First Family Stresses Three Little Words: Just Say No

--President Reagan, vowing to “kick the dope peddlers right out of this country,” teamed with his wife, Nancy, to boost her campaign for young people to “just say no” to drugs. During a White House ceremony after Congress proclaimed “Just Say No Week,” Reagan praised the First Lady as “the champ who’s been leading this battle” and her cause as one that has helped turn around a problem that six years ago was “every bit as much a threat to the United States as enemy planes and missiles.” Reagan, flanked by eight Washington-area schoolchildren, said, “Every time Nancy and I meet this country’s wonderful young people, we feel more confident that we’re going to win this battle.” The “just say no” program, which asks children to take a pledge against drugs, began in Oakland in 1984.

--Bernadette Peters was named by the Drama Desk as best actress in a New York musical for “Song & Dance,” and Lily Tomlin won the best actress award for her one-woman play “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.” Sam Shepard’s “A Lie of the Mind” was honored as the outstanding new play of the 1985-86 New York season, and “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” won eight awards, including best musical. Ed Harris was named outstanding actor for his role in “Precious Sons,” and Joanna Gleason of “Social Security” was named best featured actress. Swoozie Kurtz won an Obie, awarded by The Village Voice, for her portrayal of a demented housewife in John Guare’s “The House of Blue Leaves,” and playwright Wallace Shawn was honored for his play “Aunt Dan and Lemon.”

--RoseAnn Aldi’s wedding was highlighted by police sirens instead of wedding bells, and it all began when a forgetful chauffeur locked the keys inside the limousine that was to take her to Immaculate Conception Church in Southington, Conn. The family called police, and two officers tried for 15 minutes to pry open the Lincoln Continental’s lock. When the driver refused to allow the window to be broken, officer Joseph Nadea loaded the bride in his squad car and turned on the siren. He got her to the church almost on time. With bridegroom Paul Rogala waiting at the altar, Aldi pulled up in a swirl of noise and flashing lights. Cynthia Aldi, mother of the bride, said the rest of the wedding went off without a hitch. “We had a video made of the wedding,” she said. “They got her getting out of the car. You couldn’t ask for a better picture.”