Joe Montana Drafted to Carry Ball for Kidnaped Girl

--Investigators trying to find a kidnaped 9-year-old girl went the extra yard and drafted star quarterback Joe Montana to help. The San Francisco 49er and his wife, Jennifer, made a public appeal for the return of Michaela Joy Garecht. “We’re here as parents. . . “ the football player said. The Montanas spoke at the FBI’s San Francisco headquarters to bring attention to the search for Michaela, who was abducted in front of a Hayward, Calif., supermarket Nov. 19. They were asked to appear by FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard Helms, who felt the involvement of a celebrity could help. They have two daughters, 3-year-old Alexandra and 2-year-old Elizabeth. “I don’t think a day goes by when this is in the news that we (as parents) don’t think about it,” Jennifer Montana said. “We were out getting a Christmas tree the other day, and I called for our daughter Alexandra and she didn’t answer. I called twice more before I heard, ‘I’m here, Mommy.’ When I heard that little voice, my heart started beating again!”

--Griffin O’Neal will be ordered to return to Annapolis, Md., in January to face charges of violating terms of the probation imposed after his conviction in the 1986 boating accident that killed his companion, officials said. Deputy State’s Atty. Gerald Anders said O’Neal has not performed the 400 hours of community service that was a condition of his probation. O’Neal, son of actor Ryan O’Neal, was given a suspended 30-day sentence and 18 months of probation for reckless boating in the accident, which killed Gian-Carlo Coppola, son of movie director Francis Ford Coppola.

--Princess Beatrice, 3-month-old daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York, will be christened Dec. 20 in London’s St. James’s Palace by the Archbishop of York, Buckingham Palace announced. The palace statement said that for “personal and appropriate” reasons, the couple has chosen Dr. John Habgood, second-ranking prelate in the Church of England, rather than the Archbishop of Canterbury, the church’s spiritual leader, to christen their daughter. Queen Elizabeth II, as Princess Elizabeth of York, was also christened by the then-Archbishop of York.