Gary Collins

The Manhattan Beach school board will appoint a replacement for Gary Collins, a board member who plans to resign June 30 because of ill health. The Manhattan Beach Unified School District trustees voted earlier this month to appoint a replacement rather than hold a special election, which will save the district $20,000, said Supt. Gerald F. Davis. Board members hope to fill Collins' seat by mid-July. His term expires in November, 1995.

The NASCAR Winston West Series makes its annual stop at Saugus Speedway tonight with a 200-lap main event on the track's one-third-mile paved oval. Ron Hornaday Jr. of Palmdale, NASCAR Southwest Tour champion in 1992 and '93, ranks fifth in the Winston West points standings, highest among local drivers and 55 points behind points leader Mike Chase of Bakersfield. John Krebs of Roseville, Gary Collins of Bakersfield and Butch Gilliland of Anaheim rank second through fourth.

In front of a sellout crowd of 6,308, NASCAR debuted its newest attraction at Saugus Speedway Saturday night, showing off the new SuperTrucks in what turned out to be a 15-lap exhibition. Gary Collins, the son of Mesa Marin Speedway owner Marion Collins, earned his second victory when officials decided to cut five laps from the race after P.J. Jones backed his Ford F-150 into the wall between turns 3 and 4 while running second to Collins' Ford. A 20-race series begins full competition next year.

Whenever I go public in the United States--whether it is teaching a cooking class or judging a gourmet gala--there is always one question that I am inevitably asked by some member of the audience who knows that I appear regularly on TV's "Hour Magazine." "What is Gary Collins really like?" The answer, my friends, is "very real indeed." And proof may be found in a culinary manual, "The Hour Magazine Cookbook" by Gary Collins (G.P. Putnam's Sons: $14.95).

When Tammy Chamberlain wrote a letter to talk-show host Gary Collins, she didn't expect a reply--much less a personal visit. The host of ABC's "The Home Show" was to do a portion of today's show live from this small southwestern Michigan town. "I didn't think the letter was that big a deal," said Chamberlain, the city's official hostess. In the letter, Chamberlain told how the recent shutdown of a General Motors Corp. plant hit the town hard.

News of the Bush-Gorbachev summit in Finland and the tense situation in the Persian Gulf is likely to overshadow everything else this weekend--even the kickoff of the pro football season, the finals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament and the debuts of several new entertainment shows. Prior to the season premiere of "NFL Live" Sunday, for example, NBC will broadcast 4 1/2 hours of live news from the summit, beginning at 5 a.m.

I watch many talk shows on different channels and with the exception of a few men and women, I have yet to see a host or hostess allow the guest to get a word in edgewise. The worst offenders are Johnny Carson (he steps on every guest's conversation), David Letterman (the jackass of the airwaves), Steve Edwards (his self-contempt is obvious by his insulting attitude toward his guests and his co-hostess), Gary Collins (he looks uncomfortable). The best of the lot: Dennis Wholey, "Latenight America" (interesting; listens intelligently and features his guests)

Police arrested a 19-year-old man and a male juvenile on Wednesday on suspicion of shooting BB pellets at a pedestrian from a car. John Zarling, 29, of Simi Valley was not struck by the pellets, which were fired near the intersection of Royal Avenue and Venice Street shortly after 1 p.m. Zarling gave pursuit and caught up with the two suspects at Royal and Corto Street--nearly two miles west of where the shooting occurred--and held them until police arrived. Soum J.