European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 24, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Ease courts the to Dollar Clarence Page a i Friend of mine called a few nights age. He was in a state of High . Distress a condition that comes from overexposure to coverage of the . Simpson murder. A  a. A Tell me if this is too off the Wall Quot he said which or i know from experience Means he is about Toj biggest something completely off the Wall. A i think the networks ought to be paying Roya ties to the people in . Simpson s  yes he said since . Simpsons arraignment was set to be covered As exhaustively As his preliminary hearing was then the television  pay royalties to the participants. A every time i turn on my television i am thinking about How .�?Ts poor children have lost their Moth or and now May see their father go to jail a or worse a and May lose wit at or Money the family has left. To Legal fees and i am miserable a says my Friend. A then the networks Cut to a commercial and it occurs to me that the networks Are making Money off this soap opera they should be paying the people in the courtroom for performing in it. A do i have a Point or is this really off the Wail Quot off the Wall maybe. I could not honestly Tell Tim. So not when the entire . Saga is setting new standards of off the wellness every Day from the brutal double murder of which Simpson is accused to the slow motion Chase covered from to helicopters like scenes from Speed to the live courtroom coverage which pushed with remarkable Case All three networks lucrative soap operas aside and squeezed other matters a seemingly trivial stuff like floods a possible invasion of Haiti and maybe a nuclear holocaust threat posed by North Korea a off abcs my Jefne and All the evening Magazine shows. Network executives Tell us they Are responding to the Public a right to know a number of lawyers delighted to be invited to show their faces on National television Praise the a a educational benefits of it All. But by any conventional new s Standard the of. Story is  networks Cut to Gavel to Gavce coverage of Simpsons preliminary hearing,.it. Did no to take Long for this Story to exceed traditional a definitions of news and look More Tike pure Edge of the scat entertainment a High concept Giitter and or Gristle Hollywood courtroom drama worthy of Scott Turow or John Grisham. The closest comparison might be the 1930s trial of a Carpenter Bruno Richard Hauptmann for Kidnap Ping aviator Charles lmdbergh�?Ts-20-Monih-old.baby son in 1932. Hauptmann was convicted on circumstantial evidence amid a frenzy whipped by sensationalist Media. They called it a the crime of the Century a even though the Century still . A few years left to go. ? a Hauptmann was like Simpson today a member of what was in those times a widely despised minority a group. He was an immigrant from Germany. ?. Those who remember it recall the Lindbergh baby Case As a High water Mark for Media sensationalism Lindbergh and family eventually moved to Europe to get away from the constant packs of intrusive report cars. But it docs not Holda Candle to the blazing spectacle whipped up by modern Day Media technology. There were no a new scam choppers to follow him around. Increasingly news is driven by our ability to a cover it As opposed to sound judgment As to whether. It is Worth covering. A a a yes there a fio business like court business before you know it lawyers Are going to have to pay ? dues to actors equity. A a a a Chicago Tribuna. Time to chair a new committee Andy Rooney As anyone Ever received a government Grant to study chairs and the problems of sitting in Otic silting in in a chair is one of the ways. We spend a great ,, Atid Lor Elliis reason alone our government would be justified in appropriating a few million dollars to make a a study of it i done to know w Heifer the report would conclude we should refer to sitting a in a chair Quot or 3 Quot Quot Quot on a chair.1 that depends some on the chair. There Are chairs you sit a a on and chairs you sit  the a a in chairs Are More comfortable and luxurious. ?. They have arms and soft cushions. You would t a want to watch a Long night of television seated a a on a chair. They Are straight backed and hard. I. For one am not satisfied with the current state 3 r r of chair sitting mine or anyone Efsic s. This was brought sharply to my attention when i gave a col lege commencement address at Gettysburg College and faced 500 students and 1,000 parents sitting on card table chairs temporarily Quot lined up on the Lawn of the magnificent Campus quadrangle. 1 As i stared out at the sea of people i could Tell they weren to Happy with their chairs. They crossed their legs twisted them like pretzels put their arms Over the Back of the chair next to them squirmed around continuously and some of the College girls even curled one leg up under themselves and Sal on that. These  Good signs for a speaker because if people Arentt Happy with their chairs they in not going to like a speech. _ -. People almost never sit on chairs lie Way hair de signers intended they should and perhaps its Lime to rethink the chair in relation to the shape of the human body and the positions it assumes while seated. In a Survey i took at the graduation exercises 1 determined that at one time or another 8 percent of the sealed audience crossed their tags. This is evidence enough of a chairs Basic Inadequacy chairs were comfortable and supportive of us where we most want supper we would not feel that great urge that comes Over us to lift one foot off the floor and Hook the  the knee Over the other knee. Men quite often done to actually Cross heir legs. They place one ankle on top Juhe other leg and sin Meta no ugly rest the Palm of one hand on the ankle which is on the knee. This is a ridiculous bit of contortion and it All Points toward bad chair design. The average chair is a straight right Uncle with four legs supporting it. The human body seated is. Not a perfect right Angle and herein lies the prob Jem. No straight chair can be expected to to much Comfort to a round bottom.1 propose a congressional investigation into chairs. Tribuna Media Sci a cold. Andy of it Cne yes h Termor Siars and slopes Fop Orter Wjk. A a a a a a a july.24, 19d4 sunday Quot Page 7 cartoonists amp writers Syndicate