Valleytalk/cw1st/mike2nd Sudden Impact In L.A., nothing gets attention like a high-speed car chase. For 10 years, Shaunna Nash has publicized her residential real estate business by buying bus bench space in the Sun Valley neighborhood where she specializes. But what really drew attention to her advertising had nothing to do with Nash’s marketing plan. It seems police were chasing a suspected car thief during a high-speed pursuit along Glenoaks Boulevard when the suspect’s car careened into a bus bench that displayed one of Nash’s ads. Though the bench split into pieces, Nash’s ad fell into the street nearly intact, and her name and slogan, “Your area’s #1 real estate broker,” were prominently displayed in newspapers and on television. “I’ve had more calls from that than anything,” said Nash, who works with Re/Max in Action in Burbank. “It was a tragedy, but it’s free advertising.” Psychic Habit White-collar crime has been around for years. You might call the newest trend “turban crime.” An Antelope Valley woman employed by the Los Angeles County Mental Health Department was accused of making $120,000 worth of calls to a psychic hotline after a routine audit of the phone system disclosed the irregularity. The worker, Cheryl Burnham, was accused of making some 2,500 phone calls to several different psychic hotlines, and has pleaded no contest to the charges of grand theft. Calls to such numbers are blocked by the county phone system, but Burnham allegedly got around the restriction by placing the calls through a computer modem. Too bad the psychics couldn’t tell her that she would get caught. Naked Truth Speaking of audits, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee in Sacramento is calling for an audit of the World Pornography Conference, an event co-sponsored by Cal State Northridge’s Center for Sex Research and the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry. The conference, held last August, was billed as the “real Boogie Nights,” after the 1997 movie that chronicled the Valley’s porn industry. The conference had as its theme, “Eroticism and the First Amendment.” State officials are concerned that CSUN may have used taxpayer funds to help host the event, which included panel discussions with attorneys for Hustler, Penthouse and Playboy magazines, as well as producers, directors and stars involved in the adult entertainment industry. CSUN officials say that no university funds go toward supporting the Center for Sex Research, which is headed by James Elias, a sociology professor at the school. According to CSUN officials, the center is self-supporting. Tea Cake Time Normally when the name of a real estate broker appears on a sign outside a piece of property, they get calls about price and square footage. But when CB Richard Ellis broker Barbara Emmons was handling the sale of the former site of Martinos Bakery in Burbank, she got lots of calls about tea cakes. Seems the callers wanted to know where they could find the goodies that had been made and distributed at the landmark building until it was shut down and liquidated last year. Martinos sold the property to Hackman Equities, which fixed it up and sold off the equipment before re-selling it to Captions Inc., a company that makes captions for movies. “I’ve never gotten calls on things like that,” said Emmons. “The new owners have joked about whether they should get into the tea cake business.” Pampered Breed Now horses can take a weekend off, like humans. Goodenough Farms in Fillmore in eastern Ventura County opened a spa dedicated to “equine athletes,” touting cutting-edge rejuvenation and relaxation therapies from acupuncture to massage for race horses in need of a summer break. The Goodenough Farms Horse Spa promises to ready performance horses for intensive summer training and riding, to help them reach their full potential. “Our tune-up package is a wellness therapy designed to help prepare them,” said Lisa Warden, director of research and spa therapies. Unfortunately, horse facials and mud baths aren’t part of the cure.