STAR QUALITY: Viviana Guerra, the North Hollywood...

STAR QUALITY: Viviana Guerra, the North Hollywood mother of seven praised as a heroine for standing firm against gangs in her neighborhood, faces another fearsome horde--reporters and producers. Since she helped convict some gang members, she’s been besieged with interview requests. Two filmmakers have made offers, one potentially worth six figures, to tell her story. . . . “If this all works out, I’ll go far away where nobody knows me and start a new life,” Guerra said, maybe using the money to open a restaurant.

CUE THE SUCKER: He didn’t look like Paul Newman. Just a kid in a backward baseball cap and street-tough wanna-be outfit. And it seemed like a nice, preppie sort of pool hall, a hangout for college boys, no less. . . . But the newcomer learned an expensive lesson about hustlers and ego. See Around the Valley (B5).

QUALITY OF MERCY: A college English teacher faced off against a CHP officer in a Van Nuys court Wednesday because she slowed to give $4 to a beggar soliciting handouts on a Ventura Freeway off-ramp. The motorcycle officer ticketed her for impeding traffic, with a remark about helping “those people,” she said. The ruling: “Reasonable doubt” she was guilty. Ticket dismissed.

OPEN CLOTHES: Mike Singer’s life as a golf bum appeared to be going nowhere. Then the 27-year-old from North Hollywood qualified for the 93rd U. S. Open, which starts today in Springfield, N. J. (C10). . . . Singer even had to borrow money to buy clothes for the open, perhaps his last chance to revive a once-promising career.

STRANGE ATTACKS: An unemployed Ventura fisherman has been arrested on suspicion of concealing razor-like blades in car seats in Burbank and Simi Valley (B1). Seven women were cut, none seriously, although some required stitches. . . . Police say they know of no motive.