People and Events

Robin Arcuri doesn’t see why she had to be fired as Miss Whittier of 1988 just because she has been in some nightclub “hot legs” and bikini contests.

In the first place, the 19-year-old photographers’ model said Monday, most of those competitions took place before she won the right to represent Whittier in the Miss California Pageant. And, she contended, the contract she signed only precluded her from entering other pageants--not events like bikini contests.

Miss Whittier Pageant director Teta Smart said she took the crown away from Arcuri and gave it to first runner-up Michelle Martin after another young woman tipped her off about Arcuri’s participation in contests that don’t, in Smart’s view, enhance the image of Whittier.

“She did this after she was Miss Whittier,” Smart added unhappily.

Arcuri conceded that she was in one such contest after the pageant but said she had permission. That, as one might expect, is not the way Smart remembers it. “She showed up the night after the pageant and entered this strip bikini contest,” Smart recalled.

Arcuri says she went back to doing the contests after losing her crown. She maintains that “in the bikini contest you have to wear more clothes than we wore in the pageant.” More is covered in the “hot legs” events, she insists, than in the leotard category of the pageant. “It’s just where you are presenting yourself.”

As for whether she should represent Whittier, Arcuri said, “I believe you’re fine as long as you’re a good person, have morals, know your business, learn something every day and use your brain.”

Los Angeles gay bathhouse owner Marty Benson says he still seems to be on Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner’s mailing list, despite the prosecutor’s war against the kind of establishment Benson operates.

Benson probably couldn’t believe his eyes when he received a “Dear Marty” letter signed “Ira” and inviting him to the March 9 cocktail party at the Reiner home, where the D.A. was going to announce his candidacy for reelection.

Benson fired off a letter telling Reiner he was “flattered and confused by your invitation to visit you at your home” in view of the fact that “I saw and heard you in front of the Board of Supervisors denounce me as a person who is taking ‘blood money’ . . . “

Benson said he chose not to “embarrass” Reiner by attending but challenged him to look into a study that, Benson contends, shows health departments in several other cities believe it is safer to keep bathhouses open than shut.

On Monday, Benson said, he was in receipt of a card inviting him to yet another Reiner function on June 1: cocktails and an art exhibit at $100 per.

He suspects he is on a computerized list because of past campaign contributions.

Cathy Unger, of Reiner’s campaign, said that is possible.

Aaron Cannon, an 8-year-old from Clinton City, Utah, did not win the National Fire Protection Assn.’s fire safety poster contest--but he attended the opening of the organization’s 92nd annual meeting here on Monday nevertheless.

Aaron’s entry, for which he was given a special award and a computer, outlines an escape route from his house in case of fire.

It is in Braille. Aaron has been blind from birth.

He is a Cub Scout and teaches neighborhood children how to read Braille. He helps raise money for guide dogs for the blind and he has a blind cat named Sunny.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley welcomed the fire officials and others attending the meeting at the Convention Center by observing that it convened here only days after the First Interstate Bank blaze, “the worst fire in the history of high-rises in this state.”

“I don’t know who your astrologer was,” Bradley said.