Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 43

ammmmiamfiim Chicago Tribune, Monday, January 16, 1995 Section 5 3 Tempo Plaintiffs lawyer rebuts spilled-hot-coffee stories -T 1 7 i i A- ear Readers: In the spirit of evenhandedness, A guided tour of'StarTrekV new adventure feel an 117 I obligation to vr-iXI 1 print the following letter: Dear Ann Landers: I am the attorney who successfully represented the woman who sued MrDnnald's over smiled By Steve Johnson Tribune Television Critic coffee. In your recent rnlumn on the suhiect. vou ast week, this man meekly went where he had barely gone before: into the continuously replicating world of Star Trek. said, "The once noble profession of law has sunk to a new low." I feel a Ann Landers I 8 Malone's politician love interest for a time on captain Kathryn Janeway is a convincing commander who doesn't allow steel to overwhelm intuition. Mulgrew's flaw, one that could grow irritating over time, is a little-girl-gone-tough voice that put me in mind of a dolphin drunk with power.

It's Janeway's compassion that lands the Voyager crew in the Odyssean predicament that wfll drive the series: They wind up some 70 years' voyage from home, needing to find some kind of shortcut back, and having to cope, with the addition to their ranks rebels and strays. Robert Picardo Beach is especially good as the funnSj fretting holographic doctor (don't' ask). And Tim Russ is strong as black Vulcan Spock and Uhura's love child, it was jokingly; theorized though his portrayal, struck me as unemotional (just kidding, don't write, please.) "The Next Generation," "Deep1, Space Nine" and now "Voyager" ail happen in the same, increasingly crowded time frame, the 24th Cen- tury, about 80 years after Kirk and Spock roamed the stars. The Star Trek world, you'll be happy to know, remains a moder-1 ately goofy place. The crew mem-' bers still dress like ski instructors on a warm spring day.

Most every- body in the universe, no matter his -species, speaks English more or, less the way modern Americans do, And you can spot a nonhuman by his bulging veins, bones or Aliens, in short, have ridges. But it is also a world in which, despite the glossy veneer of tan turism and the seemingly extraor dinary situations it provokes, ev- erything is well ordered. Week-, after week, evil is smote, and the well-intentioned crew members career through the universe, learning about each other, setting things; right with other races, and padding Paramount's bottom line. As Voyager captain Kathryn Janeway, Kate Mulgrew (center) is a convincing commander who doesn't allow steel to overwhelm intuition. Knowing that the new United Paramount Network (UPN) was coming out of the starting gate Monday with "Star Trek: Voyager," a two-hour movie that would begin a new Star Trek series (7 p.m., WPWR-Ch.

50), I realized I was in Deep deleted Nine. My Star Trek experience had been limited to a long-faded passion for reruns of the original NBC-TV series, and viewings of one or two of the early movies. A more densely populated Trek universe had sprouted up since, and it didn't include me or even Captain Kirk, who was finally killed off in the recent big-screen movie, "Star Trek: Generations." So I watched with a panel of experts who insist they are not, properly speaking, "Trekkers" (i.e. they took only a passing interest in the controversy over how to translate the Bible into Klingon), but who know more lore than people who have full-time employment and romantic relationships ought to. "Star Trek: Voyager" worked for both novice and aficionados.

With its Wars" special effects and at times wooden character explication, it probably would not thrive in movie theaters. But it is a fun two hours of TV, combining reasonable sci-fi plotting, the requisite hokey moralizing and laying on of technojargon no! Warp core and foreshadowings of intrigue among an appealing, Whitman's Species Sampler crew, including Star Trek's first starring female captain. TV previews resembles a shoe stretcher is sent to a bad space neighborhood to recover a ship containing rebel Maquis that disappeared there. But Voyager is soon sucked to the same place as the Maquis, some 70,000 light years away, where a mysterious entity labeled "the Array" sticks close to a seemingly unpopulated planet. As the charactersincluding a Starfleet admiral's prodigal son; a proud, half-Klingon rebel woman; and a Cowardly Lion-esque space tramp introduce themselves, there is much beaming up and down and the usual need to rescue crew members and a civilizatioa Played by Kate Mulgrew (Sam My guides said it was' by far the best of the pilots for the three new Trek serials, a list that also includes "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," the popular syndicated series that debuted in 1993, and "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the hit series that started in 1987 and was pulled off TV last spring so it could carry the movie torch.

The premise for "Voyager" is strong, an intermingling of "Star Trek" planetary probing with "Lost in Space" wandering. The movie starts when the namesake ship a technological marvel that closely responsibility to present your readers with some facts about the case. Instead of this case being used as an example to bash the legal profession, it should be used to show how well the American jury system works. The woman sued McDonald's for $2.9 million in damages after she spilled hot coffee in her lap while riding in a car. McDonald's coffee historically has been sold at 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than that served at most fast food outlets.

