There was much response to our Lake Tahoe "Cal Neva Lodge" item from last week and rumors that John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy - in the company of Frank Sinatra and crime boss Sam Giancana - carried on trysts with Marilyn Monroe, as she suggested in tape recordings recently made public.

John Jekabson, of Oakland, Calif., tells The Beltway Beat that he worked at the Cal Neva during the summer of 1962, the year in question.

"There are a lot of myths and tall stories about that time and place," he writes. "At that time, I was a 21-year-old college student making money during the summer as a busboy. I worked the graveyard shift - 11 p.m. to 7 a.m."

As we'd written after our visit beneath the lodge last week, Jekabson recalls "extensive tunnels under the club," but he says they were mainly used to carry food and supplies, not to shuffle VIP guests of Sinatra and Giancana undetected between the casino and its cabins.

"They were old and dank, and certainly not the least bit romantic. I never encountered any 'unauthorized person' down there," Jekabson said.

As for Giancana, a silent partner of Sinatra's at the lodge, "I remember him as dressed in a golf outfit, with white loafers and a pink shirt, always walking with a group, and seeming oblivious to the people that worked there," he says. "We were distinctly told never to talk to him or approach him without first being asked.

"Sinatra was there and would sometimes saunter through the kitchen area, but always in a group. The other people that I remember were Lena Horne, Eddie Fisher, Joey Bishop, Joe E. Brown (who had just been in Marilyn's film 'Some Like It Hot'), a comic by the name of Soupy Sales, whose schtick was to throw pies in people's faces . . . .

"No mention, or glimpse, was ever made of . . . the Kennedy brothers. I think someone on the staff would have leaked to the rest of us if the president of the United States, the attorney general of the United States and Hollywood's top glamour star were there," Jekabson notes.

As for any hanky-panky, one early morning at 3 a.m. the busboy answered a "room service" call from Sinatra, placed from one of the showgirl's cabins.

"But none of this was through any secret tunnel," he insists. "And I didn't even get a tip, as all he said was 'leave it outside the door.'"

ASK QUESTIONS LATER

Let's hope the private security officers protecting the U.S. government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) - 695 million barrels of oil stored in underground salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana - now have permission to shoot to kill any terrorists who might drop in unannounced.

The Energy Department's inspector general writes in an investigative report we obtained that the authority to use deadly force at these facilities is "inconsistent."

"Specifically, the SPR protective force had the authority to use deadly force only for protection of personnel," writes Inspector General Gregory H. Friedman. "They were not authorized to use deadly force to protect the SPR infrastructure, the oil caverns, and the facilities which allow removal of the oil. . . ."

The inspector general said it was "indicated" to his office by the security personnel from Pinkerton Government Services Inc. "that the decision as to whether to use deadly force in the event of a terrorist attack on the SPR is currently left to individual SPR protective force officers.

"Under the current formulation, the protective force officer must decide at what point an attempt to destroy or damage the SPR infrastructure constitutes a danger to personnel. Then, and only then, can deadly force be used.

"In the post-9/11 period, we concluded that this policy should be re-evaluated, especially given SPR's designation as part of the department's critical infrastructure."

Indeed, the Energy Department, in response to the Homeland Security Presidential Directive, designated that the SPR has a "national security critical essential function," classifying it as a key resource for national energy and economic security.

Meanwhile, the inspector general additionally found that 87 percent of contractor and subcontractor employees at both SPR sites, "some with unescorted access to sensitive areas, had never been processed for any level of security clearance."

"We were told that this was because they do not access classified information. As a result, these employees have never undergone a federal background investigation," the inspector general states, even though the Energy Department requires background "checks and rechecks" for most private contract employees.

Mark Maddux, principal deputy assistant secretary for the department's Office of Fossil Energy, has set a Sept. 30 deadline to address the inspector general's report.

EYE CANDY

While 2006 is still months away, we were allowed first peek at next year's Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute pin-up calendar, which honors "great American conservative women" for once.

