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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 19, 1990                   TAG: 9004190513
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PEOPLE

Lou Ferrigno knows fitness. Ferrigno is the youngest man to win the Mr. Universe title and he nailed it two years in a row. He will be in Roanoke on Saturday as part of the grand opening fesitivites at New Fitness at Crossroads Mall.

But most people associate Ferrigno not with his body-building titles but with the TV series "The Incredible Hulk," which ran in the late '70s. The series starred Bill Bixby as a mild-mannered guy who, when riled, turned into a gargantuan green avenger who looked like he should be floating over a Macy's parade. That's when Ferrigno stepped into the part with his 6-foot-4, 285-pound physique. Ferrigno followed in Steve Reeves' footsteps after the series ended, starring in a couple of Italian B-grade films based on Greek myth - "Hercules" and "The Adventures of Hercules."

Ferrigno, his wife, Carla, and their two children live in Santa Monica, Calif.

James Michener said good weather and a stimulating educational atmosphere are among the reasons he and his wife have decided to make St. Petersburg, Fla., their winter retirement home.

"I think that the climate of Florida is very attractive to older people. Believe me, it gets more so every year," the 83-year-old author said Tuesday.

Michener, who bought a summer residence in Brunswick, Maine, last fall, said he will spend May through early October there and February through mid-May at the University of Texas assisting with classes, as he has done in recent years. He will live in St. Petersburg from mid-October to early February and assist with classes at Eckerd College.

James Brown said Wednesday he turned down hundreds of work-release jobs, including some on radio and television, to counsel youths about drug abuse.

"I hope that together we can bring a turnaround to some of the problems that we have out there and make the people aware that there is a place to go to get the help," Brown said at a news conference in Aiken, S.C.

The two-time Grammy award winner was transferred last week from the State Park Correctional Center in Columbia to the minimum-security Lower Savannah Work Center near Aiken after serving 15 months of a six-year prison term for aggravated assault.

by CNB