Hardin County woman wins a modeling job

Christina Ryan Claypool

Inspired by her mother's sense of fashion, a Hardin County, Ohio, woman has won a role as a model in the Fall, 2008, Spiegel catalog.

Christina Ryan Claypool of Dola, located south of Toledo between Lima and Findlay, will travel to New York City tomorrow, all expenses paid, and participate in a photo shoot on Monday with other winners in Spiegel's Reality Dressing Contest.

The company had invited women last year to submit an inspirational story, along with a photo, about a friend who influenced their style. Claypool, 53, chose her mother, "my dearest friend," Glenna Giesken Sprang, 75, a Glandorf, Ohio, native and former resident of Lima who now lives in the Philadelphia area.

"I wanted to brag about my mom," Claypool said in a telephone interview from her home this week. "She is truly the fashion expert. I don't see myself as a fashionable person, but my mom is so incredibly gifted.

"It doesn't have to do with money," she went on. Whether the outfit was from a thrift shop or "on sale, on sale, on sale," Claypool recalled, "My mother could always put together something and look beautiful."

Emily Rose Hannett, a Spiegel spokesman, said by phone from New York that eight "real women" were chosen to model in the fall catalog's Reality Dressing section, whose theme is "fabulous at every age." The catalog is scheduled to go into the mail in July.

Hannett said four of the winners are in their 20s; three of them will model in the "first job ... fabulous style" section. The fourth twenty-something and the four older women will each model in their age bracket - 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s.

Claypool - who said she enjoyed reading Millie the Model comic books as a girl - was the winner in the 50s category.

Vincent D'Onofrio's wife delivered the perfect Valentine Day's gift: a baby boy.

Luca D'Onofrio was born Feb. 14 to the Law & Order: Criminal Intent star and his wife, Carin, series spokesman Pam Golum said on Wednesday.

The couple have a 6-year-old son, Elias. D'Onofrio has a teenage daughter from a previous marriage.

With the fate of their futures in America's hands, American Idol's top 24 singers were whittled down to just 20 last night.

Not making the cut was Ohio's own Garrett Haley, 17, a junior at Elida High School, about seven miles northwest of Lima.

His rendition of "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" for '60s week was called "boring" by two of the three judges on Tuesday.

"You gotta bring something new and interesting to it," Judge Randy Jackson told the teen with the shoulder-length, wavy brown hair. "You had a couple of pitch problems, and it was just kinda boring."

Judge Simon Cowell said Haley wasn't relevant like today's recording artists, and even took some jabs at the singer's fair skin tone.

"It was boring, your voice sounded a bit whiney, you looked terrified, and it looks like you've been shut up in your bedroom for about a month," he said.

Even after the harsh critique, Haley stayed positive when it was revealed last night that he was the first of the four heading home.

"I'm happy with the way I am," he said. "I wouldn't change a thing."

The last time a performer from northwest Ohio or southeast Michigan made it to a semifinal round on American Idol was back in 2003. Candice Coleman, then 22, of Toledo also made it into the top 24 during Season 2 before she was voted off the show.

The three others eliminated from the show last night were Amy Davis, 25, of Lowell, Ind.; Joanne Borgella, 25, of Hoboken, N.J., and Colton Berry, 18, of Staunton, Va.

This week was the first time this season that America was given a chance to vote to keep their favorite contestants on the show, and more than 28 million votes were tallied for the contestants on the popular Fox reality TV show.

The top 10 men will again compete for America's votes on Tuesday, followed by the top 10 women, who will sing on Wednesday.

The new star of the Corpus Christi (Texas) Hooks minor league baseball team wants some playing tips.

Justin Timberlake will portray fictional Hooks player Carlton Garrett in the upcoming movie The Open Road. The 27-year-old pop star tried to meet with players of the Houston Astros' Double-A team in Austin recently, but schedules didn't align.

"Justin wants to portray what it's like playing for the Hooks, playing for an Astros minor league team and playing at Whataburger Field," Hooks President J.J. Gottsch said.

The Open Road is the story of a young man trying to reconnect with his father - a legendary athlete played by Jeff Bridges - as he struggles to get home to his ailing mother. Mary Steenburgen and Kate Mara are also in the film.

Writer-director Michael Meredith, son of former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith and a former University of Texas student, drew on his Texas ties for the concept, Gottsch said.

While most of the real Hooks are preparing for spring training, Gottsch remained hopeful that a handful of players may be able to consult with Timberlake - No. 31 in the movie - about his role. Shooting on the movie began Tuesday in Hammond, La.

Jesse L. Martin is putting down his Law & Order detective's shield, and Anthony Anderson is in negotiations to pick it up.

Martin, who has been with the NBC drama since fall 1999, will film an episode to air this spring, explaining the departure of his character, New York police Det. Ed Green, a person familiar with the show said Wednesday.

Anderson is concluding negotiations to join the cast as a new partner for Det. Cyrus Lupo, played by Jeremy Sisto, said the person, who wasn't authorized to announce the change and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Martin is set to play Marvin Gaye in Sexual Healing, a movie biography of the ill-fated singer, with James Gandolfini costarring. Filming on the project is to begin this spring, according to trade paper reports.

Anderson recently starred in the Fox TV series K-Ville. His other credits include FX's The Shield and the films The Departed and Transformers.

Martin once took a break from Law & Order to star in the 2005 film version of Rent, the Broadway version of which he appeared.

Peter Fonda, the king of cool in Easy Rider, will receive the 2008 King Vidor Career Achievement Award at next month's San Luis Obispo International Film Festival in California.

He will appear at the festival March 15 to accept the honor, Executive Director Wendy Eidson said Wednesday. The King Vidor award, named after the director of the 1956 movie War and Peace, honors career achievement in filmmaking.

Fonda, who will turn 68 tomorrow, is best known for his role in the 1969 film Easy Rider. He has received two Oscar nominations, one for acting (Ulee's Gold ) and one for screenwriting (Easy Rider).

His screen credits also include Race With the Devil and

3:10 to Yuma.

A woman who stalked Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for using her work computer at Sandia National Laboratories to track and harass him and his wife.

Devon Townsend has 60 days to surrender to a minimum-security prison in Phoenix, where she is expected to receive mental health care. She had pleaded guilty to stalking and other counts.

Townsend, who worked in Sandia's technology and manufacturing group, used lab computers to illegally access private information about Bennington and his wife, Talinda, in 2006.

According to a plea agreement, Townsend said she obtained family photos, monitored voice messages, and traveled to Arizona to meet Bennington, using information she learned about his travel plans.

Investigators said Townsend also hacked into the e-mail of Bennington's wife and at one point called the former Playboy model and threatened her.