Hobbyist. In Vancouver, B.C., Assize Court Justice Herbert S. Wood sentenced Venetian Blind Manufacturer John Wasylenchuk, 38, to life imprisonment, despite his pious plea during the trial that when police found him hiding in the woods and promptly shot him as an escaping bank robber, he had been innocently mixing up a batch of nitroglycerin to blow up a few safes.

Pro. In Los Angeles, when he sent out summonses for jury duty, Municipal Court Jury Commissioner Douglas Lathrop received a polite note stating, "I have often desired to serve as a trial juror and would enjoy the experience, but my duties will not permit me to take the time"--signed "Superior Court Judge Kurtz Kauffman."

American Heritage. In Newark, N.J., Olen Downey, 59, argued in court without success that the repeal of Prohibition had given him the right to get drunk, commented self-righteously: "I'm just a plain American drinking man and no Communist, so I pleaded the 21st Amendment instead of the Fifth."

Technical Expense. In Piqua, Ohio, Farmer Dale Adams angrily refused to pay a 10-c- fine for overtime parking because police would not give him a receipt, paid a $9.75 fine in municipal court instead, got a receipt.

A La Mode. In Milwaukee, Allen E. Grether, 30, was arrested after his face, floating ghostlike through a park at night, frightened two patrolmen, was ordered out of town despite his plea that he did not know the powder on his face was luminous, and wore it only because "it gives me a finished look."

Gioconda Smile. In Tampa, a year after he won the title "Most Courteous Cop" and a free trip to Havana in a contest sponsored by the Tampa affiliate of the American Automobile Association, Patrolman J. W. Hause, 38, was fired from the force and fined $300 for pilfering nickels from parking meters.

Not As a Stranger. In Vancouver, Wash., Joseph White Eagle won acquittal on a vagrancy charge after he majestically intoned the terms of his tribal treaty with the U.S.: "Wherever the grasses grow or the rivers flow, the Indian can go."

Now Hear This. In Los Angeles, Mrs. Loretta Day, 53, filed suit for divorce from former Navy Lieut. Commander Charles B. Day, 63, charged that he logged her comings and goings, made her spend her vacation "swabbing the decks" to pass inspection, would not let her enter his den without permission when red, white and blue pennants were displayed outside the door.

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