Mark Harris

Mark Harris, author of the acclaimed baseball novel "Bang the Drum Slowly," which he adapted for the 1973 movie starring Michael Moriarty and Robert De Niro, has died. He was 84. Harris, a retired Arizona State University professor of English who lived in Goleta, Calif., died of complications related to Alzheimer's disease Wednesday at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, said his son, Henry Harris.

No one will ever know whether a Costa Mesa man who died after he blew himself up inside his home did so deliberately, police said Wednesday. “Intentional or not, we'll never know. Nobody was there with him,” Costa Mesa police Lt. Paul Dondero said of 52-year-old Kevin Harris' death Sunday night. “You play with things and sometimes they go boom.” Those “things” Dondero referred to are homemade bombs Harris is believed to have made. Authorities who combed Harris' modest one-story home Monday said they found and detonated at least two explosive devices and later discovered a rambling 17,000-word essay attributed to Harris online that expressed a deep fear of government.

Reading from left to right on the hipness meter, the five Academy Award nominees for best picture of 1967 were "Bonnie and Clyde," "The Graduate," "In the Heat of the Night," "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and (God help us) "Doctor Dolittle."

The contents of a long, rambling essay written by a Costa Mesa man who is believed to have blown himself up in an apparent suicide are concerning police, authorities said Monday. The 17,000-word essay , titled “The Pricker: A True Story of Assassination, Terrorism and High Treason,” includes references to aliens, the O.J. Simpson trial, the U.S. government and “the pricker,” which the author describes as “an assassin's weapon that deposits biological agents into a victim's skin, on contact, without their knowledge.” Though its author, 52-year-old Kevin Harris, apparently killed himself in the Mesa Verde area Sunday evening, elements of it are still of concern, said Lt. Jerry Hildeman.

In "Speed," Mark Harris, the author of the wonderful Henry Wiggens novels "Bang the Drum Slowly" and "The Southpaw," has whipped up a confection of ironies--sweet, delicate, sometimes delicious, but ultimately insubstantial. Which is too bad. The title character deserves better. Speed, of course, is the ultimate irony. Why he bears the name is never explained, but he's called it by all, though only the narrator, his brother, truly understands how apt it is. Speed is a saint. Speed is a wizard.

In the evening after a 116-degree day, pipes from the grandstand roof spray a cool mist over the fans. Mark Harris sits behind the third base dugout at Scottsdale Stadium. Harris--who wrote what many consider two of the finest baseball novels ever, "Bang the Drum Slowly" and "The Southpaw"--doesn't know the names of any players on the home team Phoenix Firebirds. He doesn't know how the team is doing this season. He talks little about the game until a great play gets his attention.

Local police and FBI agents looked for answers - and explosives - in a Costa Mesa home Monday after a man apparently blew himself up in a blast that shocked the quiet, suburban neighborhood where he lived alone. Authorities who searched the scene said they found at least two explosive devices in the modest one-story home and detonated them, and they later discovered a rambling and worrisome 17,000-word essay online expressing a deep fear of government. Police said it appears Kevin Harris, 52, intended to kill himself in the Sunday night explosion, which neighbors said sounded like a car crash or a garbage can tipping over.

Wedding No. 2: Entertainer Martha Raye, 75, and her husband, Mark Harris, 42, renewed their wedding vows in front of 100 friends at a Beverly Hills ceremony on Saturday. Raye, who uses a wheelchair because of a series of strokes, and Harris were first married on Sept. 23 in Las Vegas.

It stood to emerge as a titan battle of evil against good, malignant vs. benign, venom vs. virtue, Thor against Jason and an Argonaut. . . . Or maybe just Fartman versus the Hardy Boys. This week, morning-radio pit bull Howard Stern viciously took on rival lap dogs Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps, who took the high road by refusing to return the nasty favor.

The National Federation of the Blind called on airlines to end "arbitrary and inconsistent" policies that cause incidents of harassment and mistreatment of blind travelers. The incidents persist despite a law enacted by Congress to end such discrimination, said Mark Harris, vice president of the federation's St. Louis chapter. The statement coincided with the publication of a two-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal profiling several such incidents.

