Spit

The story goes that in the 1880s, a woman spotted some tobacco-chewing debaters on the veranda of the Long Beach Hotel and complained to a friend: "All they do is spit and argue." And, so, the Spit 'n' Argue Club became the name of the informal group of mostly-retired characters who met daily in Long Beach to chew and whittle while tackling such issues as God, world peace and the proper methods of plowing a wheat field. The colorful conclave eventually became a tourist attraction, drawing upward of 1,500 spectators a day and surviving more than three-quarters of a century.

Justin Bieber 's chances of being charged with battery for allegedly spitting on and threatening a Calabasas neighbor are slim, authorities say. Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives are investigating the complaint by the neighbor and will present their findings to the county district attorney's office. But the detectives will not be recommending any specific charges, sheriff's officials said Monday. "The department doesn't routinely recommend to prosecutors what to do. We will present the evidence," said Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore.

I don't care what Jim Murray says, I thought it was a pretty good World Series. The papers didn't mention that the Royals, on camera, spit 738 times, a record for the Series. The Cards spit 582 times. Of the 1,320 times, half hit the ground and half hit their jerseys. BILL STEIN Encino

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department continued to investigate allegations that Justin Bieber threatened and spat on a Calabasas neighbor, officials said. The neighbor filed a battery complaint, and the sheriff's department will decide whether there is enough evidence to ask prosecutors to file charges against the pop star. It's unclear when a decision will be made. Sheriff's detectives are also looking into complaints that Bieber and his entourage drove at excessive speeds through his neighborhood, authorities said.

On KABC's "Sportstalk" this week, Steve Garvey said he felt Mike Tyson should not be allowed to fight Evander Holyfield because he showed poor discretion as an athlete. People with glass mouths should not spit rocks. As the father of the year, Garvey has no right to talk. MICKEY MANDELL West Hills

I really enjoyed Mike Boehm's article in the June 10 edition of Calendar covering the Iron Maiden concert at Irvine Meadows ("It's Unmannerly to Spit in a Maiden's Face"). My sister was one of the "gobbed on" security people who were supposed to maintain order 1635000436projects the absurdity and ridiculousness of the evening. I enjoyed the sarcasm concerning the absolute stupidity of the egocentric lead singer yelling at security to let mayhem reign, then getting spit upon for all of his trouble.

I have a solution to the brouhaha surrounding the NEA that may satisfy all parties concerned. Instead of funding the NEA from the federal budget, why not have a box to check on the 1040 tax form that indicates that the taxpayer wishes to contribute, say, $5 to that agency? That way no one could maintain that he is being forced to pay artists to spit in his face and the federal government would still be promoting "artistic freedom." ROBERT W.D. DEVILLE Claremont

Re "Hindu Sues for Wrongly Being Served a Beef Burrito," Jan. 24. I respect everybody's faith and beliefs. I think Mukesh K. Rai is very American if he is suing a Ventura Taco Bell for serving him a beef burrito rather than a bean burrito. He could have spit out the first bite! He went to England already for purification! He has "suffered anguish!" I don't think he would be suing anyone over this in any other part of the world. BEATRIX M. VASKO Newbury Park

Hilburn values commercial popularity as the measure of success to the point of grieving that alternative rock bands "don't even try to reach for hits." These bands are simply smart enough to avoid the big-label pop machine that has already chewed up and spit out hundreds of bands in the name of easy tax write-offs. When the labels don't even support their own new acquisitions, how can audiences be expected to? NATALIE NICHOLS North Hollywood

Natalie Nichols review of the LA Weekly Awards makes it sound like the Streetwalkin' Cheetahs were just being cool and doing their punk rock thang ("At a Raucous Show, LA Weekly Music Honors Go to Beck, Gray," July 1). Perhaps Nichols was unable to see what really happened. Fact: Lead singer Frank Meyer drank from his beer bottle and then spit the contents onto the first two rows of the audience, which included lifetime achievement nominee Big Jay McNeely and other nominees. Then Meyer threw the beer bottle on the ground at McNeely's feet.

