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LOS ANGELES - Major Hollywood unions were lining up behind TV and film writers on Tuesday as last-minute contract talks resumed amid fears of a possible strike.

A powerful branch of the Teamsters union told its 4,500 members they can honor picket lines if TV and film writers strike after their contract expires at midnight Wednesday.

Teamsters Local 399 said in a Web posting that as a union, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts with producers.

But the local, which represents truck drivers, casting directors and location managers, said the clause does not apply to individuals, who are protected by federal law from employer retribution if they decide to honor picket lines.

“As for me as an individual, I will not cross any picket line whether it is sanctioned or not because I firmly believe that Teamsters do not cross picket lines,” union local secretary-treasurer Leo Reed wrote.

Members of the Screen Actors Guild have also voiced strong support for writers, but officials with that union have said its 150,000 members were obligated to report to work if writers strike.

Meanwhile, negotiations resumed between the 12,000-member Writers Guild of America and the group representing producers.

A federal mediator joined the talks in an effort to break a stalemate. A key issue involves giving writers more money from the sale of DVDs and the distribution of shows via the Internet, cellphones and other digital platforms.

Early Tuesday, writers visited studio lots to distribute leaflets to Teamster truck drivers urging support of their cause.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents networks and studios, sent a letter to craft unions representing electricians, drivers and other trades, reminding them of the “no strike” clauses in their contracts.

“We expect each union to comply with this no strike obligation and order your members to work,” alliance president J. Nicholas Counter wrote.

A strike by writers would not immediately have an impact on TV or film production. Most shows have enough scripts in hand to get them though early next year.

After that, networks might turn to reality shows, news programs and reruns to fill the airwaves.

Who says those Brits don’t know their NFL?

The Giants’ 13-10 win in London on Sunday dropped Miami’s record to 0-8, causing Tom Lutz of the London Guardian to note: “Some Dolphins fans have complained that they’ve been deprived of a home game, but judging by their team’s inept performance, the NFL has done them a favor.” Denver Omelet Dept.

Among the top 10 Colorado Rockies excuses for losing the World Series, courtesy of CBS’s David Letterman:

• “Manager distracted by Joe Torre walking around with his résumé .

• “O.J. stole the equipment!

• “Turns out our ‘flaxseed oil’ really was flaxseed oil.”

Hippo wars

FoxSports.com’s report that a hippopotamus seeking refuge from the Southern California wildfires wound up in the swimming pool of Chargers special-teams coach Steve Crosby is being met with some skepticism.

USAToday.com reports that the nearby San Diego Wild Animal Park has no hippos, that hippos or pygmy hippos are all accounted for at the San Diego Zoo and Fund for Animals Wildlife Center, and that the county veterinarian’s office reported no incidents of a hippo intervention.

And after watching Sunday’s Dolphins-Giants game from London, we can vouch that Tony Siragusa wasn’t the pool perp, either.

Cheek, please

The coach of a teenage-girls soccer team in Windsor, Calif., allegedly lowered his pants after a contentious game Saturday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, and gave the opposing sideline a two-run salute.

And for those of you who believe in such karma, yes, there was a full moon that night.

Lost in the shuffle

News: Rams guard Richie Incognito might miss the rest of the season with a kneecap injury.

Comment: Could there possibly be a more obscure NFL player than an offensive lineman on a winless team named Incognito?

Talking the talk

• Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, on the Lakers’ soap opera starring Kobe Bryant: “Bryant has become L.A.’s version of Barry Bonds ‘07 - a beloved, sore-kneed and controversial superstar/media magnet whose main job is to dazzle the fans so they don’t notice how bad the team is.”

• Marc Tandan of the Virginian-Pilot, after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell cleared suspended receiver Chris Henry to resume practicing with the Bengals: “Cincinnati can’t wait to get him back in a nonpolice lineup.”

• Bill Lankhof of the Toronto Sun, on how sports and politics mix: “About as well as a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs.”

