Sighting Dollars: “What do you call people...

Sighting Dollars: “What do you call people who make money off a dead man?” asked columnist Elaine Viets caustically in the St. Louis, Mo., Post-Dispatch Saturday. Smart, she said. The writer came across a Sherman Oaks company with a 900 number that’s supposed to be a network for Elvis Presley sightings. Viets listened to the line for a couple of days. It offered a tape of Elvis songs, taped comments from callers with messages for Elvis--but no sightings. Viets tried to reach the company itself, and even they could not be sighted: “all I got was their answering service. . . . So what did I get for my $6 call? A chance to listen to ads and buy more Elvis things.”

Koop Kudo: Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop’s warnings of the dangers of smoking and AIDS earned him the Harry S. Truman Award for Public Service in Independence, Mo., last week. The award is given by the city--hometown of the former president--to an American possessing Truman’s outspoken style and “exemplary” service, said Independence Mayor Barbara Potts. The award ceremony is May 6.

Charleston by Way of New Delhi: The Maharishi Heaven on Earth Development Corp. of Malibu hopes to build a community based on India architecture near Charleston, S.C., said a company spokesman last week. The community envisioned by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi would have one house per acre made of natural materials. The maharishi developed transcendental meditation in the 1960s.

Rosey the Social Worker: Former football star Rosey Grier has been hired by San Diego County to improve services to needy youngsters and their families. Grier followed up his 12-year football career with stints as an actor and author. County administrator Norman Hickey says Grier has “a unique capability to interface with virtually every facet of humanity, even those who have become splintered from society.”