Sally Jessy Raphael

Afront-page article on Sunday about farms and estate taxes referred incompletely to the position of Loyd A. Brown, president of Hertz Farm Management in Iowa. Mr. Brown said that while he did not know of anyone who had lost a farm because of the estate tax, he thought Congress should either eliminate the tax or increase the amount that could be inherited untaxed.

Public Lives column; Sally Jessy Raphael discusses wearing eyeglasses on television; NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani discusses decision by former Police Comr William J Bratton not to run for Mayor; scene at World Nightclub in Times Square described; photo (M)

Television talk-show host Sally Jessy Raphael describes problems with US Customs during efforts to ship Smart mini car from France to US; Customs officials refused to release car without proof from French manufacturer that it met US safety and air pollution standards; photos (M)

More travails for SALLY JESSY RAPHAEL: Her 19-year-old son JASON SODERLUND, who was severely injured in an automobile accident in January, was involved in another car accident on Sunday. He was not seriously hurt, according to The Associated Press. Mr. Soderlund was driving north on the Taconic State Parkway in Dutchess County when his car collided with one driven by Victoria Corbo, 39, of New York City. The police in Stormville, N.Y., said that Mr. Soderlund; his passenger, April Horowitz, 14 years old, and Ms. Corbo were taken to the Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Peekskill, N.Y., where they were treated and released.

Two years ago, Montel Williams, a former marine and naval officer, was making motivational speeches to high school students. Now he talks on national television to child prostitutes, white supremacists, big-breasted women, kids with guns and thin women who love fat men.

SALLY JESSY RAPHAEL'S 33-year-old daughter, Allison Vladimir, died accidentally from the combined effects of several prescribed drugs and over-the-counter medications, the coroner in Bucks County, Pa., announced yesterday. "The cause of death is respiratory arrest due to the combined adverse effects of medication she was taking," Dr. Thomas J. Rosko, the coroner, said yesterday in a telephone interview from his office in Doylestown, Pa. Dr. Rosko would not divulge how many different drugs Miss Vladimir had taken before she was found unconscious in bed early Sunday in a private home behind a bed-and-breakfast inn owned by her mother, the television talk-show host.

The daughter of the talk-show host SALLY JESSY RAPHAEL was found dead early yesterday morning in her mother's bed-and-breakfast inn in Pennsylvania, just three weeks after Ms. Raphael's son Jason (J.J.) Soderlund was seriously injured in an automobile crash. Ms. Raphael's daughter Allison Vladimir was found dead in bed at the Isaac Stover House in Tinicum Township, the Bucks County District Attorney, Alan Rubenstein, told The Associated Press. The house facing the Delaware River is owned by Ms. Raphael, the host of the syndicated show "Sally Jessy Raphael." Erwinna is about 10 miles north of the art colony of New Hope. Ms. Vladimir, 33 years old, of White Plains, was declared dead on arrival at Doylestown Hospital, Mr. Rubenstein said. State police in Dublin said they were investigating the death but gave no additional details yesterday morning. Officials said there were no signs of foul play, nor did it seem likely that Ms. Vladimir had overdosed on medication she took to relieve back pain. Dr. Thomas J. Rosko, the county coroner, said the autopsy did not show any apparent heart damage. He said he would learn more from further toxicologic tests. "Suicide is always a possibility in cases like this," Dr. Rosko said. "But I don't have any evidence of that. I would say it is likely to be due to natural causes." Ms. Vladimir was one of two daughters Ms. Raphael had with her former husband, Andrew Vladimir, an advertising executive. Ms. Raphael is now married to Karl Soderlund, a former television producer. A spokeswoman for Ms. Raphael said that she was unavailable for comment but that a statement would be issued today. On Jan. 11, Mr. Soderlund, the youngest of Ms. Raphael's eight children, was in a near-fatal car accident about 60 miles north of New York. Mr. Soderlund, 19, regained consciousness after six days and is still hospitalized with leg, rib and facial injuries.

If Paris, that judgmental Trojan, were around today, he would no doubt take on the assignment of choosing which of the three daytime talk show graces -- Sally Jessy Raphael, Joan Rivers and Oprah Winfrey -- gets the platinum apple. All have established themselves in a field once dominated by men. In New York, Ms. Winfrey reigns in the afternoon; Ms. Raphael is queen of the morning, and although Ms. Rivers is not up there with the ratings royalty, she keeps rolling along. What are their appeals? The love-besotted Paris would be gratified to note that all offer romance of a sort. Among Ms. Raphael's contributions in July were "Married Men Who Act Like They're Single," "Cheating Wives" and "Gay Men in Search of Rich Lovers." On one show, Ms. Raphael (who can be seen at 10 A.M. on Channel 7, where she enjoys the spillover from the popular "Live With Regis and Kathie Lee" program), brought on young men who, in their search for foreign wives (they say they don't like American women) resorted to catalogues from abroad describing available foreign women.

DEBORAH NORVILLE returns to the airwaves in September, but on a different network and in a different medium. The ABC Radio Network said yesterday that its more than 200 stations would carry the former co-host of the "Today" show in place of SALLY JESSY RAPHAEL, who wants to concentrate on her television talk show.

LEAD: SALLY: Unconventional Success. By Sally Jessy Raphael with Pam Proctor. (Morrow, $17.95.) Sally Jessy Raphael's spicy morning talk show may earn an A for appealing, but her autobiography rates an A for awful. For 237 airy pages the unrelentingly optimistic author toots her own horn. ''Sally: Unconventional Success,'' written with the freelance journalist Pam Proctor, is less a chronicle of Ms.