Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, December 21, 1993                   TAG: 9312210172
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PEOPLE

Only about 20 youngsters showed up to chat with Santa on Sunday at the Topanga Plaza mall in Los Angeles. More than 5,000 stood in line to greet Power Ranger Tommy, a character on the children's TV show "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," according to police estimates. The line of children and their parents extended a quarter of a mile, snaking through the mall and into the parking lot.

First in line was 11-year-old Brian Hansel, who said he made his father roll out of bed at 5 a.m. to take him to the mall by 7. Brian said Santa Claus was OK, but "I like Tommy better."

"Power Rangers" features six superhero teens who battle evil. The Fox Broadcasting Co. weekday morning series has spun off some of the holiday season's hottest-selling toys.

Best-selling author John Grisham doesn't have much time to waste as he works on his fifth novel.

"I'm up to my ears in `The Chamber,' trying to meet a Dec. 31 deadline," Grisham told The Memphis Commercial Appeal. "The Chamber" is to be published by Doubleday on May 25.

The book returns his characters to the familiar setting of Memphis, Tenn., and a new environment, Mississippi's Death Row.

"The Chamber" would be the fourth of Grisham's five books to make it to the screen. Universal bought the film rights last summer at a price that trade reports put at $3.75 million.