FIRST OFF . . .

Just about everybody in Midland, Tex., it seems, wants a piece of the pie, when it comes to TV-movie rights to Jessica McClure’s rescue from an abandoned well there last fall. Bickering has gotten to the point that Midland Mayor Carroll Thomas said this week that he will try to resolve squabbling between two groups of rescuers by appointing a citizens’ committee to review proposals for a television movie about the dramatic event. The rescuers formed two associations--one mostly made up of municipal workers and the other composed of volunteers. Trouble started when the volunteers negotiated a deal with Los Angeles producer Larry Spivey, president of Highland Communications Group Inc., for an initial $200,000, plus future payments, a spokesman for Spivey said. The competing 11-member group of municipal workers hasn’t made a deal, but said it wouldn’t work with Spivey. Both groups, however, have agreed to abide by the citizens’ committee’s decision. Ironically, Jessica McClure’s family hasn’t taken sides in the dispute, said Darrell Smith, the family’s attorney. He added that they won’t stand in the way of a movie being made. Jessica, who survived the 58-hour ordeal, had her second birthday on Saturday.