She Learns How to Put Zip Into Life Off the Beaten Path

For three months, Patricia Laferriere did not receive one single bill in the mail. But, surprisingly, she was not happy. Laferriere also did not receive any Christmas cards or letters or advertising brochures. She and others who moved into a new development on the Warren-Bristol line in Rhode Island apparently had moved off the post office’s beaten path. When she checked with the Warren post office about the problem, Laferriere said, she was told that the mail was being processed through Bristol. At Bristol, postal clerks told her the mail had been held up in Warren. When she checked back with Warren, she said a clerk told her: “You have no business bothering us.” Laferriere finally aired her complaints before the Warren Town Council. Warren Postmaster Frank A. Halm said he would write to Laferriere’s creditors to explain that she really did not receive her bills. “There was a breakdown in communication,” Halm said. His clerks were supposed to forward the mail for 14 homes in the development to Bristol, but instead sent the mail back to Providence stamped “no such address.”

--The Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Supremes, the Drifters and the Beach Boys joined other legendary performers in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Wednesday night. Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly and Les Paul were among those named as early influences on rock ‘n’ roll, while Motown Records’ Berry Gordy Jr. was added to the hall’s list of music business giants. The performers were honored at the third annual black-tie dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Celebrities who gathered for the event included former Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and her son, Sean, Dylan, Muhammad Ali, Little Steven, Jeff Beck, Little Richard, Elton John, Neil Young, Pete Seeger, Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Mick Jagger, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and Arlo Guthrie. Potential inductees to the hall are not eligible until 25 years after the release of their first record, making the selections a tribute to lasting musical value. The hall, founded in 1985, is in the process of establishing a permanent archive and museum in Cleveland.

--Former Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger has been appointed a distinguished visiting professor at Edinburgh University in Scotland this summer. Weinberger, who resigned his Cabinet post last year, will spend four weeks at the university taking part in a special project called Tech 88, which will investigate the interplay among technology, communications and the humanities. He will join seminars and discussions and give a public lecture on Aug. 12.