News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 35

NEWS-PRESS SECTION BDearAbby2D Horoscopes 2D Day Breaks 4D Movies 4D Comics 5D BTV6D TI ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR FEATURES: JILL FREDEL, 335-0236 (Monday Friday, 10 a.m. 6 p.m.) WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1995 Up to their necks in Out with WEVU, in with WZVN Local ABC affiliate changing call letters Children need to hear soft, gentle voices COLUMBUS, OHIO There are many soft and gentle voices promising America's children that everything will be all right. But how are we supposed to expect the children to hear those voices, let alone believe them? On a sunny fall afternoon here, at the Griswold Christian Academy in suburban Worthington, a man began firing a gun outside the school building and then went inside. The man later identified by police as Ronald E. Thompson, 22 reportedly was angry at a former girlfriend who worked at the school.

"I A 1 ill 'j j. I -V A i I If should have killed you when 1 had the chance," he allegedly said to her before he started shooting. No one was injured but more than 70 children who attended the school, some of them toddlers, were locked BOS GREENE 2 1 FASHION SHOW: Rosary necklaces are popping up all over television. Viewers can spot them around the necks of, from left, Grace Phillips on "Murder One," Robin Givens on "Courthouse" and Christine Lahti on "Chicago Hope." By LARRY A. STRAUSS News-Press staff writer Come Monday, Southwest Florida's ABC affiliate WEVU-TV will be no more.

Don't worry, though. It will be back. With a new name: WZVN-TV. "The call letters symbolize the new beginning that this station has," said Steve Pontius, Waterman Broadcasting's vice president and general manager. "It started last year when we went to the Channel 7 identity.

This is the second phase that represents the new look." On Tuesday, Pontius said viewers can expect to see new graphics on the news and a new approach to programming. Viewers will still see the usual ABC programming they're accustomed to. Pontius said more changes are forthcoming, but wouldn't elaborate. The Federal Communications Commission approved the change to WZVN-TV on Oct. 12.

The name comes from the station's channel number on cable 7. WZVN-TV is the closest Waterman Broadcasting could get since WSVN-TV belongs to a Miami station. Two TV stations cannot have the same call letters. "Our official drink is Zima," Pontius joked. Waterman, which owns NBC affiliate WBBH-TV, operates WEVU-TV as part of a local marketing agreement with WEVU's owner, Ellis Communications in Atlanta.

Ellis has approved the new call letters. Pontius said rumors that WBBH also is buying WEVU are not true. "That's prohibited by law. But the communications laws of the United States are being rewritten," he said. The U.S.

House of Representatives and Senate are trying to resolve differences between bills each has passed, Pontius said. Under the House bill, it would be legal for WBBH to own WEVU. "Hopefully, they can resolve the differences between the two bills so the new legislation, which does address ownership issues, can pass," Pontius said. "At that point in time, we could consider" buying the station. Nickelodeon after more kids earlier NEW YORK Nickelodeon wants children to watch more TV.

Citing a decline in the number of young viewers, cable TV's Nickelodeon is buying $30 million in original children's programming for next fall, said Herb Scannell, Nick's executive vice president. The basic cable network will expand its children's early prime time programming 30 minutes, until 8:30 p.m., Sunday through Friday. "The broadcast networks have abandoned kids at 8 p.m.," Scannell said. "Their obsession with reaching 18- to 49-year-old audiences translates into a tremendous program-, ming vacuum for kids." Scannell said weeknight children's audiences have declined nearly 25 percent during the first two weeks of the new season, as compared with the last quarter of 1994, he said. Nickelodeon, a division of Viacom's MTV networks, is available in 59 million homes nationwide, including most in Southwest Florida.

The Associated Press Prime-time popularity of rosary necklaces helps to boost sales By JEAN PATTESON Knight-Ridder News Service and BRITTANY WALLMAN News-Press staff writer hat do Tea Leoni and Lea Thompson 1 have in common apart from rhyming into their classrooms for 2li2 hours while Worthington police and Columbus SWAT team squads searched the grounds and the hallways, looking for the man with the gun he had left the building, and was arrested later at a hospital. Anxious parents, some of them in tears, waited outside the school; television viewers all over Columbus some of them children watched as the hunt for the gunman was carried out. The children, when they did emerge from the school accompanied by armed police officers were greeted by relieved, exhausted mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers. They were lucky, or so it was said; they escaped harm. But you can bet that it was a day that will stay with them for a long time.

Even in a world shaken by violent uncertainty and daily acts of brutality, there are certain places churches, elementary schools that are supposed to be exempt. In central Ohio, the fear and uncertainty affected not just the children who were inside Griswold Christian Academy, but the children who saw it on television that day, and who saw the color pictures on the front page of the Columbus Dispatch the next morning. I spoke with teachers at another local elementary school the morning after the gunfire; they said that because most elementary schools have multiple entrances, and no sophisticated security plans, the barrier guarding against such an act is no thicker than the American social fabric itself which, we all know, is fraying to the point of being threadbare. The children see so much that is so hard to explain to them. Downtown, at the Statehouse, the Ohio legislature with the support of Gov.

George V. Voinovich was preparing a bill that would make sure that no child in Ohio will ever have to go through what the 4-year-old child known as Richard has gone through in Illinois.Ohio's lawmakers want to assure children that in the words of one witness addressing a committee in their state, as opposed to Illinois, "the best interest of the child (is taken to) heart, not what is best for an agency, the legal field or court." But how are children expected to hear voices as gentle as that voice? On the same day the Ohio legislators were working to help the children, the news media were reporting the story out of Essex. about the estranged husband suspected of luring his wife and three children ages 4, 6 and 1 1 to his car, which he had wired with dynamite. If he couldn't have them, no one could; he blew up the car, and they all died. Do the gentle voices even have a chance of being heard? I went out for a walk in another part of town, the day after the shots were fired at the suburban school.

