In the Spotlight

Comedian speaks out on behalf of elephant

DALLAS --- Comedian and animal rights advocate Lily Tomlin says Jenny the elephant has worked 22 years for the Dallas Zoo and it's time for the aging pachyderm to retire.

Ms. Tomlin, who has seen video footage of Jenny appearing in distress, visited the Dallas Zoo for the first time Friday to view the elephant in her habitat.

"It's heartbreaking," Ms. Tomlin said. "If you know anything about elephants ... you would just ache for her. We'd like her to go to the sanctuary now."

The actress has been in Dallas most of the week, working with Concerned Citizens for Jenny.

The group wants the zoo's lone 32-year-old elephant sent to the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn., which has a large area where Jenny can roam on hundreds of acres and socialize with other elephants.

At issue is the lack of space and the animal's loneliness, concerns zoo officials say they are in the process of addressing.

For 22 years, Jenny has lived at the Dallas Zoo, on about a quarter of an acre. Her pal, Keke, the zoo's other African elephant, died in May.

Country singer offers some personal insight

Which is more startling: that country singer and actor Reba McEntire claims she had a past life, or that she is e-mail buddies with George H.W. Bush ?

"I believe in reincarnation," she told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . "I believe ... that I have been here before as a man."

Ms. McEntire, who has sold more than 55 million records, said: "I will get flak from Christians who will say I can't be a Christian if I believe this. That's true, and I'm sorry. ... Who knows? Maybe I'm part Buddhist."

As for the former president, she said, "We e-mail each other on our Treos all the time -- nothing political, just passing jokes back and forth."

Ms. McEntire, who says Mr. Bush is "really into e-mail," said she and husband Narvel Blackstock became good friends with Mr. Bush "on a private cruise to the Greek islands about four years ago."