The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 76

6 Part II Saturday. November 2 1 1987 GogAnflelesSfaneg Southland A Roundup of Southern California News North Recompensed for His Vernacular Obfuscation Southland Briefs Court Bars L. A. County From Closing Clinics Dozens of special clinics and other health-care services for indigents cannot be shut down by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, despite budget troubles, Superior Court Judge Ricardo Torres ruled. Torres issued a preliminary injunction that bars the supervisors from reducing spending on indigent care by $6.8 million.

County attorneys had argued that some clinics must be closed because the supervisors do not have the money to care for all indigents in the county who need health care. The judge sided with public interest attorneys who argued the case for indigents Gilbert Sanchez and Virginia Vargas, who are in their 50s and live partly on public assistance. By PATT MORRISON, Times Staff Writer LOS ANGELES Does OUie North deserve this year's Doublespeak Award? Does an ursine quadruped dispose of solid waste in a sylvan environment? Lt. Col. Oliver North, and his ex-boss John Poindexter, won the barbed Doublespeak Award from the National Council of Teachers of English for using words such as "residuals" instead of "money" and "non-log" documents instead of "destroyed" during his testimony on the Iran -Contra scandal.

The council announced its "ironic tribute" Friday at the group's national convention at the Los Angeles Hilton. "This past year has been an unusually good year for doublespeak," said Rutgers University English professor William D. Lutz, who heads the council's Doublespeak Committee. The award, a hybrid from "doublethink" and "newspeak" in George Orwell's book "1984," has been skewering public personages who commit euphemistic mayhem since 1974, when another U.S. colonel talking about Cambodia raged at reporters: "You always write it's bombing, bombing, bombing.

It's not bombing. It's air support!" "portfolio administrator." There are "executive snack route consultants" (potato chip delivery people), "abduction expenses" (ransom money), and from Congress, "splash and spray suppression devices" (mud flaps). The military, CIA and State Department jointly captured third place for "low-intensity conflict," which the Navy summarizes as "violent peace." In the U.S. Army, killing has become "servicing the target." Not all is gobbledygook gloom, though. The committee also presented the George Orwell Award for contributions to honesty and clarity in public language to linguist Noam Chomsky.

As droll as the committee's collection is and hundreds of correspondents send them thousands of gaffes each year Lutz sees a sinister side to such language. "This is done so you don't know what they're talking about; that's what they want," Lutz said. "If our political language, our economic language, becomes reduced to doublespeak, how can we have an informed electorate that makes intelligent choices? It's ultimately a subversion of democracy." Lutz noted that North "never called any of his actions lying" but instead forwarded information that was "radically different from the truth." In North's vocabulary, "official lies were 'plausible Lutz added. "In Poindexter's world, one can 'acquiesce' to a shipment of weapons while at the same time not authorize the shipment," and the former national security adviser himself protested that it was not fair to say he had misinformed Congress; instead, 'I've testified that I withheld information from Lutz recounted. In the past, the group has zapped NASA for labeling the Challenger explosion an "anomaly," a right-to-die group for calling suicide "self-deliverance" and the Pentagon for referring to the neutron bomb as "a radiation enhancement weapon." Although the committee this year honored President Reagan (already a two-time winner) as the second-place finisher for his waffling on what he knew about the Iran-Contra matter, Lutz did not neglect the business world.

The time-honored profession of bill collector has been replaced by the new profession of LA. Addicts' AIDS Rate Found Low By MARLENE CIMONS, Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON-Preliminary findings from a new study of AIDS infection among intravenous drug abusers in four U.S. cities show that Los Angeles has a "very low" rate of infection "nothing like that of New York City" even though its addict population is only slightly smaller, federal health officials said Friday. Officials from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, which sponsored the study, said at a press conference that they could not explain the disparity in the numbers, though they speculated that the AIDS virus began spreading in the New York drug community earlier than in Los Angeles. "Also, 'shooting galleries' are much more common in New York City than in Los Angeles, which may be one of the factors," said Dr.

Roy Pickens, director of the institute's division of clinical research, referring to sites where addicts buy and use narcotics and often share hypodermic needles. Charles R. "Schuster, director of the institute, said that data obtained from March to September from 581 intravenous drug abusers in drug treatment programs in New York, Los Angeles, central New Jersey and San Antonio showed that "New York remains the most seriously affected area to date." New York had a 57 rate of infection, while the rate in Los Angeles was 2.8. In New Jersey, the rate was 39, while in San Antonio it was zero, Schuster said Pickens cautioned, however, that the study examined only addicts who were undergoing treatment and noted that because "most addicts are not in treatment, we suspect the rates are much higher." Further, he said, other studies conducted in Los Angeles have reported rates as high as 6. "We may be going into different areas of.

