One might say Tom Harmon is biting the hand that feeds him. As the new building inspector in Lake Ozark, Mo., Harmon was told to enforce the town`s
”dangerous buildings” ordinance. This week, Harmon complied-by closing down City Hall. Citing a basement inundated with rats, fleas and other pests, he declared it unfit for humans and called in exterminators. Mayor Rick Moss said he`s thinking positive, ”and if that means shutting down City Hall, we`re going to do it.”
ENGELBERT CROSSES THE LINE Engelbert Humperdinck has hit a low note, at least in the eyes of labor unions. Saying he couldn`t disappoint his fans, the six-syllable singer quietly crossed picket lines in Las Vegas to begin a 2-week engagement at the Hilton. Humperdinck is the first entertainer to break ranks in the 2-month-old strike, which began after five resort casinos replaced live bands with tape-recorded music.
LIFE: IT COMPUTES UNFAIRLY It started out with everyone on an equal footing, but fans needed wings to obtain tickets to Paul McCartney`s autumn concert in Drammen, Norway. A computer failure pulled the plug on virtually all ticket outlets in Norway for the ex-Beatle`s first European tour in 13 years. Well, not quite all. In the next hour, four obscure sales offices considered too tiny to join the postal- computer network sold all 6,000 tickets. This made for thousands of unhappy campers outside 300 post offices-among them, Bjoern Indrelid in Oslo. ”I camped out all night, was number four in line . . . and didn`t get a ticket,” moaned Indrelid.
HIS: WHEELS OF FORTUNE . . . He`s getting kudos as the idea man behind Miata car mania, but Mazda`s Bob Hall hardly is in the driver`s seat. ”They`re so popular I haven`t been able to get one,” said Hall, 36, an unrecalcitrant college dropout whose job as Mazda North America`s product design chief seemingly would ensure fast delivery. Not so, said Hall. ”I have to get in line at the dealer like everybody else.” When his two-seat ragtop roadster finally arrives, however, Hall is ready to affix a new vanity license plate-IKIGAI. ”That`s Japanese . . . for the thing in life that justifies your existence.”
HERS: WHEEL OF MISFORTUNE It wasn`t that long ago that Debra Stuker was spinning deliriously after winning $32,000 in prizes on television`s ”Wheel of Fortune.” But 15 months later, Stuker is dejected and darned mad. ”. . . ripped off,” said Stuker, of Rock Falls, Ill., who is grateful for the Jeep and VCR but spurned the
”$4,200 jukebox” that arrived disabled, with parts missing; and ”a sparkling $5,000 motorboat” that arrived with a broken windshield, cracked fiber glass and torn upholstery. Said husband Michael, ”We don`t want to be greedy, but anybody in their right mind would want this stuff if they had it coming to them.” A spokeswoman for the NBC show (she refused to give her name), said producers of ”Wheel of Fortune” (Merv Griffin Enterprises) are familiar with the Stukers` misfortune and ”are working” to correct them. It`s just that the wheels of justice, as everyone knows, turn slowly.
TRY THIS SUIT, BOYS Speaking of justice, Loretta Lynn is demanding some. She has filed a federal libel suit against the supermarket tabloid Globe over its February article that she was hospitalized from a drug overdose that had left her
”near death.” Very much alive and angry, the country music queen demands $5 million-and an apology, of course