Neighbors sue Heston for mudslide damage

Los Angeles – Neighbors who live down a hill from Charlton Heston’s home are suing the actor, alleging that their property was damaged two years ago when heavy rain sent hillside debris pouring into their home.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday by Jerome and Flora Heilweil alleges that “slope failure” on Heston’s property caused substantial damage to their home in January 2005, diminishing the market value of their property. The couple seek at least $1.2 million, as well as punitive damages.

Jeff Briggs, Heston’s longtime attorney, said the actor owns 10 percent of the Southern California hillside while the Heilweils own the rest. “It’s their hillside,” he said.

The neighbors and their insurance companies have been battling for almost two years, Briggs said.

Torrential rains caused the mudslide, and Briggs said his client should not be held responsible for any damage to a neighbor’s property.

Barrymore laughs with us

New York – Drew Barrymore wants everybody to lighten up.

“You know, it’s all just humor,” the 31-year-old actress says in an interview in the February issue of Harper’s Bazaar magazine, on newsstands Jan. 16. “Don’t take life so seriously. Don’t take fashion too seriously. Don’t take the movie industry too seriously. Don’t take love and your relationship so : heavy all the time.”

“Laugh, laugh, laugh,” she continues. “Life is like high school and it’s small and everybody talks about everybody, so just laugh :”

Barrymore, a once party-hearty girl who famously flashed her breasts at David Letterman, knows what it’s like to be talked about.

Though she dislikes being followed by the paparazzi, Barrymore says the attention she gets is more friendly than unpleasant.

“I always feel like people approach me like I’m totally their sister’s friend or something,” she says. “It’s so cool. How lucky am I?”

‘Officer’ Estrada trades obscenities with wounded man

Muncie, Ind. – Former “CHiPs” star Erik Estrada got into an expletive-laced shouting match with a man who called him Emilio Estevez amid the filming of a reality television series.

Estrada, who was sworn in as a reserve officer last month for CBS Corp.’s “Armed & Famous” show, was in an ambulance with Randall R. Sims, 53, when the exchange unfolded Wednesday night.

The 57-year-old actor entered the ambulance after being asked to remove handcuffs from Sims, who had been stabbed in the leg during a domestic dispute. After addressing Estrada as Estevez, another Hollywood actor, Sims said he didn’t want to appear on the show, which also stars La Toya Jackson, Jack Osbourne, Jason “Wee Man” Acuna and Trish Stratus.

The confrontation erupted after Sims, who led a successful push in 2004 to rename a Muncie street in honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., told Estrada he knew nothing about King and had only been in Muncie “for two days,” The Star Press reported Friday.