None Was Fit to Be Tied but Ugly to the Touch Wins

It was an easy decision for the judges who had to pick the ugliest tie from among 66 finalists, “each a champion of ugliness in its own region,” that had been sent to the National Assn. of Men’s Sportswear Buyers trade show in New York. “We had to unpack them as they came in and that particular tie was ugly to the touch,” Jack Herschlag, executive director of the association, said of the winner. “This thing is a whole new dimension in ugliness.” The proud owner, the Rev. James Konrad of Peru, Ill., said he paid 25 cents at a church rummage sale for the silk aqua paisley tie that has threads hanging all over. He entered it in a Father’s Day ugly tie contest at a J. C. Penney store in Peru. Regional winners were sent to New York.

--Retired Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager was up to his old tricks, but this time his former neighbors in Hamlin, W. Va., were not complaining. Yeager, the first man to break the sound barrier, returned to his hometown to mark the 40th anniversary of his feat. Yeager, 64, started by swooping low over town in an F-4 Phantom jet, spiraling down to make four passes across town and departing with a final barrel roll. He returned with another pilot--this time in Marine Harrier jets--and again swooped over Hamlin. Townspeople remember a younger Yeager who was accused of scaring cows into miscarriages and blowing down corn with his low-flying salutes. “I thought he’d come in a little lower,” said resident Sharrell Lovejoy after the morning flights. “He’s put on some real shows over Hamlin over the years. There have been times when he knocked near all the leaves off the trees.” Later, Yeager helped dedicate a statue of himself in front of Hamlin High School.

--Ryoichi Sasakawa, a former war crimes suspect, received the Mahatma Gandhi World Peace Award, which in past years has gone to Mother Teresa, former President Jimmy Carter and the Philippines’ President Corazon Aquino. Sasakawa, 88, who has donated $2.4 billion to charities, received the award from the New York-based Gandhi Memorial International Foundation in a ceremony at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. Sasakawa owns the only private gambling concession in Japan and is chairman of the Japan Shipbuilding Industry Foundation. He was arrested by U.S. occupation forces as a suspected war criminal but was released after three years.