News In Brief

AT LEAST THEY DIDN'T SAY 'OAF'

Those new license plates being issued to vehicle owners in Giles County, Tenn., are - well - heavy, man. So much so that some folks are offended by them. Ronnie Rose, for instance. His read FAT 058. "I thought it was a prank at first," he recalls. "I said, 'Now give me my [real] plate.' " Hundreds of the FAT tags have been returned to the state, and county officials are offering an alternative. For an extra $6.75 a motorist can have a set with the prefix FAV. But maybe Giles residents wouldn't be so grossed out if they knew what other Tennesseans must put up with. Some counties have been assigned the prefixes DUD, DUH, and DUM.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

If you haven't heard, the heart-warming movie classic "E.T. - The Extraterrestrial" is returning to theaters. But not until March 2002, its 20th anniversary. The Steven Spielberg epic, which grossed $700 million at the box office, is to be enhanced this time with never-before-seen footage.

Whose faces should be on next generation of US coins?

You often find them piling up in old pickle jars or between sofa cushions. Still, as official currency, US coins enjoy a distinguished status. And those Americans portrayed on them are not idly chosen. One high-volume mail-order dealer, Littleton (N.H.) Coin Co., asked customers to nominate people to appear on future coinage. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. received the most votes, with former presidents Ronald Reagan and Harry Truman close behind. Among those not making Littleton's top 10: Eleanor Roosevelt; Babe Ruth; Gen. Robert E. Lee; Walter Cronkite; and the Three Stooges. The leading nominees:

1. Martin Luther King Jr.

2. Ronald Reagan

3. Harry Truman

4. John Glenn

5. Theodore Roosevelt

6. The Rev. Billy Graham

7. Neil Armstrong

8. Albert Einstein

9. John Wayne

10. Elvis Presley

- Associated Press

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society

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