People talk 7/17/02

Memorial fountain plans postponed

LONDON -- Plans to build a $1.45 million memorial fountain to Princess Diana have been delayed again after the committee overseeing the construction disagreed on the design.

The panel, led by the princess' friend, Rosa Monckton, failed to reach a decision after more than two hours of discussions Monday night. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has been asked to find "an appropriate way forward."

It's been nearly five years since Diana's death, but plans for a fountain in London's Hyde Park have been in dispute.

The list of 100 artists who submitted ideas was whittled down to three, but the fountain memorial committee of eight is split evenly over designs by Bombay-born British artist Anish Kapoor and American landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson. Neither side would give way at Monday's meeting.

Jowell is expected to choose one design, which will be submitted to Treasury chief Gordon Brown, chairman of the Diana Memorial Committee of which the fountain group is a subcommittee.

Bureaucratic squabbles already have delayed the project.

Earlier this month, the government told the committee that plans must be completed by the end of August so building can begin. The government wants to have the fountain finished by Aug. 31, 2003, the sixth anniversary of Diana's death in a Paris car crash.

Gubernatorial bid still considered, actor says

BOISE, Idaho -- Arnold Schwarzenegger says he may yet run for governor of California.

Schwarzenegger, a GOP activist, spoke Monday to a breakfast meeting of about 15 Republican state governors attending the National Governors Association conference.

The 54-year-old actor said he mulled a challenge against California Democratic Gov. Gray Davis this past year, but declined because of his movie contracts.

"It's something that I'm still interested in for the future. I think that the greatest thing you can do is serve the people," Schwarzenegger said. "It gives me the greatest satisfaction -- much more than going down another red carpet to do a movie premiere -- to go and create after-school programs, help special Olympians, inspire kids to stay away from drugs and gangs."

Schwarzenegger said he's filming "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," "True Lies 2" and another movie.

In a brief meeting with reporters, Schwarzenegger said he could imagine himself as California's governor, helping millions of people with their personal challenges.

Teen-ager goes shoeless in honor of baseball great

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Fourteen-year-old Joe Wade Anders wore his baseball uniform -- minus shoes -- for the dedication of a life-size statue of Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Anders was selected because his grandfather, Joe Anders, was one of Shoeless Joe's closest friends. The elder Anders, now 81, met Shoeless Joe when he was 15. Jackson liked the shy teen and helped him improve his game.

"We played on the same field, lived on the same street, worked in the same plant, were members of the same church and both married Kates," Anders said. "Isn't that ironic?"

The bronze statue depicts Jackson in his prime, watching the flight of the baseball after hitting it with Black Betsy, his famous bat. The 450-pound statue by sculptor Doug Young contains bricks from the old Comiskey Field surrounding its base.

Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda was among the speakers at Saturday's dedication ceremony, which was attended by some 500 people.

Rep. Jim DeMint, also in attendance, said he received a telephone call Friday evening from Bud Selig. The MLB commissioner told DeMint to tell the crowd that he was still reviewing Jackson's case for reinstatement.

Jackson, a lifetime .356 hitter, was banned from baseball after he and seven other Chicago White Sox players were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series.

-- From wire reports

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LOS ANGELES -- Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Matt Williams apparently has struck out again at marriage.

Williams' second wife, actress Michelle Williams, filed for divorce Monday from her husband of 3 1/2 years because of irreconcilable differences.

The couple have no children, although Matt Williams has two daughters and a son from his first marriage, which ended in divorce in 1997.

The demise of Williams' first marriage, which lasted eight years, prompted his trade from Cleveland to Arizona in 1997. He wanted to play in Phoenix so he could be near his children.

Matt and Michelle Williams were married Jan. 15, 1999.

Michelle Williams, who has film credits under her maiden name Michelle Johnson, was in the 2000 football movie "The Replacements," and in 1984 made her debut in "Blame It on Rio."

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SANTA FE, N.M. -- Jane Fonda and the firm she hired two years ago to design and build her Forked Lightning Ranch home are suing each other.

Fonda's lawsuit, filed July 10 in Santa Fe, asks a state district court judge to order a copyright claim to be considered during arbitration rather than in Albuquerque federal court, where the lawsuit by the builder, Crocodiles Construction, was filed Monday.

William Waggoner, Crocodiles' attorney, said his client alleges the copyrighted design plans were used without the company's permission by the firms Fonda brought in later, Design Solutions Inc. and Denman and Associates, both now co-defendants with Fonda. He said copyright issues are always heard in federal court.

Fonda's lawsuit said the copyright was supposed to be among issues settled by arbitration, and she asked state District Judge Jim Hall to make sure that happens.

Waggoner said he wasn't served a copy of Fonda's lawsuit and didn't see it until a reporter faxed him a copy for comment Monday evening, hours after his lawsuit had been filed.

Phone messages were left seeking comment from Drew late Monday at his home and his office. Calls for Fonda's lawyer, Eric Sommer, also went unreturned.

Fonda's multimillion-dollar, 8,000-square-foot adobe home on the banks of the Pecos River was about 75 percent finished when Crocodiles was fired without explanation, Waggoner said. Besides the residence, Crocodiles did the design work and remodeled barns and stables.

Fonda's ranch once was part of a larger 13,000-acre ranch. Actress Greer Garson owned part of it, and actor Val Kilmer now owns another part.