The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • Page 21

THE SUN, Sunday, December 12, 1982 A 21 Jurors given wiretap transcripts, weigh Teamsters president's fate was defeated for reelection last month. The other defendants are Alan Dorfman, former consultant to the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund; Thomas O'Malley, a trustee to the pension fund; Andrew Massa, a former, trustee, and Joseph Lombar-do, a reputed Chicago crime syndicate figure. The 11-count indictments handed down in May, 1981, charged the five with fraud, conspiracy and interstate travel to further bribery. On one of the tapes, William Webbe, an unindicted co-conspirator testifying under a grant of immunity, was heard talking about a January 10, 1979, meeting attended by Mr. Williams, Mr.

Dorfman and Senator Cannon. Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Dorfman and Mr. Williams believed they had cut a deal with the senator at that meeting. In that wiretapped conversation, Mr.

Webbe said he recalled Mr. Williams telling Mr. Cannon "you take care of your end and we'll take care of ours" at that meeting. Mr. Webbe testified, however, that he was lying in that conversation and was only trying to impress his boss, Mr.

Chicago (AP)-Jurors deliberating in the bribery-conspiracy trial of Teamsters union President Roy L. Williams and four others asked yesterday for seven written transcripts of FBI-wiretapped conversations that formed the backbone of the government's case. The panel was given copies of the transcripts, U.S. District Judge Prentice Marshall told attorneys at a brief hearing before jurors retired for the night. He said he denied a written request for jurors to take copies of his final instructions and of the indictment back to their hotel rooms.

He said it seemed "undesirable" for jurors to work on the case individually. The panel of six men and six women received the case yesterday morning and deliberated almost six hours. They are to resume work this morning. Jurors listened to eight weeks of testimony highlighted by dozens of the wiretap conversations, then heard Judge Marshall read 49 pages of instructions for 1 hour 20 minutes. In his order, Judge Marshall told the jurors they can replay any of the FBI-intercepted conversations presented during the trial.

Defense attor neys had objected to allowing the jury to have the tapes during; deliberations, arguing it would create undue emphasis on the tapes as evidence. The SO conversations, culled from 14 months of FBI surveillance the longest court-approved action in government history are the heart of the government's case against the five defendants. Mr. Williams and the four others were accused of conspiring to bribe U.S. Senator Howard W.

Cannon (D, Nev.) by offering him exclusive rights to buy a choice piece of Teamster-owned property in Las Vegas at a bargain price in return for the senator's help in defeating legislation that would deregulate trucking. Defense attorneys argued that the union simply had attempted to give Mr. Cannon "a fair shot" at purchasing the land. They said the defendants acted to assure that the senator was "treated fairly and properly," but that there was no attempt to bribe him. Mr.

Cannon, who was not charged in the case, testified as a defense witness and denied he had been offered or had accepted any bribe. The deregulation bill passed in 1980 with Mr. Cannon's support. He A voice is gone Johnny Cash (right) greets Teddy Wilburn yesterday at the funeral of country singer Marty Robbins in Nashville. Roy Acuff (left) attended and pallbearers included Eddy Arnold and musicians who played with Mr.

Robbins, who died of heart failure Wednesday at 57. Mr. Robbins had 18 No. 1 bits during bis 30-year singing career. Disease once limited spreads via blood transfusions as Gay Related Immune Deficiency, or GRID, the term was applied to the increasing number of cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and Kaposi's sarcoma that began turning up among male homosexuals.

"If an otherwise healthy young person gets Kaposi's or Pneumocystis, it is because of AIDS," said Dr. Bernard Branson, a Baltimore physician with a large gay clientele. "These things wouldn't be happening if it weren't for AIDS." The body's immune system has three components, Dr. Branson explained, the most basic of which is cell-mediated immunity, which is responsible for the rejection of foreign cells and resistance to viral and fungal infections. It is this component that AIDS attacks.

"What's most frightening," Dr. Branson said, "is that there hasn't been anything before that so specifically affected the cell-mediated immune system. And so far there's no treatment known to stimulate the cell-mediated immune system to come back." Although only two of the five AIDS cases diagnosed so far in Baltimore have occurred in the gay community, Dr. Branson fears that there will be many more. "The numbers are increasing so dramatically that today's numbers might not mean anything tomorrow.

