Royal Chatting: Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko...

Royal Chatting: Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko spent the first day of their first official trip outside Japan in Chiang Mai, Thailand. But it had reached the point Sunday where their tight schedule was well on the way to becoming a chief of staff’s worst nightmare as the couple stopped to hang and jaw with the folks. “He asked me what I do and I told him I am a teacher,” said Kallaya Sunilahong, principal of an elementary school. “Then he asked me where I teach and I said at the small school behind the temple.”

* Beat ‘em with Bach: Here was Greg Leathem’s problem: Kids. You know, the ones who hang out at convenience stores until all hours of the night. He wanted them to go away from his convenience store. They wouldn’t. So he brought in the one thing guaranteed to send a teen scampering: Classical music. Since the gentle sounds have started playing in his store parking lot 24 hours a day, the lot has been teen-free.

* Quoting: “I’ve seen elections turn into auctions,” Rep. Dennis Eckart (D-Ohio) said Monday. And with that observation, he announced that he won’t run for reelection in November, 1992, because he’s dissatisfied with politics and wants to spend more time with his family. “The money chase may soon chase more people like me out,” said Eckart, 41, a six-term congressman and father of an 11-year-old. “It’s a very exciting life, but you find yourself being increasingly pulled in too many different directions at one time.”

* Romance Lives: Once upon a time last winter Lesli Reckert, an airlines sales rep in North Carolina, and her friends sent boxes of goodies to the Gulf. They were picked up by Marine 1st Lt. Matt Nelson and his unit. Reckert and Nelson soon began corresponding. When Nelson returned May 5, Reckert greeted him at Camp Lejeune with pizza and beer.The romance kicked into high gear last month during a beach stroll. They came upon a bottle with a message in it, one that Nelson had planted for the occasion. Reckert read the message: “No ocean is wide enough to keep me from you. I love you. Will you marry me?” Their wedding is set for March 21.