NEWS LITE : GARCIA'S ASHES SCATTERED: THE FINAL CHAPTER.

Most of the remains of Grateful Dead founder Jerry Garcia were strewn on the waters under the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday by the guitarist's family and friends.

A small portion of Garcia's ashes were deposited in India's Ganges River on April 4 by Garcia's widow, Deborah Koons Garcia, and band member Bob Weir, said band spokesman Dennis McNally.

Weir read a poem by band member Mickey Hart, who could not attend, and flowers were tossed into the water.

Garcia died Aug. 9 at a drug rehabilitation clinic in Marin County at the age of 53.

Hey, whatta ya mean we're rude?

A poll taken by U.S. News & World Report found that 37 percent of Americans think journalists are uncivil, and that 54 percent would say no if they were asked whether they would be willing to talk to a reporter about the issue of civility.

Thespian recieves heavenly direction Charlie Sheen, known for spending oodles of money with Heidi Fleiss, and then marrying model Donna Peele six weeks after meeting her, and then ditching her 5-1/2 months after the wedding, told US magazine that he called the whole thing off after he became a born-again Christian.

``There was a voice,'' he said. ``Not like drug-induced voices, but there was a voice that kept telling me this will not work.''

O.J. Simpson and crowd for sale in doll gift pack

In Russia nowadays, reports The Washington Post, one can buy a series of nesting dolls with O.J. Simpson on the outside, covering Nicole Brown Simpson, under whom is Lance Ito, inside of whom is Robert Shapiro, who's over Marcia Clark, who hides Kato Kaelin, in the very center of whom is a bloody glove.

Pavarotti's Carmen digs Iron, not Madame, Butterfly

The other woman in the life of Luciano Pavarotti says she prefers rock to opera.

``At the beginning we had a lot of problems because I was bored to death by listening to opera,'' 26-year-old Nicoletta Mantovani told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in an interview published Monday.

Mantovani, Pavarotti's secretary, also said she feels much better since her relationship with the tenor has come out in the open.

``The last year was hell . . . because I don't like to tell lies,'' she said. ``Since the truth has been revealed, I'm happy.''

Last month, Pavarotti and his manager-wife, Adua, agreed to a separation after 35 years of marriage. They have three daughters.

The action was brought on when an Italian gossip mag published photos of the great man and his secretary smooching.

Chatter ``The only career like it in this American century, with its five-decade cycle of acmes, nadirs, rebirths, and re-evaluations, is that of Richard Nixon.''

- Biographer Shawn Levy writing about the subject of his new book, ``King of Comedy: The Life and Art of Jerry Lewis''

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

PHOTO (1) Taking wedlock in stride

In their wedding duds , Os and Bev Oskam kiss while awaiting the start of the 100th Boston Marathon. The Canadian newlyweds, who met while running, were married before the race Monday.

Knight-Ridder Tribune Photo Service

(2) Charlie Sheen

Marriage asunder 

(3) Nixon

(4) Lewis