Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 43

1E Creator of 'The Fugitive' is Executive suicide3E Artistic garbage1 3E Coping as a single parent6E Advic7E TV, Radlo12E Comics 10,1 1E Crossword 13E HOTTOPICS SPB -rflBKk. jMHNk I uuiujii jjiyisii inKsmumstfr taisiw aits is Despite equipment, fresco painting is touchy, tiring work .5 MOVIES Does 'Poetic Justice' have negative stamp? Pity the U.S. Postal Service. After "Cheers" finally goes off the air and frees letter carriers from the agony of being linked with insufferable know-it-all Cliff Claven, along comes "Poetic Justice." The source of postal workers' wrath is a mailman named Lucky (played by Tupac Shakur) and his best friend, Chicago (Joe Torry). Lucky and Chicago's transgressions range from the minor Lucky wears his cap backward, which is frowned on in the service to drinking and having sex in the back of a postal truck.

"To put this out and suggest that this is what goes on in the postal service, that terrible," protested Tyrone Cain, a clerk in the Los Angeles General Mail Center in South Central Los Angeles. David Mazer, the postal service's manager of corporate relations in Southern California, said he has heard grumbling about the film but that there isn't much the service can do about its inaccuracies. "Look at 'In the Line of Fire' and 'Dave' they take liberties with the president of the United States, so what are we going to do about a letter carrier?" Mazer asked. Los Angeles Daily News 1 jffclfn. wu If i HEALTH Expert: Strong family; makes for good kids li study shows problem parents can cause problem kids.

Artist Mark Balma, above, worked from a reclining position on a beach chair placed on a platform in the University of St Thomas in Minneapolis. He is painting a fresco on the atrium ceiling. At right, the work In progress, depicting hope, uses his wife, son and a neighbor In Italy. At left, Balma expects to complete four of the seven ceiling sections this summer before he returns home to Italy. It will be the largest fresco in the United States.

Below, his brushes. -1 Families that provide teenagers -with a healthy mixture of intimacy and independence "inoculate" their children against gang in- volvement, drug abuse and promiscuity, said Stephen Gavazzi, professor of family relations at Ohio State University, in the Journal of Adolescent Research. "As long as a family is meeting the emotional needs of a teen, that teen probably will mature well no matter who his or her friends are," he said. When teenagers don't experience intimacy and independence, they feel alienated and disconnected and problems can erupt. 1 7 1 i 1- 4 iiliiTi in i i inirr- -i if TRIVIA Costly injuries According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, cuts from paper currency result in an average of 81 people seeking emergency room treatment every day.

Some other odd injury statistics: Four people a day report being hurt by vending machines. Six DeoDle a dav need heto for I A' Staff Photos Tom Sweeney By Mary AbbeStaff Writer umbrella injuries. each chairs have probably done more for the quality of life of fresco painters than any oiner invention since Micneiangeio Eight people a day blame their injuries on house plants. began daubing away at the Sistine Cha pel ceiling in 1508. BEST BET program on the fresco project.

He paints six to eight hours a day, but other details prolong the work time. Last week, for instance, he had to prepare special paint samples so outlets for the sprinkler system could be painted to match the seams of the fresco. (Before the ceiling was even built, he had arranged for the sprinkler heads to be positioned between the fresco sections so they wouldn't interrupt the artwork.) He expects to finish the fresco's first four panels late this week and will then return to his home in Assisi, Italy, for the winter. Dividing his year between Italy and Minnesota allows him to take full advantage of the respective rainy seasons in both places the prime time of the year for fresco work. BALMA continued on page 3E Balma works from a white plastic beach chair perched on a rolling plywood table on a scaffold that fills about half the St.

Thomas atrium. Most days he reclines on his striped cushions for hours at a stretch, paintbrush in hand, gently stroking hand-ground pigments into wet plaster overhead. His position is similar to that of a dental patient: semi-recumbent, but not exactly comfortable. "This is the difficult part," said Balma recently. "Two months of frescoing is a long time, because you work a minimum 12-hour day.

We're into the third month now, and that's where the stamina comes in. You must pace yourself and maintain a certain momentum, which is critical to the drying of the medium." Balma's pace has kept him on schedule despite interruptions for interviews, photo sessions and last week's filming by a Connecticut-based documentary crew preparing a 60-minute educational Not that Mark Balma's life has been easy for the past three months, during which time he has completed four of the seven ceiling frescoes he designed for the atrium ceiling of the University of St. Tfiomas in downtown Minneapolis. I 9 17-by-l 12-foot ceiling is two stories above the granite floor of the university's new building at 1000 LaSalle Av. When finished in 1995, it will hold the largest fresco in the United States, bigger -even than Mexican muralist Oiego Rivera famous 1933 industrial panorama at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Color him vibrant ead for the Edina Art Center, 4701 W. 64th Edina. this Family enjoys making Eagan garden grow By Andale Gross Staff Writer his private garden is maintained with your financial help and support. All mon ey given by you is used tor the tiowers and maintenance of the grounds. Vi evening for a lively art talk by one of Minnesota's most distinguished painters, Bela Petheo of St.

Cloud. Hungarian by birth, Petheo, 59, fled his homeland in the 1950s, emigrated to the United States and taught at St. John's University in Collegeville for many years. Petheo is a vibrant colorist who favors exuberant landscapes and bold figure studies. Petheo's 6:30 p.m.

talk offers a sneak preview of what he may do in his three-day workshop at the center, Sept. 10 through 12. Today's talk is free; the workshop costs $95. Call 929-4555. Mary Abbe These words appear on the signs posted on a wooden shed in a grassy area next to a blacktop driveway at 1535 Cliff Rd.

in Eagan. As eyecatching as they are, the shed and signs don't hold interest for long. Almost instantly, attention turns to the gorgeous red salvias and yellow zinnias planted in color-coordinated bunches and lined up all along the driveway. White lilies are printed on Loraine Scherer's blouse, as she greets visitors with a grin. The 78-year-old woman flashes that smile for a reason.

Sure, she's overjoyed that another flower lover or curious sightseer has dropped by to snap photo after photo of her family's 4-acre flower garden. But the main reason Scherer's smiling: The flowers in the garden, which she started with her late husband, Richard, 40 or more years ago, still bloom. She, her daughter, Janise, a Northwest Airlines reservationist, and son-in-law, Gary Skinn, a tile installer, now maintain the garden in their free time. Janise's daughters, Cindy Rossmann, 22, and Keri Skinn, 18, also help maintain the grounds. The roses, petunias, zinnias, impatiens, gladio-GARDEN continued on page 2E yt- Staff Photo Brian Peterson Scherer's Family Garden, a privately owned flower garden open to the public In Eagan, was started by Loraine Scherer and her late husband, Richard, in the 1 950s..