ARE YOU ADOPTING? It will be even...

ARE YOU ADOPTING? It will be even busier than usual at Orange County’s Animal Shelter on Saturday. Not only is the place teeming with animals picked up on the streets, many people will be bringing in their new kittens and puppies for the shelter’s Adopt-a-Pet Day. . . . It runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., but if you’re planning to adopt, early might be better: Free spay and neuter certificates are available, but they will go fast. Caution: There will be a small fee to cover the cost of shots.

NO PETS HERE: Maybe you think the squirrels and gophers look cute playing along the banks of the flood control channels. County officials don’t. . . . County supervisors this week agreed to pay a pest control company $86,000 to get rid of them. Explains Tom Connelie of the county’s Environmental Management Agency: “Any time they dig their holes in the levees and there’s a high flow of water, there’s always a greater chance of erosion. And they’re very prolific animals. It’s a problem we’ve had for years.”

FOR KIRK: Johnnie Johnson and Kirk Collins were fellow defensive stars for the Los Angeles Rams in the 1980s--and best friends. When Collins died of cancer in 1984, Johnson set up a college fund for Collins’ son Christopher. . . . Wednesday, Johnson announced he’ll host a celebrity tennis tournament Aug. 5 at the Sunny Hills Racquet Club in Fullerton. . . . Proceeds will go to a Kirk Collins Memorial Scholarship Fund for disadvantaged student athletes, plus the Boys and Girls Club of Fullerton. Says Johnson: “This was my promise to Kirk, that I’d help those in need.”

SO-O-O CLOSE: Remember William James, the non-golfer from Costa Mesa who could pick up an easy $25,000 in a food market contest if he made a 10-foot putt Wednesday at the Industry Hills Sheraton Resort? James, 66, borrowed a putter and practiced two hours daily to get himself ready. And . . . he missed. . . . Says a spokesman: “He had it dead in the heart--but left it six inches short.”