She is aware of the legacy

DOTMAN. Alabama. Heather Whitestone is well aware of the legacy she will carry with her after passing on Miss America a crown next month, reporta AP.

Whitestone became the first deaf Miss America when she was crowned in September 1994.

I tn sure that I will have that unUi 1 die and there is nothing wrong with that." she said Saturday.

She said she a thrilled" about relinquishing her crown. Traveling to a different city every 36 hours — logging about 32.000 kilometres (20.000 miles) — has taken its toil

I hate hotels I used to love airplanes but now I hate airplanes, she said

Miss Whitestone was in her hometown to speak to a state convention of volunteer fire departments. She plans to finish her accounting degree at Jacksonville State University, but has no plana after that.

Sky is the limit for 'Waterworld’

LOS ANGELES. Aug 7 Kevin Costner s futuristic thriller "Waterworld" dominated North American box offices for a second week with an esUmated draw of 12 8 million dollar. industry sources said, reports AP.

Waterworld' remained No I despite competition from three new films, including Julia Roberts romantic comedy Something to Talk About . which came in second with ill million dollar take, sources said Sunday

"Babe, which chronicles the adventures of young pig. debuted in third with 9 million dollar, followed by Denzel Washington s high-tech thriller "Virtuosity." which earned 8.3 million dollar In its first weekend.

Waterworld.' In which Costner plays a gilled loner in a water covered world is the most expensive movie ever made, costing from 175 million dollars to 200 million dollars

The second week receipts buoyed spirits at Universal Studios, the film s distributor A spokesman said, however that it was still too early to judge whether the movie would turn a profit

Everybody had pretty much written off the movie before It was completed. This was very solid business and Waterworld' will rank hmong the top grossing pictures domestically and should have a really good overseas release said Alan Sutton. University’s vice president for national publicity

More attention to girls than politics

LONDON: Gerry Adams admits negotiating with Protestants as a teen-ager. But his goals were different back then, reports AP.

The leader of Sinn Fein, the party closely allied with the Irish Republican Army, says that like most youths growing up in Northern Ireland, he paid more attention to girls than politics.

When I was in Ballymurphy as a teenager and we began to discover there was such a thing as sex and there was the opposite sex. Our first fumbling explorations were — with Protestant young women — simply because they were just across the road from where we were." he said.

Adams. 46. spoke in a television interview taped Saturday. He has been in peace talks with British officials since last year, when the IRA declared a ceasefire in the 25-year Northern Ireland troubles.