Florida Today from Cocoa, Florida • Page 35

zm INSIDE HEALTH TIP Golden anniversary couple tells newlyweds how to keep love alive in their marriage, 7D. PEOPLE After 350 to 500 miles of use, six months for average joggers, sneakers lose shock absorption. FRIDAY, October 22, 1999 SECTION Tom Clifford, newsfeatures editor, 242-3710, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Looking beyond little green men and SETI's cult IPoijjKte oto fio AY? ffll if. r'- AP As cults go, members of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence community are a benign crowd.

What's not to love? They're cool. They want to contact ET using radiotele-scopes. They are dreamers with doctorates. They command the vocabularies of science with eloquence and self-effacing humor. They are the underdogs; they fight bland congressional tightwads for funding and lose.

They bounce back, resilient They reside, with the greatest of ease, simultaneously, in opposing worlds of rationalism and faith. And it is that faith pursued without evidence to support the sanctified medium of radio, dogmatic and selective in its beliefs, closed to alternative possibilities which makes their science look so insecure. A full house turned out Tuesday night in Cocoa to catch the SETI show at Brevard Community College's Fine Arts Auditorium. Leading '7 1 ATTORNEY AND AUTHOR Scott Turow, 50, devotes about 25 percent of his time to his law practice and the rest to writing novels. Turow turns inward, but sticks to his rules -J3 4 9.

1 i the sermon was Dr. Seth Shostak, a brilliant wit at the privately funded SETI Institute of Mountain View, Calif. Given a) the billions of stars orbiting billions of galaxies, b) the ongoing discovery of new planets, and c) amino acids-laden cosmic debris seeding the universe like sperm cells, nnintino cnoro ac a va wri Author uses diplomacy in Grisham comparison The Baltimore Sun If Scott Turow reinvigorated the legal thriller form, John Grisham quickly came to own it in the early 1990s, turning out a book a year and reaching an audience 10 times larger than even a No. 1 best selling author such as Turow. ng! nil I ing pond wriggling with nnu life forms was easy 1 IT A UUA enough.

Audience mem PEOPLE bers were told how they, too, could assist the radio MX IN i Malcolm Denemark, FLORIDA TODAY ROBIN SZAKOVITS, 4, a student at Brevard Montessori School in Indian Harbour Beach, holds up the money jar she and her classmates have filled for Satellite Beach Public Library for Make a Difference Day. Brevardians join millions nationwide to help Asked about Grisham and the other writers lumped into the legal thriller sub-genre, Turow is diplomatic. "I always tread lightly here," he says. By Laura Lippman The Baltimore Sun CHICAGO "The man who answers the door in this quiet, suburban neighborhood is one of those dark, driven little men who turn up so often in the law." Those are Scott Turow's words, actually, used to describe the U.S. attorney who sets his latest book, Personal Injuries (Far-rar, Straus and Giroux, $27), in motion.

It's an inside joke, a throw-away line written with a smile for those who will get it. It's not only the physical resemblance between the book's prosecutor, Stan Sennett, and his creator that is striking. Turow was a U.S. attorney once, and he oversaw an undercover investigation, Operation Greylord, that sent a Chicago judge and state attorney general to prison. But Turow is not Sennett, and Operation Greylord did not inspire the book's Operation Pe-tros.

Turow, though, has borrowed liberally from his life to inform the case, as well as Sen-nett's personal stake in it. Operation Greylord, he says, was truly black and white, bad guys and good guys, with nothing to divide one's loyalties. Operation Petros, by contrast, is loaded with the moral and legal ambiguities that continue to fascinate Turow and, apparently, millions of readers. This month, in its first week in stores, Personal Injuries appeared in the No. 1 slot on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list.

"I think, with Tiie Laws of Our Fathers (his most recent book), I turned a corner and I'm less afraid of autobiographical material," Turow says. See TUROW, 2D Grisham larly strong locally this year, as the United Way of Brevard postponed its annual Days of Caring because of Hurricane Floyd. The projects intended for the two-day project will happen today and Saturday, coinciding with Make A Difference Day. That led some groups, such as the United Space Alliance's National Management Association, to double up on projects. The association will plant mangroves at Manatee Park in Cape Canaveral as well as paint and organize sheds at the Domestic Violence Center in Cocoa.

"We want to contribute to tfie community and preserve ear environment," said Lisa Stotz, the group's director of civic activities. Here's a sampling of other projects planned for Saturday: Numerous organizations will offer free flu vaccinations, including Health First, Parrish Medical Center, Royal Oaks Medical Center and Cape Canaveral Hospital. See DIFFERENCE, 2D "The truth is, I don't have the same ambitions. "There are many things to admire about John Grisham's work. He has the broadest readership probably of any American novelist working.

