Just Nominated but He’s Already Being Counted In

The Reagan Administration must believe in doing things by the numbers, judging from the Roman numerals behind the names of many officials. William L. Ball III, President Reagan’s nominee to be secretary of the Navy, is only the latest example. A look through a directory of Administration officials shows eight others with a III behind their names, including such well-known names as Secretary of Defense Frank C. Carlucci III, Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III, director of the Office of Management and Budget James C. Miller III and Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III. There are four with a II after their names. But they are all outdone by deputy Defense Secretary William Howard Taft IV and Transportation Secretary James H. Burnley IV.

--Saying that they wanted something worthwhile to come out of the death of their son while on his way to a University of Oregon wrestling meet, writer Ken Kesey and his wife, Faye, have given the school a $33,000 custom-made 17-passenger bus with money from lawsuits filed after the accident. “We didn’t want something like that to happen and think it didn’t make any difference,” Kesey, author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” said in a brief ceremony where he presented the bus to school officials. “We felt it would be unthinkable to get some kind of settlement and spend it on something unrelated.” Jed Kesey was killed in 1984 when the Oregon team’s bus crashed. The Keseys sued the university and the owner of the van, alleging they were negligent in not providing sufficient safety equipment on the vehicle.

--Several entertainers and athletes will make a pitch for the organ donor program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Singer Barbara Mandrell will be the host of a celebrity softball game June 3 at Vanderbilt’s football stadium in Nashville, Tenn., the school announced. Others expected to participate include Roy Acuff, Lucille Ball, Patrick Duffy, Ralph Emery, Morgan Fairchild, Frank Gifford, Bob Hope, Gladys Knight, Emmanuel Lewis, Willie Nelson, Walter Payton, Minnie Pearl, Ahmad and Phylicia Rashad, Herschel Walker, Danny White, Betty White and Oprah Winfrey and Mandrell’s sisters Irlene and Louise.