Ollie North

After last week's Iran-contra hearings, I can't help but recall that when Patt Morrison revealed her secret lust for Ollie North, her candid admission was met with a lot of indignant and self-righteous wrath ("A Sucker for a Man in Uniform," Dec. 14). I sure hope she enjoys feeling vindicated and having the last laugh, now that every red-blooded American gal (and plenty of guys, for all I know) heartily concur that the dude is a doll! Dishonest and dangerously arrogant maybe, but he is, let's face it, a short-haired Mel Gibson (cuter, my sister says)

About Ollie North's defeat: "Yes, Santa Claus, there is a Virginia." PHILIP LEMPERT Beverly Hills

An intrepid entrepreneur is out to see if General Secretary Mikhail S. Gorbachev can succeed where Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North failed. John Lee Hudson and his wife, Shana, say they lost about $30,000 in an effort to market a foot-tall Ollie North doll, trying to capitalize on North's fame after he described his Iran-Contra exploits to a House-Senate committee last summer. North's fame proved fleeting, and so did the Hudsons' prospects.

Back when he was a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy, Oliver L. North was in a car crash that nearly ended his career, not to mention his life. Officials thought his injuries too severe for him to continue at the academy, but he begged to be let back in--and went on to become a collegiate boxing champ.

Oliver North, the most highly publicized Marine since Lee Harvey Oswald, has finally met his match. Sure, Ollie made Congress roll over and play dead. Yes, he made fools of the men sent to investigate him. And, indeed, he has even stymied the judicial system for months and months. But now it has come to an end. The New Jersey Casino Control Commission says Ollie cannot speak in Atlantic City. Because Ollie might give the place a bad name. Atlantic City.

Former Lt. Col. Oliver North, a hero to conservatives despite his conviction in the Iran-Contra affair, retained his celebrity status Saturday in Orange County at a Republican Party-sponsored dinner, where he spoke of the evils of big government, communism and Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega.

Former Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, a hero to conservative causes despite his indictment on conspiracy charges in the Iran-Contra scandal, flew into Long Beach on Wednesday for a day of campaigning for Dana Rohrabacher, a candidate in the 42nd Congressional District Republican primary. "First of all, he's a true friend," the former Marine officer said of Rohrabacher. "Second of all, he's a true friend of freedom."

The cockeyed, boyish charisma is still there: the puppy-dog eyes, the low husky voice, the gap-toothed grin, the look of utter sincerity--real or contrived--that made him a television natural in his dramatic congressional hearings four years ago. Oliver L. North, the Marine lieutenant colonel who carried out the orders of his White House superiors too well, is back and talking--but still telling no secrets.

The man who may be only days away from becoming Virginia's next senator lopes onto the train station platform, one hand protectively cradling a foam coffee cup while the other reaches out in greeting to 100 or so well-wishers waiting in the chilly morning air to meet him. "Good mornin', folks," he says, flashing the well-known gap-toothed smile that makes him look like he is still in the process of shedding his baby teeth. "I'm Oliver North and I'd sure appreciate your vote." "You got it, Ollie!"

Fifty-five days ahead of him, 13,000 miles behind him, Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, USMC (Ret.), steps out of a motor home nicknamed Rolling Thunder and walks toward his next audience. For today's performance, North is not the decorated Marine colonel on trial for intentionally deceiving Congress. He's not the Reagan insider who orchestrated a covert gun-running operation to the Nicaraguan rebels from his tiny office a few steps from the West Wing.

In Column Right on June 9, Cal Thomas argues that Republicans who criticize Oliver North "dare not speak" their motive, namely that "weak men fear strong men." He calls us spineless for not supporting North's traditional values. The appalling truth is, too many Republicans have been spineless for remaining silent and not exposing the extent of North's amorality. For it is well documented that North is a narcotics trafficker! In 1990, North was banished for life by our neighbor, Costa Rica, which declared him persona non grata --the most severe non-criminal penalty a government can impose.

Oliver L. North won muted endorsements Monday from a handful of potential Republican Senate colleagues, but former President Gerald R. Ford joined other prominent Republicans who have refused to back the former White House aide in his bid for U.S. Senate.

Oliver North continues to show his contempt for the Constitution. How dare someone who so blatantly and admittedly "circumvented" the Boland amendment become a spokesperson for morality in this country. The same amendment that allows North to be so well paid to express ideas that many Americans find both disturbing and repulsive also protect Ice-T's expression. It is not popular music, or Murphy Brown for that matter, that is destroying the moral fabric of this country, but rather that segment of our society and government that feels it is above the law and for whom the Constitution is merely an inconvenience.

Ollie North gripped a Bible, stood tall and squinted into the afternoon sun spilling over the Contra Costa County hills. Flashing a Steve Martin-like smile, he cracked: "It's an honor for me to be in anyplace that's got the word Contra in its name." Lt. Col. Oliver L. North USMC (Ret.