Pumps

Stepping out takes on a new dimension this season, with shoes and stockings shot through with special effects. Classic black velvet pumps ablaze with silver filigree, left, are by Stuart Weitzman for Mr. Seymour, $125. A strategic rhinestone star burst illumines Christian Dior's sheer black hose, $10. Both at Neiman-Marcus. Erica's red-velvet slippers with satin bows, right, $98, pair perfectly with red-and-black rose-pattern hose by Evan-Picone, $25. Both at Saks Fifth Avenue.

A federal watchdog agency said Thursday that some of the San Joaquin Valley's largest farms owe the government hundreds of millions of dollars for the cost of building California's water infrastructure. The report issued Thursday by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office says four large irrigation contractors owe the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation nearly $450 million for building pumps and canals. The Westlands Water District, a coalition of giant agribusinesses in the San Joaquin Valley, owes an additional $48 million, according to the report.

Bruce Lerner wears mild-mannered lace-up shoes to work, but his passion for exotic footwear is never far from mind. When he leaves his Hollywood office, this 6-foot, 4-inch man slips his Size-14 hoof into a blue suede Martian boot. It doesn't make him feel macho, he says. Or like a rock 'n' roller. "It provides an overall sense of security. Like a little arm around my feet. "The way I feel about myself in any social situation is predicated on the shoes I'm wearing more than anything."

Regarding the Feb. 4 "My Best Shot," depicting a bullock cart drawn up to gas pumps in India: Photographer Jane Galbraith said, "I have no idea what they were doing parked beside the pumps, but, hey, it's India." If she had spent a couple of minutes talking to the guys near the cart, the reason would have been obvious--the cart has a barrel that is filled with diesel fuel and then taken to the countryside, where the fuel is used in tractors or diesel pumps to irrigate the fields. As an American of Indian origin, I am appalled by the ignorance exhibited by people not taking a few minutes to investigate a situation that might be alien to an American.

A New Zealand man trying to buy M&Ms and potato chips at a gas station offered to pay with marijuana when he found himself short of money, a newspaper said. The person behind him in line was a police officer whose patrol car was at the pumps, the Dominion Post newspaper reported. The man with the munchies was arrested. The 28-year-old mechanic from the North Island town of Carterton pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis.

Irvine-based McGaw Inc. said that it has landed an estimated $50-million contract to sell intravenous solutions over the next five years to the Greater New York Hospital Assn. Services Inc. The hospital supply-purchasing group has a commitment from 24 hospitals to buy intravenous solutions, tubing and pumps from McGaw. The company earlier announced another contract of similar value. Together, the two deals will add about $20 million to McGaw's annual revenue, which was $230 million in 1990.

Aquaria Inc., a Simi Valley manufacturer of accessories for home aquariums, will move to Moorpark by the end of the year. The new 86,000-square-foot headquarters in the Moorpark Business Park on Condor Drive is 20% larger than the company's current location on Agate Court. Aquaria bought the building, formerly occupied by Micom Communications Corp., from Told Corp. through the Ventura and Woodland Hills offices of the Told Partners brokerage. The purchase price was $3.8 million.

Actress Kristen Stewart has perfected the look of ripped jeans and a white T-shirt as well as the I-just-rolled-out-of-bed hairstyle, so when she's all dolled up on the red carpet, people take notice. She's busy promoting two new films, "On the Road," which is being released in the U.S. later this year, and the last in the Twilight series "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2," which hits theaters Nov. 16, giving Twihards a welcome look at a more refined Stewart. [Updated 3:30 p.m. Nov. 7 to correct "Twighlight" opening date.]

Under the severe wind and climate conditions, the fire disaster in the Oakland and the Berkeley Hills could not be prevented or extinguished by man with all the modern firefighting equipment and technology available. However, the breakdown in the water supplied to the fire hydrant system by the East Bay Municipal Utility District might have been mitigated, allowing some homes to be saved if water engineers had read the records of the Bel-Air fire disaster which took place 30 years ago. Firefighters had no water pressure in hillside mains because power to the electric pumps--similar to the Oakland problem--was cut. Houses burned because firefighters lacked water!