NEWS LITE : REAGAN DAUGHTER SHARES HER HEALING.

Patti Davis says she was ``an angry woman'' during the years she had to reconcile her peace activism with the pro-military stance of her father, Ronald Reagan.

Davis spoke about healing family wounds Thursday at Hartwick College's Wellness Week.

``It was like for years every morning I had been walking out of the house with this button on saying, hi, my name is Patti, and my mother is very controlling, and my father just bombed Libya,'' Davis said.

She said she realized that her differences with her parents weren't so much about politics as they were about communication, and their talks in later years helped clear that up.

Wynette settles suit against two tabloids

Two supermarket tabloids have settled an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit in which Tammy Wynette claimed that exaggerated coverage of her illness last year hurt her singing career.

The terms of the settlement with The Star and the National Enquirer are confidential, Wynette's attorney, Gary Blackburn, said Thursday.

The ``Stand by Your Man'' singer sued over stories about her hospitalization last year in Pittsburgh, about eight months after she recovered from a liver infection.

The National Enquirer headline read, ``Tammy Wynette Is Battling for Her Life; Only a Liver Transplant Can Save Her.'' She resumed performing a few weeks later with her liver intact.

The Star reported that Wynette was ``rushed to the hospital'' for surgery on clogged veins.

Wynette's publicist said at the time that she was being treated for throat problems. In court documents, it was revealed that she actually underwent angioplasty - a procedure for clearing clogged blood vessels - and took blood-thinning drugs to dissolve clots.

Connie Stevens gets reversal of fortune

A $4.3 million verdict against actress Connie Stevens was thrown out Friday by a judge who said he failed to tell jurors that the former manager bringing the suit wasn't licensed under the California Talent Agencies Act.

Superior Court Judge Reginald Dunn ordered a new trial and scheduled an April 17 hearing to set a date.

On Jan. 26, a jury decided Stevens should pay $4.3 million to former manager Norton Styne because she failed to uphold a verbal contract giving him 10 percent of the profits for helping develop her cosmetics line.

Styne claimed he helped launch Forever Spring I, which is sold on the Home Shopping Network, and is entitled to a share of the profits. Jurors agreed.

Attorney Howard Rosoff, representing the actress, told Dunn on Friday that Styne wasn't licensed under the Talent Agencies Act and wasn't entitled to the compensation. The judge agreed that he should have told jurors Styne wasn't licensed as required.

Styne's lawyer, Barry Langberg, didn't immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.

Stevens testified that she came up with the cosmetics line with a business friend, George Simone, who later became her business partner. She claimed there was never a deal with Styne.

Stevens, 59, gained national television exposure as the character Cricket on the ABC-TV series ``Hawaiian Eye,'' which ran from 1959 to 1963. She also appeared in several movies, including ``Dragstrip Riot,'' ``Palm Springs Weekend'' and ``Never Too Late.''

Her recordings include ``Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb'' and ``A Girl Never Knows.''

Jackie's fashion ideas in letters

Letters and sketches that Jacqueline Kennedy sent her hat-maker are set to go on sale next month, revealing the painstaking efforts - and occasional anxiety - of a 31-year-old beauty putting together her distinctive ``look.''

The 21 letters and notes are the highlight of Nothing to Wear, an auction of fashion-related memorabilia scheduled for sale at Sotheby's on April 8.

Several of Kennedy's letters still have swatches of fabric that she attached with pins to let her milliner know exactly what she wanted.

``Oh, dear, it was so pleasant when I didn't have to wear hats!'' she confesses in one letter. ``They will pauperize me and I feel absurd in them!''

The sale also includes newspaper clippings with photos circled of hair ribbons and other accessories, or arrows pointing out various hats and dresses.

The letters are being offered for sale by the estate of Marita O'Connor, a hat-maker and fashion consultant at the famed New York department store Bergdorf Goodman.

The letters are expected to fetch up to $25,000.

``Early Jackie letters, especially with drawings and sketches, are very hard to find. This is the most comprehensive look I've ever seen at the mechanics of how she put together her image,'' said Marsha Malinowski, vice president of Sotheby's books and manuscripts department.

In a letter written Nov. 14, 1960, Kennedy asks her trusted milliner: ``Can I sort of use you as my personal shopper there or should I write someone else? . . . I prefer to deal through you since hats are the most important thing.''

In another letter, she asks O'Connor: ``Please order me a pair of alligator shoes size 10A - medium heel - slender - pointed toe but not exaggerated - no tricky vamp business. You know what I like - elegant and timeless.''

On Dec. 19, 1960, Kennedy mapped out a plan of attack for perfectly coordinating her ensembles: ``Every time I buy a dress I will have you sent a sample of material. You can just keep a little book and check off the ones for which I have hats. Write and let me know which hat you suggest and send samples of material along. Also, should the dress need any special gloves, could you get them for me too?''

The April auction also includes fashion photos, Dior and Balmain originals, a 1970 vinyl handbag that doubles as a phone, and many other fashion items.

Fingernail case cut in court

Criminal charges filed in Yorktown, Va., against a teacher who cut a student's fingernails without permission from the girl's parents have been dropped.

``We just couldn't prove any criminal intent,'' said York-Poquoson Commonwealth's Attorney Eileen Addison. Addison asked a judge to dismiss the assault and battery charge that a magistrate last week filed against Mount Vernon Elementary School teacher Carol Comstock at the request of the child's mother.

``I walked along in faith, and I felt the prayers of hundreds of people,'' Comstock said Friday.

``I'm just very glad things could be resolved somewhat amicably,'' she said, speaking publicly for the first time about the controversy that drew national media attention. ``There was never any ill intent on my part. She's a darling little girl.''

Comstock didn't deny cutting fourth-grader Savanna Merrill's nails. She did it, the teacher said, because she felt the child's nails had become a distraction, interfering with her learning.

``She was constantly playing with them. She was picking at the old polish and having a hard time concentrating on assignments,'' Comstock said.

The teacher said she sent a message home several weeks ago asking Rita Merrill, Savanna's mother, to trim the child's nails. When that didn't solve the problem, the teacher took matters into her own hands.

``It really didn't occur to me it would be offensive,'' Comstock said. She said she never meant to embarrass Savanna and thought she liked the attention.

The teacher said she wished Savanna's mother had expressed her concern directly ``before it had to become so explosive.'' If the same situation arose again, Comstock said, she would not cut the child's nails. Savanna's mother said she was upset about the dismissal of the charge.

``The only statement I wish to make is me and my husband are taking the weekend to regroup. We are very upset and very distraught, and I will release my statement Monday,'' Rita Merrill said.

Comstock, 52, said the incident has not changed her feelings about teaching.

It was possible to ``lose sight of the boundaries'' out of an abundance of concern and caring, she acknowledged.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Always conscious of fashion accessories, Jacqueline Kennedy admires a watch in 1961.

Associated Press

(2) WYNETTE