Furniture for your kids

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Aug 8, 2001

PASADENA, Calif. (NYT) -- You know their work even if you've never heard their name. It's the Warner Bros. Stage 16 Restaurant logo at the Venetian Hotel that can be seen from the Las Vegas Strip. It's the red, black and gold logo of Hollywood's landmark Mann's Chinese Theatre. And now, it's the first line of Barbie-brand children's furniture.

The line of solid-wood furniture is being manufactured and marketed by New Jersey-based furniture manufacturer P.J. Kids, and it includes a bed, dresser, nightstand, plus upholstered chair and ottoman, as well as a table and chair set.

Having worked with El Segundo-based Mattel previously, Smullen Design in Pasadena was chosen to design the the five-piece Barbie Avenue Collection furniture line based on its flexibility. "It's not typical, by any stretch of the imagination, for a design firm to create furniture," said owner Maureen Smullen. "We don't specialize in those areas, but we have a unique perspective that makes what we design a little different."

Extensive beach, no toilet

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Visitors to one of Florida's most popular beach resorts are asking a troubling question: Where's the toilet? Along the city's beaches, thousands of tourists find no restrooms for more than a mile between pay toilets at one end of the beach and portable ones at the other. The city's only beachfront restrooms, at South Beach Park near the start of the public beach, fell into such disrepair they all had to be closed about seven months ago. The new bathrooms won't be completed until at least January.

The city is now in its 12th year without public toilets in the popular beach span north of South Beach park. Bunker-style, underground restrooms once offered relief near the beaches but the city shut them down in 1989 because people were using them to have sex and do drugs.

"I think if you're going to have a world-class beach, you have to have somewhere appropriate to use the facilities," says City Commissioner Tim Smith. Smith says he expects public restrooms will return to the Strip, either in a new International Swimming Hall of Fame or in a high-rise whose approval two years ago was conditioned on plans for public restrooms.

Crest gum?

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Procter & Gamble and William W. Wrigley Jr. Co. will develop a line of chewing gum that they claim will do more than just freshen breath. The companies say the gum, carrying P&G's Crest toothpaste label, also will clean teeth.

Under the agreement, Chicago-based Wrigley will manufacture the gum using oral health care technology developed by researchers at Cincinnati-based P&G. Terms of the agreement were not released. The New York Times, quoting two sources it did not identify, reported Tuesday that the deal could be worth more than $100 million annually for the two companies. P&G officials said the chewing gum line could be introduced within a year.

Several brands of gum also claim dental benefits, but none has received the seal of approval from the American Dental Association. Gum must show clinical and laboratory benefits to fighting or preventing cavities or gum disease to receive the association's seal.

The split-shift family

ATLANTA (Cox) -- Working Mother (July/August) reports on what it calls "a startling trend that has been growing beneath the nation's radar: couples working split shifts." The magazine cites an AFL-CIO estimate that a third of the nation's 29.1 million two-wage-earner couples work opposite shifts. On the plus side, split-shift couples save money on child care and spend more time with their kids. "But the schedule can ravage a marriage and affects everything about family life," the magazine says.

As time goes by

NEW YORK (AP) -- Today is the 220th day of 2001. There are 145 days left in the year. Here are some business and legal highlights from this date in history:

In 1876, Thomas A. Edison received a patent for his mimeograph.

In 1942, six convicted Nazi saboteurs who'd landed in the United States were executed in Washington D.C.; two others received life imprisonment.

In 1945, President Truman signed the United Nations Charter.

In 1945, the Soviet Union declared war against Japan during World War II.

In 1953, the United States and South Korea initialed a mutual security pact.

In 1968, Richard M. Nixon was nominated for president at the Republican national convention in Miami Beach.

In 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew branded as "damned lies" reports he had taken kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland, and vowed not to resign -- which he eventually did.

In 1974, President Nixon announced he would resign following new damaging revelations in the Watergate scandal.

Stamping Lucy

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Ricky didn't always want Lucy at the Tropicana, but Monday she joined a more exclusive club. Lucille Ball, the madcap redhead who defined the golden age of television, joined the small circle of Hollywood legends honored on U.S. postage stamps. About 350 fans crammed into the Hollywood History Museum for the stamp's unveiling on what would have been her 90th birthday.