Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 17

DETROIT FREE PRESSTUESDAY, OCT. 4, 19833B III.IL.IMmi Search ends in charge Dent's dinner attracts GOP Dcttclou Peterson tv people GRAND RAPIDS A man whose home has been firebombed three times in three weeks faces a misdemeanor firearms charge after he allegedly set out with a shotgun to search for the unknown assailant. Cn) dateline 1 Michigan By JONATHAN FUERBRINGER New York Timet WASHINGTON It's the kind of invitation a money-raising dinner that a second reading. The dinner committee includes Roger Smith, chairman of the board of General Motors; Charles Brown, chairman of American Telephone and Telegraph, anJ John Welch chairman of General Electric. The dinner is not for a Republican, as one might Howard finds the humor in relationships Is there comedy in divorce, split families and remarriage? ABC seems think so by running "It's Not Easy," at 9:30 p.m.

Thursdays. Ken Howard plays the divorced father of two. His mother (Jayne Meadows) runs his household. His ex-wife (Carlene Watkins) lives across the street with her new husband (Bert Convy). There are three children.

expect, but for Russell Long, the Democrat who has represented Louisiana in the Senate for 35 years. He was chairman of the Finance Committee for 14 years until Republicans took control of the Senate in 1981. With 4,000 or more invitations in the mail, the Oct. 25 2L. UPI Photo uinner is certain 10 raise a uuy jjj Eruption in Japan According to State Police records Monday, 946 people have been killed in accidents on Michigan streets and highways so far this year, compared with 1,046 at this time last year.

Carpenters OK pay cut DETROIT About 4,000 carpenters in southeastern Michigan have approved a contract including a 25 percent wage and benefit reduction for residential work, ending an eight-week strike against two contractor groups, officials said. The new three-year pact between the Detroit District Council of Carpenters and the Michigan Carpenters Association and Michigan Drywall Con-tracters Association was ratified by a 252-180 vote, said Robert Lowes, secretary of the council. The contract covers 10 union locals in the five-county southeastern Michigan area. Under the agreement, the basic hourly wage for residential work drops to $12 from $15.51, Lowes said. The contract also eliminates vacation pay of $1.70 an hour included in the previous pact that expired Aug.

1. The contract calls for renewed negotiations on money issues in August 1984 and August 1985, he said. Commercial carpenters are covered by separate agreements which expire June 1, 1984. Rogers Williams, 34, was jailed Saturday morning when Grand Rapids police spotted him with a shotgun several blocks from his home, shortly after the most recent firebomb-ing, said Canary Dedeaux, 36, who lives in the house. Someone set fire to a front window about 3:45 a.m.

Saturday while Dedeaux, Williams and tenant David Jones, 28, slept in the house, according to a fire department dispatcher. "They (police) combed the area and picked Rogers up. Why can't they comb the area and pick the other guy up?" Dedeaux said. "I think they (police) are waiting for a murder. And if they don't hurry up and do something, there's going to be a murder." 8 die in accidents EAST LANSING At least eight people died in weekend accidents on Michigan roads, including an 11 -year-old Bellevue girl involved in a two-vehicle accident, state police said Monday.

Janet Whitcomb died at 4:55 p.m. Sunday on a rural Eaton County road when the all-terrain vehicle in which she was riding drove into the path of a pickup truck, state police said. In an accident that claimed two lives, Thomas Clayton 35, of Grand Rapids, and Gary Koert, 36, of Ada, died about 1 a.m. Saturday when their vehicles collided on M-37 in Kent County's Foster Township. Black smoke rises from Mt.

Oyama after the volcano erupted on the Japanese island of Miyakejima Sunday for the first time in 21 years. Lava and ash devastated forests and forced evacuation of some residential areas. There were no injuries reported among residents of Miyakejima, 110 miles south of Tokyo. "But, it's not about divorce at all," said Howard over the phone recently. "I suppose you could say it's post-war.

The divorce is in the past. It's about relationships. But mainly it's funny. Funny's so hard to define, you can't fake it and you can't teach it. "But, what sold me on the show nil thp nhvinns thinos sum iortne Democratic benaton- al Campaign Committee.

The Lon9 group wants to win back control of the Senate in 1984, and that would put Long back into the finance chairmanship. "I never really looked at it as a Democratic affair, I looked at it as a Russell Long affair," said Smith, a registered Republican, in explaining his decision to join the dinner committee. "I wouldn't put it down that I'm an old friend or anything like that. He lives in Louisiana and I live in Detroit, Mich. Politics to jne didn't enter in at all." Long, he said, "is one of the most capable people in the Senate." Sen.

Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, chairman of-the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, had a ready explanation for the bipartisan affair. "I think they are finally understanding that they ought to be participating on both sides of the said. "You get situations where some of these business institutions will do nothing but support Republicans," Bentsen added, "and I think that's a very foolish posture for them to be in." IVotesters, Nazi group clash FALLINGBOSTEL, West Germany (AP) -Police report 39 officers and 17 protesters were injured in clashes outside a neo-Nazi party meeting after rock-throwing protesters tried to stop a meeting of the Nationalist Party of Germany. They said 45 of the estimated 1,000 demonstrators were arrested during the clash Saturday, but that all were released within hours. Police dispersed the protesters with tear gas and water cannons.

