Oliver North

Thomas Durden,79, who wrote the lyrics to one of Elvis Presley's early big hits, "Heartbreak Hotel," died Sunday at home in Houghton Lake, Mich. Mr. Durden met Presley as a result of the song. Presley called him "sir" and sent him Christmas cards to show his appreciation, said his stepson, John White.He co-wrote "Heartbreak Hotel" with Mae Boren Axton of Nashville, Tenn., who died in 1997. For reasons never explained, Presley also was given writing credit even though it was the work of the others.

ASHLAND, Va. -- Twelve hours and a hundred miles into an "if-it's-Tuesday-it-must-be-Culpeper" tour of Virginia politics, and Oliver North is still standing, still talking.The 150 mainly middle-aged men and women who have assembled at a country club for the monthly meeting of the Hanover Republican Women's Club sit in utter silence. What they hear is this: the whir of eight ceiling fans and the rising passion of one man reciting from the old-time gospel of conservative theology.The candidate speaks of school prayer, term limits and a balanced budget amendment.

The names are familiar. Marion Barry. Oliver North. Bob Packwood. G. Gordon Liddy. Spiro T. Agnew.Washington names.Names that conjure up politics and some sort of fall from political grace.Names that conjure up memories of such things as: drugs, lying, sexual harassment and burglary.For a while, after they lied or cheated or misrepresented or whatever, some of these folks went away. A couple, of course, went to prison. Others just tried disappearing by keeping a low political profile and praying that the media's moving finger would move on.Now they're back.

Temple University basketball coach John Chaney did a remarkable thing the other day. He owned up to a shameful act.At a news conference last Wednesday, he tearfully apologized to pretty much the entire planet for verbally and nearly physically attacking the opposing team's coach after a tough Temple loss a few days earlier.I call this remarkable because I'm hard-pressed to think of another public figure who recently has expressed some honest, old-fashioned, let-me-crawl-under-the-nearest-rock shame and embarrassment.

NORFOLK, Va. -- Unable to put the Iran-contra scandal behind him in his race for the U.S. Senate, Oliver North has decided to embrace it, appealing for sympathy as a patriotic anti-communist driven by compassion when he defied and deceived Congress.After having been hammered by many fellow Republicans as a liar unfit for higher office, Mr. North told a group of Virginia GOP activists last weekend that he would do it all over again: Sell arms to Iran, give aid to the Nicaraguan contras, lie to Congress and shred government records in a cover-up.

Washington.--The reactionaries in Congress, the elitists in the media and the pecksniffs in the State Department have been snickering at Jimmy Carter for almost two decades.When the Georgia peanut farmer was elected president in 1976, some wrote of him as a hayseed who could not drawl out a decent speech and could not possibly deal effectively with more ''sophisticated'' world leaders.Mr. Carter was dubbed ''weak'' and ''bumbling'' when he failed to negotiate the release of American hostages held by Iran and when a military effort to rescue them turned into a Keystone Cops failure.

LONDON -- After nearly five years in captivity, Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite has returned home to a hero's welcome -- and to hard questions about his role with Oliver L. North in the arms-for-hostages deal.Before his capture Jan. 20, 1987, Mr. Waite had received international acclaim for his role in the freeing of three American hostages in Lebanon. His tireless efforts seemed in keeping with the reputation he had built up throughout the 1980s as a man who would go to Iran, Libya or anywhere to help people held captive against their will.

From the North, there was Hanover, Pa.From the South -- DeMatha.For nearly everyone else in between at yesterday's Raymond B. Oliver Invitational Wrestling Tournament at McDonogh School, there was nowhere to run.The two wrestling giants dominated, together winning nine of 13 individual championships and sending a plethora of top local competitors home empty-handed.The Nighthawks, ranked No. 4 in Pennsylvania, won the tournament with 229 points, followed by the Stags -- ranked third in Maryland -- with 173.But for first-year North Carroll coach Bryan Wetzel -- whose team finished third with 142 points, well ahead of any other local team -- the day wasn't just about winning and losing.

Do Our BestIn response to your Feb. 16 editorial, "Disgruntled about Mail? Chill Out!" -- I recently visited a new post office in Savannah, Ga. The large facility boasted a museum-type lobby and in large letters prominently displayed high on the wall was written what you described as the public's incorrect assumption -- the famous slogan about snow, rain and gloom of night.Therein lies the problem. You have stated that the Postal Service has distanced itself from this motto, but as my recent trip to Savannah revealed, they have indeed continued to embrace the motto, thus creating the illusion that it must be so.Your strong words, "Yet people relish sarcastically citing it when mail service is slowed," rankles one who just saw it carved on a new post office wall.

WASHINGTON -- Two Libyans accused of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988 have met in Tripoli with a leading Washington criminal defense attorney, a sign that Libya is taking steps that could bring them to trial in the United States.Any break in the deadlock over Libya's surrendering the two defendants, along with four other Libyans sought in the 1989 bombing of a French airliner over the Sahara, could lead to the lifting of sanctions the U.N. Security Council imposed against Libya.