Cheers

Gil Garfield, a member of the 1950s trio the Cheers, who had a top 10 hit with "Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots," has died. He was 77. Garfield, who also was an artist and songwriter, died Saturday of cancer at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said his partner, Mike Hiles. Garfield was a student at USC when he started singing in nightclubs. He was encouraged to record, and he eventually formed the Cheers with fellow singers Sue Allen and Bert Convy, who became known as an actor and game-show host.

Even seasoned drinkers have mothers. This is certainly the case with the Enabler, who despite an ongoing penchant for brooding over a stiff bourbon also enjoys the simple pleasures of taking her mother out for a scoop of gelato. With Mother's Day approaching, the Enabler's thoughts have turned to her provenance, and the many sacrifices her mother made to ensure that she was well-swaddled as a child. In her early years, the Enabler was raised on the Navajo reservation in northern Arizona.

Re "Misunderstanding the university," Opinion, Feb. 7 My time at Brooklyn College - which faces protests for the decision of its political science department to sponsor an event whose speakers supported boycotting Israel - was interrupted by three years of military service. But what I remember most about the school was the wonderful excitement of robust debate. At the time, students took sides on the tough, life-and-death issues of isolation versus involvement in World War II, the United Nations and more.

It is the chant that has defined the season, yet somehow has not defined the man. The most amazing thing about the derisive jeer that has rained upon Mike D'Antoni's slumped shoulders for the last six months is that not once has he jeered back. "We want Phil," scream the fans. "I understand," says the coach who is not Phil. Before the Lakers take the Staples Center court Sunday against the San Antonio Spurs in probably the last game of the most disappointing season in franchise history, perhaps it is time to consider the fortitude of the man who has borne the wrath of that shame.

“Wanna see my bruise?” That's just one of the off-beat moments from Alie Ward and Georgia Hardstark panel kicking off the Los Angeles Times Travel Show Saturday morning. No worries. They're back Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Travel in Style Stage. The two spent a funny 45 minutes mixing destination cocktails: Thai tea leaves with vodka, fresh berries mixed with sparkling wine, Irish whiskey, Irish cream, crème de menthe. While the cocktails are fun, the chatter is the real draw here.

I think it was highly insensitive of NBC to have broadcast the May 6 episode of "Cheers," in which Cliff (John Ratzenberger) is suspected of having murdered his mother in light of what happened earlier in the day in Dana Point and Deerborn, Mich. Paul Lih Lee, Los Angeles

I read Ken Behnken's Dec. 19 Saturday Letter and agree that it would be appropriate for "Cheers" --a program that influences the behavior of millions of lemming-like viewers--to end its final season by having Sam and Carla test HIV-positive to promote awareness of AIDS. But why stop there? "Cheers" hasn't often dealt with responsible drinking, so let's have Frasier--still despondent over Lilith's departure--get into a head-on collision while driving drunk and kill a family of five.

There are a lot of ways to come out to people as something other than totally straight, but most of them fall under two categories: Person by person, where the ritual of admission is repeated as much as it needs to be, or all at once. The latter -- the big reveal -- can be a dramatic gesture both large or small, whether it's Anderson Cooper sending an email to a famous blogger , or Jodie Foster coming out (well, sort of ) in front of a massive TV audience. And even though big comings-out can carry social and political heft, there's still a single confessor at their center.

The Compton Centennial players giddily break the huddle and jog up to the line of scrimmage, the final seconds of the clock ticking, their first victory awaiting, a 55-0 decision over Los Angeles Douglass nearly complete. "Take a knee!" Coach Jimmy Nolan says in a common gesture of sportsmanship. What? The kids look over to the sideline and shrug. Some of them have never heard such an instruction. Some of them have never played in a winning game. Eight of the 11 players immediately take a knee.

Thank you for publishing Mary Frances Smith's column, California Corner, on events happening in our area. I really appreciate it. MARGIE WINSTON Reseda

DALLAS -- When five presidents assembled at Southern Methodist University on Thursday for the dedication of George W. Bush's presidential center they traded wit and smiles, earning approval from the conservative crowd. Bill Clinton joked about getting so chummy with the Bushes, he'd become the black sheep of the family.  “A couple times a year George would call me to talk politics, and when Laura told me all the records were digitized, a chill ran down my spine,” he said to laughter.

Apple released its second-quarter earnings Tuesday, but investors were more excited by the company's eye-popping $60-billion stock buyback. The buyback goes down as the largest share repurchase in history, funded by Apple's massive cash hoard, which currently stands at about $145 billion. Apple also announced that its board of directors had approved a 15% increase in the company's quarterly dividend and has declared a dividend of $3.05 per common share, payable May 16, to shareholders of record as of the close of business May 13. "We are very fortunate to be in a position to more than double the size of the capital return program we announced last year," Chief Executive Tim Cook said.

Awakened by gunfire the night before, then ordered to stay indoors throughout the day, residents of Watertown, Mass., erupted in loud applause and cheers Friday night as authorities announced that they had captured Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Cooped up indoors for almost 24 hours, residents flooded area streets to cheer the many federal, state and local law enforcement officers as they drove the suspect away in an ambulance. Bystanders waved and applauded each vehicle as a seemingly endless caravan of police cruisers and utility vehicles rolled through a neighborhood that was ground zero for an unprecedented area manhunt.

WATERTOWN, Mass. - The sounds were the most terrifying - the shots and the booms, the sirens and the whir of helicopter blades, and then, from time to time, the silence. But as a very long Friday wore to a close, it was the sound of cheering and applause that surged through the streets of this small town. "I'm so, so glad it's over," said Lori Toye, who lives with her husband and son in the house next door to the home where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found in a boat covered in a tarp.

BOSTON--Among the more than 2,000 people who attended Thursday's interfaith service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the city's South End were people injured in the Boston Marathon bombings, the doctors and nurses who treated them and fellow runners determined to show their solidarity. They came to see the president, but also to be with one another. Some waited overnight in the cold, then stood for hours in a line that stretched for blocks. Inside, various religious leaders, including rabbis, ministers, nuns and Buddhist monks, mingled with the crowd, some comforting and hugging survivors, family and friends.

LONDON -- A gun boomed once a minute, like one of her thunderous speeches in Parliament. Gray skies slowly turned blue, the color of her Conservative Party. And even Big Ben fell quiet, in tribute to a woman who loved nothing more than silencing her foes. With stately solemnity and military honors, Britain bade farewell Wednesday to Margaret Thatcher, its first and only female prime minister, who transformed this country for good or ill in nearly a dozen years at the top and who captured the imaginations of people around the world.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Among the dozens of framed photos in the offices of the Texas Rangers are action shots of Josh Hamilton, one of the former Rangers slugger, arms thrust skyward and a "Can you believe this?" grin on his face, from that memorable 2008 home run derby in Yankee Stadium. But Jon Daniels' favorite image of Hamilton, one that sits on the desk of the Rangers' general manager, is a plain 3-by-5 print of a shot taken by a friend in Seattle's Safeco Field. In it, Hamilton, who Friday will play his first game in Texas since signing a five-year, $125-million deal with the Angels, has his back to the camera and is leaning down to talk to a boy in a wheelchair next to the dugout.

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday hailed the federal Environmental Protection Agency's embrace of proposed clean-fuel standards to be implemented across the country. "For decades, California has carefully crafted emissions standards to protect the health of people and other living things," Brown said in a statement. "Now the Federal government is joining with us to apply the same standards to the rest of the nation. The result will be improved health for millions of people.