Woodland Hills

"It started out as a joke," Nini Policappelli confides, "a little something for a friend of mine. He had this very expensive house, but out in front of it was a mailbox that said 'poorhouse.' " Some joke. The Italian artist's custom mailboxes, now gracing the grounds of half a dozen of Beverly Hills' posher palazzos , sell for $5,000 and up--way up. Nor does Nini feel overpaid. Not a bit of it. Asked whether the price is a tribute to his genius, he answers: "Obviously--or I wouldn't get the money."

The FBI is investigating the apparent disappearance of an estimated $1 million in donations that about 200 nonprofits reported losing when the organization that handled their finances abruptly shut down this year, forcing some groups to curtail their charity work. The head of one nonprofit said two FBI agents specializing in white collar crime interviewed her in April about the International Humanities Center, and the director of another said she has been asked to meet with agents this month.

Nevermind where we're going. Question is: Where are we now? "We're in Woodland Hills," said Anthony Tholberg as he stood outside his home late last week and mulled over that question. Tholberg, 23, grew up in the mid-century modern house in the 19800 block of Friar Street. No wonder he was puzzled when he was handed a copy of a new map that labeled his 54-home enclave as being in the community of Winnetka. The Los Angeles Times is unveiling the new map of neighborhoods today on its website at http://projects.

Anthony January finished with 24 points and 19 rebounds and had six dunks in the second half alone as Woodland Hills Taft won its second consecutive City Section Division I boys' championship and third in five years Saturday night with a 58-42 victory over L.A. Dorsey at Cal State Dominguez Hills. "Yeah, I had big shoes to fill — my own," said Taft's first-year coach, Jason Hart, who played 10 years in the NBA and replaced the highly successful Derrick Taylor, who is now at Bellflower St. John Bosco.

The execution of John Wayne Gacy (May 10) was a sad spectacle. People marched the streets of Chicago demanding Gacy's execution, a prosecutor declared that it would be "a privilege to see him draw his last breath," and law enforcement officers threw a party to celebrate the extinguishment of life. These people have succumbed to hatred, becoming killers just like Gacy. Gandhi said that "an eye for an eye makes us all blind." We need to open our eyes and see that state-sanctioned killing cheapens the value of life for all of us. ROBERT M. MYERS Sherman Oaks What a strange world we live in!

Here's a Cotes du Rhone from the northern reaches of the appellation that's about as good as it gets. Eric Texier's 2007 "Brézème" is 100% Syrah. You can taste it right away. Intense and spicy with plenty of depth and concentration, it calls up smoke and black figs, plums and the wild herbs of the sun-scorched garrigue . Uncork a bottle to drink with some grilled ribs seasoned with thyme and black pepper, a hefty pork chop or a marinated skirt steak. Pair it with stews and daubes and zesty vegetarian casseroles too -- anything with big bold flavors.

A man was stabbed numerous times and killed just before midnight Saturday in a Woodland Hills parking lot, police said. Los Angeles police said the man was stabbed in the 21900 block of Ventura Boulevard at 11:55 p.m. The Los Angeles County coroner's office Sunday said the man's identity had not yet been released.

The Woodland Hills Astros swept the Irvine Tigers, 2-1 and 5-4 in 12 innings, in a National Baseball Congress doubleheader Saturday at Pierce College. Former Cal Lutheran pitcher Mike Clark went the distance for Woodland Hills in the opener, allowing just four hits and striking out nine. In the second game, Bobby Kazmirski pitched the final seven innings for Woodland Hills (7-3 in NBC play) and did not allow a hit until the 12th, when Irvine scored twice.

Jason Cohen hit two home runs and a double and drove in four runs Wednesday to lead the Woodland Hills Astros to a 9-1 win over the Valley Rangers at the U. S. Open baseball tournament in Carson City, Nev. Woodland Hills (31-13-1 overall) improved to 5-0 in the tournament and clinched the Orange Division title in a game that was shortened to seven innings because of a seven-run rule. Woodland Hills will play the Fairbanks (Alaska) Goldpanners at 7:30 p.m.

Thank you once again for demonstrating that some traditions never change--rain or shine, festive holiday season or sizzling summer, we loyal Valley readers can count on those clever Los Angeles Times writers to find the perfect angle to trash our communities. In the "Fir Traders' Homecoming" (Dec. 15), we get to hear how the Price family makes the arduous journey from their bucolic Oregon home to Woodland Hills, "a traffic-clogged smog-laden city often rated the nation's worst for polluted atmosphere."