• Shannon Sharpe of Sirius NFL Radio, on all the hype for Sunday’s matchup between the 8-0 Patriots and the 7-0 Colts: “If this was cartoons, this is Godzilla vs. Megalon.”

CSI: Fenway

Boston police arrested 37 overzealous fans in the wee hours Monday morning after the Red Sox captured their second World Series in four years.

Asked to explain their clients’ nutty behavior, defense lawyers shrugged and said it was just many being Manny.

Dwight Perry: 206-464-8250 or dperry@seattletimes.com

NAIROBI, Kenya - A U.S. Navy destroyer helped sailors who retook control of their vessel Tuesday in a deadly battle with pirates after the North Korean-flagged ship was hijacked in the piracy-plagued waters off Somalia, the U.S. military said.

The Navy also confirmed other U.S. warships sank two pirate skiffs late Sunday after answering a distress call from a hijacked Japanese chemical tanker and said U.S. ships were still monitoring that vessel.

In Tuesday’s incident, a helicopter flew from the destroyer USS James E. Williams to investigate a phoned-in tip of a hijacked ship and demanded by radio that the pirates give up their weapons, the military said.

The crew of the Dai Hong Dan then overwhelmed the hijackers, leaving two pirates dead, according to preliminary reports, and five captured, the military said.

“When we get a distress call, we help,” said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for the U.S. 5th Fleet in Manama, Bahrain.

Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said the incident didn’t indicate the U.S. military was taking a more aggressive stance toward pirates off Somalia, but he added piracy in the Horn of Africa region is a concern because “you’re talking about an area that has seen greater terrorist involvement.”

Morrell said it was logical the military would want to know “what is being transported on the high seas and who is out there operating and if they have nothing but the best intentions in mind.”

Andrew Mwangura, program coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program, said an estimated 22 crew members were aboard the North Korea-flagged ship that gunmen seized late Monday in Somali waters. His group independently monitors piracy. Workers at the Mogadishu port said the vessel had delivered a load of sugar from India.

An international watchdog reported this month that pirate attacks worldwide jumped 14 percent in the first nine months of 2007, with the biggest increases in the poorly policed waters of Somalia and Nigeria.

Reported attacks in Somali waters rose to 26, up from eight a year earlier, the London-based International Maritime Bureau said through its piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The U.S. Navy said that warships in a coalition monitoring the waters near Somalia were after the hijacked Japanese tanker Golden Nori and that four other vessels were still controlled by pirates near Somalia.

Robertson, the 5th Fleet spokesman, said coalition ships, including the guided-missile destroyer USS Porter, fired on and sank two pirate skiffs tied to the Golden Nori on Sunday night.

So much for party politics.

Snohomish County’s annual budget-writing scene - indisputably important but rarely riveting - this year is underscoring a testy relationship between County Executive Aaron Reardon and the County Council, which is controlled by his fellow Democrats.

Reardon on Sept. 28 unveiled his proposed $673 million budget for 2008 with a speech extolling his administration’s commitment to “fiscal solvency” and his reversal of “the trends of deficit spending.”

The council recently responded with a formal statement portraying Reardon as a fiscally irresponsible hypocrite.

Key elements of the dispute include disagreements over repaying a $23.4 million bank loan related to the former Cathcart Landfill and confusion over how the executive’s budget accounts for “under expenditures.”

Reardon in previous years had criticized - “blasted,” in the council’s words - the council for balancing the county budget by significantly spending down the county’s reserve fund.

Reardon halted that practice - which he calls deficit spending - after taking office in 2004, and under his watch the county’s reserves have more than doubled to over $30 million.

Now the council is accusing Reardon of hiding his own deficit spending by creatively moving a column of numbers inside his budget charts.

“It’s how you warp the numbers to say it’s balanced,” said Fred Bird, the council’s public-information officer.

