Mind Game: It wasn’t rape, but it...

Mind Game: It wasn’t rape, but it was coercion, Gail McDaniel testified Tuesday in a New Orleans court. Evangelist Marvin Gorman “never physically forced me, but as far as the threat of taking away everything that was important to me, he had the power,” she said in Gorman’s $90-million defamation suit against fellow evangelist Jimmy Swaggart. McDaniel, a baby sitter for Gorman’s children in the 1960s, testified she had sex with the minister several times in 1973. Gorman argues that Swaggart and others set out to ruin his ministry in the Assemblies of God church with exaggerated tales of sex.

Cool It: When the sparks start flying in a divorce case, lawyers won’t be able to add fuel to the fire if the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers has its way. Tuesday in Chicago the group issued guidelines to curb shady tactics among some lawyers. Among the rules: Attorneys must not stoke an already-tense situation, must avoid vindictive conduct toward a spouse and should keep a client’s relatives, friends or lovers from barging in on a case. The goal is to make sure the tactics employed by Arnie Becker on “L.A. Law” “are fiction rather than reality,” said the academy’s president.

Sing It: Helen Ladd, Miss Oregon, and the 49 other Miss America contestants were met by an impromptu serenade Monday when toured the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. A group of teen-age boys on their own tour circled around for an impassioned chorus of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling.” Then it was off to Atlantic City for the Sept. 14 contest.

Future Game: A man born with birth defects overcame his handicaps with wits and joined the Space Force to defend his fellow beings. Such a tale in “The Vor Game” won the 1991 Hugo Award Sunday for Lois McMaster Bujold of Columbus, Ohio. The Hugo--science fiction’s answer to the Oscars--was awarded at the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago.