UPDATE 020704 Glenn Close gets "VAGINA WARRIOR" Award at PACE in Westchester.

YOU don't want to get Glenn Close riled up, for fear she'll switch into Cruella De Vil mode. But a group of evangelical Christians operating in leafy Bedford have done just that.

Glenn's name is prominent on a letter now being circulated to all residents of the local school district. These "Friends of Bedford Schools" are scared that the insurgents are going to take over from the existing board and reject this year's budget.  

The roots of the controversy are deep. Close and her group say the Christians are hostile to public education and that one of them is a supporter of the plaintiffs in the so-called "Satan Suit."

This suit was brought by a number of fundamentalists against Bedford schools and charges them with promoting paganism, voodoo, the occult and New Age spirituality. (Actually, there is quite a bit of New Ageism in the Westchester County village, where lots of celebs like to lead the country life.)

A federal appeals court recently cleared the Bedford schools on all counts,( on technicalities and not the merits) but Close and company fear the Christians are now trying to achieve their goals by taking over the school board.

If that is their ambition, they'll find that Close is not someone to be trifled with. Just look at what she did to Michael Douglas in "Fatal Attraction."