The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 32

D2 THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Monday, October 6, 1997 Newsmakers Know when -to quit driving then quit Woody Allen, Soon-Yi Previn show signs of bliss Dear Ann Landers: You printed a letter laying it on the line about the hazards of el derly drivers. My father, who is nearly -1 was having eye problems. One his vehicle was not in his garage, so I went over later and asked where he'd been. His answer was: "My eyes were bothering me. I couldn't read and couldn't watch TV, so I went for a drive." Scary, isn't it? Billings, Mont.

5 IV Dear Scary? You bet. Keep reading for additional letters that will twirl your turban: Boca Raton, A friend of mine, who is 87, received his new driver's license in the mail. It's good for 6V2 years. Another friend, who had a stroke and is paralyzed on his left side, drives over to see Ann Landers him every day. He also received his license in the mail.

Florida is a great state to live in, with many benefits for seniors, but some of its laws need updating. Fort Myers. I know an 85-year-old man irom unio wno received nis driver license 1 11 rrL ui i oy man. mis man ran over imee uasup Woody Allen would like to have another child, possibly with girlfriend Soon-Yi Previn, adopted daughter of his former girlfriend Mia Farrow, and so, maybe, someday, he'll marry her. Allen, 61, called his affair with Previn, 27, "the best relationship of my life" in an interview published in yesterday's New York Daily News.

He said he wouldn't rule out marriage, but made it clear the couple's recent visit to Tiffany's was "just browsing" and not a shopping excursion for wedding rings. Allen lost contact with adopted daughter Dylan and his biological son with Farrow, Satchel, in a fierce custody dispute aggravated by claims of child molestation and the director's sexual affair with Previn. Allen was never charged with molestation, but Farrow won custody. "It's a terrible, terrible thing. You know, I don't see them," Allen told the News.

"I haven't seen Dylan in about seven years. 1 haven't seen Satchel in about 2Vi years "I don't want to dwell on this because it's so painful, but between the court and some of the press and a portion of the public who have behaved so dishonestly and unconscionably, I don't think I'll ever find it in my heart to forgive them." Allen, currently working on a black-and-white film called Celebrity, said scandal has not hurt his career. "I still have the same small audience I've always had." Excluded from Harrods Harrods boss Mohamed al-Fayed has banned from his exclusive London department store a controversial book that tells Princess Diana's account of her marriage breakup. The book also faced the threat of legal action by Diana's family, who were said to be extremely distressed and saddened by publication of the revised biography just five weeks after Diana was killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris with her millionaire companion, Fayed's son Dodi. "When Mr.

Fayed found out it was on sale, he gave the instruction for it to be withdrawn immediately," Harrods spokesman Michael Cole said yesterday. Author Andrew Morton has sparked outrage in Britain with the publication of Diana Her True Story In Her Own Words. Pop star and Live Aid charity crusader Bob Geldof called Morton "a loathsome creep" and urged that Morton "hand over every single penny he has made to her memorial fund." Family values David Duchovny can't bear working 1,000 miles from bride Tea Leoni and is if c' i. Li iJ. ii'i HUtlfrlfi i I- cans" and left the accident scene, not knowing he had killed three little girls.

He was not required to have a doctor's test or an eye test, and he thought he ran over three trash cans. What does it take to get the laws changed? From Anchorage, Alaska: A 78-year-old man was driving the car that hit me. He refused to admit that he was in the wrong lane to Associated Press LUCA BRUNO Demi Moore is welcomed by fashion designers Stefano Gabbana Cleft) and Domenico Dolce in Milan, Italy. The American actress was guest of honor yesterday at the showing of their spring summer 1998 collection. the part." Spielberg, meanwhile, will get an Amicus award from the International Documentary Association for his "incomparable contribution to society" with his Shoah Foundation, which documents video testimony from Holocaust survivors.

The award will be presented Oct. 31 in Pasadena. Troubles in TV Land Could it be? Jealous rivalry among the heavenly messengers of CBS's hit Touched by an Angel Variety's Dish reports co-star Delia Reese is miffed because a pay hike was rejected, while series star Roma Downey got a gigantic raise. CBS reportedly told Reese that she had been granted work-condition concessions and would not receive a big raise. Reese has so far not lobbying to have his hit series The X-Files moved from Vancouver to Los Angeles, where her sitcom The Naked Truth is produced.