My 81-year-old client received third-degree burns and had to spend eight days in the hospital and undergo skin-graft operations. At 180 degrees Fahrenheit, coffee is unreasonably dangerous. Despite more than 700 reported claims of individuals being burned by McDonald's coffee in the past 10 years, the corporation never consulted a burn doctor to assess risk. The jury awarded punitive damages to deter McDonald's and other corporations from exposing consumers to unnecessary risk. They considered the severity of my client's injuries, the high number of McDonald's coffee burn cases that preceded this one and the fact that no effort was made to change corporate operations.

The judge found that McDonald's knew the coffee was too hot for human consumption and that it was guilty of "callous conduct." However, he reduced the damages, and the case is on appeal. The finding against McDonald's should be hailed as a victory for the consumer. The civil justice system worked the way it is supposed to to protect individuals from corporate indifference. And it is not just some lawyer doing that, it is a jury of 12 fellow citizens. That is the beauty of the American court system.

S. Reed Morgan, Houston Dear S. Reed Morgan: Thank you for reducing the heat and adding a little more light. And now I think we should cool it. Resentment adds to cost of a dress Dear Ann Landers: I bought my daughter a prom dress that cost $317.

1 was willing to invest the money because I hoped to sell it after she wore it to the prom. My sister-in-law mentioned that her sister's daughter, "Carta," would like to look at the dress and try it on. I hoped she would buy it The dress came back a week later with a note saying, "Thanks, but we can't afford it." Two weeks after that, my mother happened to see Carta, who accidentally let it slip that she loved wearing my daughter's dress to her prom. I confronted my sister-in-law, who said she had no idea Carta had worn the dress. I let her know I was upset Now, when I see Carta and her mother, they ignore me as if it were my fault.

Should I send Carta a dry cleaning bill? I will certainly never trust these people again. Seething in Upstate New York Dear Up: Don't send Carla a bill. She may think if she pays it, she is off the hook. There's a lesson here. Buy what you can afford.

Overspending for something with the expectation of selling it later and making up the difference is a bum idea. An alcohol problem? "Alcoholism: How to Recognize It, How to Deal With It, How to Conquer It" will give you the answers. Send a self-addressed, business-size envelope and a check or money order for $3. 75 to: Alcohol, do Ann Landers, P.O. Box 11562, Chicago, III.

60611-0562. Chicago Tribune Online INSTRUCTIONS ON PAGE 2, SECTION 1 A parent laments: When did sloth and stupidity become entertainment? F204 Frequent eye-drop use is probably harmless By Dr. Allan Bruckheim Tribune Media Swrvices Family doctor fa thorn such a thina as using eye drops too I II frequently? A guy In my iJ office Is continuously popping drops Into his eyes.Tlnd I am sure he can be the clotting mechanism. It is clear that your flow may be a result of this and the formation of large may result from the increase quantity of blood you are I think the course of action is Stop taking aspirin before your; monthly cycles, and use analgesic if you need one. With the history you present, a check your hemoglobin seems in order, and your physician can advise you about safe medications to take.

Dr. Allan Bruckheim welcomes' questions from readers. Although he cannot respond to each one individually, he will answer those of general interest in his column. Write to Dr. Bruckheim in care of Tribune Media Services, 435 N.

Michigan Suite 1500, Chicago, III 6061L I am a woman in my late 30s, and during the past several months, if I take aspirin for cramps before my period, on the second day of my period I flow very heavily and discharge large blood clots for approximately two hours. If I do not take aspirin, everything is normal. Do you see any need for concern about this condition? A It is an accepted principle in medicine that when an undesirable situation can be linked to a specific medication, and when the problem disappears if the medication is discontinued, then the medication is the logical reason for the problem. There is no doubt in my mind that your excessive flow is directly the result of the presence of aspirin in your system. We use aspirin to "thin" the blood and reduce the possibility of clots and the recurrence of strokes and heart attacks.

Aspirin affects the function of the platelets in the blood, which in turn play a part in health. Over-the-counter drops are used for quite different purposes, most often as a simple lubricating solution to help calm irritated eyes. Contact lens wearers use them to help keep their corrective lenses moist and clear and may feel the need to do so more frequently in dry environments, such as heated offices or apartments. Some non-prescription eye drops contain a decongestant that constricts the blood vessels in the eye and "helps get the red out." They, too, are provided they are used as directed and not excessively. Frankly, I don't think your coworker is in much danger, but perhaps you would feel better if you found out just why he seems to need these drops so frequently.

Why not just ask him? doing himself a great deal of harm. I wish I knew more so that I could warn him about the dangers of his actions. A It is hard to be sure from your letter, but I must assume that these drops are the non-prescription, over-the-counter type. I must believe that if they were prescription medications containing active ingredients necessary to correct a medical situation that his physician would be instructing him as to the correct use of these drops. Such medications could be needed to treat glaucoma, infections, allergic irritations and a host of other conditions and would be most important for your co-worker's Chicago Tribune Online INSTRUCTIONS ON PAGE 2, SECTION I Treatment tor tinnitus a buzzing, ringing, roaring or hissing in the ears may be as elusive as pinpointing the cause.

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