Boozing Survivor, Hairbrained Braids Ban

A mismatched pair:

1) Our interest in the current "Survivor" sagged when the fabulously witchy Brandon Quinton got bodybagged a few weeks back. However, we've recently taken a liking to Tom Buchanan, the 46-year-old Virginia farmer who has made this season's Final Four. Big Tom is one cantankerous, non-P.C. fellow--kinda what you'd expect from a man who raises goats and cattle and who named his son Bucky Bo. So we're pleased that Buchanan, like many reality TV contestants before him, has a rap sheet. Like the great Colby Donaldson, Buchanan's history includes a bust for public drunkenness back when he was a football player at East Tennessee State University (the Star claims that Big Tom and his buddies got popped after busting up a gay bar). Buchanan pleaded guilty to the charge and had his sentence suspended, as these yellowing Johnson City police records show. (1 page)

2) In a bid to better promote Morgan State University, a historically black college near Baltimore, school administrators hired a local public relations firm to shoot a television commercial. But when the p.r. mavens at Sahara Communications sent this letter around seeking students to appear in the production, they weren't interested in certain hairstyles. As first reported by the Baltimore Sun's Alec MacGillis, Morgan State brass disavowed the letter, calling it a "misstep." (1 page)