
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 17, 1994                   TAG: 9403170035
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PEOPLE

Dan Quayle may soon be able to tell us if the pen is mightier than the mouth. The former vice president plans a weekly newspaper column, said Creators Syndicate president Richard Newcombe.

"He was the most articulate person to emerge from 12 years of Republican rule in the White House," Newcombe said. "He has the biggest following on one side, and he's generated the most opposition on the other side."

Starting around May 1, Quayle will cover national politics, world affairs and other topics in columns running 500 to 600 words. Newcombe said most op-ed pieces run from 700 to 750 words.

"That's his choice because it's his own experience that columnists run out of words after 500 words and pad the ending," Newcombe said.

Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith swung into a major damage-control mode over the weekend after their manager called her divorce filing last Friday "an impulsive act that occurred during a moment of frustration and anger."

The duo showed up hand-in-hand at the American Cinema Editors' annual awards ceremony in Beverly Hills, Calif. "We're sorry we're late," said Johnson. "We had to drop by the courthouse and retrieve a few documents which somebody using Melanie's name had filed."

Meanwhile, on TV's "Entertainment Tonight" on Monday, a 21-year-old worker at the eatery Johnson co-owns in Aspen, Colo., said that the actor hit on her and that she talked about the incident to Griffith. Identified only as "Holly," the woman said: "I told Melanie: `I want you to know right now I don't go out with other people's husbands. . . . I think that's rude.' "

For her part, Griffith has been linked with actor Ed Harris.

by CNB