Shaft

Two brothers who disappeared after exploring the murky waters of an abandoned mine in the Cleveland National Forest were found dead Monday by a team of sheriff's divers. The discovery ended an anxious overnight vigil for family and friends, who waited for a trained cave diver to lead the search. The two men were reported missing Sunday by a friend who had refused to follow them into the water.

The original "Shaft" was not blaxploitation. John Shaft was the first black hero image with an appeal to both black and white ("Creative Soul Mates," by Anne Valdespino, May 26). Pictures that followed, such as "Superfly," were definitely the kind of pictures described by the adjective "blaxploitation." On behalf of Gordon Parks, the director, and myself, the producer of the original "Shaft," we certainly don't agree that "Shaft" should be mentioned in the same genre as those films that followed.

The Brooklyn Museum might want to consider pulling some of the space it is taking up with "Star Wars" gear and reallocating it to a mustard-colored Cadillac Coupe de Ville that spins like a woozy top when you hit the brakes. If you want to see the real pop-culture design statement of the '70s, look no further. This is the dream machine of "Undercover Brother," a super soul man who wears a matching, two-toned mustard-colored leather jacket and chugs a complementarily tinted soft drink.

An axiom of protecting America's natural heritage is that a win is only temporary, but a loss is forever. Nowhere is this more true than open pit mines--immensely damaging projects that leave toxic scars on the public's land and cleanup liabilities with the taxpayers. Californians can look forward to more of the same if the proposed Glamis Imperial Project, near the Colorado River in eastern Imperial County, is approved.

Relatives of 13 men who died in underground coal mine explosions accused a coal company Wednesday of ignoring repeated warnings that a fiery disaster was in the making. For a month, workers at Blue Creek No. 5 told Jim Walter Resources Inc. that the mine had dangerously high levels of volatile methane gas, said Mike Boyd, a miner whose brother, Clarence "Bit" Boyd, died in the Sunday blast.

Deep in the Apuseni mountains of western Romania, this town is sitting on a gold mine. But not everyone's happy about it. Will poverty-stricken locals get well-paid, safe jobs and new homes if the 2,000-year-old mine--which contains some of Europe's largest gold reserves--is fully exploited? Or will the mine, two churches and 600 houses be wiped off the map to create a modern open-pit operation that might not last two decades?

Actor Samuel L. Jackson and his actress wife, LaTanya Richardson, have put their Encino home of six years on the market at $2.8 million. Because they traveled so much, they lacked time until now to move into the Beverly Hills-area home they bought last summer from Roseanne for close to $8.9 million. Roseanne and her husband moved to Palos Verdes.

A construction worker fell down an open elevator shaft at a construction site Tuesday, plummeting 130 feet to his death, Garden Grove police said. Juan Hernandez Cruz, 18, of San Pedro was discovered by a co-worker about 1 a.m. at the bottom of a hotel being built at the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Chapman Avenue, Lt. John Woods said. Cruz was standing on a scaffolding on the 13th floor, hanging plastic sheeting over the exterior of the site for a new Marriott Hotel.

Frolicking in the woods behind the family home last spring, David Stam's twin 10-year-old daughters stumbled on an ominous legacy of the Gold Rush. A hundred feet up a hillside, Gabrielle and Danielle Stam discovered an old mine shaft lurking amid the pines, three stories deep--and dangerous. "I was stunned," recalled Stam, who moved his family to the 2-acre homestead five years ago. "Then all I felt was relief that none of the kids had fallen in."

Three of the summer's biggest movies--"Shaft," "Gone in 60 Seconds" and "Scary Movie"--have been transformed into three tepid DVDs. "Shaft" (Paramount, $30) is John Singleton's slick, violent remake of the 1971 classic that now stars Samuel L. Jackson as the supercool detective, John Shaft. The run-of-the-mill DVD features the wide-screen version of the film, the trailer, two music videos, standard cast and crew interviews, and a passable "making of" featurette, "Shaft: Still the Man."