They Came Back to Where They Got Away From It All

The lush, peaceful setting had been a welcome respite from their troubled home lives, and though circumstances have improved for many, the urge to return was strong for the 200 people who came to celebrate the 100th summer of Camp Algonquin, a retreat for low-income families on the Fox River outside Chicago. “I haven’t forgotten a single hike in the woods,” said Rose Boik, 82, who was there with her mother and five brothers and sisters in 1915. “It was the first time in our lives that we got to do anything that nice.” The camp, open year-round, offers the usual outings and water sports but also has a staff of counselors. Those who attend are invited not only on the basis of financial need but also for the severity of their personal problems, said camp spokeswoman Patricia Zuba. “They take my kids in the morning for games or walks in the woods,” said Brenda Sanders, 33, a single mother of three. “Then social counselors come in your cabin in the afternoon, and we all sit down and talk about our problems with the kids. They really want to know about you.”

--CBS got six minutes of dead air after anchorman Dan Rather, reportedly angry because tennis coverage would delay his newscast, stormed off the set of “CBS Evening News” in Miami at 6:30 p.m. Friday. The close U.S. Open match between Steffi Graf and Lori McNeil in New York ended shortly afterward and the tennis broadcast was wrapped up around 6:33. Rather, in an office nearby, returned when he was told that the network had “gone black,” and a shortened newscast went on at 6:39. Rather said later: “I’ve always believed the audience should be able to count on seeing the news at its regularly scheduled time and in its entirety. That was at issue Friday, but I would never . . . even think of deliberately allowing the network to go black.”

--They’re just as opposed to cover-ups as any law-abiding citizens. “We in the Bald Headed Men don’t have any room for drugs, plugs or rugs,” said founder John Capps at the group’s convention in Morehead City, N.C. Capps and colleagues will celebrate their less-than-hirsute pates with competitions for the most kissable, sexiest and smoothest bald heads. Capps said that he started the organization in 1973 “to eliminate the vanity that is associated with the loss of one’s hair and to inspire pride and dignity in being baldheaded.” Among the many bald men who haven’t gotten the message, Capps said, are sports commentator Howard Cosell and TV weatherman Willard Scott, who, he said, “goes either way.”