Ride atop a truck turns this feline into a scaredy-cat

Greg Kvenbo of Corona had driven his truck about 20 miles on the 91 Freeway when another motorist pulled up alongside, pointing at something, and in Kvenbo’s words, “screaming and yelling.”

He pulled over, thinking that he hadn’t properly secured his ladders.

Instead, he found a stowaway -- his cat Kinky -- atop the ladders. Kinky was also screaming and yelling, having found the role of freeway daredevil not to her liking.

Kvenbo rescued the cat and noted a personality change. “Normally she’s very finicky around the house,” he said. “She likes being petted, but then she’s done with you. This time, she sat on my lap all the way home.”

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Another roadside wonder

Tom Harkins spotted an online traffic report with a spelling error that was out of line (see accompanying).

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Unclear on the concept

After a photo was published here of an ashtray with a no-smoking symbol in an Athens hotel room, Ed Schoch of Westchester wrote that he found the same item in a hotel room in Hue, Vietnam, but “this hotel even provided a box of matches as a convenience to those guests who decide to ignore the smoking prohibition” (see photo).

He added: “I assume the fresh fruit was there to provide antioxidants and otherwise counteract the unhealthful effects of smoking.”

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Department of Redundancy Dept.

Steve Bass saw a restroom sign at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and theorized:

“The geeks there apparently need special instructions -- like, say, not to take a shower or set up a wireless access point in there” (see photo).

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Talk about a big hemming job!

David Nemer of Glendale spotted a tailor’s offer that prompted him to ask: “What if you only want a minor alteration?” (see photo).

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Holdup men can’t bank on a compliment

I read in the Wall Street Journal where a law professor said the FBI’s practice of nicknaming bank robbers could lead to a “veneration” of the bad guys and even take them “into the realm of pop culture, making them mini-celebrities.”

If so, it’s reassuring to know that out here, at least, the FBI’s nicknames are often anything but admiring. Characters nabbed in recent years have included:

* “The Down and Outer Bandit” (referring to his bedraggled condition)

* “The Butterfingers Bandit” (known to drop the loot and, in one case, his holdup note)

* “The Miss Piggy Bandit” (less than glamorous looks)

* “The Micro Optic Bandit” (he blinked often)

* “The Big Nosed Bandit” (enough said)

And, finally:

* “The Clearasil Bandit,” who had a serious acne problem. Officials said that after he was arrested he actually threatened a lawsuit, saying his nickname had exposed him “to ridicule and humiliation from prison guards and inmates.”

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This just in

I just noticed in the Huntington Beach Wave that police arrested a bank robbery suspect who also probably wasn’t wild about his nickname. He was known as “The Jelly Belly Bandit.”

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miscelLAny

Here’s a reason to be thankful for the recent rains -- one that may not have occurred to you. The Environmental Nature Center of Newport Beach has decided to resume its Mushroom Walk. “We didn’t even bother to have Mushroom Walk last year, it was so dry,” a spokeswoman said.

As if anybody would need any coaxing, she added: “The moist months are when you’re most likely to find the fruiting bodies of fungus.”

Date: Jan. 26. Cost: $2 per person. Bring your own salad dressing.

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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