For Clark Kent, Wimpery Is Out

--Don’t mess with the new Clark Kent. One of America’s best-known wimps has taken a cue from “Dirty Harry” and no longer will tolerate being embarrassed in front of Lois Lane, or anyone else. “Clark Kent is going to be more aggressive--not so squeaky clean,” said John Byrne, a Fairfield, Conn., cartoonist working to modernize Superman comics. Also, Superman’s archenemy, Lex Luthor, will be a wealthy businessman instead of a mad scientist. “Superman is still truth, justice and the American way--just with more grit. Superman had turned into Mary Worth; we want to try to make him a little more like ‘Dirty Harry’,” Byrne said. The 36-year-old free-lance cartoonist said the new Superman, like the Superman of old, will never kill anyone, although his enemies will never be quite sure of that. Superman’s villains frequently will be terrorists, Byrne said, “because they’re topical and you can drop bombs on them and no one cares.” But the romance between Superman and Lane is over. Instead, the romance, if any, will be between Superman’s alter ego, Kent, and Lane. “A romance with Superman is out of the question--you just don’t romance a god,” Byrne said.

--Followers of deported Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh are holding a weeklong sale to get rid of goods left over from the once flourishing but now disappearing central Oregon commune of Rajneeshpuram. Among the items: 450 sets of men’s thermal underwear, 82 circular beds, 24 money belts, 200 blindfolds, 18 collapsible blackjack tables, 75 meditation stools and a Convair 240 airplane priced at $155,000. There are also 15 large framed photos of Rajneesh, ousted from Oregon last year for immigration law violations and now seeking permanent residency status in Uruguay.

--Police officer Raymund S. Rogers was happy to see the man he arrested win part of the Massachusetts Megabucks jackpot the day before he went on trial. Now, he’s going to sue him for damages. Charles C. Babicz, 23, won $289,763 the day before he was convicted of firing three shotgun blasts at Rogers’ home in West Bridgewater, apparently because the patrolman had given him a traffic ticket. Babicz was one of six winners sharing in the Megabucks jackpot and will get $10,866 a year, after taxes, for 20 years. The officer plans to sue Babicz for peppering his house with his shotgun. “Things like this happen to cops a lot,” Rogers said. “But, usually, the guy who does it to you doesn’t have any money, so you can’t pursue him with a civil suit. This guy now has some money.” Babicz picked up his first check last Thursday and on Friday was sentenced to two years in county jail.