Local police and FBI agents looked for answers -- and explosives -- in a Costa Mesa home Monday after 52-year-old Kevin Harris apparently blew himself up in a blast that shocked the quiet, suburban neighborhood where he lived alone. His mother, Carol Harris, 82, said he had been diagnosed with a mental disorder, possibly schizophrenia. She said that she hadn't seen her son in three years and that the last time they spoke, he told her was disconnecting his phone because he was getting unwanted calls.

Local police and FBI agents looked for answers - and explosives - in a Costa Mesa home Monday after a man apparently blew himself up in a blast that shocked the quiet, suburban neighborhood where he lived alone. Authorities who searched the scene said they found at least two explosive devices in the modest one-story home and detonated them, and they later discovered a rambling and worrisome 17,000-word essay online expressing a deep fear of government. Police said it appears Kevin Harris, 52, intended to kill himself in the Sunday night explosion, which neighbors said sounded like a car crash or a garbage can tipping over.

Reading from left to right on the hipness meter, the five Academy Award nominees for best picture of 1967 were "Bonnie and Clyde," "The Graduate," "In the Heat of the Night," "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and (God help us) "Doctor Dolittle."

Mark Harris, author of the acclaimed baseball novel "Bang the Drum Slowly," which he adapted for the 1973 movie starring Michael Moriarty and Robert De Niro, has died. He was 84. Harris, a retired Arizona State University professor of English who lived in Goleta, Calif., died of complications related to Alzheimer's disease Wednesday at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, said his son, Henry Harris.

MATEA GOLD's article on the corporate commercialization of PBS and so-called public broadcasting ["Is the PBS Happy Meal a Future Menu Item"," Oct. 20] highlights a very important issue. True public broadcasting is supposed to be free of such corporate influence, yet in recent years it has become apparent that no one is enforcing this. What's next? "Healthy Kids" sponsored by McDonald's? "Environmentally Friendly" sponsored by Exxon? MARK HARRIS San Clemente

Mark R. Harris has a question. As one of the six credited producers of this year's Oscar-nominated best picture "Crash," is Harris actually invited to the Academy Awards? "I have no idea if I am or not," Harris said Tuesday, not long after "Crash" collected six nominations, in a tie for the second most nods behind "Brokeback Mountain." His predicament springs from a new Academy Awards rule, which allows the Producers Guild of America to determine a film's final producer credits.

MATEA GOLD's article on the corporate commercialization of PBS and so-called public broadcasting ["Is the PBS Happy Meal a Future Menu Item"," Oct. 20] highlights a very important issue. True public broadcasting is supposed to be free of such corporate influence, yet in recent years it has become apparent that no one is enforcing this. What's next? "Healthy Kids" sponsored by McDonald's? "Environmentally Friendly" sponsored by Exxon? MARK HARRIS San Clemente

The contents of a long, rambling essay written by a Costa Mesa man who is believed to have blown himself up in an apparent suicide are concerning police, authorities said Monday. The 17,000-word essay , titled “The Pricker: A True Story of Assassination, Terrorism and High Treason,” includes references to aliens, the O.J. Simpson trial, the U.S. government and “the pricker,” which the author describes as “an assassin's weapon that deposits biological agents into a victim's skin, on contact, without their knowledge.” Though its author, 52-year-old Kevin Harris, apparently killed himself in the Mesa Verde area Sunday evening, elements of it are still of concern, said Lt. Jerry Hildeman.

Like many in the crowd, Kelly Bellanger could scarcely believe what she read in the museum case. The display, included in a unique National Archives traveling exhibit, was of a speech written for President Richard M. Nixon in 1969. It said, in part: "Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace. These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery.

SCENE: De Mori Restaurant, Beverly Hills. A cheery patio restaurant in the Rodeo Collection. Ivy curls around the trellis overhead and a fountain makes soothing sounds in the background. Owner Silvio de Mori, 55, with white-silver hair and eyes that crinkle up merrily, or wistfully, presides over the end of lunch with yours truly, MB, who is, for most intents and purposes, at this moment, an emotional wreck.