Arizona Celebrities Go On the Record Against Hunger

--Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt and his wife, Hattie, Rep. Morris K. Udall, the Phoenix Suns gorilla and more than 75 community leaders are singing to stop hunger. “Hear Your Heart” was produced by the nonprofit FAAN Band--Feed Arizona and Africa Now. “We already feel like the project is a success,” group chairman Pat Finn said. The record will be sold for $2, with $1 for the Arizona Food Bank and $1 to UNICEF for African famine relief, Finn said. Conceived by Finn and the staff of his local TV show, “Finn and Friends,” the music was written by Mike Waldrop, a member of the band Catch 22. Babbitt’s press secretary, Jim West, said: “The governor is on the record, but he does not have a singing role. Hattie is on the other side singing. . . . I would certainly assume the first lady of our state is a fine singer.”

--When the University Park, Tex., post office tried to pay its back rent, the check was delayed in the mail. That led U.S. District Judge Harold (Barefoot) Sanders to order the U.S. Postal Service to get out of the building it has used since 1956 within 60 days. Postal officials had withheld the rent in a dispute with the building owners. When they were sued, they tried to pay. But the check got “caught in the Christmas rush,” said Paula Mastropieri-Billingsly, the assistant U.S. attorney who represented the Postal Service.

--Carson City, Nev., plans to spend $92,000 to expand the city’s pet cemetery to include a viewing room for bodies and a room in which to select a casket. Animal Services Director Mike Conklin said 80% of the pet owners who use the cemetery ask for the services.

--Amy Carter, 17-year-old daughter of former President Jimmy Carter, will attend Brown University, her father said. Amy has said she is considering studying physics and astronomy.

--In the 20 years Michael Zinman sold Caterpillar Tractor Co. equipment, the company showed no sign of a sense of humor, he said. So he created “Raterpillar Tractor Co.” to tickle its funny bone. He didn’t. “Caterpillar decided to view it in the peculiar way in which I think only Caterpillar can view things,” Zinman, of Ardsley, N.Y., said. “I did not expect them to react the way they reacted.” The company threatened to sue him for trademark infringement. Eventually the giant tractor company settled the matter by paying $500 to take over the smaller one. But it refused to absorb Raterpillar’s assets: a couple of pet-store rats.