Fair

Two days after undergoing emergency open-heart surgery, Laguna Beach City Councilman Robert F. Gentry was transferred out of the intensive care unit at UCI Medical Center on Thursday and his condition was upgraded to fair. Doctors performed a quadruple heart bypass on Gentry on Tuesday after an angiogram revealed what Dr. Donald Mahon described as "significant blockage of his left main coronary artery."

Joe and Hildy Mehuron hadn't been to the Del Mar Fair in five years, and they expected a lengthy traffic jam getting in. They were pleasantly surprised. The Mehurons entered the fairgrounds Wednesday afternoon, driving at almost the speed limit, minutes after leaving Interstate 5. Though they had to park in a distant dirt lot ("If we didn't take the tram, we'd probably still be walking," Joe said), they were able to get into the fair with relative ease. And that makes fair officials happy.

I do not have a complaint about society per se, just some thoughts that might help someone put their problems into just a little better perspective. Three months ago I felt on top of the world with a good job, a nice home, a loving wife, a nice 6-year-old boy going into first grade, a beautiful little blond 4-year-old boy and an outstanding 2-year-old "Daddy's Girl." One month later my beautiful little 4-year-old boy was blind and this month has lost most of his hearing. He has a relatively rare genetic disease called adrenoleukodystrophy, which affects boys between 4 and 8 years of age. The prognosis is death within 1 to 10 years and no known treatment!

Re "O.C.'s Latinos Are Missing Persons at the Fair," Aug. 3: Not enough Mexicans at the public fair? One of the possible reasons for this might be the existence of an admission-fee requirement. But never fear, I'm sure that in due time, the fair will become adequately "Latino-ized," and then the surveys can focus on where "whitey" (Linda Martinez's word) went. It boggles my mind that it isn't considered acceptable anymore to just have something as racially benign as a county fair without having concerns over why other diverse groups aren't attending.

At the summer ritual known as the OC Super Fair, the theme changes yearly (this time around it's "Think Big," with the "think" component playing out in things like a 3-D cinematic trip through the human brain with "Weird Al" Yankovic). But it's the predictable delights that seem to provide the strongest pull. Things such as winning a goldfish to take home, as 4-year-old Chanel Cannon and her brother Deshea did on opening day July 10.

Prayerful angels carved from oak, grinning terra-cotta cherubs and gold pocket watches with time on their hands. All are stacked on the cobblestones of Arezzo's Piazza Grande. Through the shutters of my hotel window, I watch vendors unload a treasure trove of antiques: gleaming wood dining tables, paintings, pottery, jewelry, copper pots and Murano glass. As dusk throws shadows across the square, I go out to reconnoiter, excited by the thrill of the hunt. Tomorrow, when the fair opens, I will buy a memento of my Tuscan travels — something artful, affordable, Italian.

No one seems to be left out of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Community Street Fair unfolding Saturday and Sunday in Rolling Hills Estates. Children will have their own play land, complete with Ferris wheel and a petting zoo, and a special area will be provided for skateboarders who want to do some fancy turns. Antique car buffs may view classic vehicles of the '40s and '50s. Art fanciers may browse through the booths of 100 artists and crafts people and pick up everything from a $5 wooden whistle, which sounds like the screech of a train, to fine art priced at more than $1,000.

It's been a crappy year. We're all desperate for a break from the debt and the drought and the doubt and the fears and the fires. And what luck: It's time again for the L.A. County Fair's annual appearance! It's not a huge draw for the affluent, nonfat-dressing-on-the-side crowd, but everyone else comes. And I mean everyone. Folks of every style, race, weight, age and gang affiliation, all of them lining up for chocolate-covered bacon and deep-fried everything: White Castle Hamburgers, Snickers, avocados and frog legs.

When the prestigious annual Turin Book Fair opens today, it will be amid a cavalcade of fanfare that organizers could not possibly have wanted. Riot police will guard the event. Rival demonstrators will make their stand. Boycotts, diplomatic incidents and mutually recriminating outrage swirl in the background. How did a mild-mannered book festival become the focus of such impassioned attention? It began with the decision by organizers to honor Israeli writers at this year's fair, which coincides with the 60th anniversary of the creation of the Jewish state.

Hiroki Kuroda said the memory doesn't upset him anymore. But he said he still wonders: Why was he fined but not Brett Myers? "I always found that curious," he said. Today he will start Game 3 of the National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies -- just as he did one year ago. In the third inning of that game a year ago, Kuroda threw what looked like retaliation for fastballs that Myers threw at the heads of Russell Martin and Manny Ramirez in the previous game, Kuroda sailed a pitch over the helmet of Shane Victorino.