Man, 78, Felt a Draft When Uncle Sam Wanted Him

--Uncle Sam has changed his mind--he doesn’t want Nathan Matt after all. But the 78-year-old Miami man doesn’t feel slighted, since he had not taken the letter from the Selective Service seriously. The letter began: “As a result of a computer match between government files, you have been identified as a man who may be required to register with the Selective Service.” Matt said the government had his birthday right--Dec. 20--but “they had the year wrong. It’s not ’68. It’s ’08.” When Matt telephoned the agency, officials were apologetic, he said. Linda Stalvey, a spokeswoman for the agency in Washington, blamed the mistake on a computer error. “The last one I’m aware of happened in Philadelphia a year ago when three men in their mid-60s who had served in World War II were sent notices to register,” she said. Matt said that he probably would not have passed the physical for the draft anyway. “I can hardly even stand up,” he said.

--Queen Elizabeth II turned 61, marking the occasion quietly at Windsor Castle outside London, Buckingham Palace said. Prince Charles, her eldest son and heir to the throne, and his wife, Diana, wished her a happy birthday before leaving on a semi-official visit to Spain, the palace said. They and other relatives had spent Easter with the queen. Although Elizabeth was born April 21, her official birthday is celebrated with a parade every mid-June on a Saturday, to take advantage of better weather for a public observance. This year it falls June 13.

--Bride-to-be Janet Ciampanelli spent the $5,000 she had saved for her honeymoon after losing her heart to another. The North Providence, R.I., woman said it was love at first sight when a kitten was abandoned at an animal hospital where she works as a volunteer. His hind parts had been burned, and veterinarians, who speculated the cause was scalding water, concluded the animal would die without surgery. “Life is very precious. Even for a little animal that can’t talk,” Ciampanelli, 39, said. The first-grade teacher said her fiance agreed to spending the money for their honeymoon in late June on care of the gray-black kitten she named Ernie. After spending months in animal hospitals undergoing skin grafts and plastic surgery, Ernie now lives with Ciampanelli, five other cats and a dog.