His books are going to be read by junior high school students, blue-haired ladies in their 80s and everybody in between. That, I think, is very much by design, and I give him credit for that. "There is much about his story-telling that is utterly seamless. But," he pauses, "I obviously tarry longer with character and language. John is far and away the most popular of the lawyer writers, and God bless him for it.

When my 12-year-old asked if she could read Personal Injuries, I said, 'Go ahead and But I doubt she'll be able to." By Maureen Tlsdale FLORIDA TODAY rmed with everything 111 from flu shots to f(Jl canned goods, from licasn t0 paintbrushes, of Brevardians will join millions across the nation Saturday to make their communities better on Make a Difference Day. The annual day of volunteering is sponsored by USA Weekend magazine in partnership with the Points of Light Foundation. More than 2 million people are expected to participate throughout the United States. Make a Difference Day was started in 1992 to motivate and reward volunteers. This year, more than $2.6 million in grants and awards will be given to charity groups, which are chosen from those registered with the Make A Difference Day organization.

Paul Newman and his Newman's Own company will give $10,000 to each of the top 10 projects. In addition, two volunteers from each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico will be awarded $2,000 for their charities from Wal-Mart. The retailer also provided $1,000 for each of its 2,000 stores as seed money for local projects. The Gannett Foundation will present Encore awards for the continued outstanding efforts of previous honorees. The event will be particu hunt by downloading and crunching signals with the so-called SETIHome program.

The doors slammed when several listeners advanced the UFO heresies, wondering if maybe those alien life forms hadn't already arrived. One woman rattled off a list of related Web sites, prompting Shostak to charge, "None of those sources you've mentioned are credible." Too bad. Because one of the sites Shostak dismissed www.blackvault.com has nothing to do with alien implants, ancient astronauts, or any other subjective aspect of the phenomenon. It's jammed solely with scanned-in photocopies of government documents 7,000 or so, from acronyms such as the CIA, DIA, FBI and USAF acquired through the Freedom of Information Act. The patterns of high-level interest are clear; what they're onto is not.

We get glimpses of what we already know military and commercial pilot reports of wild UFO evasive maneuvers, associated power failures, radar signatures, etc. but the best stuff presumably has been blacked out by censors. Pressed further by another listener who asked why UFO researchers and SETI guys couldn't reason through this thing, Shostak replied, "Scientists don't object to a dialogue; it just doesn't go anywhere." Speaking for all scientists, naturally. But not a nine-member Stanford University panel led by physicist Peter Sturrock who, after examining the available evidence in 1998, advocated a rigorous public investigation. Good luck.

The data Sturrock's colleagues studied was assembled by billionaire philanthropist Laur-ance Rockefeller, who circulated a lengthy briefing paper on UFOs to top government officials, reportedly including President Clinton. But the lid remains sealed. In his memoirs, Friends In High Places, now-disgraced former associate attorney general Webb Hubbell states one of his greatest regrets was being unable to get to the bottom of the UFO mystery, which Clinton ordered him to do. Our chief executives often lack the proper security clearances to know what's going on. Witness Ronald Reagan's Iran-contra debacle.

Or consider the Venona intercepts of the 1940s. That's when Signals Intelligence monitored the chatter of Soviet espionage rings in the United States and knew everything about the real but extremely limited activities of domestic agents. Disclosure could've preempted Joe McCarthy's persecutions of the innocent, since the names of the guilty were known, but protecting the information was evidently more important than protecting American citizens. We didn't learn until Senate hearings in 1996 that then-Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Omar Bradley withheld access to the truth from President Truman. Among the ironies of Shostak's remarks was that the not-credible Black Vault constructed by 18-year-old John Greenewald of Mission Hills, Calif.

also offers instructions on how to participate in SETIHome. Thus, by appropriating "scientists" for the SETI elite and shooing everyone else into the barnyard of cheap laughs over "little green men," Shostak and colleagues create artificial schizoid divides that fail to further the public interest. The Cold War is over, but the pathology of secrecy oozes forward. Consequently, SETI glows in the dark. Fitness experts stress consistency, not time 'n 1 if J'' n-ff! Rik Jesse, FLORIDA TODAY JUDIE HENRY of Cocoa receives a flu shot last year from Deborah Nicoletti, a registered nurse, during Wuesthoff Health Systems free drive-through immunization program.

