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PWA Shot Dead in
LA Hospital
Los Angeles - A terminally ill man with
AIDS was shot to death in his Los Angeles hos
pital room late Tuesday by a "very close friend"
who then fatally shot himself, reports the San
Francisco Sentinel. Los Angeles County
Coroner's spokesman Bob Dambacher identi
fied the slain man as Steven Jenkins, 35.
The gunman also was a patient at the hospi
tal and had tested positive for HIV, Cedars-
Sinai AIDS researcher Dr. David Ho said.
Jenkins had been hospitalized for about
three weeks and was suffering from "multiple
complications" including pneumonia, according
to hospital official. He was first diagnosed as
having AIDS about a year ago, they said.
"I heard three shots," said a patient in a near
by room who spoke of the condition of
anonymity. "His wall and my wall are together.
I heard he was real sick. I went in and saw him
lying there in a bed on his side. The friend was
on the floor lying right by the chair."
Tightened security will be considered by
hospital staff but the facility well not be turned
into "some kind of armed camp."
The shootings occurred just a month before
Cedars-Sinai is scheduled to open a 24-bed,
$2.5 million AIDS treatment center. Currently
AIDS patients are treated in numerous units
throughout the hospital.
In addition to medical care, the new facility
also will provide a host of counseling services
for AIDS patients and those close to them,
according to Wise.
College Paper Inserts
Condoms in Issue
Tension High
Between Chicago's
Gays and Mayor
erence to gays as "animals." When community
leaders were made aware of the alderman s
insulting attitude towards gays, they tried to
move the Mayor to drop the presentation of the
award. Seeking an easier political solution, the
Mayor's office chose to cancel the entire affair.
Relations further deteriorated when an "I
will not get AIDS" billboard campaign was
scrapped in December. Frustrated and disap
pointed by a lack of communication between
Daley's "special assistant," Nancy Reiff (who
has publicly called herself: "a Daley employee
first and a lesbian second"), and the gay com
munity, activists chose to vent their anger
through the media. T.V. reports prominently
featuring the Mayor’s "alienation of this power
ful voting bloc," brought the message home to
the Daley administration.
Responding to the bad press, Mayoral aid
Frank Cruzi tried to defuse the situation by
meeting with gays. But before tensions could
ease, a proposal that would have placed the
Committee on Gay and Lesbian Issues under
auspices of the Mayor's Human Rights
Commission had to be dropped. This proposal,
"would have filled the commission with Daley
hacks," according to Windy City Times
reporter, Dan Pereten.
While relations remain strained between
gays and the Mayor's office, the recent meet
ings have furthered a more relaxed climate for
positive change. Daley has recendy promised
more funds for AIDS Education and has
assented to appointing a larger number of les
bians and gays to Boards and Commissions.
USS Iowa Sailor
Denies He Is Gay
Chattanooga, Tenn. - The editor of a col
lege newspaper that's distributing free condoms
in its latest issue says it's simply an effort to
make people more aware of the dangers of
AIDS. "We felt that AIDS probably would
have the most impact - in the next decade and
on into the 21st century - on everyone," said
Candice Comeliussen.
The staff of The Echo, the University of
Tennessee at Chattanooga's student newspaper,
inserted condoms in 3,000 issues that hit the
stands Dec. 8. "We're not necessarily putting
condoms in the paper because we felt that it's
our job to make sure everybody on campus had
a condom," said Comeliussen. "And it's not
our business what the students do with
them....It’s just a statement; not much more
than an editorial cartoon or a real effective
news story. It just enhances our message."
Comeliussen said the Echo devoted its edi
torial page entirely to AIDS, which she called
an important issue for everyone, but especially
among college-age adults and single people.
The effort in the newspaper's final issue of
the 1980s came as a surprise to UTC
Chancellor Frederick Obear, but he down
played its significance. "I don't see this issue,
the AIDS awareness article and the inserting of
condoms as an issue that we would take any
action on," Obear said. "I don't know whether
they're trying to increase circulation or increase
awareness, or create what they think is an
embarrassing situation for the university."
While Chicago has been experiencing a
record cold winter, tensions between Mayor
Richard Daley and the Windy City's gay and
lesbian community have remained hot. The
problems arose early in the new administration
when four community leaders were scheduled
to pass out humanitarian awards at a banquet
honoring an alderman who had once made ref
"They turned me into public enemy number
one," complained Navy Sailor Kendall Truitt at
a December News Conference held by
Penthouse magazine. Truitt's comments were
made in response to Navy allegations that he
was involved in a homosexual relationship
with Clayton M. Hartwig, the current Naval
scapegoat for the April 19, 1988 U.S.S. Iowa
explosion. Naval investigations have centered
around both sailors who were aboard the U.S.S.
Iowa when the April 19th blast killed forty-
seven sailors including Hartwig. The January
Penthouse article seeks to shed new light on
the circumstances surrounding the explosion
aboard the Iowa and why so much media atten
tion has been focused on the friendship
between the two men.
According to Truitt, the two gunners mates
were taunted repeatedly by other sailors about
their supposed relationship. While the surviv
ing sailor claims the taunts didn't bother him,
"it bothered Clay a lot more. Sometimes (he)
would joke around and say that if the other
guys didn't stop picking on him, he was just
going to end it all one day."
Truitt claims that Hartwig "was only joking"
and that his suicidal comments, "didn't mean a
thing." But other witnesses told naval investi
gators about the threats and this caused the
Naval authorities to focus on Hartwig.
Denying reports that their relationship was
homosexual, Truitt said that their friendship
was based on interests they had in common.
But Naval sources during the investigation
repeatedly linked the two together and implied
that Hartwig's despondency over his fellow
sailor's treatment of his homosexuality was the
motivation behind his intentional tampering
with the gun, resulting in the deadly explosion.
"I still think that I deserve an apology,"
Truitt said at the news conference. Truitt,
whose wife stood by his side at the news con
ference said that the attacks on his character
had undermined his marriage.
Though the Navy must still undergo the
scrutiny of the Armed Services Committee, a
Naval spokesperson said, "we do not feel that
an apology was in order for we made no allega
tions. We recognize with regret the anxiety
some press reports.. .may have placed on fami
ly members as well as with the crew itself."
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