Stranger rumor is fiction

No truth to recurring rumors that Stranger editor Dan Savage and his boyfriend, Terry Miller, are splitting. The story probably stems from Savage's recent purchase of a downtown condo.

The condo acquisition is eyebrow raising, because Miller, Savage and son D.J. have a home on Vashon Island. But Savage says he'll use the condo, purchased from TV actor John Corbett, as a place to write. He says, "Now that D.J. is 4, I can't write at home. To finish my latest book, I had to rent a hotel room."

Savage won the Pen Center West's 2001 nonfiction award for his book "The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Get Pregnant." It's the story of how the gay couple made arrangements to adopt a child.

Now that he's bought the downtown condo, Savage has something else on his to-do list. He says, "It's about time for kid No. 2."

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Wills wedding: Seattle City Councilwoman Heidi Wills tied the knot Saturday with her longtime beau, Kobi Yamada. Ceremonies and reception were held at Lowell-Hunt Catering on Lake Union, with Kristel Wills as her sister's matron of honor.

Yamada, 34, heads Compendium, a motivational-message company. When Puget Sound Business Journal profiled him last September, Yamada said the book on his nightstand was "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand; the person he'd most like to meet was Emerson or Thoreau, and his personal hero was — surprise — Heidi Wills.

Will and Yamada left after the wedding for an Africa safari. The councilwoman returns to her City Hall office Sept. 16, but her staff doesn't know if she's returning as Mrs. Yamada or Ms. Wills. Said one staffer, "She hasn't said anything."

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Whither Wazzu? Count Park Howell among the Washington State University alums who are dismayed over WSU President V. Lane Rawlins' desire to downplay the school's Wazzu nickname. (In April, Rawlins said the nickname is derogatory and plays on the perception that WSU is a place where booze trumps books.)

Howell, who lives in Phoenix, disagrees, saying, "Even my Husky buddies can't understand why we'd consider dropping Wazzu. They say, 'What? You want to be like us?' "

Howell's solution: He's coming to town for tomorrow's game armed with T-shirts that say: "I've Had Political Correctness Up the WAZZU."

Better Red: When the Metropolitan King County Council saluted Korea on its Independence Day, Republic of Korea Consul General Byung-Rok Moon presented council members with T-shirts, souvenirs from this year's World Cup soccer match.

The chili-pepper red T-shirts from South Korea carried this message: "Be the Reds!" Councilman Pete von Reichbauer's not entirely original commentary: "The times they are a-changing."

A real card: A Capitol Hill woman set out to join friends in the Bumbershoot Beer Garden at a reception Tuesday. But the woman, who'd left her driver's license behind, was refused admission without ID.

The woman, age 76, says: "I haven't been asked for ID for 100 years."

Jean Godden: 206-464-8300 or jgodden@seattletimes.com.