Bedlam. Jubilation. Pandemonium. That was the scene at Palisades High on Wednesday night after the final buzzer sounded and Crenshaw players were running around the basketball court celebrating a dramatic 68-66 City Section Division I quarterfinal victory. With 11 seconds left, Palisades' Tyler Duke gave the Dolphins a 66-65 lead by making two free throws. Then Crenshaw's Micah Winn caught a long pass from Brandon Baker, took one dribble and drained a three-point shot from the right side with five seconds left, sending the Cougars (24-4)

Former NBA guard Jason Hart, in his first season coaching high school basketball, has his Woodland Hills Taft team seeded No. 1 in the City Section Division I playoff pairings released Saturday. The Toreadors (24-3) will open at home Friday night against No. 16 West Adams. Fairfax (19-9) received the No. 2 seeding, followed by No. 3 Westchester (20-6), No. 4 Palisades (16-10) and No. 5 Crenshaw (22-4). "I'm using the knowledge I learned from many coaches," the 33-year-old Hart said.

There has been so much talk about the supposed demise of City Section basketball this season that some people actually believed it. What happened Saturday at the Nike Extravaganza at Santa Ana Mater Dei will put an end to such nonsense. Woodland Hills Taft, emerging as the City Section Division I title favorite, routed Southern Section power Los Angeles Loyola, 73-57. Fairfax defeated Rialto Eisenhower, 73-67. And Westchester defeated Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley, 45-42. "I think it means the City is still strong and can still compete with the big dogs," Taft guard Steven Jones said.

Troy Starr turns 50 in February. How quickly the years have gone by. He was a fiery 25-year-old assistant coach at Carson High in 1987 when the team was upset by Granada Hills in the City Section football championship game. In 1992, he became head coach at Woodland Hills Taft, taking over a program that had a 0-8-1 record the previous season. He lasted 14 seasons and built the Toreadors into a City Section power. He resigned in 2007 to become the director of football operations for Urban Meyer at the University of Florida.

At a time of teacher layoffs, budget cuts and constant uncertainty in the Los Angeles Unified School District, four members of the National League Central Division champion Milwaukee Brewers are creating excitement and pride at their old City Section high schools. And maybe providing something resembling a local rooting interest in the Major League Baseball playoffs. Outfielder Ryan Braun and pitcher Kameron Loe played for Granada Hills High. Pitchers Randy Wolf and Marco Estrada played for Woodland Hills El Camino Real and Sylmar.

After the collapse of a deal with hospital chain Providence Health & Services, officials from the Motion Picture & Television Fund are close to finalizing an agreement with another national healthcare provider that would keep Hollywood's most famous nursing home afloat. In February, the fund announced that it had reached an agreement with Providence to manage the hospital and nursing home in Woodland Hills. But the arrangement fell apart this summer after Providence, a Renton, Wash.-based nonprofit health services provider, balked at assuming financial responsibility for the operations.

Peter Broudy surveyed the Grand Ballroom at the Warner Center Marriott on Tuesday and decided he liked what he saw. And why not? The place has chandeliers larger than many compact cars and room enough to hold a boxing ring plus a crowd of about 1,200 fans. Nice, Broudy said. Almost as nice--but not quite--as the rest of the neighborhood. "You have those big, tall business buildings," Broudy said, "with lots of businessmen."

Frank Perkins' day, like that of many of his neighbors in Warner Center, begins with a cup of coffee and a copy of The Wall Street Journal. His coffee comes from McDonald's; his newspaper from a Dumpster. Perkins also gets his food and clothing from Dumpsters. He sleeps next to them, behind the gleaming offices and banks of Woodland Hills. His mattresses are cardboard boxes, spread like pine boughs under a sleeping bag.

Jeffrey Stenroos, the Los Angeles school police officer accused of staging his own shooting, was found guilty Monday of the hoax that triggered a massive and costly manhunt. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Richard N. Kirschner convicted Stenroos, 31, of several felonies and a misdemeanor charge in the non-jury trial, including planting false evidence, insurance fraud and workers' compensation fraud. Stenroos, who had been free on bail, was taken into custody immediately after Kirschner announced his verdict.

An Iranian man living in Woodland Hills pleaded guilty Tuesday in plots to illegally export missile components and radio test sets to Iran. Davoud Baniameri, 38, pleaded guilty in federal court in Illinois to one count of conspiring to export goods and technology to Iran without a license and a single count of attempting to export defense articles without a license. Baniameri is an Iranian citizen who lived in the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident and ran an export business.