X-Files creator Chris Carter confirms there have been "preliminary discussions" about going south. Duchovny co-star Gillian Anderson is said to support the move. Kate Capshaw, wife of director Steven Spielberg, is starring in The Locusts, a film about family secrets in the 1960s, in which her 21-year-old daughter, Jessica Capshaw, makes her major-role, big-screen debut. Jessica is a Brown University senior. Spielberg did not help her get the role.

"It's important that she goes through the entire ordeal of suffering for a part," he told People magazine. "Auditioning. Waiting for the phone to ring. Making it to the finals and then not getting make a turn. The police officer gave him a ticket.

He contested it and won. I don't think he lied. I doubt that he knew what he was doing. So now this elderly, befuddled man has a "clean" record and will probably cause another accident. I hope he doesn't kill somebody.

Saginaw, My dear neighbors were hit by a 90-year-old man who "did not see" the stop sign. The woman was killed instantly, and her husband was left with two broken arms, a fractured pelvis and no wife. People need to know when to quit driving and have the decency to admit it. New Jersey: My grandfather should have stopped driving years ago, but no one wanted to deprive him of his independence. What happened? He hit a family standing on a corner and changed everyone's lives forever.

Grandpa and his wife are now in a great deal of physical and emotional pain, not to mention the survivors of the family he hit. Please, Ann, print this message in large type: Seniors: When you feel yourself slipping, stop driving before you kill yourself and some innocent bystanders. Desert Hot Springs, You were shocked at the issuance of a driver's license to an 88-year-old Florida woman. I live in California and am 87. 1 received my renewal license in February.

Issuance has been by mail for the last 24 years, each for a full four-year term. P.S. I am totally deaf. Minneapolis: When my father developed Parkinson's disease, I took his car keys away, and that was the end of it. If we don't stop incompetent elderly people from driving, we invite mandatory retesting for everyone after a certain age.

Fredericksburg, Advocates for senior citizens point out that young drivers cause the most serious accidents. The reasons: drinking, drug use and poor judgment. Dear Readers: Fredericksburg is right, but nonetheless, mandatory retesting for drivers over the age of 70 should be a must in every state. Driving should not be a lifetime right. threatened to hang up her halo.

Elsewhere on the television front, UPN's Head Over Heels has won the dubious honor of First New Show of the Season to Bite the Dust. It was axed after only six airings. Farm Aid '97 Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and a parade of musicians wowed crowds this weekend outside Chicago with Farm Aid '97, the 10th edition of the charity concerts for U.S. farmers. The concerts were started 12 years ago when farmers were losing their land amid economic turmoil.

Organizers say the events have raised money for legal aid, medical assistance and other services. The lineup included Billy Ray Cyrus, the Dave Matthews Band, John Fogerty, Beck, the Allman Brothers Band, Steve Earle With the V-Roys, Leon Russell and celebrity host Don Johnson. Career moves Actor Don Cheadle, who almost upstaged Denzel Washington in Devil in a Blue Dress, will script and direct a remake of the 1973 blaxploitation film Cleopatra Jones for Warner Bros. He'll act in the film, but only in a small role. Bill Bellamy, host of MTV Jams, has signed a deal with Universal Television to star in a comedy series being developed for him.

No network is yet attached to the project. Jessica Steen, last seen smooching with Michael Richards as the semi-tough prosecutor in Trial and Error, has joined Armageddon, which started shooting last week in Los Angeles. Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton star. Peopletalk By Liz Smith All have their say in Plimpton's 'Capote' "There are different sorts of liars. For instance, Lillian Hellman lied in order to make herself appear a noble, good and admirable person if not, indeed, a genius.

Her lies were lies of self-aggrandizement. But Truman Capote's lies had a double purpose: One was to attract attention to himself and to distract attention from what he looked and sounded like. Second, ultimately, they were calculated to destroy other people these lies were usually sexual anecdotes." So recalls Truman Capote's nemesis, Gore Vidal, in George Plimpton's fascinating Doubleday biography, Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career. This is an "oral basically a collection of quotes some brief, some lengthy, some loving, some hateful that span Truman's life and career. The quotes Plimpton chooses and the way he lays them out, chapter by chapter are extremely evocative of Capote's time and place, of his great years, when he was literature's impish genius.

Later, after he had ruined himself through indiscretions and revenge, becoming a weeping parody of what he once was, he still appears in faded glory. It's quite a read, like eating a big box of chocolates that you're sure is going to make you sick, but it never does. You just want more! And, like or loathe Truman, he was a startling original. Maybe he never visited Greta Garbo in her New York home. Maybe, as his friend Joanne Carson remembers, "he made things the way they should have been." And maybe, as Robert Fizdale averred: "His lies were better than other people's truths.

