People in the News for August 21, 1997

Thursday, Aug. 21, 1997 | 9:16 a.m.

The sun is warm, the air is clearish, UPS drivers are swerving erratically through traffic and parking any damn place they want to -- yes, the universe is in harmony today. Except that pocket of the universe containing televangelist Robert Schuller. The turbulence created by his Gary Busey-like run-in with a flight attendant last June just won't subside. You remember the details: United Airlines steward Khaled Elabiad says Schuller roughed him up in a disagreement over where to hang the cleric's robe and whether he could be served grapes and cheese. Schuller has said the incident was simply a friendly laying on of hands; no blows were exchanged. Still, the minister paid a hefty federal fine and apologized. That's apparently not enough for Elabiad, who is careening like a UPS driver down the litigation superhighway. He announced Wednesday that he'll file a $5 million suit against the "Hour of Power" host. "It was in no way a simple assault," Elabiad said. "I was shaken so hard that my head was going back and forth so many times, giving me whiplashes and pain." However, at a dueling news conference Wednesday, a couple who sat near Schuller on the plane said he went gently into that good flight -- it was Elabiad who was erratic. He threw a "hissy fit," one said, while the other insisted Schuller laid a calming hand on Elabiad: "There is no way the flight attendant ... could be hurt from that touch." Oh yeah? Elabiad still hasn't returned to work, thanks perhaps to an inflamed opportunism gland.

Second trial

At first it may have appeared as though a UPS driver was at the wheel of the swerving Porsche, but after it crashed into a tree, the driver was revealed as none other than country sprite John Denver, who had allegedly imbibed a few too many Rocky Mountain highballs. That was in Aspen, Colo., in 1994, and prosecutors there announced this week that he'll be tried on DUI charges again. His first trial ended last month in a hung jury. "It's crazy, really," his attorney says. "They swooped down on him because he's a celebrity." The new trial is set for January.

King for a day

It's crazy, really, but Wednesday was Don King Day in New York, so proclaimed by the City Council's Black and Hispanic Caucus. Word of this caused our heads to go back and forth so many times, giving us whiplashes and pain. The proclamation thanked King for helping the city's economy (our heads: going back and forth even faster now) and called him a "cherished American celebrity" (the whiplashes! The pain!), which makes sense when you define "cherished American celebrity" as "man facing 45 years in prison on insurance fraud charges; man convicted of murder (later reduced to manslaughter); man who faced numerous lawsuits from disgruntled boxers under his control." Well, whatever; just don't think the Caucus swooped down on him because he's a celebrity. "He is a self-made person and I think he's done a wonderful job," said one councilman. What idiot said the universe was in harmony?

Compiled by Scott Dickensheets