SOME SAID NO: Walt Disney Co. Chairman...

SOME SAID NO: Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner’s merger deal with Capital Cities/ABC has Wall Street singing his praises. But remember 1984, when some Disney board members resisted hiring Eisner from Paramount? . . . “Lacked sufficient corporate experience,” John Taylor quoted them in his bestseller “Storming the Magic Kingdom.” . . . But Taylor also quotes Eisner’s determination to win them over: “Disney is on the mat. I want to go to a place that’s on the mat and build it up.”

HOT HUNDRED HOURS: Badwater in Death Valley is the state’s low point (-282 feet elevation) and Mt. Whitney--146 miles away--its highest (14,495). Last week John Rosmus, 46, of Fullerton spanned the distance in 99 hours, 32 minutes, drawing lots of attention from other ultramarathoners (E1). Martha Rosmus explains her husband’s devotion to the sport: “John’s always been in his own little world.” But ultrarunners, she says, “are not bizarre or crazy. I think they’re heroes.”

MOM’S DAY: Navy veteran, registered nurse, mother of two, Rebecca Chadwick may not fit some people’s image of a gay-rights activist. But her leadership in Orange County’s gay movement has brought her “woman of the year” honors for next weekend’s Lesbian and Gay Parade & Festival in Irvine. . . . Chadwick, 52, says her grown daughters and her mother will be at the ceremony. Says Chadwick: “I took a leadership role hoping to make it easier for teen-age gays and lesbians to achieve at least a modicum of self-respect.”

NOT SO RITZY? When the Ritz-Carlton hierarchy wanted to change the name of Niguel Road to Ritz-Carlton Drive in the 1980s, county officials were delighted to go along with the plush new hotel in Dana Point. Dana Point now has a city council, and it’s not so accommodating. . . . It has nixed the Marriott Laguna Cliffs Resort’s bid to change Street of the Park Lantern to Marriott Drive--mainly because the city has a series of “Lantern” streets. . . . Says local activist Mike Eggers: “Maybe that’s the difference between a four-star and a five-star hotel.”