Rocky Road

When the World Trade Center went down in 2001, it led to two wars, hundreds of billions in expenditures and the creation of a Homeland Security bureaucracy. When the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis went down last year, it led to a $1-billion House bill to mandate repair of federal bridges, which will probably be vetoed by President Bush if it gets past the Senate. Obviously, neither the scale nor the causes of these two American tragedies are comparable, but the vastly different responses do say something about political will.

Thousands of Serbs rallied Monday in this tense, divided town and vowed never to let go of a region that they, like ethnic Albanians, consider their homeland. For all the heated rhetoric unleashed as world powers slowly started recognizing an independent nation called Kosovo, it seemed unlikely that large-scale violence would erupt.

On June 22, 2004, Rudolph W. Giuliani made a bold promise in the fight against terrorism. The former New York mayor told reporters that his newest business venture, called Bio-ONE, would swiftly eliminate deadly anthrax from a tabloid newspaper office. The site still stood padlocked, more than 2 1/2 years after the worst biological terrorism attack in U.S. history. "You will see me walk through those doors," pledged Giuliani, who is now seeking the Republican presidential nomination.

DENVER -- Clint Hurdle stood in the middle of the Colorado Rockies' clubhouse, champagne and beer dripping from his hair and a wide, weary smile creasing his weathered face. Last week's raucous celebration of the Rockies' first National League title had been a long time coming -- especially for Hurdle. For more than three decades, Colorado's once-impatient manager had been trying to rush to the top of the baseball ladder, first as a No.

Re "L.A. official apologizes for silence," June 19 City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo didn't mishandle the situation about covering up his wife's accident while she drove, uninsured and on a suspended license, in a city-owned vehicle that apparently she had no right to drive. He lied and chose not to enforce the law. Shame on him. He ought to resign before we have to throw him out. S.R. WILLEN Beverly Hills So Delgadillo's wife didn't know she was driving on a suspended license.

ON the back wall of Irwin Winkler's office at his home in Beverly Hills is a framed copy of Vincent Canby's New York Times review of "Rocky," which Winkler and his partner Robert Chartoff produced 30 years ago. According to Canby, then one of the country's most influential critics, "Rocky" was a "sentimental little slum movie" whose star, Sylvester Stallone, was so terrible that his performance reminded the critic of "Rodney Dangerfield doing a nightclub monologue."

Marlton Square, a long-troubled cornerstone redevelopment project for the Crenshaw area, has suffered another setback after a partner ended its agreement to build a new shopping center on the property, city officials have acknowledged.

How long does glory last? What if the apex of your life mirrors an American icon of film, and then, 30 years later, Hollywood makes a movie about you? If you're just-south-of-Philly kid Vince Papale, a real-life "Rocky" (Sylvester Stallone's boxing character), the oldest rookie in NFL history and the subject of Disney's "Invincible," you'd wonder about these things.

Without the Olympics, Rocky Juarez would be just another boxer about to become another notch on the belt of veteran champion Marco Antonio Barrera. Without the Olympics, the Juarez story line for the main event Saturday night at Staples Center would focus on a long-shot challenger from the hard streets of Houston, learning the fight game from his still-living 94-year-old grandfather and getting through his first 26 pro matches with only one loss.