Much more interesting." I recommend Plimpton's history of Capote without reservation. And while you're at it, pick up a collection of Capote's best work. He was much more than the funny oddity who spoke in a squeak and dissed society while he partook of all society had to offer. Reuters, the Associated Press, People Magazine and Variety contributed to this report. Have a question or a comment? Write to Ann Landers, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Box 11562, Chicago, III.

60611-0562. Umijj4yai.flir Ms' Sim ft set, and might have five or more sets at a time. So some sharks have more than 200 teeth at once. Even wilder, in a way, a shark's skin is covered with-' teeth. The roughness comes from tiny parts called denticles.

Teeth and denticles aren't identical, but they are made of similar stuff. Most kinds of sharks don't attack humans, and even the other ones almost never do. QHow does algae form? Brian Mount and Joseph McKenna, St. Martin of Tours School, Philadelphia A Algae are living things. There are thousands of kinds, and they come in many sizes, colors and shapes.

Algae are like plants, because chlorophyll lets them get energy from light. But many plants have parts that are very different, such as flowers and roots. Algae look more like spreading stains, filmy sheets, feathery mats, or ribbons of seaweed. Many kinds, though, have just one tiny cell. It takes algae to make algae.

But different kinds spread in different ways. Some one-celled types split. Some algae are strings of cells, and a piece breaks off to start a new string. Some algae form buds that grow up but stay connected, like branches. Some algae make spores, which are like seeds.

In other cases, two cells have to join to get things growing. Dear Kids, you want answers? We want 1 1 questionsl Send one or many. Give your school, its town and tate. Write to: Kids' Talk, The Inquirer, Box 8380, Philadelphia 19101. Or use e-mail: kidstalkphillynews.com QWhy are there volcanoes, and why do they explode? Alexis Turner, Roberts Elementary School, Wayne A Heat is what fuels eruptions.

Miles below ground, the Earth gets so hot that rocks can melt. This melted rock is called magma. The weight of the land above puts magma under lots of pressure. Also, because it's hot and has gases, magma wants to rise. It partly makes its own way up, by melting more rocks and pushing, and perhaps by causing chemical changes.

But the magma may also be helped by cracks and weak spots in the Earth's outer crust. So sometimes the magma finds a way out. It might just flow out as lava. But it can also explode out, spewing hot rocks and gases, too. Some big eruptions are caused when lots of water meets magma underground.

The water suddenly flashes into steam, which needs a lot more space, and that powers the explosion. There's even an idea that the gases in magma become more dangerous when they're shaken by earthquakes something like what happens if someone shakes a soda. Some volcanoes are like mountains, built of layers of lava, rocks and other debris. But some eruptions have been so strong, like the 1980 one at Mount St. Helens in Washington state, that the top of the mountain blew off! QHow many teeth does a shark have? Lauren Seibert, Our Lady of Calvary School, Philadelphia With Peter Mucha Here are some questions about health and science.

QWhy do baking soda and vinegar gush out of a clay volcano? Mary Cederberg, East Goshen Elementary School, West Chester A Some chemicals go crazy when they get together. They can't help turning into new chemicals. In the volcano case, one of the new chemicals made is a gas, and gases take up a lot more space than liquids and solids. So bubbles burst forth, making a fountain of foam. (Having a little dish soap in the vinegar helps, too.) Think of each chemical as a stack of cards.

Each card is one atom. So our baking soda stack has one sodium card, a hydrogen, a carbon, and three oxygens. Vinegar has a chemical called acetic acid. Its stack has two carbons, four hydrogens and two oxygens. When chemicals react, atoms sort of get shuffled into new groups.

So let's take out one carbon and two oxygens and get CO2, or carbortfdioxide. That's the gas that makes the volcano gush. iiiiiii nmnii Hi Volcanoes erupt when melted rock rises toward the Earth's surface. Since the mixture has many molecules, it makes lots of gas. The rest of the cards form H20, which is water, plus a kind of salt.

Because it gives off gas, baking soda is sometimes used in baking. You just need something acid in the recipe. Thank goodness cookies use only a little baking soda. Volcano dough's a no-no. Many sharks constantly get new teeth.

Some have more than 200 at once. A Too many. People only get two sets of teeth. (Not counting false ones.) In many sharks, new sets keep coming in all the time. They're not rooted in the jawbone the way our teeth are.

They grow behind the front teeth, and keep coming forward. So when old teeth break or fall off, new ones aft ready to take their places. Many sharks have dozens of teeth in a.