Enotes

Comedians/actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara were married for 61 years, but had they not heeded warning signs, the marriage might have ended some 44 years ago. The comedy team of Stiller & Meara was seemingly cruising along in 1970, having just enjoyed a nice run of 36 appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show"   in the 1960s, when both members of the team/marriage sensed that something was amiss. With an act based largely on their real-life domestic trials and tribulations, Stiller and Meara found that despite their success---or maybe because of it---the line between life at home and life on stage was getting further blurred as the years went on. "I didn't know where the act ended and our marriage began," Meara told People  magazine in 1977 . "We were like two guys," Stiller said in the same article. With Meara questioning things and Stiller worried that he might lose his wife, the act was disbanded in 1970. But they never stopped working ...

The only thing that is certain in the road rage trial of Martin Zale is that it was tragic. A wife widowed. Children growing up father-less. After that, it gets tricky. Zale is the motorist who is accused of murder in the fatal shooting of Derek Flemming last September 2 in Genoa Township, at Grand River Avenue and Chilson Road. Zale was allegedly driving recklessly and Flemming, on a beautiful afternoon after having lunch with his wife, didn't appreciate it. The vehicles stopped at a red light---Zale's in front of Flemming's---and Flemming got out of his vehicle to confront Zale. Witnesses say that Flemming looked very angry and had both fists clenched as he approached Zale's truck. Moments later, Flemming was dead---shot once in the face. He died instantly. Zale didn't flee; rather, he pulled off to the side of the road and called his lawyer. Those are the basic facts. Zale's trial is happening now, and I think it's going to be fascinating ...