Goodby

Shannon Faulkner rose to a rap on her barracks door at The Citadel at 6:10 a.m. Sunday and spent her first full day on campus taking personality and writing tests and attending chapel. Federal marshals shadowed her movements, and video cameras monitored the hallway outside her third-floor barracks room. Faulkner is the first female cadet in the history of the 152-year-old publicly funded military college, which fought to keep her out.

The mercurial tenure of William J. Popejoy officially ended Monday with a few handshakes, a few goodbys and considerable reflection on his successes and failures as Orange County's first chief executive officer. "This may sound corny, but I'm pleased I had the opportunity to do this job for a while," Popejoy said shortly before stepping down from his post. But even he admits it's a job unfinished.

More than four months after their tiny bodies were discovered, two babies who died in March after being abandoned, still tethered to their umbilical cords, will finally be laid to rest after a funeral service this week. The bodies of a baby girl who washed up on shore at Sunset Beach and an infant boy found two days later in a cardboard box outside the Meadowlark West apartments in San Clemente will lie in state Thursday at Emanuel Lutheran Church in La Habra.

They have been called many things: go-aheads, zories, thongs, flip-flops, flaps, beach walkers and, in Hawaii, slippers. That's a lot of names for a simple rubber sandal that was forever falling apart or suffering "blowouts," when the strap pops out at the beach. Like bikinis and Hawaiian shirts, flip-flops have become a summertime classic. One can still find a basic rubber thong for under a buck at most drugstores.

Gaddi H. Vasquez once appeared to be an Orange County political version of an Indy 500 racer, moving around the track at top speed and leaving his competitors in the dust. But the county's bankruptcy finally proved Vasquez's insurmountable obstacle. He deserves credit for recognizing the inevitable and announcing last week that he will not seek reelection as supervisor next year. Political analysts have spent the days since Vasquez's announcement speculating on who is likely to run for his seat.

In the city of freeways and money, there are plenty of car collectors but few who employed a curator. That rare yet so very L.A. title was held for 26 years by James B. Duffy III, who lovingly and painstakingly took care of the late Willet H. Brown's collection of antique cars, celebrity-owned cars and rare sports cars.

Mary Leigh Blek last saw her 21-year-old son, Matthew, alive exactly a year ago today when he boarded a train bound for an exploratory summer in New York City. On that Memorial Day, Matthew's grinning face grew foggy as he waved goodby with his palms and nose pressed against the train's glass window. Never did Mary Leigh Blek imagine that that was Matthew's final departure from her world.

Gayane Pogosyan stood and her daughter guided her lightly by the arm toward the steep concrete steps leading up to the stage, while her guide dog, Ayley, remained in the front row, paws crossed. Moorpark College President Darlene Pacheco introduced Pogosyan as the recipient of the President's Award, the highest honor given by the faculty to a graduating student who exemplifies the best that Moorpark students can be.

Choking back sobs and doubts, they tried to say goodby on Monday--to a soul, if not to a body. By the hundreds, family and friends packed two separate churches for a final tribute to Virginia Thompson and Christy Rosas, both employees of the bomb-shattered credit union that plunged from the third floor of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The ministers at each service spoke of hope and faith, of lives lived righteously and spirits reborn.

One line on Miguel Chung's Lotto ticket won $1,984. So did a second one. The third line won a little more: $8 million. Miguel Chung won't be working nights at the AM-PM minimarket in Costa Mesa anymore. The 23-year-old Cypress College student hit the jackpot this weekend. And then he hit it a couple more times. Chung, who lives with his parents in Downey, declined to be interviewed Monday, and lottery officials canceled a press conference scheduled for today at the family's request.