It seems to be increasing exponentially." "There's reason for concern, but not reason for paranoia," he added. "Clearly, you have a much better chance of being hit by a car than of getting AIDS." In an effort to check the spread of the disease in New York, San Francisco, Washington and other areas with large gay populations, doctors have begun holding regular health seminars to inform the gay community and the public about AIDS, whose symptoms include fever, fatigue, a dramatic loss of weight, swollen glands and the formation of purple and brown rashes, usually on the lower body. Since the illness is assumed to be highly infectious, medical authorities recommend the following public health guidelines: Avoid sexual contact with people who may have AIDS. Refrain from using intravenous drugs, thought to be a means of spreading the disease. Do not give blood if you have, or suspect you may have, AIDS.

About 2,000 people, most of them gay men, attended a recent meeting in New York at which doctors told them that one way to prevent the spread of AIDS was to curtail indiscriminate sexual contact. "Cut down oh the number of different men you have sex with," Dr. Craig Metroka of New York Hospital told the crowd. Some male homosexuals, he pointed out, have as many as 40 or 50 anonymous sexual contacts per week. "That's taking a big risk," he said.

Other doctors warned that the DISEASE, from Al cur when AIDS lowers the body's resistance are Pneumocystis carinii, a type of pneumonia, and Kaposi's sarcoma, an aggressive form of cancer that attacks the capillary system just beneath the skin. Both illnesses have shown a marked increase among gays and non-gays in recent months. Many doctors, though, view these reports as "the tip of the iceberg." "Make no mistake about it," said Dr. Laurence. "This is an epidemic in every sense and we don't use that term lightly." By comparison, other recent mysterious disease outbreaks have had far fewer fatalities.

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta reported in June that it had received 1,660 reports of toxic shock syndrome, with 88 deaths linked to the disease. The CDC also has reported that as of last February, 25,000 people had contracted Legionnaires' Disease since 1978, with 15 percent of the cases fatal. The' possible connection between blood and the AIDS infection was first made by doctors who noticed that accident victims and other hospital patients requiring multiple transfusions had come down with the disease. Further investigation pointed to the fact that the contagion, whatever its origin, seemed to exist in blood and blood products. Additional evidence that AIDS may be spread through blood transfusions surfaced last week when the CDC in Atlanta reported that two Loss of mother, son within hours leaves family hurting to gay men tors believe that it lends credence to the theory that AIDS is a viral infection, The WaU Street Journal reported last week.

In New York, where nearly half of all U.S. AIDS cases have occurred, researchers are attempting to develop a process for screening blood donors suspected of having the disease. But the work is made difficult, doctors say, by the nature of the immune defect itself, which is frequently detectable only after it has led to a more serious illness and by the fact most carriers are believed to be homosexuals. "We could ask donors if they were gay or had symptoms of the disease. But there's no assurance that they'd tell the truth," said Dr.

Clad Stevens, head of epidemiology at the New York Blood Center. Officials for the Baltimore Red Cross say that no change in screening of blood donors is contemplated here. "It's really very hedgy," said Pat Wright, technical education coordina-' tor. "There are limitations as to what we are legally able to ask a person." New York researchers have called AIDS "the worst epidemic to hit America since polio." Those investigating the syndrome are baffled by its origins. "We simply don't know the cause," said the CDC's Dr.

Jaffe. "We do know that the disease is borne by some kind of infectious agent. But we have no idea what that agent is." The spreading syndrome has been of concern to the gay community for nearly two years. At first referred to ear-old son Chris bad a "special" fight with cancer; he, in a car crash. bilitating chemotherapy and a shortlived remission that temporarily raised the family's hopes.

Her children watched her weaken before their eyes, daughter Carol recalled. Six months ago, when Carol was to be married, Mrs. Johnson made it a point to be present. "It was one of the happiest times of her life," Carol said. "The women from the church came over and helped her get ready.

She couldn't have made it without them." But the reality of her impending death still loomed over the family. "Every now and then, Chris would get real upset and depressed," said his friend Wayne. "I remember one time he told me he thought his mother would die soon because she couldn't feel anything in her toes." His friends noticed a change in Chris's manner. They said he became more flamboyant, more reckless. "I was riding with him a couple of times when we had some really close calls," Wayne said.

