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'Da Vinci Code' Author
Fences-In Home
Now that a copyright-infringement claim against his
publisher has been dismissed, Dan Brown can get on with his
private life — or at least, try to.
Brown, best-selling author of "The Da Vinci Code," is working
to put up a wrought-iron fence around his home to keep out
uninvited guests. It would sit atop a 2-foot-high stone wall
and rise up no more than 6 feet, according to a letter his
attorney presented to Rye selectmen recently.
"It sits right out there," Police Chief Alan Gould said of
Brown's home. "It's a pretty open area."
Gould said Brown was concerned that the heightened attention
brought on by a lawsuit claiming he stole ideas from a
nonfiction book might create security concerns and could
possibly lead to trespassers approaching his home. A judge in
London ruled Friday in Brown's favor.
"We shared those concerns," Gould said. "Whether it's the
paparazzi or someone who wants to pour goat's blood on the
steps or just someone who wants a picture, it's our job to
offer him and his family the same protection we would anyone
else in town."
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Bonds Plans Lawsuit Over
Steroids Book
Barry Bonds plans to sue the authors and publisher of a
book that alleges the San Francisco Giants' slugger used
steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, saying they
used "illegally obtained" grand jury transcripts.
Bonds' attorneys sent a letter to an agent for the authors of
"Game of Shadows," alerting them of plans to sue the writers,
publisher Gotham Books, the San Francisco Chronicle and Sports
Illustrated, which published excerpts this month.
The letter, signed by Alison Berry Wilkinson, an associate of
Bonds' lead attorney, Michael Rains, was posted on the
Chronicle's Web Site. A hearing was tentatively scheduled for
Friday in San Francisco Superior Court.
"The reason we filed the lawsuit in the simplest terms
possible is to prevent the authors from promoting themselves
and profiting from illegal conduct," Rains said.
He said laws prohibit people from possessing grand jury
materials unless they are unsealed and said authors Mark
Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, both also reporters for the
Chronicle, "have made a complete farce of the criminal justice
system."
The book, released Thursday, claims Bonds used steroids, human
growth hormone, insulin and other banned substances for at
least five seasons beginning in 1998.
"We certainly stand by our reporters and the reporting they
did for us," Chronicle executive vice president and editor
Phil Bronstein said. "Nothing that's happened will change
that."
Bonds' legal team will ask a judge to issue a temporary
restraining order forfeiting all profits from publication and
distribution, according to the letter. The lawyers plan to
file the suit under California's unfair competition law.
The attorneys will ask a federal judge to initiate contempt
proceedings for the use of "illegally obtained" grand jury
transcripts the authors used in writing the book. Rains said
profits should be forfeited because of that.
"What we're saying is, who are the real cheaters? They are the
ones who are using these illegally obtained materials," Rains
said.
Williams and Fainaru-Wada said the book will stand up to a
court challenge.
"I don't know what the legal action they contemplate is,"
Williams said. "Gotham can speak to the legal issues, but the
facts in our book are true and they will stand up to
scrutiny."
"We fully stand behind our reporting of the book," Fainaru-Wada
added.
Lisa Johnson, a spokeswoman for publisher Gotham Books, said
the publisher supports both authors. "We at Gotham Books are
shocked that Barry Bonds would take such a foolish step," she
said. "Any respected First Amendment lawyer in America knows
that his claim is nonsense."
Rains said Bonds will not comment directly on the lawsuit but
strongly supports the case.
"Barry is doing fine," Rains said. "He's had a great spring as
everyone knows. His bat speaks for himself and he's not going
to speak on this action and this book."
The book also claims sluggers Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield,
both now with the New York Yankees, also used
performance-enhancing drugs.
Giambi was asked about Bonds' planned suit on Thursday at the
Yankees' spring camp in Tampa, Fla.
"This is all news to me. I didn't know any more of this than
what you guys know," Giambi said. "I've done what I had to do
last year and I've gone forward. I handled it last year, gone
forward and I'm worried about winning a World Series now. It
was the best thing I needed to do."
The book claims Giambi turned to performance-enhancing drugs
because he felt pressured to please his perfectionist father.
"I think it's pretty pathetic that they tried to drag my
father into it," Giambi said.
Fainaru-Wada told the Daily News for a story published Friday
that the book does not draw any connections between Giambi's
use of performance-enhancing drugs and his relationship with
his father.
"The notion that the book said that is not accurate at all,"
Fainaru-Wada told the newspaper. "It's not even close."
Fainaru-Wada said the book mentions Giambi's father only to
give background to the slugger's career.
"His dad was part of telling who he is and why he was driven
to succeed," Fainaru-Wada said. "The connection about his
father being a reason he used steroids was not at all a part
of that."
Sheffield would not comment on the book.
"I don't even talk about it," Sheffield said.
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