BR5-49 singer weds

Chuck Mead, a former Lawrence resident who’s a member of the Nashville-based hillbilly band BR5-49, recently married his longtime sweetheart, Brenda Colladay, the curator of Opryland Museum in Nashville.

The couple, who have been together for 14 years, were married July 12 in Glasglow, Scotland.

BR5-49 had completed its three-week tour of Europe, which took it to Norway, Sweden, Holland, England and Spain. When the rest of the band returned to the United States, Colladay joined Mead in Europe. The couple reportedly tried to get married in Ireland but because of the waiting period in that country decided to travel to Scotland to tie the knot.

Handicapping the Emmys

Las Vegas Martin Sheen is the favorite to win a best-actor Emmy at least at some Las Vegas casinos.

Oddsmakers at Bally’s and the Stardust both like Sheen, who’s nominated for his third consecutive year as President Bartlet on NBC’s “The West Wing.”

Johnny Avello, race and sports book director at Bally’s, has Sheen at 6-5 to win, followed by first-time nominee Kiefer Sutherland of Fox’s “24” at 2-1. Joe Lupo, race and sports book manager at the Stardust, has him favored at 2-1, followed by Peter Krause of HBO’s “Six Feet Under” at 3-1.

Lights, camera, action figures

St. Paul, Minn. Minnesotans can finally see what juicy film role lured Gov. Jesse Ventura away from the state the day after the Minnesota Twins were targeted for elimination last fall.

Ventura plays a thief who steals the Liberty Bell in the comedy “The Master of Disguise.” The movie, starring comedian Dana Carvey, opens Friday.

In a cameo role, he joins a plot to steal the world’s precious symbols. As star-struck security guards toting their own Jesse Ventura action figures look on, Ventura hefts the historic bell.

Then he reminds the guards that those aren’t dolls they’re carrying, they’re action figures.

A Lifetime of ‘Justice’

Los Angeles Working-class hero Erin Brockovich has agreed to host a new series about inspiring women, the Lifetime cable channel said.

“Final Justice” is set to air in early 2003. It will tell the stories of inspiring women who have engaged in difficult quests or recovered from tragedy.

“These true stories need to be shared, and I know that ‘Final Justice’ will be an inspiration for all women to make a difference in their communities,” Brockovich, a Lawrence, Kan., native, said Monday.

Among other stories, “Final Justice” will document the case of a Louisiana woman who sought to make video voyeurism illegal after discovering her neighbor was taping her, and the efforts of a black woman from Kansas City who sought to punish three white men who killed her husband, after they were acquitted by an all-white jury.