INC. hears that the first lawsuit stemming from the June hijacking of TWA Flight 847 from Athens will be filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court by Schaumburg`s Peter Hill, the tour director for many of the hostages. The suit, which seeks over $1.07 million in damages, claims Hill was repeatedly threatened with death, kept in a vermin-ridden basement, lost 25 pounds, contracted a parasitic disease and witnessed the shooting of two people during his imprisonment in Beirut. Hill`s attorney, aviation expert John Kennelly, claims that under an international treaty, TWA is required to pay up to $75,000 in damages to Hill. The additional $1 million is being asked in a
”willful misconduct” count charging that TWA, aware of the lack of security and past terrorist activities at Athens airport, failed to carry out proper and required safety precautions. INC. hears that Kennelly will also file suit soon on behalf of Michael and Judith Brown, who were on their honeymoon when the plane was hijacked.
THE MCCORMICK MESS . . .
McCormick Place moguls Jim Sheerin and Joe Hannon are being rebuffed in efforts to parade a group of trade show managers before the Illinois House committee investigating massive cost overruns on the convention center expansion project. ”The legislators are looking for ways to keep the lawyers and construction companies who have bungled the work from reaping windfall profits from any fresh state money,” a highly placed legislative source told INC. ”They want hard answers, not a pep rally.” Maybe if the trade show biggies came up with the $60 million needed for the bailout, the committee would be friendlier.
POLITICS AS USUAL . . .
Here we go again. Mayor Harold Washington just managed to squeak past the requirement that the City Council approve all city contracts exceeding $50,000 –and awarded yet another contract to Slim Coleman. The latest contract was for $48,900, to Coleman`s Uptown People`s Community Service Center. . . . U.S. Rep. William Lipinski (D., Chicago) told Bruce Dumont on the ”Inside Politics” show on WBEZ-FM that it might be a good idea for commissioner Pat Quinn of the Cook County Board of (tax) Appeals to challenge Atty. Gen. Neil Hartigan for the governor`s seat and force him to take stands on issues. Zzzzzzz. . . . State Sen. Bob Kustra (R., Des Plaines) claims he`ll decide in a week whether to run against U.S. Sen. Alan Dixon (D., Ill.). He`s serious. Oh, yawnzzzzz. . . . Aren`t the Dems desperately looking for someone to give Secretary of State Jim Edgar a run for his driver`s license? Snore. . . .
YES, SIR, SARGE . . .
Cubs leftfielder Gary ”Sarge” Matthews was hot-hot-hot Thursday night when he walked into WGN-TV`s fall preview party at the Ritz-Carlton Ballroom and discovered that in a mock-up display of the Cubs locker room something offensive was plastered on his locker: pictures of nekkid wimmin. ”I`ve got a wife and four children!” Matthews bellowed. After a few words with dinner hosts, the pictures were removed–but Matthews stomped out. Since the
”lockers” with other Cubs` names contained pictures of the Cubs ballgirl in full uniform, an onlooker suggested ”it must have been meant as a joke by someone who thought Matthews would laugh. There were three cops guarding the display, so it would have been hard to sneak in and out to do it after it had been set up.”
REEL AND REAL FAMILY TIES . . .
INC. caught up with Michael (”Family Ties”) Gross, who was in town for the 20-year reunion of his Kelvyn Park High School class, just after an early- morning walk through the old Fullerton-Pulaski neighborhood. ”I went over to the high school, saw the same old biology class window I once jumped out of, walked through the halls. . . . It didn`t feel a whole lot different,” said Gross. But his life is a whole lot different since he began playing Steven Keaton on ”Family Ties” four years ago. He became an ”instant father” last year when he married a woman with two teenagers, and ”went through a
`displacement trauma`–but I wasn`t displaced, everything else was. I didn`t know that if you put something in the refrigerator, you had to put your name on it or somebody else would eat it. I could never find my scissors. Now we`ve got that all straightened out. Everybody has their own scissors.” Is it possible that Michael and his wife, Elza, might decide to have their own little Gross? ”People always say, `We`re trying to have a baby,` like `It`s a dirty job, but someone`s gotta do it.` I think it`s rather nice, so let`s just say we`re not trying not to have a baby.”
STAR TRACKS . . .
Patti Davis, who hasn`t exactly set the world on fire as an actress, has finished writing a novel. There`s no title yet, but it`s the story of a young woman growing up during the Vietnam War. INC. doesn`t know whether the main character`s father is an actor or a politician. . . . Steven Spielberg wants Oprah Winfrey nice and hefty for her role in ”The Color Purple,” so it wasn`t surprising that, on a recent visit to The Wieners Circle on North Clark Street, she polished off a giant Polish sausage and a large order of fries. She`ll return to ”A.M. Chicago” (and her diet?) on Sept. 2. . . . John Ritter, out of a TV job now that ”Three`s a Crowd” is off the air, will costar with James Coco in the American premiere of ”The Unvarnished Truth,” opening Sept. 29 at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles. But not to worry about John`s future; ABC has several possible new series in line for him.
INC.LINGS . . .
The ”New Four Girls Four” will be at Drury Lane Oakbrook Oct. 1-6. A spokeswoman for the show calls it ”a musical entertainment.” INC. calls it stretching the truth; it has been some time since Helen O`Connell, Kaye Starr, Margaret Whiting and Rosemarie were girls. . . . Sunday birthdays: Shelley Winters, 63; Robert Redford, 48; Roman Polanski, 52. . . . WLS-TV beat out WBBM-TV last week–on the women`s softball diamond. . . . In recognition of the eye-care services he has contributed to several popes and Vatican prelates over the years, Chicago ophthalmologist Richard Perritt has been invested as a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.
LOOK, UP IN THE SKY!
Schmid Laboratories, which can`t get many newspapers or TV and radio stations to place its advertising for prophylactics, is taking to the skies over Chicago beaches this weekend with ”Plan Ahead with Ramses” aerial advertising banners. Dr. Ruth would be so pleased.
