ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 12, 1996 TAG: 9605100024
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From wire reports
Q: For months I've been watching for follow-up information about Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who vanished last fall. What's up?
A: There's little to report. O'Hair, founder and leader of American Atheists Inc. of Austin, Texas, has not turned up in public since September, when she and a son, Jon Garth Murray, and her adopted granddaughter, Robin Murray-O'Hair, disappeared. O'Hair, American's most prominent atheist, and her organization's leaders have been involved in legal difficulties for years. The Internal Revenue Service at one time had sought $1.5 million from Murray, American Atheists' president, and Murray-O'Hair, editor of the organization's magazine. O'Hair is not believed to have died, at least in Texas; the Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics has not received any notification of her death. The New York Times reported recently that David Travis, who handled the organization's finances for three years, said he thought the three might be using money in an account in New Zealand.
Q: What was the lowest bid that actually bought something in the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis estate auction?
A: The lowest winning bid for any item was $1,437 for Lot 677, described by Sotheby's simply as ``six volumes on Asia.''
Q: I often hear the test for the Emergency Broadcast System on the radio. What is it for?
A: As the name implies, it's intended to alert radio listeners and TV viewers to impending emergencies or disasters. It's in the process of being updated, complete with a new name. On Nov. 10, 1994, the Federal Communications Commission ordered that the Emergency Broadcast System be replaced by the Emergency Alert System to ``pave the way for an emergency warning system of the 21st century.'' Among other changes, the new system will have a shortened alerting tone; the ability to issue alerts in languages other than English; and provisions for the hearing and visually impaired. Implementation has been delayed until Jan. 1.
Q: Is there an easy way to check the status of my federal income tax refund?
A: Call the Internal Revenue Service's Federal Teletax Information System, 404-331-6572 or 800-829-4477. Use a touch- tone telephone and enter your Social Security number, answer a question about the filing status, and then enter the expected amount of refund. Those without touch-tone phones can call 800-829-1040.
Q: Will you refresh my memory about the auction of the Duchess of Windsor's estate? Who got the money?
A: The fabled jewelry collection of the duchess, who died in April 1986, was auctioned in Geneva, Switzerland, April 2-3, 1987, along with other personal effects. Like the Onassis auction, it was conducted by Sotheby's. The total of the two-day sale was $50,281,887, a record for a jewelry sale and seven times Sotheby's presale estimate. The highest price, $3.15 million, was paid by Japanese diamond trader Tsuneo Takagi for a 31-carat diamond ring. Elizabeth Taylor secured a diamond clip for $565,000. In accordance with the duchess' will, at least some of the money generated went to the Pasteur Institute in Paris, an AIDS research center.
Q: An item about the Houston Oilers moving to Nashville said Houston is the nation's fourth-largest TV market. How is that determined? What are the other top markets?
A: Houston is 11th, not fourth. The Nielsen ratings firm compiles information about markets based on the number of households with one or more TV sets (``TV homes''). These are the nation's top 10: New York, 6.7 million TV households; Los Angeles, 4.9 million; Chicago, 3.1 million; Philadelphia, 2.6 million; San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, 2.3 million; Boston, 2.1 million; Washington, D.C., 1.9 million; Dallas-Fort Worth, 1.8 million; Detroit, 1.7 million; Atlanta, 1.58 million. Houston is next with 1.57 million. Nashville is No. 33 with 766,000.
Q: How were the stars on the U.S. flag arranged when there were 49 states? My father-in-law said the pattern was something other than seven-by-seven, which I find hard to believe.
A: The 49-star flag was in use for only one year before the 50-star flag was introduced July 4, 1960. If you looked at it as stars in horizontal rows, it had seven rows of seven stars each. They were staggered, so if you looked at it as vertical rows instead, it had seven rows of four stars and seven of three stars. That might make your eyes water, but it would bolster your father-in- law's case.
Q: Why are women with uterine cancer included in the count of AIDS cases?
A: Because the initial ``AIDS surveillance case'' definition, dating to 1987, primarily encompassed men, it was expanded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1993 to more accurately reflect the number of cases in the population as a whole. The earlier definition included 23 clinical conditions. The expanded definition includes those diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis, recurrent pneumonia or invasive cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is a sexually transmitted disease most likely caused by the human papillomavirus, said Kathleen Toomey, M.D., director of the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch of the state's Division of Public Health. The virus has been shown to lead to cervical cancer, and with women with HIV infection and altered immune systems, ``the progression appears to be enhanced,'' she said.
LENGTH: Medium: 100 linesby CNB