Plug pulled on Dead reunion

Milwaukee A county highway committee denied a permit to the promoters of a Grateful Dead reunion concert, saying the area could not handle the expected crowd.

The Walworth County Highway Committee on Tuesday turned down the request by Clear Channel Entertainment to stage “Terrapin Station A Grateful Dead Family Reunion” Aug. 3-4 in East Troy.

The two-day concert would have been the first time Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir staged a concert together since the 1995 death of Jerry Garcia, the Dead’s leader and founder.

Officials said 200,000 were expected at event, but only 35,000 would be allowed in the Alpine Valley Music Theatre.

F. Lee flees Florida

West Palm Beach, Fla. F. Lee Bailey, who was disbarred in November for mishandling $6 million worth of stock for a client, has put his oceanfront house on the market and is moving back to Boston, his real estate agent says.

Bailey’s native Massachusetts also has revoked his law license.

The 69-year-old gained national prominence in 1966 for getting a reversal of the murder verdict against Sam Sheppard, an Ohio doctor convicted of killing his wife. The case became the basis for “The Fugitive” television series. Other clients have included O.J. Simpson and Patty Hearst.

His house at Point Manalapan is listed for $2.95 million.

Arkansas resting place

Belleville, Ark. When Carol Burnett brought some of her daughter’s ashes to the town where the comedian’s grandmother grew up, the scene was anything but mournful.

Hundreds turned out to enjoy bluegrass music and laugh along with Burnett, who appeared on a stage set up in the town park.

Burnett’s great-grandfather, F.C. Jones, made his living in retailing and farming in this west-central Arkansas community more than a century ago.

Burnett’s daughter, Carrie Hamilton, who lived in rural Colorado, died in January of cancer-related pneumonia. But she had visited Belleville to research the family’s history, and was captivated by the town. She told her family she wanted her ashes divided between Colorado and Belleville.

Stretch of history

Los Angeles Movie mermaid Esther Williams says she did some of her famous swimming scenes in lingerie.

Well, lingerie fabric, at least. The material was used because the rubber to make stretchable thread was needed for the World War II military effort.

“I begged them to please make me something that wouldn’t ride up my, well, you know. And they all told me that they used all the rubber for the tanks,” the 78-year-old Williams said last week during a “Tribute to Hollywood Icons of the Silver Screen” fashion show.

Williams said she and her costume designer finally persuaded a textiles firm to use latex with fabric. The result was a hot-pink satin latex suit she used in 1944’s “Bathing Beauty.”

Williams now designs the Esther Williams Swimsuit Collection of full-cut suits.