El Cajon Man Uses Head for ‘Stupid Human Tricks’

Bob Forthun of El Cajon has done something few of the rest of us could even dream about. He smashed a watermelon over his head on national television.

Forthun, a 22-year-old outdoor education teacher, was featured in the “Stupid Human Tricks” segment of NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman program this month.

The act was a truncated version of a bit Forthun and a few friends have been performing since they were teen-agers. They call it the “One-Man Food Fight.”

In the complete routine, which Forthun performs each week during safety patrol summer camp at Camp Cuyamaca, a full day’s diet goes cascading across his person.

There’s breakfast--milk, eggs and fruit. (But not citrus. “They hurt your eyes,” Forthun noted.) Lunch comes pouring down next--macaroni and cheese, perhaps, and a head of lettuce. (“That makes a real good impact on your head.”) Dinner is a highlight. (“The fun things are, like, a whole meat loaf on your head.”)

Letterman’s audience saw only “the grand finale,” Forthun said. “We’re talking about cracking a whole watermelon on the frontal lobe,” he explained.

The melons are selected carefully. If they aren’t ripe enough, Forthun will save his skull by slicing them open in advance with a razor.

Forthun got special praise from one of Letterman’s other guests the night of his appearance. Actor Jim Belushi--whose brother John’s cinematic food fights inspired Forthun and his friends--”was really appreciative of it,” Forthun said.

Snappish About Snap

Image-conscious Oceanside is miffed at its treatment by the editors of Time magazine. To illustrate a recent cover story about America’s disappearing beaches, Time published a photograph of the blue Pacific lapping at the rocky, sandless, Oceanside shore.

City and tourist industry officials grump that the picture was snapped at high tide. Oceanside, they note, has spent millions dredging the ocean bottom and piping in sand.

In other North County news, Escondido has suffered a public relations snafu of its own. A film crew hired by the city has had to put off filming a promotional feature about the “Hidden Valley” because of “hazy” air conditions.

Escondido leaders fear the “haze” could be confused with smog. Which would belie the lyrics of “You’ll Love Escondido,” the film’s catchy theme song. “There’s clean, fresh air,” the ditty goes, “and smiling faces everywhere.”

Baby Sitter Check

Remember the sweet, innocent days when Mom and Dad simply hired the teen-ager down the street to watch the kiddies for the night? Now, in response to allegations of mistreatment of children by baby sitters, the state Department of Justice is offering to conduct full-scale background checks of would-be sitters.

For $80, the department will give your baby sitter the same once-over received by applicants for professional child-care licenses, including a check of computerized criminal and child abuse records.

The baby sitter must consent to the background investigation and furnish fingerprints. As a privacy consideration, the department will reveal only if the state would have issued or withheld a license for the sitter had one been applied for, according to John Turner, manager of the department’s child abuse program.

The pilot program became available in five counties, including San Diego County, on July 1. So far, only one family in the state has applied for a background check, but the state expects to conduct 5,000 each year, Turner said.

Applications are available from law enforcement agencies and the county Department of Social Services.

Doggie Donors Wanted

The dog, we know, is man’s best friend. But local pooches also are needed to take care of their own.

The San Diego County Canine Blood Bank--one of the few such centers in the nation--has put out a call for donors.

Since opening late in 1985, the bank has relied on regular donations from only a dozen dogs known to the staff and patients of the Emergency Animal Clinic in Hotel Circle, where the nonprofit blood center is headquartered.

But with demand growing countywide for blood to be used in veterinary surgery and medical treatment, the blood bank now wants to build up a roster of about 50 regular givers, according to clinic administrator Paul Cervone.

The optimal donor is between 2 and 8 years old, weighs at least 50 pounds and is calm enough to sit still for as long as 15 minutes, Cervone said. There is no payment to the donor doggies, and only dogs with A-negative blood type--the canine universal donor--are accepted. (The bank will conduct the test.) Donor dogs are placed on a regular schedule of giving one pint every six to eight weeks.

“We had one person call who, because of a disorder she has, can’t give blood herself,” Cervone said. “This is kind of her way of helping others and letting herself feel good at the same time.”