"He used to pass on double yellow lines. Stuff like that. I don't know if his mother's illness had anything to do with it or not." When Mrs. Johnson was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital after Thanksgiving, the family knew the end was near. But they tried to continue life as usual-church on Sundays, work or school on Mondays, and for rfhris, parties on the weekends witlf nis school friends.

disease may create radical changes in the gay life-style and in the way non-homosexuals respond to gays. But some speakers disagreed. "This is not a political issue; it's not a matter of sex. This is a health issue," said Larry Kramer of the Gay Men's Health Crisis, a clearinghouse for AIDS information in New York. Dr.

Branson said that it is unlikely that promiscuity alone contributes to AIDS because "if it were just promiscuity that were doing it, we would see a large number of prostitutes with it. Promiscuity has been around for hundreds of years." But he did say the physical nature of homosexual contacts contributes to the spread of AIDS. "Because the blood vessels in the rectum are close to the surface, there is a greater risk of blood contamination in homosexuals," he said. "Not to make a moral judgment," he added, "but it's a medical fact that monogamy is the best prevention. It's best not to trick around with everything that goes by." Jogger slaying admitted Bend, Ore.

(AP)-A man described by a prosecutor as a "thrill killer" who wanted to see a bullet hit a human skull has pleaded guilty to murdering a 29-year-old jogger. Jeffrey L. Spoonire, 22, entered his plea Thursday before Circuit Judge John M. Copenhaver in the July 13 shooting of Mary Ann Thomas of Bend. but whole ing chairs.

The flag at Severna Park High flew at half-mast. The mother never was told the her son was dead, but some family friends said they believe that because of her bond with her son, somehow Mrs. Johnson knew. "I think she must have known and heard him calling," said church member Julia Wells. "It was a service of the triumph of faith," said the Rev.

Gerald W. Weiss. "The family's faith is so strong, they were comforting other people." "At the memorial service, Mr. Johnson got up and told the kids that Chris had made a mistake," Chris's friend Wayne recalled. "I admired Mr.

Johnson so much, the way he handled himself. He told us to learn from what happoned. I don't think I'll ever forget that." clean these children with hemophilia have developed the immune deficiency. Hemophiliacs, whose blood does not clot properly, require frequent transfusions. A third child, a 20-month-old boy in San Francisco who does not have hemophilia, developed AIDS symptoms following a series of blood transfusions from 19 donors, one of whom subsequently was diagnosed as having AIDS, the CDC said.

The donor did not develop AIDS symptoms until eight months after giving blood, which means the dis-eases's incubation period may be relatively long, said Dr. Harold Jaf fe, an epidemiologist with the CDC's task force investigating the syndrome. As a result, people may transmit the disease without even knowing they have it, he said. In the homosexual community, there has been evidence of clustering of AIDS cases. A San Francisco public health worker has drawn links between six sets of roommates, all of whom have Kaposi's sarcoma or Pneumocystis pneumonia, to at least six other friends of the group, four of whom have died of AIDS.

The CDC is also investigating the cases of 20 children who appear to exhibit immune defect symptoms. Most of the children were born into families where at least one family member had close contact with either a drug addict or a homosexual. Although the CDC study of these children is not complete, some doc Friends said Janice Johnson and 17 relationship. She died after year-long Gregg. At Severna Park, he was a backup goalkeeper.

Before her disease took a demon-' strable toll, Chris's mother was one of his biggest fans. "She used to come to our soccer games, just about all of them," said Wayne Sanchez, 17, who knew and played soccer with Chris since both boys were in the sixth grade. In school, Chris was an excellent student; In his senior class, he ranked 36th out of 670, said Principal Oliver Wittig. The lanky, 6-foot-2 senior hoped to get his degree from Cornell University and start a career in electrical engineering, his sister Carol said. He had just completed work on his Eagle Scout award and had a string of more than 20 merit badges ranging from lifesaving to basket weaving.

But he wasn't perfect. "He wasn't known as a very good driver," said Bob Strauss, a friend. "He'd hit curbs and things like that," another classmate added. "He liked to drive fast," Wayne said. "Seven of us hung around together.

Usually when we were going somewhere, all the others would pile into one car and just one person would ride with Chris." His mother's illness hit the youth hard, those who knew him said. First there was the hope that surgery would expunge the cancer from her body. It didn't. Then came several months of de ness," Mr. Johnson said.