Wuesthoff will repeat the program beginning Saturday at Wuesthoff Hospital in Rockledge, Oct. 30 at Merritt Square mall, Nov. 6 at Centre at Suntree and Nov. 13 at Keiser College in Melbourne. Community gets busy assisting others By Tracy Boyd Gannett News Service Your best friend swears by her early-morning workouts.

Your sister says lunch hour is the absolute best time to exercise. Your mom keeps telling you your best fitness bet is a walk after dinner. When is a fitness-minded person supposed to exercise? Consistency is the key to any successful exercise program, say fitness experts. Put simply, it doesn't make a huge difference when you work out as long as you do it on a regular basis. Research shows those who participate in morning workouts may have some advantages.

A California study put 50 non-exercisers on a morning workout schedule and 50 others on an afternoon schedule. "Far and away, dropout rates were much lower in the morning exercisers than for those in the evening program," says Dr. Steven Keteyian, an exercise physiologist with Henry Ford Health Systems Heart and Vascular Institute. "That's not to say that a MORNING EXERCISERS stick with the program longest, research shows. person can't start and stay with an evening program, but many people find life gets difficult in the after-work period.

Barriers like meetings, dinner and family obligations get into the way." If you're a mild-to-moderate exerciser, working out after a meal can be beneficial, says Bryant Stamford, an exercise physiologist who writes a weekly Body Shop column distributed by Gannett News Service. It can help prevent a serious health danger called the Last Supper Syndrome. "Many heart attacks occur in the hours after a heavy meal as an individual watches the TV set or snoozes," Stamford says. Here are some of the many Make a Difference Day activities happening in the county: FREE FLU SHOTS: Health First, Parrish Medical Center and Royal Oaks Medical Center will provide free flu shoots while supplies last from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Saturday at three locations: Parrish Medical Offices at Port St. John, 7075 N. U.S. 1. Cape Canaveral Hospital Medical Plaza, 699 W.

Cocoa Beach Causeway, Cocoa Beach. The Florida Marketplace, 1396 S. Babcock Melbourne. No appointments necessary. Donations of canned food or other nonperishable items accepted for distribution to the Sharing Center.

Call 434-4335. UNIVERSITY OF SCOUTING: Central Florida Council Boy Scouts of American presents the University of Scouting "Keys to Success Training and Communication" from 7:30 a.m. to 3:50 p.m. Saturday at University High School in Orlando. The daylong event is a hands-on learning experience for Scouting volunteers of all levels; 176 classes are offered.

Cost: $9 a person. Call (407) 889-4403. AT HARMONY FARMS: Harmony Farms "Horses for the Handicapped" program will have a community build at its new facility on Stadium Parkway in Viera (1 mile north of the Marlins Stadium). Volunteers will help build stalls in the bam and a riding arena. Refreshments will be served.

Rain or shine most work is under cover. Call 242-4929. MARINE SAFETY CHECKS: The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 46, Central Brevard offers courtesy marine examinations, checking vessels for correct safety equipment. This includes personal watercraft. From 9 a.m.

to 2 p.m. the first Saturday of each month at Lee Wenner Park in downtown Cocoa. Call 453-7409. More projects, 2D. Billy Cox's column runs every Friday.

He can be reached at 242-3774, or Florida Today, P.O. Box 419000, Melbourne, FL 32941-9000. Pi! 1 twmti- fi Brittany Green Quick fix On TV David Sut-cliffe stars in "Cold Feet," airing at 10 p.m. on NBC. More on TV, 3D.

To get the most out of a rubber spatula, trim off the ragged edges and keep trimming each time it becomes frayed. Cyberspace news Parents who are looking for some help in choosing non-offensive movies for their kids can go to Kids-in-mind. The group assigns ratings for levels of sex, violence and profanity. Go to www.kids-ln-mind.com Coming up The Titusville Playhouse hosts a Monster Mash for students in sixth through 12th grade from 7 p.m. to midnight Oct.

30 with dancing and costume contest. A mini-mash for monsters in fifth grade and younger begins at noon. Cost: $3. Call 268-3711. Pet peeve: "Wearing barrettes in my hair." Dream vacation: Visit Backstreet Boys.

To improve the world: Treat others as you want to be treated." Favorite author: "E.B. White, because he wrote Stuart Little." -if) Third-grader at: St. Joseph Catholic School in Palm Bay. Club involvement: Brownies. Spends free time: Going outside and playing video games.

Ambition: To be a teacher. Sutcliffe.