Monday, May. 10, 2004

Milestones

By Melissa August; Elizabeth L. Bland; Mitch Frank; Unmesh Kher; Carolina Miranda; Nadia Mustafa

WON. SMARTY JONES, 3, a redeemed lost cause; the 130th Kentucky Derby. Owner Roy Chapman almost sold all his horses after his trainer was murdered in 2001, but he kept two promising colts. That looked like a mistake when one of them, Smarty, smacked his head on a starting gate last summer, fracturing his skull. But the Philadelphia Flyer is now 70, the first undefeated Derby winner since 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew.

ENGAGED. DONALD TRUMP, 57, billionaire developer, to model MELANIA KNAUSS, 33. Trump, who has lived with Knauss for five years, sealed the deal with a $2 million, 12carat diamond ring.

ENDED PRODUCTION. OLDSMOBILE, the oldest U.S. automotive brand name; after the last Alero (its only surviving model) rolled off the line at a General Motors plant in Lansing, Mich. A middle-class stalwart of the GM line, with 35.2 million cars made since 1897, Olds lost out in competition with minivans, SUVs and imports in the 1980s. In 2000 GM announced that the line would end after the 2004 Alero.

ARRESTED. ABUBAKAR BA'ASYIR, 66, Indonesian Muslim cleric; on the day he was to be freed after serving 18 months for minor immigration offenses; in Jakarta. Authorities say they have new evidence that he heads the radical group Jemaah Islamiah and that he approved a string of bombings, including the 2002 Bali attack that killed 202 people, although he has been acquitted of those charges. (He has consistently denied involvement in terrorist activities and is suing TIME for a 2002 article that linked him to terrorism.)

ACQUITTED. JAYSON WILLIAMS, 36, former NBA All-Star; of aggravated manslaughter; in Somerville, N.J. He was convicted on four lesser counts, including tampering with evidence to try to conceal the fatal 2002 shooting of limousine driver Costas (Gus) Christofi by a shotgun Williams was handling at his mansion. He could face as many as 13 years in prison.

DIED. HUBERT SELBY, 75, whose 1964 debut novel Last Exit to Brooklyn was met equally with shock and praise and was made into a 1989 film; of pulmonary disease; in Los Angeles. The book brutally depicted the seedy underbelly of 1950s Brooklyn as a wasteland prowled by gangs, prostitutes and transvestites.

DIED. JOHN MAYNARD SMITH, 84, evolutionary biologist who revolutionized the study of animal behavior by applying game theory to the study of evolution; in Sussex, England. He answered such questions as why parents sometimes stick around to raise their children but other times leave the burden to a mate.

DIED. JOSEPH CULLMAN, 92, who as CEO of Philip Morris from 1957 to '78 plowed through rising concerns about smoking to turn the tobacco company into one of the largest U.S. corporations; in New York City.

DIED. CLAUDE (FIDDLER) WILLIAMS, 96, Count Basie's first recorded guitarist and a master of the jazz violin; in Kansas City, Mo. Born in Oklahoma, he supposedly helped teach a young Charlie Parker how to switch from one chord to another. He toured into his 90s and played at President Bill Clinton's second Inauguration.