Bench

It has come to my attention in watching the Lakers that Mike Dunleavy keeps the starters in the game much too long. In the game against Orlando at the Forum, the Lakers had a 20-point lead in the third quarter and Magic was still playing. Dunleavy didn't put the bench in until six minutes were left in the game. How will Brown, Campbell and the others get NBA experience if he plays them only rarely? Magic Johnson needs to rest more so he can perform his magic during the playoffs.

A judge and landlord accused of running an arson-for-profit scheme and hiring thugs to assault his poor and elderly tenants pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges Wednesday and resigned from the bench. Civil Court Judge Samuel Weinberg, 61, faces 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine at his sentencing, scheduled for June 26.

Friends of the late anthropologist and film-maker Barbara Meyerhoff dedicated a bench in her honor last weekend on the boardwalk opposite the Israel Levin Senior Center. The two-sided bench, which faces both the ocean and the busy thoroughfare, is one of 32 to be installed along the waterfront this month by the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors.

Los Angeles Municipal Judge Maxine Thomas has been diagnosed by her doctors as "disabled and unable to perform her duties," and there is a possibility that she may never return to the bench, her attorney said Tuesday. But the lawyer, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., told reporters that the judge's medical problems are "in no way related to any drug or substance abuse." Thomas, 40, went on medical leave last week amid allegations that she was displaying symptoms of drug abuse.

One is 34 years old and on the downside of an undistinguished career. The other is a former playoff hero relegated to the sidelines because of injury. Together, M.L. Carr and Cedric Maxwell are the Boston's bench warriors, helping the Celtics by cheerleading, back-slapping and opponent-baiting. Carr, who has an on-court reputation as a hatchet man, says he resents being called a cheerleader because it downplays what he considers an important role on the team.

On the road, the Laker reserves have to do more than score, rebound and defend. They have to be cheerleaders as well. They can't dance as well as the Laker Girls, but they're making their own contribution to the Lakers' success away from home. "At home, you get energy from the crowd," guard Brian Shaw said. "You feed off your home crowd. When you're on the road, you know it's just us. Everybody around the arena, especially in the close seats, has something to say. We just look to one another for support--more so than we do at home--to keep us together and keep us unified."

The Clippers were faced with a tough challenge Tuesday night when it was announced their reserve backcourt would not be playing against Charlotte. Jamal Crawford, who is second on the team in scoring (16.7 points per game) didn't play because his wife had a baby girl Monday and he was still in Seattle. Eric Bledsoe, the energizer off the bench, didn't play because of a sore left calf. Bledsoe is listed as day to day. "It changes our rotation a little bit," Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said.

Caryl M. Sheldon, 100, who retired from the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 1963 after 38 years on the bench. A native of Ellis, Kan., Sheldon was educated in Ontario, Calif., high schools and at USC. He served with the Army at Meuse-Argonne, France, during World War I. He won election to three courts, serving for two years in Police Court, four years in Municipal Court and 32 years in Superior Court.

It was a blunder with career-ending potential. But for Glendale Court Commissioner Daniel F. Calabro, the use of a racial epithet from the bench and the resulting abortive effort by the Los Angeles district attorney to bar him from hearing criminal matters appears, ironically, to have worked in his favor.

Judge Lance A. Ito keeps four hourglasses on the bench. But Ito is not the only judge with a knack for keeping knickknacks on the bench while he presides in court. The supervising judge of the Los Angeles probate courts keeps three porcelain ducks on the bench. That way he knows he has all his ducks in a row. The chief federal judge in San Diego has a bouquet of dried flowers and herbs on the bench. Supposedly, it wards off evil spirits.