Someone had tacked a handwritten note to a telephone pole. "Child's Eyeglasses Found," the note said. "Please A phone number was written on the paper. Such a simple gesture: A pair of children's glasses is found, and someone worries that the child needs them in order to see. The person posts the note, hoping to help a boy or girl he or she has never met.

The soft and gentle voices are out there. If only we can persuade the children that those are the voices that count. Bob Greene is a syndicated writer whose column appears Wednesdays in Lifestyles. You can write to him in care of Tribune Media Services 435 N. Michigan Suite 14, Chicago, IL 60611.

brand new this fall season. They have been in the stores and selling well for several seasons. But there is no doubt that their sudden high visibility on popular TV shows is boosting their popularity. Popular though they may be, it appears that, as sometimes happens, the hip fashions are late in coming or quick in leaving Southwest Florida retailers. Most stores polled said they don't have any "yet" or they're sold out.

A store that does have them: Dillard's at Edison Mall in Fort Myers has a few, in the range. Stores that hope to get some: Claire's Boutique and Contempo Fashions, both at Edison Mall, have had them before but are out, according to saleswomen there. Amy Isherwood, 23, manager at Claire's Boutique, said the rosary necklaces have "been real popular." See ROSARY 4D It's as if Hollywood's wardrobe departments all came across the same deal "Buy 100! GeUOO free!" and couldn't resist. Watching TV this season is like reading one of those Where's Waldo books. Once you know there's a Waldo on the page or a rosary necklace on the screen you can't help looking for it.

Except it's a lot easier to spot the necklaces than the elusive Waldo. Shows populated with characters in their teens and 20s "Melrose Place," "Beverly Hills 90210," "In the House," "If Not for You," "Central Park West," et al) appear to have ordered rosary necklaces by the caseload. Sometimes the actresses wear two or three at a time and then add matching earrings. But shows that feature older women One," "Law Order," "ER," "Sisters," "Picket are not immune to the trend either. Nor are the afternoon soaps.

Rosary necklaces are not HKDIKG TKEM LOCALLY I WHAT THEY ARE: Rosary necklaces are short, delicate little necklaces usually made up of chain links and beads hence the "rosary" name. Others are simply a strand of small beads. Almost all feature a little something a pearl, a charm, another length of beaded chain dangling from the center. I WHERE: Many boutiques and department stores carry them, including Dillard's in the Edison Mall. Claire's Boutique and Contempo Fashions, also in the Edison Mall, carry them, but they're currently out.

They also are a hit in tony stores such as Ellie, Originals, Ann Taylor and Banana Republic, where they are designed in sterling silver, semiprecious stones and freshwater pearls. I HOW MUCH: Prices can range from $5 to $40 for the simple necklaces, to for the ones designed in sterling silver with semiprecious stones. first names and hit new television shows "Naked Truth" for Tea, "Caroline in the City" for Lea? For that matter, what do just about all the prime-time actresses in their teens through 30s share? Or, to put it another way, what are they up to their pretty necks in? Rosary necklaces, that's what. These are short, delicate little necklaces usually made up of chain links and beads hence the "rosary" name. Others are simply a strand of small beads.

Almost all feature a little something a pearl, a charm, another length of beaded chain dangling from the center. BOTTOM DRAWER Quick fix TV tonight Hot in Cyberia TODAY'S PICK: Madonna fans, the Warner Bros. Records' web site http:www.wbr.comradio is for you. Check out the radio forum to get a sneak peak and listen of "You'll See," the first single from her i Top ticket KIDS ON THE BOARDS: The Performing Arts for Kids classes sponsored by Cultural Park Theatre Children's Productions will present two plays "The Castaways" and "The Fortune" today at the Cultural Park Theatre, 528 Cultural Park Blvd. in Cape Coral.

"The Castaways" is a musical depicting the plight of homeless children; "The Fortune" is an original comedy mystery. Show time is 7 p.m. Tickets are $3 for adults and $2 for children 12 and younger and can be reserved by calling the theater at 574-0465. MELON AND CUCUMBER SALAD 1 tomato, cut into 1-inch wedges '2 cantaloupe or other melon, seeded and cubed (about 2 cups) 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and cubed (about l'2 cups) 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons chicken stock 2 teaspoons canola oil Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint. Combine tomato, cantaloupe and cucumber.

Whisk lemon juice and mustard together. Whisk in chicken stock, then oil. Add salt and pepper. Toss tomato, cantaloupe and cucumber with dressing. Sprinkle mint on top.

Serves 4. EEST BET: "Central Park West," 9 p.m. on CBS. Rachel (Kylie Travis) and Stephanie (Mariel Hemingway) have different reasons to celebrate when the leak at the magazine is plugged. VCR ALERT: "Crazy from the Heart," midnight on TNT.

Christine Lahti and Ruben Blades star in a romance between a Southern high-school principal and a Mexican-American janitor. 'V. -II i m. 1 iir eagerly awaited new album, "Something to Remember." The single gets its U.S. debut on the site today at 9 a.m.

The site is geared to radio stations, but there's plenty of stuff for regular folks to check out too plus info and samples of other artists. While there, also jump to http:www.wbr.com 'goldexperi-ence, another WBR site featuring the music of "The Gold Experience" The Artist Formerly Known As Prince's debut album. It features 30 second sound bites of each track on the album, lyrics and production notes, media information and liner notes, album artwork and photographs. Every Wednesday we feature a fun, cool, or interesting Internet World Wide Web site. E-mail us your favorites at NPLifeia aol.com I Kyle Travis In 'Central Park West' J-.