Couple Bridge Gulf to Put Americans in the Picture

--Anne and Steve Cocklin are bringing Persian Gulf action into U.S. living rooms. The couple--he is a cameraman and she is his sound technician--have been in the gulf since late last year as the eyes and ears of U.S. TV networks operating through the Pentagon’s news media pool. Anne, 34, and Steve, 37, of Buffalo, N.Y., were in Italy trying to break into television news. “We were down to our last $100 and getting ready to go home,” Steve said. “That was in 1981, in May. The Pope got shot. The telephone started ringing.” When the U.S. presence in the gulf increased last year, the Cocklins became a common sight on the ships and helicopters in the area. Asked if they ever felt their lives were on the line, both answered: “April 18.” That was the day U.S. forces destroyed two Iranian oil rigs and sank several Iranian vessels. The Cocklins were filming from the frigate Jack Williams when it came under attack off Iran. “In any other situation we’ve ever been in, any combat, you can go in, get the bang-bang, and get out. But this time, we had to stay put. We were the target,” Anne said.

--Lowell, Mass., the birthplace of “On the Road” author Jack Kerouac, is finally paying tribute to its native son. Poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti will help celebrate the writer who died in 1969 at age 47. Highlighting the weeklong tribute will be dedication Saturday of the Jack Kerouac Commemorative, an eight-column granite centerpiece of a cross-shaped plaza. City officials for many years resisted recognizing the author of “The Town and the City,” “The Subterraneans” and 18 other books, whose characters were often fast-living types who thumbed their noses at the complacency of 1950s America.

--If you’re planning a trip to Green Hill Beach in Rhode Island, be sure to take along $10,000 for parking. The state Supreme Court upheld Raymond and Marilynn McConnell’s plan to sell car condominiums 100 yards from the Atlantic beach, which is plagued by parking problems. South Kingstown Town Clerk Elizabeth Wilson had balked at granting condominium rights, saying zoning approval was needed. The McConnells have 47 9-by-18-foot “autominiums.” McConnell said 26 of them are spoken for and he expects no problems selling the remainder, although the $10,000 price might rise because of legal costs.