When it comes to hunting criminals, ”America`s Most Wanted” must rank right up there with Eliot Ness for testimonials. The program logged its 100th arrest with Monday`s capture of Segundo ”Cuco” Matias after televising a profile of Matias in the 1988 murder of a Honolulu woman. Hours later, tipped by a viewer, Los Angeles police caught Matias in his apartment. ”America`s Most Wanted” has profiled 231 alleged hoods on the lam since its debut in early 1988. In baseball jargon, that`s a .433 batting average.
MAYOR LEAVES `EM LAUGHING Obviously a fellow who can smile at himself, New York Mayor David Dinkins arrived at an annual news-media roasting of pols with a towel around his neck. Pretending to dry himself after yet another shower, Hizzoner addressed another personality trait for which he is known: indecisiveness. Saying he`d stopped en route to the New York Hilton to buy a lottery ticket, Dinkins admitted that he chose only two numbers. He added, ”I`ll select the other four later.”
THATCHER: CAN`T AFFORD FUR Britain`s most powerful pol apparently practices what she preaches about living within one`s means. At London`s annual preview for autumn fashions, someone asked Margaret Thatcher if she owns a fur coat. Tribune fashion writer Genevieve Buck overheard Thatcher`s response: ”Oh no. It`s much too expensive. I can`t spend that much money on myself.” The penurious PM does own a fur collar, however. ”I feel it`s very glamorous,” she said.
IN GENERAL, IT`S NUNN-SENSE If a slip of the tongue by Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) is Freudian, notions of military restructuring surely occupy the chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee. The tipoff? Nunn referred to Gen. John Piotrowski, commander of the U.S. Space Command, as ”Gen. Perestroiski.”
HOW TO WAKE UP A CHURCH A slip of sorts certainly caused Australia`s Canberra Times to address an error of parochial proportions. Said the Times to readers: ”Kay Brien will speak at the Uniting Church at Kippax on `Newness in the Nineties`. . . not on `Newness in the Nighties` as reported yesterday.”
GOSH, WE SHOULD HOPE SO On the subject of newspaper gaffes, one by London`s Daily Express was caught by Punch, the humor magazine: ”Experts see the statistics as evidence of career women making a conscious decision to have babies without being tied down.” Gee, no wonder they`re building a tunnel to France.
PAVAROTTI LOSES 80 POUNDS Heavyweight opera singer Luciano Pavarotti won`t discuss what he weighs, but he`s delighted to mention that there is less of him to see these days. ”I am 80 pounds less than I was,” boasted the famous Italian tenor, 54, adding that his 1,800-calories-a-day diet excludes alcohol, sugar and fat. ”It`s brilliant,” he said.
AND NOW, A NIXON MOVIE? A new movie biography of a certain past president, called ”Passion of Richard Nixon,” apparently is in the offing. The Knight-Ridder news service says the film will focus on Nixon`s life prior to his `68 inaugural-including that first ”plumbing” incident at Duke University Law School, when young Nixon reportedly broke into a dean`s office to learn his class rank.
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