People in the News

clean up act as custody of

her children seems uncertain

LOS ANGELES — The hits keep coming for Britney Spears, but not the kind that will put platinum records on her walls.

A court commissioner in Spears’ child custody dispute practically called the 25-year-old pop star an addict in ordering her to undergo random drug and alcohol testing. The question is, does the order come soon enough — and is it strong enough — to keep Spears from losing her two young sons to ex-husband Kevin Federline.

It couldn’t have come at a worse time for Spears, who is trying to recover from a series of image-crippling events that include a bizarre head-shaving in February and a ridiculed performance at the MTV Video Music Awards.

On Monday, Superior Court Commissioner Scott M. Gordon required both Spears and Federline to refrain from drinking or using drugs either in the presence of their children or within 12 hours before taking charge of them. He said there was evidence Spears engaged in "habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol.”

He also ordered Spears, but not Federline, to undergo random drug and alcohol testing twice a week, according to court documents.

"If she were to violate the order, she would be really stupid,” said Lynne Gold-Bikin, a family law attorney in Pennsylvania and former chair of the American Bar Association Family Law Section. "Reading between the lines, I think the judge is saying, ’I think you can stop it, pull yourself back.”’

A phone message left for Federline’s attorney, Mark Kaplan, was not immediately returned Wednesday.

Absent from the order was a requirement that Spears undergo rehabilitation and substance abuse counseling, possibly indicating that her problem isn’t severe enough to affect her parenting skills. Without that provision, however, experts say Spears may be bound to fail.

"People tend to backslide in those situations, and once you get into habits and patterns, it’s tough to change,” said University of Southern California sociologist Julie Albright. "The stakes have been set very high for a relapse.”

The judge did say Spears must meet eight hours a week with a parenting coach, who will observe her with her children and report back to the court.

Both parents are prohibited from making derogatory remarks about each other in their children’s presence, and from using corporal punishment to discipline them.

Each must complete the court’s "Parenting Without Conflict” class. The educational program, set in a group format and comprised of six sessions, helps parents learn the benefits of cooperative parenting, conflict resolution and problem solving.

Spears married Federline in October 2004. She filed for divorce last November and it became official in July. The two have joint custody of their sons — Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1 — but Federline is seeking a greater share of custody.

It’s been a rough week for Spears as she prepares for the release of a new album in November. She was dropped by her management company, parted ways with her attorney, and a former bodyguard was prepared to testify in the custody dispute about alleged drug use, nudity and safety issues he said he observed.

Bowie donates

$10,000 to defense fund

NEW ORLEANS — David Bowie has donated $10,000 to a legal defense fund for six black teens charged in an alleged attack on a white classmate in the tiny central Louisiana town of Jena.

The British rocker’s donation to the Jena Six Legal Defense Fund was announced by the NAACP as thousands of protesters were expected to march through Jena on Thursday in defense of Mychal Bell and five other teens. The group has become known as the Jena Six.

"There is clearly a separate and unequal judicial process going on in the town of Jena,” Bowie said Tuesday in an e-mail statement. "A donation to the Jena Six Legal Defense Fund is my small gesture indicating my belief that a wrongful charge and sentence should be prevented.”

Bell was found guilty on second-degree battery charges June 28 by a six-member, all-white jury.

Before the case was overturned by the state 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, his sentencing had been set for Thursday.

The court said Bell, who was 16 at the time of the alleged December 2006 beating, shouldn’t have been tried as an adult.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped organize the march, planned to do his syndicated radio show from Alexandria on Wednesday, then travel about 35 miles to Jena in an attempt to visit Bell, who remains in jail because he is unable to post $90,000 bond.

Sharpton says he expects more than 10,000 marchers.

"We are gratified that rock star David Bowie was moved to donate to the NAACP’s Jena campaign,” National Board of Directors Chairman Julian Bond of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said in a statement. "We hope others will join him.”

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On the Net:

David Bowie:

http://www.davidbowie.com/