People – Crocodile Hunter Kids Have Taste for Adventure
Like father, like son?
The 4-year-old son of “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin wasn’t at all alarmed when he was recently bitten by a baby boa constrictor, according to his mother.
“He picked one of them up and it bit him on the finger, and he was so proud to have copped his first hit,” Irwin’s widow, Terri , said this week at an appearance at FAO Schwarz with her two children to promote a new line of toys.
“He said, ‘I hope it wasn’t venomous,’ so I assured Robert I wouldn’t actually let him play with venomous snakes,” she added.
Terri Irwin said the couple’s 9-year-old daughter, Bindi , was first bitten by a snake when she was 18 months old.
The girl, who is featured in the Discovery Kids Channel show “Bindi the Jungle Girl,” posed for cameras with a new action figure in her likeness.
“It’s every little girl’s dream to have an exact look-alike doll. It’s amazing,” said Bindi, who was signing action figure toys of her late father.
Steve Irwin, known through his nature TV series as a wrangler of crocodiles and snakes, died in 2006 from a stingray’s barbed tail during an underwater documentary shoot.
He was 44.
Priscilla joins dance stars
Priscilla Presley , Kristi Yamaguchi and Adam Carolla are catching dance fever.
They are among the dozen celebrities who have signed on to compete on the next season of “Dancing With the Stars.”
ABC says the other contestants include actors Marlee Matlin , Shannon Elizabeth and Steve Guttenberg ; tennis champion Monica Seles , magician Penn Jillette , R&B singer Mario and Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor .
Rounding out the cast will be television actors Cristian De La Fuente and Marissa Jaret Winokur .
The dancing competition is to begin March 17.
Mass transit gains star power
Chrissie Hynde took a ride this week on an Akron, Ohio, city bus to show her support of a countywide sales tax increase for mass transit.
The Akron native and the lead singer of The Pretenders said public transportation is “what makes a city a city.”
Her ride took her to downtown Akron with other tax supporters, who carried homemade and official Metro Regional Transit Authority signs promoting the tax issue on the March 4 ballot.
Metro RTA, which has a $29 million budget, seeks a permanent 0.25 percent sales tax increase to raise roughly $18 million in additional funding per year. It would raise the total sales tax in Summit County to 6.5 percent.
Officials say all weekend buses and a curb-to-curb service that helps the disabled and elderly would be cut without the increase.
– From Our Press Services
——————–
Today’s birthdays
Actor Sidney Poitier , 81; actress Marj Dusay (“Guiding Light”), 72; jazz and soul singer Nancy Wilson , 71; actress Sandy Duncan , 62; J. Geils of The J. Geils Band, 62; actor Peter Strauss , 61; singer-bassist Walter Becker of Steely Dan, 58; model Cindy Crawford , 42.
——————–
Originally published by From Our Press Services .
(c) 2008 Commercial Appeal, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.