People in the news

Keillor gets restraining order against fan

St. Paul, Minn. – Garrison Keillor has gotten a restraining order against a Georgia woman he claims has made telephone calls and sent him explicit e-mails and disturbing gifts, including a petrified alligator foot and dead beetles.

A Ramsey County District judge issued the order against Andrea R. Campbell, 43, of Hawkinsville, Ga., on Friday. Campbell said she received it Monday.

In the petition filed Oct. 12, Keillor, 65, claimed the harassment started April 28, after Campbell attended a live performance of his public radio show, “A Prairie Home Companion,” in Columbus, Ga.

Keillor’s filing said the e-mails and letters were often “disturbing, unintelligible and rambling,” and in one, Campbell “graphically described making love to me.”

He also alleged Campbell showed up at his home in St. Paul in July. His wife was startled awake early one morning by the sound of someone rustling around outside the family’s house. She filed a police report.

Campbell denied the allegations in a telephone interview with the St. Paul Pioneer Press. She said she only wanted to show her gratitude for Keillor’s work.

“I am unclear as to what the problem is,” she said.

While Campbell said she loved Keillor, she also said it wasn’t physical. She said she is a happily married woman with five children.

“It’s transcendental love, that’s all,” she said. “Between a writer and a reader.”

Trudeau: ‘Doonesbury’ comic strip still tough

White River Junction, Vt. – Garry Trudeau says topics in his “Doonesbury” comic strip that were at first shocking to some readers aren’t so anymore, such as one character’s revelation 30 years ago that he was gay.

“Now I can pretty much write about gay issues and not hear from anyone,” Trudeau told students at the Center for Cartoon Studies on Monday. “Certainly popular culture has a role to play in destigmatizing.”

The 59-year-old cartoonist talked about his work process and the challenges he’s faced over his nearly 40-year career.

“I find it really hard,” he said of his work. “It’s no less hard than when I started.”

Trudeau said his syndicated political satire, which has 30 ongoing characters, has been pulled from newspapers over the years because of its content and political themes.

But Trudeau doesn’t see it as censorship. “I’ve been careful not to call it that … I call it editing.”

‘San Francisco Treat’ creator dies at 92

Vincent DeDomenico, 92, who died Oct. 18 of a heart attack at his home in Napa, Calif., invented Rice-A-Roni, the “San Francisco treat” that has been a staple of kitchen cupboards since the 1960s.

He also, with his brothers, bought Ghirardelli Chocolate from its founding family and operated the maker of rich, sweet confections for 22 years.

The products of those companies would make a tasty, if nutritionally unbalanced, meal by themselves, but his last venture upped the ante considerably.

The Napa Valley Wine Train, established in 1987 when DeDomenico was 72, featured white-tablecloth dining, five-course meals and a choice of fine California varietals, all served as the beautifully refurbished vintage railcars chugged through Napa vineyards at 18 mph.

DeDomenico, who enjoyed a glass or two of good red wine each day, was a pasta man all his life, one of his daughters said.

“He lived every day to its fullest, that’s for sure,” daughter Marla Bleecher said.