Tale of the pup ends with a happy reunion

“Sometimes Malibu really is a small town,” wrote Veronique de Turenne.

She was referring to an item in her Here in Malibu blog about a woman who drove her “Mercedes sedan to a house up in the hills, lied to the neighbors [and] stole” a German shepherd named Padme. The item was accompanied by a photo of a stolen-dog sign picturing Padme.

Within a day, the stolen-dog signs were being replaced by recovered-dog signs.

“Someone who knew someone who saw the stolen-dog signs around town realized the puppy her mother had ‘adopted’ was the stolen dog,” wrote De Turenne. “Kind of a convoluted tail -- er, tale -- but, as the new sign says, Padme is safely home again. Kibbles for everyone!”

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Still on the crime beat: The Star News, an L.A. County Sheriff’s Department publication, reports that a guy who was being arrested complained, “Arrested, I can’t be arrested! I have to be at my wedding in the morning or my girlfriend will kill me!”

Not to mention his girlfriend’s mother.

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No crime here, though: A Los Alamitos resident complained to police about a slashed tire, only to be told the damage appeared to have been caused “by wear and tear.” Sounds like something that could have happened to my old college roommate. Or to me, actually.

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Switching to mistermeanors: Sarah Noddings of Torrance spotted an ad placed by an attorney who may sue when he sees all the misspellings (see accompanying).

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Mystery treat: The vague description of an energy bar’s ingredients caught the eye of Dave Voda (see accompanying). He’s not going to raise a big fuss about it, though. His business card lists him as “writer, filmmaker, pleasant guy since 1989.”

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Big deal: Randy Newman’s “Short People” recording didn’t give much respect to that segment of the population. So it’s good to hear from Jim Walker that smaller folks have parking privileges in West Hollywood (see photo).

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Burp! In Torrance, Melinda Heinemann chanced upon an announcement of what sounds like a messy event, what with all that ale being spewed out (see photo). It should attract some rugby players.

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Hardly camera-shy: Writer David Allen was amused by this passage in a New Yorker profile of L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: “In the Villaraigosa administration, governing looks a lot like campaigning.... At a press conference recently, [Villaraigosa] noted that there were only five television cameras, and said irritably, ‘We had 16 cameras at the last event.’ ”

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miscelLAny: What’s the story behind the $5 check from Richard Nixon on display in the new Billy Graham Museum in Charlotte, N.C.? The evangelist’s son Franklin told ABC News that years ago his father and Nixon -- then president -- were at a religious service and Nixon wanted to make a donation to the collection plate. But he wasn’t carrying any money. (Why does a president need to carry money?) So Nixon asked Graham to make the donation. Sometime later, the evangelist received a check for the amount -- $5 -- from Nixon. He never cashed it. Not that there was any doubt about whether the check was good.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012, and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.