Harrington

Everyone thought the tall, strange white man was some kind of genius. But to teenage Ernestine De Soto he was a giant pain in the neck, a nosy, "Ichabod Crane-like" character who drew her mother's attention from its rightful place -- on her. John Peabody Harrington studied De Soto's Chumash family for nearly 50 years, pumping her great-grandmother, her grandmother and her mother for the tiniest details of their lives. Everything fascinated him: the Chumash names of places mostly forgotten, of fish no longer caught -- even, to the family's puzzlement, of private parts never discussed in polite company.

The top player in golf isn't in the Northern Trust Open field this week at Riviera Country Club and his name isn't Tiger Woods. Rory Mcllroy, the Northern Ireland four-club clover who is still ahead of No. 2 Woods in the World Golf Rankings, took a pass on Pacific Palisades, as did Woods. That still leaves the 144-player field with two rovers with Irish roots. Graeme McDowell, also from Northern Ireland, makes his 2013 tour debut this week. McDowell was the winner of the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

This is to express thanks from one who is a consumer of travel as well as a seller of travel. For years I have read your travel news and feature stories and found them a great source of information. Reading them from cover to cover each Sunday morning is a real pleasure. Keep up the good work. E. ROSS HARRINGTON Torrance

Padraig Harrington found a way to take some of the attention away from Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy on Thursday. He made six birdies on the tough back nine of Bethpage Black at Farmingdale, N.Y., and opened the FedEx Cup playoffs with a seven-under-par 64 for a one-shot lead at the Barclays. Harrington came to life on the back nine with four consecutive birdies to cap off his 64, giving him a one-shot lead over Nick Watney and Brian Harman among the early starters. The hotter it became, the crustier the greens were, and it was unlikely anyone would catch him. No one did. Thousands of fans chased after Woods and McIlroy, in the marquee group based on their standing in the FedEx Cup - Woods at No. 1, McIlroy at No. 3. Both of them got off to a reasonable start.

Two women battling separate, debilitating lung diseases at the prime of their lives have discovered that family and friends are determined that they will not struggle alone. This column is not so much about those two women as it is the two women now devoting their lives to being there for them. One is a close friend, the other a mother. Kym Verrilli, 27, of Irvine, was best friends with Elisha "Easter" Allen at Norco High School in Riverside County. They were fellow cheerleaders.

ARDMORE, Pa. - Life went on in this leafy Philadelphia suburb Friday, despite near-catastrophic injuries inflicted on the egos of 156 golfers. They were playing in the U.S. Open. Friday, it was the U.S. Oops. It was a day featuring men thrashing around in ankle-deep grass. Also, men, looking shocked as, time after time, their putts slid past the hole. In golf, they call it the cup. Friday, at the wonderfully evil Merion Golf Club, it was a keyhole. "They've given us some really, really tough pins," said Tiger Woods, one of the golfers who escaped serious injury and is firmly in contention after 36 holes at three over par. The "they" is the United States Golf Assn., also known as the American Society of Sadism.

The richest of the rich in America is worth $2.8 billion, while the poorest of the rich checks in at a mere $150 million. But who's counting? Forbes magazine, that's who, and its 1985 list of the nation's 400 richest people is topped by Sam Moore Walton of Bentonville, Ark., who has made $2.8 billion through his Wal-Mart discount stores. Walton, who danced a hula on Wall Street last year when profit goals were met, replaced Gordon Getty, the front-runner for the past two years.

A typical bride-to-be, Katrina Macrae has bought a dress, browsed different varieties of flowers and settled on a date and location for her April nuptials. But her bridal gown is actually an ivory-colored prom dress that she picked up for $160. The flowers will be purchased wholesale from the flower district in downtown Los Angeles the day before the wedding. And she's getting married to her fiance, Scott Smith, on a Sunday, when location fees are usually cheaper. At a time when the average wedding costs about $30,000, Macrae, of Redondo Beach, plans to spend $8,000.

The death of Michael Harrington at the age of 61 is a sad day for America. He was one of the few heroes this country has known in this century. From beginning to end he cast his lot with the poor. From his first days as a member of Dorothy Day's Catholic Workers on through the end of his life as a leader of the international Socialist movement, Harrington showed intelligent compassion for the disadvantaged, the neglected, the victims in our society. He was a leader in civil rights, a strong opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, a compassionate friend of the homeless, a warrior for tenant's rights and for a universal health care plan in the only industrialized nation besides South Africa that does not have one. When I met him in the early 1970s he was being attacked from the left as a reformist and from the right as a knee-jerk liberal.

