But does wedding guest want camera lost in Porta Potti back?

In this column’s last exciting episode of “Lost!” I reported that a Maui resident had found a digital camera on the island. The only evidence of ownership was its chip, which contained photos of Long Beach’s Elm Street Band at a wedding reception.

The honest fellow e-mailed the band, which remembered the reception occurring at Loyola Marymount University last year, and contacted the bride.

Her father, Ken Poole, then sent out e-mails to the wedding guests to ask if any had visited Hawaii recently and lost a camera.

A few days later, Poole heard from a family friend who had been to the islands for a canoe club competition.

Mystery solved? Not quite. The friend didn’t visit Maui, but the island of Molokai, where she forgot the camera -- in a Porta Potti, of all places.

Wondered Poole: “How did the camera get from a Porta Potti on Molokai to Maui? Don’t tell me by canoe.”

There’s just no winning: Gasoline prices have come down but, as Brian Monahan of Venice discovered in Panorama City, milk prices have shot up (see photo).

How’s that again?: In Northern California, Marta Knittel of West Hollywood encountered a sign that would seem puzzling (or worse) if you didn’t know it was posted at a vineyard (see photo).

Not exactly a romantic: Ruth Sirianni of Canyon Country saw an ad placed by a guy who has a novel way of seeking female companionship (see accompanying). Talk about cheek. He even claims to be a “collector.”

Attention, ladies: Jo Jane Marshall of Whittier chanced upon a magazine feature apparently devoted to that “special day” when you first ride a horse (see accompanying).

A great thirst for knowledge: USC campus cops checking a dorm “observed what appeared to be a large water spill in a first-floor hallway.” Turned out “the spill was actually beer that was leaking from two kegs stored in a room.”

Sad. A Miller Lite is a terrible thing to waste.

Name Game: Not only is Patrick Wren an administrator of Torrance’s animal control department, as I mentioned the other day, but he tells me his wife’s name is Robin.

miscelLAny: KFWB-AM (980) reported that traffic on Interstate 15 near Fontana recently slowed down because of a spilled Santa Claus statue.

Ah, SigAlerts of the season!

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012, and by e-mail at [email protected].