Reardon responded by pointing to his budget’s bottom line. His proposed 2008 budget includes a modest boost to the reserve fund, he stressed, which proves that revenues must exceed spending.

The council’s budgets in 2001 through 2004, on the other hand, required withdrawals from reserves to make ends meet, he said.

When questioned about the tone of the council’s Oct. 19 written statement, Council Chairman Dave Gossett said the budget disputes are nothing personal. It’s about a need for transparency in budgeting, he said.

But he acknowledged tension between the council and Reardon.

“We do not have a good relationship, for a couple years at least,” Gossett said.

Reardon responded in kind. At first, he firmly maintained that this latest disagreement “is all about the money.”

Later, however, he tossed in a postscript.

“They’ve been upset ever since I vetoed their pay raise,” said Reardon, who in October 2005 nixed a package of salary increases for the county’s elected officials. “Their feelings were hurt.”

The council’s focus on the county’s Cathcart debt is connected to the county’s anticipation of an additional $3 million in sales tax revenues next year, under a new state law that changed distribution formulas. The council contends some of that money should be earmarked to pay next year’s $1.8 million in interest due on the Cathcart loan.

The county in 2004 bought the old landfill site from its own public-works department, with plans to sell it to a private developer. Next year’s budget includes $800,000 for a consultant charged with creating a master plan for the property, off Highway 9 east of Mill Creek.

Reardon’s budget rolls both the interest and the consultant costs into the existing KeyBank loan. The council says it’s unwise to borrow money to repay debts.

“We believe it’s not sound fiscal policy to use your Visa card to pay off your MasterCard,” Gossett said.

Reardon’s budget analysts say that’s nothing new - previous budgets have used similar mechanisms to pay the Cathcart loan interest. The land’s value is growing steadily, they said, and the interest costs will be covered when the 205-acre site is sold.

“We’ve never used general-fund current revenues to pay any portion of [Cathcart’s] debt service,” said Bill Haseleu, Reardon’s budget manager.

Diane Brooks: 425-745-7802 or dbrooks@seattletimes.com

Joe Callero never shies away from striking up a conversation.

So a few years ago while in Las Vegas, the Seattle University coach walked up to then-Kentucky coach Tubby Smith and started chatting, first about both coming from large families, then about their respective schools.

During that conversation, Callero planted the idea of Seattle U. and Kentucky playing, a suggestion that will come to fruition Saturday when the Redhawks face the Wildcats at Kentucky’s legendary Rupp Arena.

It’s an exhibition game that will honor the 1957-58 teams from both schools, who played in the NCAA championship game that season in nearby Louisville, Ky.

“I said we would love that opportunity to come over there and play you guys kind of as a commemorative event,” Callero recalled.

Now, the suggestion is reality, and also serves as a gateway for Seattle U.

Earlier this year, the Division II Redhawks applied to become Division I members for the first time since 1980, in the hopes of recapturing much of the school’s history. Seattle U. will play a Division II schedule and be eligible for Division II championships this year, before playing a mixed schedule next year and a mostly Division I slate in 2009-10.

“It gives us a chance to honor the history and tradition and do it back in Lexington,” Callero said. “It just is amazing timing that it coincides with our emergence back to Division I.”

Then called the Chieftains, the 1957-58 Seattle U. squad featured Hall of Fame forward Elgin Baylor, first among a string of players who went on to the NBA. Beginning with Baylor, 10 stars from the small Jesuit school near downtown Seattle went on to have NBA careers.

Baylor played two seasons at SU, averaged 31.1 points and still holds 11 school records. Baylor was at the College of Idaho, and transferred to SU, hoping for an opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament.

“My last year there [College of Idaho] I was listening to the radio and got the NCAA final on the radio … saying it would be great to play at that level, play at a major college,” Baylor said.

