GOOD IDEA: When financial consultant Rich Dutrisac...

GOOD IDEA: When financial consultant Rich Dutrisac of Newport Beach began reviving an official University of Wisconsin Alumni Club here in February, he had no idea how well-timed his plan was. “There was a club back in the ‘70s, but it just fizzled,” he says. Dutrisac got the idea after helping his father Dick--a former Badger basketball star--with a university fund-raising campaign, and learning that Orange County has 1,500 alumni. He was unaware that the Badgers were Rose Bowl-bound for the first time in 31 years. . . . “We knew the football program was going in a good direction,” he says, “but nobody knew about this.”

STRIKE UP THE BAND: Remember the high school band from tiny Ellsworth, Kan.? They gave up their money for a trip to play at the Dec. 30 Freedom Bowl game to help 16-year-Rita Henry, a fellow student who is fighting leukemia. They’re coming to Anaheim after all. . . . Media attention to their good deed brought in not only $60,000--all they need--but another $23,000 for Rita.

NO STEREOTYPES: Amy Ashton of Beverly Hills says she gave up working in movies because she got tired of women being stereotyped. So she turned to comedy--with an act that promotes women. . . . Which is why the Orange County Women Lawyers have booked her as entertainment Monday for its officer installation lunch in Orange. “I’m not a male-basher,” says Ashton, who plays clubs and campuses. “But women seem to understand my comedy on a more intellectual level.”

BEYOND ENGLISH: Garden Grove pays some full-time employees who speak a second language up to $50 extra per month to serve as translators when needed. Problem is, the demand is greater than the supply of available translators. . . . With 57 known languages or dialects, Garden Grove can’t always help non-English-speaking residents who have city business. To meet the demand, the city has now decided to offer the extra pay to some part-time employees.