Rumor Has It Magnolia Is Very Hot

What is it about Magnolia? It's suddenly the "in" place for celebs to settle in Seattle. Several months ago, Ron Reagan and his wife, Doria, bought a house in the community.

A former colleague of Reagan's at the Fox network explains that the former president's son first came to Seattle to do a story on Seattle grunge. Reagan did an interview with Seattle Times columnist Emmett Watson, who bills himself as president of Lesser Seattle. But, despite Watson's best efforts, Reagan fell for Seattle.

Ron and Doria are in the process of moving to town now that Doria has completed graduate studies at UCLA.

Surprisingly, the latest rumor from Magnolia doesn't concern the Reagans. The buzz now is about John F. Kennedy Jr., another presidential son who visited friends in Magnolia last summer.

While here, JFK Jr. looked around at real estate but apparently didn't find anything. Now the grapevine is sprouting talk that he is buying a place there.

Is it true? Can't say. His name hasn't yet appeared on sales records, but he could have made a purchase using a corporate name. The rumor clearly belongs in the unconfirmed category.

Meanwhile, it doesn't hurt Magnolia property values.Last laugh: KIRO-TV's Steve Raible and KIRO-AM's Gregg Hersholt teamed up to referee Wednesday's debate between GOP Sen. Slade Gorton and Democratic challenger Ron Sims. Raible took the lead, explaining the ground rules, leaving little opportunity for co-moderator Hersholt to open his mouth.

When Raible paused for breath, Hersholt said, "Now I know what Margaret Larson (Raible's TV co-anchor) feels like."Rx for fX: "Breakfast Time (Anytime)," a live morning show on fX, a cable network owned by Fox, recently spent a week in Seattle reporting on tugboats, the Seattle Underground, Medic One and the Museum of Flight. Now it's back.

This morning the show arranged to cover a wild espresso-cart race live from the Space Needle, with KRPM's Ichabod Caine presiding. The event was scheduled long before dawn so it could be be shown live on the East Coast. It replays here tonight. Hence the "Breakfast Time (Anytime)" title.

Name's the same: State Sen. Adam Smith, a Democrat running for re-election in the 33rd District, was doorbelling the other day. He reached one house where the reaction seemed positive. The householder said, "I know who you are, and you can bet I'm going to vote for you."

As Smith turned to leave, the householder called after him: "Hey, I hear your sister down in Vancouver's doing well, too."

(The reference apparently was to state Sen. Linda Smith, a Republican candidate for Congress who's so conservative she makes Rush Limbaugh look reasonable.) Linda is not Adam's sister.

City life: Everett Reagan, spokesman for Seattle Central Community College, passes along something he overheard at a 40th birthday party. Said one of the guests: "Living in Seattle is like being married to a beautiful woman who's sick a lot."

Coming clean: In the window at the Bon Ton Cleaners on Northwest 85th Street are two signs. One reads: "Slade Gorton works for me." The other: "Help wanted."

Jean Godden's column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the Local News section of The Times. Her phone is 464-8300.