Daily News from New York, New York • 4

ArllrY -N-E ESD tv 1 2r -19 it ill A Hospital Trnircnri 37" 111 1 Girl, 16, Dies of Rare Nerve Disease By JERRY GREENE II Washington, June 12 Despite every disclaimer in Class Eliseo Reyes, 21, was at Ellis Air Force Base "And $weet i dtath uho puts an end to P'- the deck, the "draft Kennedy" talk simply won't go away and it is certain to flare up with greater intensity next Saturday when Sen. Teddy Kennedy and Rep. Wilbur Mills appear jointly before a Democratic Platform Committee Alfred Lord Tennyson, "layus oj me Aiy. By ELLEN FLEYSHER At 3:15 yesterday, it was finally over. For the family of Mildred Reyes, the anxiety, the pain, the exhausting torture of round-the-clock hospital vigils had ended.

The 16-year-old girl was dead. Everyone knew it was coming her mother, her father, her seven brothers and sisters. They .11 v-t cuff eroH from mvasthenia hearing in St. Louis. Mills, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and somewhat of a presidential candidate himseli, dropped what was widely construed as a "draft Kennedy" invitation on a tele itll ailCW fcUttfc vision snow yesieraay.

xie compounueu the issue by expressing his willingness to run for vice president with the, Massachusetts senator. The camera lights had barely dimmed when Democratic National Chairman Larry O'Brien, speaking on another network, reaffirmed his belief that Kennedy would refuse the bid. "He has been very consistent, in 'Draft Kennedy Talk Just Won't Fade Away my judgment, over the last two years, in stating unequivocally that under no circumstances would he consider the Democratic nomina tion for President, and I have no reason to believe that he has altered his view in any sense," O'Brien said. Kennedy himself, finally cornered again today lor comment on in Nevada and Staff Sgt. Jesus faisca, married to Delores, the eldest of the children, was stationed at Torrejon Air Force Base near Madrid.

Eliseo failed to get emergency leave because of a Red Cross communications snafu. Verification of his sister's critical condition was necessary and this did not come through. Faisca had a different problem. The Air Force does not recognize a brother-in-law as immediate family. As a consequence, he did not qualify for emergency leave even though he had 65 days accumulated leave coming.

A normal leave is granted only after application is made 45 to 60 days in advance. Last Saturday night, Rep. Herman Badillo (D-Bronx) stopped by the eighth floor of the hospital to visit News reporter Rudy Garcia, who is recovering from a -neart ailment. The Reyes family recognized the congressman and, after he left, they approached Garcia to see if he could help get leaves for the two missing family members. "They thought if Herman visited me, I must have influence," said Garcia, who is now recuperating at home.

"I told them I was just a newspaperman, but I'd see what I could do." And "do" is what Garcia did. Red Cross Is Contacted He first called Lt. Robert Nunnery, the public information officer at Ellis to explain the situation and then contacted the Red Cross "to unravel the snafu from this end." "Within two hours," Garcia said, "Eliseo was given emergency leave papers plus a grant for his round-trip airfare." He arrived at the hospital Sunday afternoon. Later, Garcia got in touch with Maj. Robert Cole, Air Force public information officer at the Pentagon.

"I told him it was in the interest of the family that Mildred's brother-in-law, who was always close to her, be granted leave, although we understood it could not be an emergency leave and he (Faisca) was prepared to pay his own way here," Garcia explained, adding that Maj. Cole contacted Maj. James Long at Torrejon and he agreed to relieve Faisca of his duties immediately. Unfortunately, Faisca missed the last commercial flight to" New York on Sunday by a half hour. He was scheduled to land at Kennedy in the afternoon.

But Mildred was dead. '-wjf I i gri icia-tively rare nerve disease that progressively involves the muscles. The doctors had told them there was no hope she was given the last rites three days ago but the am i 1 continued the 24-hour vigil at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Perhaps they hoped for a miracle. For two weeks, since Mildred was taken to the hospital after she went into cardiac arrest resulting in i a able Mills extraordinary performance, laughed, said he was highly flattered because he has great re spect for the Arkansas congress Mildred Reyes Irreparable brain damage man, but said that the Mills pitch "doesn't change my own position" in any way.

Kennedy has insisted he won't take the nomination and furthermore, he will remain neutral, not even endorsing a favorite. It is this posture of neutrality, without a Gen. William T. Sherman-type "won't serve if elected" advance rejection, that has kept Kennedy dangling, potentially available, in the eyes of many of the establishment Democrats. Mills' treatment of the Kennedy possibility, one of the most unusual political performances seen and heard here since this daffy political year got under way, came after he had sternly poor-mouthed tax-reform proposals of Sen.

George McGovern, the current presidential front-runner. Mills once more flatly rejected the idea of being anybody's vice brain damage, the family stayed in the eighth-floor waiting room outside the intensive care unit. They stood by her bedside in a rotating schedule of two at a time. The head of the household, Antonio Reyes, is a construction worker. It was never easy to support his clan, but the one thing they had was each other.