Miss January honors, rightly so, go to the late Mrs. Luce, an accomplished foreign and domestic journalist, magazine editor, playwright, congresswoman from Connecticut and ambassador to Italy.

Miss America 2003 Erika Harold is crowned Miss February; blond TV pundit Kellyanne Conway, president and CEO of the Polling Company and WomanTrend, is Miss March; Miss April is Marji Ross of Regnery Publishing in Washington; Becky Norton Dunlop, vice president at the Heritage Foundation, is Miss May; and Suzanne Fields, the nationally syndicated op-ed columnist for The Washington Times, carries us into summer as Miss June.

Everybody's favorite gun-rights advocate, Shemane Nugent, wife of rock legend Ted Nugent, is Miss July; Miss August is New York ladies' magazine magnate Myrna Blyth; for Miss September, we find syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin; Miss October honors go to Virginia Republican Party Chairman Kate Obenshain Griffin; popular MSNBC host Monica Crowley makes an attractive Miss November; and last but never least, Miss December is Ann Coulter, who requires no introduction.

POLITICAL PAYBACKS

It's no secret that U.S. presidents have rewarded large campaign donors with foreign ambassadorships, and President Bush is no exception to the long tradition.

The Center for Responsive Politics counts "at least 40" well-connected persons, all of whom contributed or raised generous amounts of money to help elect Republicans since Bush's first campaign, currently serving or have been nominated to serve as ambassadors.

As a group, they forked over $8.8 million to federal candidates and political parties between 1999 and 2004 - $7.7 million, or 88 percent, going into Republican coffers. Some 9 percent went directly into Bush's campaigns, or else the Florida-recount fund he formed after the highly contested 2000 election, in which he ultimately defeated Vice President Al Gore.

Of the 40 ambassadors, 23 were top Bush fundraisers, says the center.

NEWT'S CAMPAIGN

The Gingrich Foundation has just made a monetary gift to establish the Newt and Callista Gingrich Scholarship at Luther College in Iowa.

The endowment of $25,000 will provide annual scholarships at the college, which is the alma mater of Mrs. Gingrich, who is chief clerk of the House Agriculture Committee.

Mr. Gingrich, the former House speaker, reportedly has his eyes on the White House in 2008 - reachable after first passing through Iowa.

HARD TO BEAT

Restaurateurs in Washington enjoy boasting about VIPs who show up at their establishments - Bill Clinton, Bob Dole or Jack Valenti, for instance.

Mel Oursinsiri, proprietor of Bangkok Joe's Dumpling Bar & Cafe, thinks he has everybody beat. He says "the most beautiful woman in the universe - literally" dined at his Georgetown restaurant the other night.

Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova, 23, of Toronto, dropped into the popular Thai cafe with four friends she was visiting here. (For those who care, they sipped mango margaritas and ate crab shumai.)

Glebova was crowned Miss Universe during a May pageant in Bangkok.

And yes, first daughter Jenna Bush also has dined at Bangkok Joe's this year, but where hasn't she showed up?

WOMAN WHO COOKS

After decades of men doing the baking in the White House, first lady Laura Bush has named Cristeta "Cris" Comerford as the new White House executive chef - the first woman to serve in the position.

Trained in French classical techniques and specializing in ethnic and American cuisine, Chef Comerford has worked as an assistant chef at the White House since President Clinton's days. She's now responsible for executing menus for state dinners, official luncheons and receptions hosted by President Bush and his wife.

"Her passion for cooking can be tasted in every bite of her delicious creations," Mrs. Bush states.

The chef, who received a bachelor's degree in food technology from the University of the Philippines, previously was found behind stoves at two Washington hotels - Le Grande Bistro at the Westin and the Colonnade at the former ANA Hotel.

WORKS FOR WINNIE

That was James Roosevelt Jr., grandson of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, showing up at the Roosevelt Memorial over the weekend to read from the speech his grandfather gave when he signed the Social Security Act into law 70 years ago yesterday. Continued...