SU had made the NCAA tournament in four of the five years before Baylor arrived, and played in the NIT the other season. SU struggled early in the ‘57-58 season before winning 16 of its final 17 regular-season games and carrying that momentum into the tournament. SU routed Wyoming to start, then squeaked past San Francisco, held off California in overtime and beat Kansas State 73-51 in the national semifinals.

In the championship game, SU led 39-36 at halftime but couldn’t hold off Adolph Rupp’s Wildcats in the second half and lost 84-72. Vern Hatton scored 30 points and Johnny Cox had 24 for Kentucky, while SU was led by the 25 points of Baylor, who made 9 of 32 shots.

The current crop of Redhawks (23-9 last season) has an appreciation and understanding for the history of the school.

“To play in Rupp Arena, with the tradition they have there, and to honor the old Seattle University when they challenged a powerhouse like Kentucky, it’s a honor to be in the same sentence with that group,” said SU forward Ryan Coldren.

Added forward Leigh Swanson: “It’s amazing. It’s a cherry-on-the-top kind of thing. I didn’t expect it. It’s exciting to go play in front of 23,000.” SU’s gym holds 1,000.

Note

• All of Seattle U’s games, starting with Kentucky, will be streamed through KKNW’s Web site (www.1150kknw.com).

Six games will also be broadcast over the air on KKNW-AM (1150): Nov. 23 vs. Cal State Monterey Bay, Dec. 8 vs. Douglas College, Dec. 15 vs. Seattle University Alumni, Dec. 22 at Humboldt State, Dec. 29 vs. Concordia (N.Y.), and March 8 vs. Montana State Billings.

Minneapolis

The 19-year-old suspect in the killing of a woman who was answering an ad for a nanny on Craigslist.org shot his victim in the back, and bloodstains were found in his family’s Savage, Minn., home, authorities alleged in a second-degree murder charge filed Tuesday in Scott County.

Police found a .357-caliber Magnum handgun and a shell casing in Michael John Anderson’s bedroom, along with blood on the walls and mattress, according to the charges in the death of Katherine Ann Olson, 24.

Bloodstains and drag marks were found on the stairs from the upper level to the lower level of the split-level home, the complaint said.

Anderson’s attorneys had no comment.

Gainesville, Fla.

Tasered student strikes a deal

The University of Florida student stunned by a police Taser and arrested after his videotaped outburst at a Sen. John Kerry event won’t go to court if he stays out of trouble during 18 months of probation, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Andrew Meyer’s shout of “Don’t Tase me, bro!” was ignored by campus police but helped video clips of the 21-year-old being dragged from a microphone become an Internet sensation.

The telecommunications major wrote apologies to the Gainesville school; its president, Bernie Machen; and the campus police department, defense attorney Robert Griscti said.

Santa Ana, Calif.

California sheriff accused of bribery

Orange County’s sheriff has been charged with accepting bribes in exchange for political favors and pressing a witness to lie as authorities investigated whether he used his office to enrich himself.

The case against Michael Carona purportedly involves more than $350,000 in cash and gifts, and a “get-out-of-jail free card” for a wealthy appointee whose son was arrested twice, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday.

Also named in the indictment were Carona’s wife and a woman identified as his longtime mistress.

Carona, 52, denied the allegations and said he would not step down.

Santa Clarita, Calif.

Playing boy is wildfire suspect

A boy playing with matches started a fire in north Los Angeles County that consumed more than 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes last week, authorities said Tuesday.

The boy, whose name and age were not released, was interviewed a day after the Buckweed Fire was sparked Oct. 21, said sheriff’s Sgt. Diane Hecht.

He was released to his parents, and the case will be presented to the district attorney, Hecht said.

Seattle Times news services

Vera Wang, Bob Mackie and St. John. Hardly names you’d expect to find at Goodwill - except during its annual “Glitter Sale,” taking place this weekend.

This year’s sale offers evening gowns, dress coats, sequined tops and jeweled pantsuits as well as pieces from noted designers. Vintage clothes are also available, including an ivory beaded flapper dress from the 1920s.