Justin Bieber spat on a Calabasas neighbor and threatened him after a harsh exchange of words over the pop star's behavior and that of his entourage, a neighbor told deputies when making a battery complaint. L.A. County sheriff's detectives are now investigating allegations involving the Tuesday morning confrontation, as well as complaints Bieber and his entourage drove at excessive speeds through his Calabasas neighborhood, authorities said. "The neighbor has complained Mr. Bieber spit on him and made some threats," said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore, "Mr. Bieber's people say that it did not happen.

As Justin Bieber looks forward at a string of concert dates in Germany and elsewhere in Europe starting Thursday night, he'd better have his eyes in the rear-view mirror as well: The Sheriff's Department back home is investigating him for an assault that allegedly happened Tuesday morning in his home neighborhood. "The neighbor has complained Mr. Bieber spit on him and made some threats," Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore told L.A. Now on Wednesday. "Mr. Bieber's people say that it did not happen.

The enactment of a so-called right-to-work law by the state of Michigan this week is indeed, as the media have described it, a blow against the union movement. Michigan, of all places. But it is also a blow against fairness and common sense. "Right to work" sounds like a law guaranteeing you a job, or at least protecting your job once you've got it. A lot of the propaganda by the Chamber of Commerce and similar business groups is about so-called forced unionism. In fact, the main effect of a right-to-work law is nearly the opposite.

For the Mars Curiosity rover, it's one "first-ever" after another. The 1,982-pound explorer is now at a spot in Mars' Gale Crater called Rocknest, ready to use its robotic scoop for soil samples. Scientists hope the samples will provide information crucial to the project's central mission -- determining whether there were conditions on the planet at some time that could have fostered life. That's microbial life, to be exact, but still -- alien life. Four scoops of Martian dirt should be about right to provide new data to help solve this mystery.

There are moments in Jonathan Demme's new documentary,"Neil Young Journeys," when the saying "too close for comfort" comes to mind. The camera drops to focus on the lower half of Young's face mid-song, staying close enough and long enough that it's possible to identify color patterns of browns and grays in the stubble on his chin, to notice what looks to be bridgework on his teeth, to see the spit fly. In those scenes, what he is singing recedes,...

A man charged with spitting on a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy was acquitted of battery this week after his defense attorney produced video footage that jurors said contradicted testimony by deputies. Several jurors said after the trial that deputies gave conflicting accounts of the October 2010 arrest of Steven Sartori and that the video did not show one of the deputies wiping away spit as she testified she had. The video, they said, also showed the deputies using more force than they acknowledged on the stand.

An epic battle is raging in South Florida: man against snail. The state is struggling to contain an invasion of the giant African land snail, a species that thrives in hot and wet tropical climates. These gooey and destructive mollusks grow up to 8.5 inches long, feast on 500 different types of plants and nibble on calcium-rich stucco, which they use to construct their cone-shaped shells. The snails are originally from East Africa but can now be found throughout the world. Aside from destroying plants and buildings, they can also be carriers of a type of meningitis.

Maria Belón wasn't proud of her dumb luck. It had been nearly three years since the Indian Ocean tsunami roared into her family's Christmas vacation in Thailand, killing 230,000 people but somehow sparing her, her husband and her three sons. The family had since returned to Madrid, resumed their routines, but she carried on her shoulders the pain and suffering of surviving something that took so many others' lives. Lost in a quiet grief, unable to enjoy simple pleasures, she wasn't eager to share her story.

President Obama has sided with those who argue that returning Vietnam veterans were spat on by ungrateful opponents of that long-ago war. In a Memorial Day address at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the president didn't literally endorse the spitting scenario, but he gave it figurative support. Addressing Vietnam vets, he said: "You were often blamed for a war you didn't start, when you should have been commended for serving your country with valor.  You were sometimes blamed for misdeeds of a few, when the honorable service of the many should have been praised.

When Marvin Washington Jr. was arrested last month for allegedly spitting into a customer's sweet tea at a McDonald's in Simpsonville, S.C., the incident made news around the globe. When the charges were dismissed a few weeks later? The media barely paid it any attention. Since then, Marvin Washington, 19, has embarked on a campaign to clear his name and convince the world that he is not the person behind the initial headlines. The college freshman says he aims to get a graduate degree in healthcare and become a nurse practitioner.