Offices, a Studio, a Library--but No Room for Doubt

--After decades of positive thinking, and a little construction work, Norman Vincent Peale’s Center for Positive Thinking has been dedicated in Pawling, N.Y. On hand for the opening of the two-story building, which includes offices, an auditorium, seminar rooms, a library and a recording studio, were Art Linkletter; former Kentucky Gov. John Y. Brown; Brown’s wife, Phyllis George, and a crowd of about 1,000. The center will house a collection of the works of Peale, who will turn 90 this week. Included will be sermons, books, photographs and articles from his 66 years of promoting personal motivation. Peale’s book “The Power of Positive Thinking” was published in 1952 and has sold 15 million copies worldwide. The new center is at the Foundation for Christian Living, which Peale established with his wife, Ruth Stafford Peale, 48 years ago.

--Margaret M. Ray is not likely to show up on a list of Top 10 house guests on “Late Night With David Letterman.” The woman apparently broke a window and moved into Letterman’s New Canaan, Conn., house while he was out of town, police said. Ray was arrested in Letterman’s 1988 Porsche Carrera when she could not come up with the $3 toll at the Lincoln Tunnel on her way to New York with an unidentified 3-year-old. “I’m Mrs. David Letterman and this is David Jr.,” she reportely told the toll collector. “Don’t you think David Letterman is good for the toll?” Letterman, a bachelor, was contacted by phone and told officials that he did not know Ray and she did not have permission to drive the car. But Ray was released when the “Late Night” host declined to press charges. A few days later, however, Ray was arrested again, charged with burglary and held on $15,000 bail after returning to Letterman’s home, police said. Police Capt. Michael Angelastro said Ray will be prosecuted on the second arrest regardless of the entertainer’s wishes.

--Former Miss America Bess Myerson, who became New York’s cultural affairs commissioner before resigning amid charges of misconduct, has been charged with shoplifting $44.07 worth of batteries, earrings, nail polish and shoes. Myerson, 63, was arrested about 5 miles north of Allenwood Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania, where her boyfriend, Carl (Andy) Capasso, 41, is serving four years for tax evasion. Myerson’s Manhattan attorney, Frederick Hafetz, said: “This was an entirely unintentional incident. . . .. She was distracted that she had left her car unlocked and was going out to lock her car. She was also distracted by the pressure of recent circumstances.”