After 50 Years Apart, Son Shine Back in Father’s Eyes

--Rabbi Shalom Atias’ search for his long-lost son will soon end on a happy note. Atias, 110 years old and in good health, will meet his son, Meir, for the first time in 50 years. “His eyes shone when he spoke with Meir on the telephone,” another son, Moshe, said in Jerusalem. “He was very happy.” Moshe was expected to go to France today to accompany Meir, 61, to Israel. After an Israeli official had told the family that Meir was in France, Moshe established communication with Meir, who then sent his father his telephone number. Meir said he remembers his father well, even though he was only 11 when they last met in northern Africa before World War II. Moshe said that his father, for reasons that were unclear, had separated from his first family before the war, and the mother lived with her children in Algeria, while Atias lived in Tunis. In 1951, he moved to Israel with his second wife.

--The Great Anti-Cigarette Crusader in the White House has scored an impressive victory over smoke and ill health. Sam Donaldson, ABC’s White House correspondent, praised the installation of an $800 air filter in the pressroom, calling it “an excellent first step.” Donaldson, a reformed smoker who has been campaigning against cigarettes for several months, won declarations of voluntary cooperation in his no-smoking battle from the White House Correspondents Assn. and White House spokesman Larry Speakes. Now, the reporter, known for his combative style at press briefings, wants “No Smoking” signs posted in the rear of the pressroom. When asked about the cost of the filter to the taxpayers, Donaldson replied: “I don’t think the taxpayers are going to worry about $800 if it makes people healthier. Money spent on health needs is well-spent. I’d feel worse if more money were spent for a useless weapons system.”

--Wilfred Griggs of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, finds it amusing. The display of 72 ancient Egyptian artifacts from the reign of Rameses II is an impressive sight, said Griggs, who is the director of Ancient Studies at BYU. But he chuckles when he hears comments from some of the visitors to the exhibition. “Just the other day, there was a dear, sweet lady who had gone through the exhibit and just didn’t understand some of the things,” Griggs said. “She was apologizing to me about her lack of knowledge when she said: ‘I guess maybe before I came and saw Rameses II, I should have seen Rameses I.’ ” Griggs said one woman told him she had seen better things at a garage sale. “All I did was ask her to give me the address of that garage sale because I’d like to go to it,” he said.