With This Rink, I Thee Wed ....

With This Rink, I Thee Wed . . .

As a rule, I don’t do windows or weddings.

I’ve declined possible items recently on a hockey goalie marrying his beloved on the ice at the San Diego Ice Arena, and two hiker-lawyers from San Diego exchanging vows atop Tahquitz Rock (Elev. 1,200 feet) near Idyllwild.

For future reference, here is my rule: I only do 50th wedding anniversaries when husband and wife are both on roller skates, as they were on their Wedding Day.

As such, I am obligated to report that James and Aleva Gantz of San Diego will renew their vows tonight at Skateworld in Linda Vista, surrounded by kith and kin (including seven skating grandchildren).

On Sept. 2, 1940, the Gantzes were married at the Pacific skating rink downtown, with the entire wedding party on wheels.

It was a natural: Aleva (Cookie) was a “floor-lady” at the Pacific rink, picking up skaters when they fell, blowing a whistle to maintain order. Jimmy was just out of the Navy.

It was a roller-skate romance. The couple had met at the Mission Beach Roller Rink.

It was roller-skating’s heyday. The owner of the Pacific knew a media grabber when he saw it; he hosted the wedding, attracted 700 customers and got a splash in the newspapers.

Now it’s half a century later, and Cookie is 69 years old, a retired computer operator, and still teaching kids to skate. Jimmy is 72, a retired food salesman.

The evening at Skateworld will include a demonstration of skating through the ages.

The couple’s son Larry, 49, a communications consultant in Arizona, will serve as emcee. He was the 1957 California yo-yo champion, and so naturally he’ll do yo-yo tricks.

Skates or no, 50 years of marriage is a long time. Is there a link?

“I got a letter from the Roller Skating Assn.,” says Cookie, “saying that this proves that whoever rolls around together, stays together, or something like that.”

If anybody else has a better formula for ensuring wedded bliss, I’ve yet to hear it.

Crime Stories

Here, there, everywhere.

* San Diego’s crime rate is an issue in the race for governor.

Dianne Feinstein is blasting Pete Wilson by saying crime increased in San Diego by 25% during his tenure as mayor, while it decreased by 27% in San Francisco when she was mayor.

Wilson retorts that San Diego had the lowest crime rate of the nation’s 10 biggest cities when he left, while San Francisco was fourth on the list when Feinstein departed.

There, now do you feel safer?

* Rep. James Traficant (D-Ohio) is seeking a congressional hearing into the war-crimes case of Arthur Rudolph, the German scientist who worked in San Diego after World War II.

Traficant’s House Resolution 404 is supported by a small group of San Diegans who believe Rudolph is innocent and should have his naturalized U.S. citizenship restored.

It is opposed by the national Anti-Defamation League of the B’nai B’rith, which believes Rudolph is guilty and had ample opportunity to state his case during a Department of Justice probe in 1983.

* The San Diego city attorney is renewing his periodic warning to City Council members not to have discussions with developers with pending projects.

No tete-a-tetes, no private deals.

* North County bumper sticker: “Save Our Most Endangered Species. The Unborn.”

* East County bumper sticker: “Pray for Me. I Drive Highway 94.”

* Headline in the Lakeside-based Animal Press: “Cruelty-Free Products Now in Fashion.”

Gee, just when I was beginning to like the off-the-rack look.