Compiled from Free Press Staff and Wire Reports flwlftRBB. si tetar way to Ken Howard asjde like the right timing, a good financial deal was that it was funny. My wife looked at it and she thought it was funny. Pat Nardo, who created it, worked with the Mary Tyler Moore people and it shows in the kind of humor she creates. "It is funny as opposed to meaningful.

We'll bounce around some interesting issues and ideas and marriage and relationships but with humor." STILL, HE SAYS: "I get these very deep questions about drawing on my own experience for the show and I suppose I do. But I don't really think about it." Howard has been married since 1977 to writer Margo Furth, daughter of syndicated advice columnist Ann Landers. It's a second marriage for both. They met when Howard was doing a play in Chicago and Margo, then a newspaper feature writer, was assigned to interview him. She had three children; he had none.

The Howards have put together a bicoastal life. The TV series is taped in California but home is Connecticut "We wanted to have some change of season," said Howard. When the show shuts down, the Howards head back to their restored New England farmhouse. Abra, 20, Margo's oldest daughter, is working in New York. The two younger children, Adam, 17, and Cricket, 16, are in boarding school, "That way, our coming and going according to our work schedules isn't too disruptive," said Howard.

HIS EXPERIENCES with the three children helped him once before, in "White Shadow," his 1978-80 CBS series in which he played the coach of an urban high school basketball team. The kids in "Easy," he said, "are fun, not too show bizzy. The jerky kind that you run into with all the smart answers. I shouldn't admit to any particular fondness but Evan Cohen, who plays my son Johnny, is a great little kid. He takes it all so easily like it was shooting bumper pool or going to a ball game.

You give him a line and he says, does it and he's ready to go home. "It's unnerving when you see someone that size toss off a line better than you can after years of working at it." With four adults and three children as the basic cast of "It's Not Easy," the actors can find themselves tripping over each other, figuratively and literally, said Howard. "In a half-hour it can be a hazard with all that traffic. But you don't worry much about characterization. It's situation comedy.

I know they call everything that but it's the situation that's supposed to be the focus. For instance, in the first show I had a line, 'Can I go By itself it isn't funny. It isn't a joke. But by the time I said it, in the context of the situation, Yv III X-rit i it 1 iVlfr ill Now withTWA's Frequent Flight Bonus program, you can get 1,000 miles minimum credit when you fly and earn free tickets to almost anywhere on earth. A free trip to the Caribbean is closer than ever.

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But first, you have-to be a member of TWA's Frequent Flight Bonus program. To enroll, or for more information, call TWA at (313) 962-8650. Now there's every reason in the world to it brought the house down. "THIS IS ensemble comedy and that means no time off, all of us have to be there. When I was doing 'White if the story focused on somebody else, a couple of days I wouldn't have to show up to film." "White Shadow" is in reruns around the country (8 p.m.

Saturday on Channel 50) and doing better the second time around, says Howard. "We had an avid small in terms of ratings loyal audience when it was on CBS. I think when the network kept moving us around trying to find our niche, we got lost. We almost missed the third year but we were thrilled when CBS gave it to us so we could syndicate it." He's part owner of "Shadow" and the reruns look good in his bank account. "I'm proud of 'White Shadow' and I did love doing it.

But, I think the most impressive thing about it was that it was truly original, the honest way it dealt with the kids and their problems, and there's less and less of that going on in telvision." today's numbers WDIV dropped NBC's "David Letterman Show" at 1 a.m. to pick up the syndciated series "Thicke of the Night" Sept. 5. WKBD dropped a late movie to pick up the Letterman show Sept. 19.

So far, according to the Nielsen ratings, neither station got a bargain. has been doing so poorly nationally that it was off the air for a week of repairs). Here's the ratings and audience shares of the stations before and after the I a.m. change. WDIV (Channel 4): Aug.

29-Sept. 2: "David Letter-man Show," 3 rating, 18 percent share of the audience; Sept. 19-23: "Thicke of the Night," 2 rating, 11 percent share. WKBD-TV (Channel 50): Aug. 29-Sept.

2: Late Movie, 3 rating, 15 percent share; Sept. 19-23: "David Letterman Show," 1 rating, 8 percent share. Compiled by BETTELOU PETERSON Earn bonus miles while you fly TWA to these cities, and many more: Denver Oklahoma City Houston Phoenix Kansas City St. Louis Los Angeles San Francisco New York Seattle radioMiss Manners at choose TWA. Excluding mileage on Eastern flight segments that originate or terminate in Kansas City.

Youre going to like us Focus: Judith Martin, "Miss Manners" columnist; 12:15 p.m. WJR-AM (760). Memories: Earl "Fatha" Hines and his orchestra; 3-4 p.m. CKJY-FM (93.9). Mostly Musicals: A look at musicals of the '20s, including "Show Boat" and "Porgy and 10 p.m.

CBE-FM (89.9). Larry Gatlln, country artist, featured; 10 p.m. WWWW-FM (106.7). Tonight: Jazz flutist Alexander Zonjic; 11 p.m. CKJY-FM (93.9).

Larry King: Advertising of the future discussed; midnight WXYZ-AM (1270)..