Shoppers are encouraged to arrive well before the doors open. In past years, some 300 people waited in line on Saturday and more than 100 on Sunday. Because there are no dressing rooms, organizers suggest shoppers wear leotards or bathing suits under their clothing.

Last year, the event reached a record $80,000 in sales. All proceeds benefit Goodwill’s free job-training and education programs.

If you’re an 8- or 9- or 10-year-old girl in America in 2007, going to a Hannah Montana show is of paramount importance.

It’s important whether you’re a healthy girl living in Bellevue, or whether you’re a girl who’s had 18 chemotherapy treatments at Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center in Seattle.

Hannah Montana — a character on the Disney Channel played by Miley Cyrus, who’s all of 14 — takes over the fantasies of her fans. So for them, sick or healthy, it’s beyond important.

It’s an obsession, just like for the generations of past girls it was Shaun Cassidy or Leif Garrett or the Backstreet Boys or the Monkees or the Bay City Rollers or even the pre-tabloid Britney Spears.

And it was Hannah Montana’s sold-out show at the KeyArena on Monday night that brought together two pairs of such young girls. For the family members and other adults present, it also was once again a reminder of the randomness of life-changing events.

The healthy and ill girls didn’t meet because the hospital doesn’t want to set a precedent in which patients receiving gifts are to meet with benefactors, and because of concerns about patients’ immune systems.

The two healthy girls, Danielle Bensussen, 9; and Aubrey Smith, 8; and Aubrey’s mother, Tami Smith, all of Bellevue, dropped off four Hannah Montana tickets at the Giraffe Zone at Children’s Hospital, which has named various parts of its center with kid-friendly names.

They then had a meal at a nearby Burgermaster, and Tami Smith drove them back to Bellevue in her Volvo SUV. The mom said she knew a life such as her family leads can change overnight.

“It can be cancer, it can be a car accident, it can be anything,” she said.

The family had ended up with extra tickets. On Craigslist Monday, those tickets were selling for two and three times the $65 face value. Smith didn’t want the profit.

“It was more important to me to give them to two little girls,” she said. And to give her daughter and her friend a life lesson.

So she contacted the hospital.

Two girls getting treatment there were Kaylee Springfield, 8, of Port Angeles; and Kayla Rauenhorst, 10, of Fairbanks, Alaska.

They and their respective moms went to Monday night’s show, the girls having been chosen in a random drawing from patients getting a doctor’s approval their immune systems could withstand such a night out.

Kaylee Springfield is a shy girl, diagnosed with leukemia, who simply was happy to hold the Hannah Montana tickets.

Kayla Rauenhorst was diagnosed with bone cancer in her left leg. She’s had to have 4-½ inches of her femur cut off above the knee, and a prosthetic rod with a spring-loaded mechanism inserted in the gap.

Kayla and her mom, Tanya Coty, live in a nearby apartment. The rest of the family is in Alaska and sometimes visits.

Kayla told about her 18 chemotherapy treatments. “Sometimes it makes me really sick, sometimes you start throwing up, sometimes it sails by,” she said.

Tanya Coty said that now, when she talks to her daughter, it’s sometimes not as if she’s talking to a 10-year-old.

“She’s grown up so much in a matter of 11 months,” said the mother. “Some days it’s like I’m talking to a colleague or another adult.”

But on Monday night, it was time for 8-, 9- and 10-year-old girls to be just that, and sing along with the Hannah Montana tunes they have downloaded onto their iPods and memorized.

Eating their lunch at Burgermaster, Danielle Bensussen and Aubrey Smith sang a bit from one of their favorites, the one with lyrics that go:

“Who said, who said I can’t be Superman,

“I say, I say that I know I can.”

Erik Lacitis: 206-464-2237 or elacitis@seattletimes.com

- Fair skies, light winds, low surf and mild temperatures. What could be better for the first razor clam weekend of the season on the Washington coast?

