AFTERGLOW: When fire broke out on the...

AFTERGLOW: When fire broke out on the Seal Beach Pier last May, nearby resident Pam Potter grabbed her video camera and started taping. At a recent City Council meeting, she donated to pier restoration the proceeds from her camera work--$125 from KTTV, which aired her tape. . . . “Obviously, those of us right here at the time were going to get footage before the news crews,” she says. The fire, ignited by coals from a barbecue grill, caused $350,000 in damage, and the city is seeking donations to cover the $100,000 deductible on its insurance policy.

MISS ON MISS: You can’t blame Deana Avila of Laguna Niguel for having a special interest in watching tonight’s Miss America telecast on Channel 4 at 9. Avila recently became Miss California in the Miss Universe contest, but it’s another Miss California--Jennifer Hanson of Garden Grove--who competes tonight. . . . . Says Avila: “I’ll be rooting for her.”

NEW START: Chapman University’s first football season since 1932 begins tonight with a 7 o’clock game at Whittier College (C1), and it’s likely to be an emotional event. To revive its program, Chapman hired Ken Visser, Whittier’s former head coach. . . . “We’re expecting to start a rivalry,” says Chapman tailback Darnell Morgan. “We have their coaches, so we have something to prove, and they have something to prove.”

NEW HOBBY: Joan Irvine Smith, Orange County philanthropist and one of the nation’s top collectors of California Impressionist art, has begun painting on her own. . . . . Her first attempt--an acrylic depiction of the surf and rocks at Abalone Beach in Irvine Cove--will be displayed this weekend at the annual horse-jumping competition at The Oaks, Smith’s stable in San Juan Capistrano. Of her seascape, she says: “Everyone wants it but I am going to keep it.”