FIRST OFF . . .

Rob Lowe, who has remained silent since a suit was filed against him last month charging that he seduced an Atlanta teen-ager into appearing in a videotaped sex session with him, has filed court documents contending that the parents of the girl tried to extort $500,000 from him. The documents, filed Tuesday in Fulton County State Court by Lowe’s lawyers, deny the allegations that Lowe, while in Atlanta for the Democratic National Convention, enticed 16-year-old Jan Parsons and claim that the girl’s mother, Lena Arlene Wilson, used extortionist tactics “by implicitly threatening him with adverse publicity.” The court papers said Wilson sought as much as $500,000 while the girl’s father, John C. Parsons, offered in March and April to ensure that no suit would be filed--in exchange for $500,000. An affidavit filed by Edgar A. Neely III, Lowe’s lead counsel, says Parsons and his attorney met with him in May to discuss the possibility of Parsons’ filing a criminal lawsuit in place of Ms. Wilson’s civil suit, and asked again for the money to prevent that from happening.