Wife Gives Him Air, Disarmingly

--Warren Freiberg was mad enough to spit bullets as he listened to his wife’s radio talk show on WLNR in Lansing, Ill. That was when Freiberg learned that Libby Collins was turning his gun over to a gun-control proponent and having it chopped into little pieces. “Right now, he is not speaking to me,” Collins said. “It was my gun,” Freiberg retorted, adding that he plans to buy another. “I think my wife should mind her own business.” Freiberg, who also has a talk show on WLNR, called his wife’s show to complain. Then he invited her guest, Democratic state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, to appear on his show and “do a real American program, where people stand up for their constitutional rights, including gun ownership.” Collins said she had a machine shop destroy the gun to protect their 9-month-old baby. “I don’t think anybody with a child has any business with a gun in the house,” she said. Freiberg’s perceptions were diametrically opposite. “I was trying to protect my son, Christopher, and my wife,” he said. But, despite their differences, the couple apparently won’t be shooting it out over property settlements just yet. Said Freiberg: “I don’t plan to divorce her.”

--Paul Newman turned 60 Saturday. He planned to celebrate quietly with his wife, actress Joanne Woodward, at their Malibu home, a spokesman said.

--A cool cat snowed an Erhard, Minn., motorist and escaped a near-blizzard. Mavis Flemmer postponed a 50-mile drive home because of the weather and spent the night in a Fargo, N.D., motel. When Flemmer got home the next morning, her car seemed to be meowing. She found a black cat curled up under the hood. “We believe it got on in Fargo, since we hadn’t made any stops between Fargo and home,” she said.

--In a Chicago winter, home buyers get cold feet. So Stanleigh Fox figured out a way to warm up the deal for his home. He’s offering an eight-day paid vacation in Hawaii to anyone who buys his $143,000, three-bedroom house in suburban Winfield. Before offering the getaway, Fox had advertised the house for four days and received just four inquiries. But since he added Hawaii to the deal, his phone has heated up. “There were over 30 messages on the recording when I got home last night,” he said. “I have five appointments this weekend.” Fox’s roommate, Daryl Paddock, actually came up with the vacation idea. Fox picked Hawaii, which he figures will cost him $4,000--about $6,000 less than a realtor’s commission. “I’m not selling (the house) because there’s anything wrong with it,” Fox said. “I need to get closer to my job.”