And family was very important to the Reyeses. That is why their desire to by together grew ever stronger as Mildred's condition worsened. But two members were missing: Airman 1st Sen. Edward Kennedy Reiterates his refusal artii presidential candidate, then caught himself for a moment, and continued: "There is just one possibility. If the convention does do what it may do, draft Ted Kennedy for President of the United States, I would have to reconsider my situation Mills went along td tell of his closeness to the Kennedy brothers, of his deep feeling for the family, of his conviction that if Bv 3IEL GREENE and EDWARD KIRKMAN Ted Kennedy were President, he (Mills) as vice president would be Most excursions on the sea of matrimony encounter a few ripples but nothing like the tidal wave of troubles that sank the wedding-night plans of Ed Balint Jr.

and his bride, Matina. Shortly after being joined together, they were separated by the cops as the bridegroom was arrested for disorderly conduct and drunken driving. '2 The newlyweds, she in the traditional white gown 3nd he in a splendid tux, fell afoul of the law hours after their Queens wedding reception, when their pickup truck, with camper attached, struck a stalled cr on the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx. The couple, riee still glistening in their hair and the strains of the wedding march pounding in their ears, were handing for the first honeymoon stop a Yonkers motel before proceeding to the Poconos. Trouble was the last thing expected by the 23-year-old bridegroom as he drove his vehicle across the Bronx and toward the reserved bridal chamber.

Maybe, as Criminal Court Judge Louis Cioffi was to imply yesterday at Balint's hearing, the young man was preoccupied when he missed seeing the parked car. Bursts Into Flames But the truck-camper smashed in- given important responsibilities. Not nowhere is it recorded that even if Kennedy were drafted he would be wedded to any commitment to select Mills as running mate, or pass along great gobs of authority and responsibility which all modern vice presidents seem to crave and never really get. Foresees the Possibility of a Draft Mills repeated his feeling that the convention might draft Kenned v. He knows the senator doesn't want to be the nominee; but he thinks it would be "awfully hard" for Kennedy to refuse "if the convention deadlocks and they should decide to select him for the top spot." Mills admitted that he had talked to some officials, including governors, who feared that McGovern as presidential nominee would be sorely hurtful to other Democrats on the ticket in their states.

He said he didn't think this was true; he insisted that he had no thought of any "stop McGovern" movement, but "I am just saying that I think, if the convention does deadlock, that he, along with a number of others, will definitely be considered." What makes Mills' comments all the more intriguing is the tacit endorsement of a Kennedy candidacy by a thoroughly conservative leader from the South, with the implication that the Massachusetts senator would do every well indeed in George Wallace territory particularly if he took Mills along as vice presidential nominee. Needle Is Poised for Another Shot Now with all of the pooh-poohing from the expected quarters, with McGovern picking up more loose delegates over the weekend from such unexpected places as the Virginia Democratic Convention, the Kennedy-Mills thing is certain to get another shot in the arm on Saturday. This joint appearance comes about through one of those strange coincidences, which in politics always seem contrived, however innocent. It is to be remembered that the Democratic Platform Committee is in the midst of holding nine regional conferences to hear witnesses and compile recommendations for the full committee meeting here on June 22. While it may not be generally known.

Mills has for a long while been working with Kennedy smoothing out details of the senator's national health program, which is certain to be incorporated in the party platform. The two had been scheduled to appear before the committee when it conducted hearings in Chicago several weeks ago; but for reasons unknown to them, their testimony was deferred until this week in St. Louis. Thus whether they like it or not, presidential politics will be rearing its fascinating head anew. Kennedy and Mills may not object too much to keeping party interest' stirred.

But these things won't help George McGovern sleep easier for a while longer yet. NEWS photo by Gene Kappock Ed Balint Jr. is kissed by bride, Matina. outside court. driving considering he had just come from his wedding." Balint, of 202 Stone Yon- kers, still clad in his tuxedo, re ceived an unexpected wedding gift from the judge, who dismissed all into the stalled vehicle, owned by Joaquin Guillerino of 26 Post Bronx, bounced off and burst into flames.

Passers-by helped the bride from the truck. Police were summoned to the scene. The bridegroom, according to cops, showed anything but good grooming when asked for his license. "He used obnoxious and obscene language to one and all and generally behaved in a disorderly manner," read the charges next to Balint's name on the Highbridge station police blotter. For some reason the arresting charges provided the newlywed cops, apparently strangers to vile jargon, thought that the bridegroom, who took exception to being arrested on his wedding night, was more loaded with booze than love.

Instead of blowing kisses he was compelled to blow into a balloon for the drunk-driving test. The results of the test showed an .06 reading, "very low and difficult to say if he was truly impaired," said Cioffi. "As a matter of fact," added the judge, "the defendant was most prudent in his stays out of trouble for the next six months. Matina, who had watched the proceeding from a first-row bench. hugged her husband.

Ed and Ma tina, hand-in-hand, left the court room for a belated honeymoon..