News In Brief

GUESS WE WENT OVERBOARD

It all seems like a big dream now, all the worries about Y2K. But not as far as Gary Britt of Plant City, Fla., is concerned. He and five other families there bought $35,000 worth of survival food for life after the calendar flip - and now are trying to recoup their money. For that sum, they got 400 cases of dehydrated food, which could feed a family of four for seven years. Britt has run a classified ad to try to sell the goods, which so far has elicited only one serious response.

THIS WASN'T THE PLAN

Dr. Paul Dantzig was willing to go to great expense to find the love of his life. And so the resident of Scarsdale, N.Y., placed a $3,000 ad in a local magazine offering $200,000 to anyone who could find him a bride. Predictably, he was deluged with responses. But he probably didn't count on his employer, Mount Sinai Medical Center, firing him for attracting so much attention. And after all this, he still doesn't have what he was looking for: Dantzig is still single.

President Clinton heads poll of top dinner partners

It's a favorite conversation topic: If you could have dinner with any two famous people, who would they be? A recent survey by the Harris Poll asked 1,010 adults for their answers. Perhaps surprisingly, politicians outranked movie stars as the most popular guests. Singers and musicians, religious leaders, television stars, and sports stars were other top picks. The top 15 dinner guests, as tabulated by Harris:

1. President Clinton

2. Pope John Paul II

3. Hillary Rodham Clinton

4. Oprah Winfrey

5. The Rev. Billy Graham

6. Michael Jordan

7. Vice President Al Gore

8. Texas Gov. George W. Bush

9. Bill Gates

10. George Bush (not specified whether father or son)

(tie) President Reagan

12. Mel Gibson

13. Nelson Mandela

14. Queen Elizabeth II

15. Clint Eastwood

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