Plenty of clams, and state fish and wildlife managers say that condition was met, too.

A fish and wildlife scientific technician, John R. Deibert, says about 20,000 diggers shared about 300,000 clams at Twin Harbors, Copalis and Mocrocks beaches. That’s an average of 15 per digger, which is also the daily limit. At Twin Harbors, near Westport, the average clam was four and a half inches long.

Daniel L. Ayres, the agency’s coastal shellfish manager, calls it “a very successful weekend.”

The next razor clam weekend is expected to be Nov. 23- 26.

Would-be clammers can get information on razor clams and season updates at the Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Web page, http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/shelfish/razorclm/razorclm.htmGet information on licenses (required for clamming) at https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/

Don’t look for strict adherence to Bram Stoker’s gothic novel in the International Ballet Theatre’s “Dracula,” finishing its run at 7:30 p.m. today and Wednesday at the Meydenbauer Theatre in Bellevue.

The company’s student and professional dancers put the story on stage with colorful Romanian folk dances, even some tap and clogging. Along with ballet, it makes a heady caldron of images, danced in lavish costumes and set to recorded music that includes original work and classical pieces such as Gounod’s “Faust.” Astor Piazzolla’s swoony tango music is in there, and a piece by a lesser-known Russian composer, Georgy Sviridov, called “Snow-Storm,” based on short story by Alexander Pushkin.

Company founder Vera Altunina, who wrote the story line for this “Dracula,” teased out images from Stoker’s novel and other works by the author, creating the classical and character dances with two collaborators: Jerry Tassin did the jazz and tap choreography, and Eva Stone did the modern works.

The stage picture is inventive and often fascinatingly surreal, though at times divertissements (such as Irish clog dancing) steal attention from the plot. Small revolving strobes at the edge of the stage also flash into the audience regularly, proving a distraction.

Projections take the audience from the ordinary world of a bucolic village in Transylvania to the night world of the undead, complete with a gothic graveyard and castle.

“Dracula” is the season opener for the company, which continues its year with “The Nutcracker” in December. Both have become annual traditions.

“As ‘The Nutcracker’ is to Christmas, ‘Dracula’ is to Halloween,” said Heidi Tucker, president of IBT’s board of directors. The Kirkland-based company in its seventh season of producing ballet repertoire in the Russian tradition, and their “Dracula” is in its fourth year.

Altunina came to America in 1993 to set dances on a Portland company, eventually settling on the Eastside. She taught at Cornish College, the Washington Academy of Performing Arts and Olympic Ballet, among other schools, before establishing her own school and company. There are now 200 students at the school, and graduates from the school’s professional division go on to dance in company productions. Because there is so much intergenerational support for IBT, and so many young dancers in the show, “Dracula” is considered appropriate for family audiences.

A cast of 40 dancers performs the two-act ballet, with soloist Oleg Gorboulev as Jonathan Harker. Gorboulev, a standout in the show, particularly with his ebullient leaps and lifts, was formerly with the Moscow Classical Ballet and retired from Pacific Northwest Ballet last year.

Mina, Jonathan’s fiancée, is danced by Sophie Edwards, a company soloist with IBT for the past five years. Lucy, Mina’s best friend, is danced by Hayley Fridenstine, another company soloist. Her Lucy is another standout performance, a genuine eccentric with a strange push-pull relationship with Dracula, who is seen as a shadowy character wreathed in fog and smoke. Magic man Vaclav plays the role with elusive menace - and more than a few tricks up his sleeve.

“Dracula” is a bit of a departure from the Russian classical tradition, with a wide variety of dancing styles and skills on stage, but Altunina says her version is “more surrealistic than scary.”

“It’s always a journey. You never know where you’ll depart,” Altunina said. “I’m always looking for something creative and exciting.”

Diane Wright: 425-745-7815 or dwright@seattletimes.com