Health Inspectors

Professional groups representing California's health inspectors have joined with restaurant, grocery and apartment operators to form an unusual alliance aiming to defeat Proposition 95, the Hunger and Homelessness Funding Initiative. The coalition--Citizens Against Prop. 95--brings together the "regulators" and the "regulated" who say they have found a common ground in maintaining the state's current health and safety enforcement effort.

Los Angeles County health inspectors, who have been on a work slowdown since last week, won a crucial court victory Wednesday that will prevent the county from suspending inspectors who refuse to drive their private cars on county business.

Hansen Cakes Inc., a Westside-based specialty cake bakery catering to the entertainment industry, has been charged in a rare criminal complaint with operating under conditions described by City Atty. James K. Hahn as "filthy and unsanitary." Hansen Cakes has had problems at its 1060 S. Fairfax Ave. bakery for more than 10 years, including frequent cockroach infestations and "deplorable" housekeeping, Hahn said in a statement.

The recent shooting deaths of three meat inspectors at a San Leandro sausage factory has put other federal agencies on edge as officials reconsider their safety policies and procedures. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman told mourners at a memorial service Friday that steps would be taken to protect health inspectors working in the field. He stopped short of suggesting that the inspectors should be armed and said his department was looking at alternatives. He did not provide specifics.

Health inspectors on the trail of illegal food vendors talk of their tally of violations found on the streets: raw fish kept in malfunctioning freezers; cheese prepared in home bathtubs and sold in balls; pigs roasted on a home barbecue grill and sold from a gardener's truck. One Anaheim inspector recently stumbled across carne adobada--a Mexican dish of pork marinated in red sauce--served from the back of a 1976 Ford Pinto wagon.

Marie Kolasinski, a devoutly anti-government Orange County grandmother who was sent to jail at 85 after clashing with health inspectors at her popular quilting and crafts emporium, has died. She was 90. Once dubbed "Che Kolasinski" by a local newspaper for her militant stands, she died of natural causes April 23 at her Costa Mesa home, said her daughter, Marjorie Serr. Kolasinski was the driving force behind a tiny Christian sect whose members live communally and operate Costa Mesa's Piecemakers Country Store, which occupies a warren of rooms jam-packed with homemade knick-knacks, quilts and craft supplies.

Click here to download TV listings for the week of June 17 - 23 in PDF format TV listings for the week of June 17 - 23 in PDF format are also available here This week's TV Movies SERIES Inside Men: This four-part series tells the story of employees of a cash security depot who execute a multimillion-pound cash heist. Steven Mackintosh, Ashley Walters and Warren Brown star as the amateur crooks (7 and 10 p.m. BBC America)

Dirty Harry's restaurant was a little too dirty, according to health inspectors who have closed the kitchen at Clint Eastwood's Hog's Breath Inn. Walter Wong, Monterey County environmental health director, said his inspectors found violations "too numerous to list" when they visited the popular eatery on Thursday. The bar remains open.

Dismayed by television reports of unsanitary practices in restaurants, Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs urged his colleagues Friday to ask the county to toughen its health regulations and crack down more swiftly on violators. "You've got to be sure that the moment the cameras go away, you don't go back to business as usual," said Wachs, who introduced a motion urging the county to demand better training for restaurant employees and give more power to its own health inspectors.

The county Board of Supervisors created a hotline Tuesday for restaurant owners to report improprieties by health inspectors. The decision was made a day after a county health inspector was arrested over an allegation that he took a bribe from a restaurant owner in exchange for an "A" grade during an inspection.