VALLEY PUTS ONE PAST OVER-THE-HILL SNOBS; RESIDENTS WIN RIGHT TO CROW ON SECESSION.

Byline: Dennis McCarthy 

``Gloat: to gaze or think with exultation, avarice or malicious pleasure.''

All right, admit it. A lot of you Vals are walking around today with exultation, avarice and malicious pleasure written all over your faces, aren't you? You devils.

I bet you haven't gloated this much since you went to your 30-year high school reunion and saw the prom queen had blimped out and the campus Adonis now looked like Dom DeLuise.

Admit it. You haven't felt this much malicious pleasure since your ex was dumped by the tart he ran off with, and your daughter beat out little miss dimples for the lead in the school play.

A wonderful thing, gloating. It takes some people down a peg, takes others up three or four.

When word got around Sunday that Gov. Pete Wilson had signed a bill into law letting the voters, not the pols, decide on secession issues, glasses of Chardonnay got dropped at cocktail parties all over this city.

``He did what?'' people howled. ``It was never supposed to get this far. What's going on? I thought we had this thing fixed.''

You remember that old crowd of well-wishers, don't you? They're the ones who have been snickering over their hors d'oeuvres and white wine for the last 20 years about those rubes out in the San Fernando Valley trying to break away from L.A. to form their own city.

The poor, misguided miscreants, they laughed. They should be grateful we even invited them to the dance in the first place. What audacity for them to want to dance by themselves now.

Didn't they know real life isn't a ``Rocky'' movie? The little guy doesn't win. He gets stuck with the bill.

Wake up and smell the coffee, you rubes. Prince Charming dumped Cinderella after a year, and Eliza Doolittle wound up running off with Freddie after all, breaking the old professor's heart.

Form your own city? Ha

Tell me another joke, and, while you're at it, pass the Chardonnay.

And yet, here we are, aren't we? One more big step closer to achieving the unthinkable. The Valley becoming its own city.

The starship finally cutting the umbilical cord with the mother ship after all these years together. Almost makes you want to cry with nostalgia, doesn't it?

The smart money had us dead and buried by now - killed in some back-room committee or caucus by politicians who knew what was best for us - for our own good.

But it hasn't happened, and in many ways, that's the most surprising news to come out of Sacramento since Jerry Brown was driving around the state Capitol in an old Plymouth.

You may never have understood a word coming out of Gov. Moonbeam's mouth, but you always walked away thinking he had the people's best interests at heart.

And now we've come full circle to a Republican governor who seems to be saying the same thing. When push comes to shove, there's really only one way to get a dicey issue like this decided in a democracy.

You air it out and let everyone vote.

``We know there is still a lot of tough work ahead of us, but today we get to take a breather and enjoy this victory,'' said Don Schultz, president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Association.

Along with his wife, Prudy, Don was headed Monday night for a victory celebration of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, the group that has spearheaded the Valley's secession movement.

He's right, there is still a lot of hard work ahead, not the least of which is getting this issue off of people's back burner and putting it up front.

``There are a number of people in the Valley not paying much attention to this issue, people working five days a week, raising children and leading busy lives,'' Schultz said.

``The last thing they're concerned with is whether or not to secede from L.A. Those are the people we have to reach.''

Maybe they will, maybe they won't. Maybe we'll find out after all this rancor that the majority of people in the Valley like things just the way they are.

But at least we'll all find out via the ballot box - not some shady deal cut in the back room.

In the meantime, let a little of that malicious pleasure out and gloat.

We were never supposed to make it this far, but we have.