"The steering wheel tore his aorta the main artery carrying blood from the heart and he bled internally." At 12:48 a.m., December 4, Christopher C. Johnson, 17, was pronounced dead. Eight hours and 12 minutes later, 53-year-old Jan Johnson's battle with cancer ended. "I was going to the hospital to tell her that Chris was dead when the doctor called to tell me she was dead," Mr. Johnson said.

"I cried," he said. "It does feel like your heart and stomach are torn out." Last Monday, more than 600 people crowded into Severna Park United Methodist Church to say good-bye to Jan and Chris Johnson. So large was the crowd that it spilled into the foyer, occupying hastily erected fold CARPET CLEANING We'll shampoo any size living room and dining room for the holidays for only On Friday, December 3, the night before his mother died, Chris headed for a party at a friend's house, as he had so many times in the past. "Be careful and don't wreck the car," Ted yelled as his older brother started out the door. It was meant as a joke.

It became a prophecy. About 11:30 p.m., Mrs. Johnson slipped into a sleep from which she would not awaken. About the same time, her son and a friend climbed into Chris's blue ana white '69 Chevy Nova to take a spin down Old County road a twisting, two-lane, tree-lined street that parallels Route 2 in Severna Park. Severna Park High students said the road is a favorite among area teenagers who like to test their skills on hills and curves.

At places, the posted speed limit drops to 15 mph. It never rises above 35. The scars on the oaks that line the street attest to those who have exceeded the speed limit and skidded. State traffic safety officials said Old County road is popular with sports car enthusiasts because it is one of the county's few rolling, winding roads. The quarter-mile stretch of road where Chris Johnson's car smashed into a tree has six times the expected average for accidents, State Highway Administration records show.

Chris and his friend made it safely from one end of Old County to the other and turned around to head back to the party in the Winchester subdivision. Both had been drinking beer, but friends insist Chris wasn't drunk. "The strange thing about it is, as they started back down Old County road, the other kid put on his seat belt," Wayne said. "He never wore a seat belt. But he said for some reason he felt he'd better put it on." Police say the Nova was traveling excessively fast when Chris missed the turn.

The car shot into a tree head-on. The passenger unsnapped his seat belt and struggled free. Paramedics arrived minutes later and pulled Chris from behind the steering wheel. A State Police helicopter flew him to the shock-trauma unit at University Hospital in Baltimore. The police called Chris's father, i "He'lnever regained conscious FAMILY, from Al Missiles and Space Corporation.

They had a late and rough start rearing a family. "She had a total of 10 pregnancies," Mr. Johnson said. "There were a couple of miscarriages. One child had Down's Syndrome a congenital disease generally found among children born to mothers more than 30 years old and died after about a year.

"But she was determined." Five children lived. Their parents believed the children inherited the best from each side of the family their mother's gift of music and their father's talent with numbers. Carol, now 22, is an electrical engineer and' concert violinist. Cathy, 19, is a freshman at the University of Delaware and engaged to a naval officer who plans to become a minister. Chris, 17, was a senior at Severna Park Senior High, where he was a member of the National Honor Society and played on the soccer team.

Ted, 14, is a ninth grader at Severna Park Junior High, and Allison, the youngest, at 11, is a top student at Severna Park Elementary. The entire family has been active in Severna Park United Methodist Church. Mrs. Johnson and her two older daughters were choir members. Chris was an acolyte.

Mrs. Johnson taught a Bible class and was an officer in several women's groups. She was so popular that church members constantly asked her to take on more responsibilities, but there came a point where she said, "No." "She told them the children came first," Mr. Johnson said. "And they Ti il i.

aiu. i litre was someuung special Between Jan and Chris that bond that is there." Although she wanted him to master the clarinet he began playing in junior high, Mrs. Johnson didn't object hiuch when Chris spent more time in front of a soccer goal than his sheet music. Just making the Severna Park soccer team was quite an accomplishment. In 1979, 1981 and 1982, Chris's team made it to the state AA division championship.

Chris would have started on a lot of soccer teams, in Anne Arundel county, said hup coach, Donald B. $35 We'll Drofesslonallv heavy-traffic areas, regardless of size, for one low price. For example: To clean a modest 400 square foot area regularly costs $60, you save S25. Our Chem-I-Foam process Is perfectly save for all carpet fibers. For those who prefer, two-step cleaning and our new steam truck service are also available.

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