Bonnie Franklin, star of TV's "One Day at a Time," died Friday at her home in Los Angeles, suffering complications from the pancreatic cancer she had revealed in September. The actress was 69. Later Friday, her sitcom daughters shared their thoughts online. Valerie Bertinelli, who played the younger of divorced mom Ann Romano's kids on the long-running show, said simply on Twitter, "My heart is breaking. " She included a snapshot of herself with Franklin. She continued on her website . "Bonnie has always been one of the most important women in my life and was a second mother to me," Bertinelli wrote.

The Lakers have reached an agreement to acquire Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic in a four-team, eight-player, multi-draft pick deal in which Andrew Bynum lands with the Philadelphia 76ers, The Times has confirmed with several NBA executives who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Pau Gasol won't be a part of the deal, according to the executives, and will remain with the Lakers. The deal has the Denver Nuggets sending forward Al Harrington and guard Arron Afflalo to the Magic, according to the executives.

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — They don't come with any whimsical names like those found at other British Open venues: the Coffin Bunker, the Spectacles, the Principal's Nose or simply Hell. Taken as a collection, though, the bunkers at Royal Lytham & St. Annes might take the trophy for mass intimidation. Many are deep. The sand is heavy. And there are 206 of them scattered about the property. "You do feel a little bit claustrophobic on a lot of the holes," said Luke Donald, No.1 in the world rankings.

Michael Harrington's "The Other America: Poverty in the United States" had been in print for about 20 years when I first read it in the early 1980s. I was a young journalist then, and I had found a musty paperback edition in a basement-level used bookstore around the corner from my apartment near the heart of Jamestown, N.Y., where my entry-level newspaper wages were so low that, after rent and student loan payments, I couldn't afford a car. I grew up about 90 miles to the east of Jamestown, part of a conservative family in a small conservative village in the northern reaches of Appalachia.

The Lakers cleaned out their lockers after another early playoff ricochet, but I'm still working. My editor wanted five moves that would help the Lakers, wouldn't be ridiculed by opposing general managers and would be allowed under the NBA's complicated transaction guidelines. Keep in mind that the Lakers have extremely limited purchasing power for free agents and are an old team with a bloated payroll. Put it this way: Nobody is calling General Manager Mitch Kupchak at 3 a.m., begging him to part with Metta World Peace for two first-rounders.

There were expressions of relief instead of elation in the Santa Anita winner's circle Saturday by 70-year-old trainer Mike Harrington even though his talented 3-year-old, Creative Cause, emerged victorious in the Grade II $300,000 San Felipe Stakes, beating Bodemeister by three-quarters of a length in the 1 1/16-mile race. That's because Harrington has much bigger prizes in his sights - the April 7 Santa Anita Derby and the May 5 Kentucky Derby. And Creative Cause, a son of Giant's Causeway, is very much in the upper echelon of Derby contenders.

Less than 24 hours after the NBA announced it was canceling the first two weeks of the season because no collective bargaining agreement had been reached, several locked-out NBA players were playing pickup games at Loyola Marymount on Tuesday, looking to stay in shape while assessing the situation. Al Harrington of the Denver Nuggets, Corey Maggette of the Charlotte Bobcats and Earl Watson of the Utah Jazz said their support for their union remains steadfast. The players also spoke of how the lockout, now in its fourth month, is hurting other people dependent upon the NBA for their livelihood.

From the time they were old enough to chew bubble gum, Matt Fisher, Matt Cassel and Conor Jackson have been called baseball wonders. Every step of the way, from T-ball through senior league, they've stood out as all-stars. In youth drafts, they were certain No. 1 picks. If only they had agent Dennis Gilbert to negotiate their pizza deals. Time has flown by. They're now sophomores in high school, Fisher and Cassel at Chatsworth, Jackson at El Camino Real.

The Breeders' Cup is a year away from returning to Santa Anita, but four Grade I stakes worth $250,000 each and filled with some of the classiest horses in America made Saturday's 11-race program almost a dress rehearsal for 2012. When the dust had settled, the West Coast had found its top contender for next year's Kentucky Derby in Creative Cause, a 2-year-old son of Giant's Causeway who ran away from 3-5 favorite Drill to win the 1 1/16-mile Norfolk Stakes by 3 1/4 lengths under jockey Joel Rosario.

There was another trade rumor involving the Lakers and the Denver Nuggets regarding Carmelo Anthony and a possible four-player deal, but a Lakers official, who declined to talk publicly, steadfastly denied it. It's a scenario that was circulating in parts of the Lakers' camp Wednesday: the Lakers trade Andrew Bynum and Ron Artest for forwards Anthony and Al Harrington. But the Lakers official denied it was ever on the table and insisted team executive Jim Buss and General Manager Mitch Kupchak are on the same page as far as trade opportunities.