He’s Angling for Packed Pews on ‘No Excuse Sunday’

--One Baptist minister, tired of preaching to those who attend church and getting excuses from the others in his congregation who don’t show up, says he is going to try for a packed house by dealing with those excuses head on. For folks who would rather be “where the fish are biting’ ” than contemplate the wages of sin, the Rev. Gene Garrison planned to stock a fountain at the First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City with fish, then hand out rods and reels. For those who sleep through services, there will be cots. Pews will be reserved in the front of the sanctuary for those who complain that they can’t hear the sermon, and in the back for people who complain that the preaching is too loud. “It’s ‘No Excuse Sunday’ here,” Garrison declared. “For all the excuses we could think of--about 15--we have answers. When our church members enter the doors they can take their pick.” The minister added: “We’ll have two doctors for people who feel too ill to come. We’ll have steel helmets for people who are scared the roof is falling in.” And for those who get hungry precisely at noon, Garrison will have frozen dinners ready. The subject of the minister’s sermon? The evils of using excuses to miss church services.

--Shauna Jean Redford, 23, daughter of actor-director Robert Redford, married Eric Matthew Schlosser, the son of an RCA executive, in a private ceremony at her parents’ mountain retreat at Sundance, Utah. About 50 people attended the ceremony Saturday, conducted by Utah Supreme Court Justice Michael Zimmerman. The setting was the lawn of the Redford home near Sundance, a ski resort north of Provo that is also the site of the Sundance Institute, a center established by Redford for independent filmmakers.

--President Reagan’s daughter Maureen arrived in Israel’s port of Haifa aboard the Norwegian cruise ship Royal Viking Sky for a one-day private visit, the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv said.

--Country-western singer Crystal Gayle, whose “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” won a Grammy Award in 1978, is expecting her second child in the spring, her publicist announced. Gayle, 34, a younger sister of country-western star Loretta Lynn, is currently on tour.

--Nancy Reagan has an all-star supporting cast in what will be the first rock video starring a First Lady. The song, “Stop the Madness,” is part of her campaign against drug abuse. The video was made in the Blue Room of the White House, where she was joined in the chorus by Herb Alpert, LaToya Jackson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michelle Lee and David Hasselhoff, among others. The video will be premiered in Los Angeles at the Entertainment Industries Council dinner Oct. 26, when information on the release of the recording will be announced.