’s house in Pasadena.

Twenty people, most of whom started kindergarten or first grade together and went on to graduate from the eighth grade at St. Ignatius Elementary School in Highland Park, will attend out of 33 in the class.

The 39-year-olds are gathering from as far away as Alaska to relive the days they “fought, cried, loved, lost, found and played” together, according to Benoit. Three teachers are coming, as are some parents.

Rolling With the Paunch

The fitness craze may have peaked: In Griffith Park a man, running shorts hanging precariously below an ample abdomen, jogs every morning, puffing contentedly on a cigarette.

Computer Cupid

It was love at first byte. Mark Tracy of Fort Worth, Tex., and Louise Broussard of San Francisco met two years ago by computer. They were married online last month with hundreds of fellow computer buffs viewing the written vows, which flashed on their home computer screens across the country.

Akin to the citizen band radio craze that swept the country a few years ago, CompuServe Information Service’s computer conferencing system enables distant strangers to become best friends--or lovers.

“It’s like walking into a crowded cocktail party,” said Paul Battaglia, a CompuServe spokesman.

“Mark and I agree that if we had met in person first, this would never have happened,” said Louise Tracy, who has moved to Bedford, Tex., with her husband. Because he is deaf, she said, Mark has difficulty meeting people. “A lot of people don’t know what a wonderful guy he is because they don’t take the time to find out. The computer let me find out.”

Steering to Newport

It is an expensive hobby and that is undoubtedly part of its attraction. Potential buyers from Australia, Europe and around the country will attend the collector car auction at Newport Beach this weekend to peruse 500 exotic or celebrity cars, according to auctioneer Rick Cole.

The featured items range from a 1903 horse-drawn popcorn wagon to a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith II driven by a little old baseball team owner from Anaheim. The cars range from a $1,000 ’66 Cadillac to a $250,000 ’29 Packard, with the average price running about $9,000, according to Cole.

The party begins today at the Newporter Resort Hotel at 1107 Jamboree Blvd. at noon and runs through Sunday at 8 p.m. Auctioneering begins at 3 p.m. today and at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Cost is $5 for adults, $1 for senior citizens and children under 12.

“The celebrity cars are the ones people go for,” Cole said. “It’s Hollywood and people like a little bit of Hollywood.”