the city than these other programs," Pickens said, adding that federal health officials are compiling every available study of infection among intravenous drug users to get a more accurate Court to Weigh Youth's Right to Refuse Medical Treatment Saw Man Near Site of Body, Witness Says By TERRY PRISTIN, Times Staff Writer LOS ANGELES-A Valencia resident identified a California State University, Fresno, professor Friday as the man he saw parked on a freeway on-ramp just three days before a teen-ager's body parts were discovered nearby. Max Bernard Franc, 57, a professor of public administration who maintained an apartment in West Hollywood, is accused of shooting Tracy Leroy Nute, 18, and dismembering his body with a rented chain saw. A former Inglewood police officer, Franklin Jones, testified that as he was entering the Golden State Freeway from the McBean Parkway on-ramp last August, he noticed a parked gray car with the driver's window rolled down. Inside was a man wearing a "rather funny" hairpiece, Jones said. "Someone was sitting in the car, just looking in my direction," Jones said during Franc's preliminary hearing in Los Angeles Municipal By PHILIP HAGER, Times Staff SAN FRANCISCO The state Supreme Court, setting the stage for a unique test of religious freedom, agreed Friday to decide whether a 17-year-old Los Angeles youth can invoke his own biblical beliefs to refuse medical treatment for a life-threatening disease.

The court said it would hear arguments by attorneys for Christopher Lavender and his parents that as a "mature minor" he has the right to decide for himself whether to undergo blood transfusions for an acute form of leukemia. Some Have Intervened The justices set aside a decision by a state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles last July upholding a bid by county officials to place Lavender under juvenile court supervision to ensure proper medical treatment. Courts have intervened in such cases in the past to order treatment or examinations for minors over the religious objections of parents. But in this case, the objections have been raised by a youth character Writer ized by family lawyers as able to make his own decisions. Los Angeles Senior Deputy County Counsel Joe Ben Hudgens welcomed the court's decision to review "a very bothersome case." "In our view there was a danger of the young man's death unless he got transfusions," he said.

Hudgens drew a distinction between this case and the case of Elizabeth Bouvia, a 28-year-old quadriplegic with cerebral palsy who won an appeal court ruling last year granting her the right to refuse unwanted treatment, even if it threatens her life. "I can understand why a court might take a different view in those circumstances," he said. "But here there is a good prospect of improvement in the boy's condition with treatment." Attorneys for the Lavender family were not available for comment. The case arose when the county sought to have Lavender declared a dependent of the court after his parents, both Jehovah's Witnesses, refused to permit the transfusions. Anaheim Research Bureau, according to Conobre.

No such firm exists. Volpe mentioned the Anaheim Research Bureau "in jest," Sheridan told jurors. Office" politics and romance are highlights of the trial. George went "gaga" over Linda Ford, a new sales representative, Moore told jurors. He "pursued" Ford, a married woman, "relentlessly" for months, according to the lawsuit.

Eventually Conobre, a friend of Ford, tried to intervene, he said. From that point on, Conobre said in his suit, George pushed Volpe to fire him. Ford, who has claimed in a KDOC-TV: Salesman Testifies Uncle Murder Suspect HACIENDA HEIGHTS The uncle of an 11 -year-old boy whose body was dismembered and thrown into a dumpster here was named Friday as a prime suspect in the murder. Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies said they are seeking an arrest warrant for Sattar Ahmad, 27, who disappeared the day after the discovery of the mutilated body of Raheed Parwez, a seventh-grader at Mesa Robles Junior High School. The decision to arrest Ahmad was made after a search of his recently rented apartment in a fashionable Hacienda Heights complex where the body of Raheed Parwez was discovered Tuesday about a mile from the boy's home.

Jail Site Soil Study LOS ANGELES-The state Department of Corrections announced Friday that it will undertake a full study of possible soil contamination on a 20-acre parcel east of downtown Los Angeles before moving to buy the site for a state prison. The announcement came just hours after Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), an outspoken critic of the Eastside prison proposal, called on state officials to list the property, owned by Santa Fe Railroad, on a Superfund list of California's most polluted sites. Torres issued his request based on information developed by his staff that certain potentially hazardous substances may be found on the property at higher than normal levels. separate lawsuit that the station cheated her out of substantial commissions and then forced her to resign, will testify next week, Moore said.

In his lawsuit, Conobre also claims that Volpe granted special favors to Peri Corso, a sales representative with whom he was romantically involved, assigning her lucrative accounts that should have gone to others. Moore is seeking punitive dam- ages for her client, damages designed to punish a defendant for wrongdoing. She has not specified an amount. The trial, expected to last three weeks, is before Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert A. Knox in Santa Ana.

1 i 7 9 2 4 6 every day 1 7 9 2 4 6 Court. "In my opinion, he was watching me. He was looking right at me." Three days later, Jones, now a manager for a private security company, learned that the legs and arms of a man later identified as Nute were found by sheriff's deputies in the same area. Nute's torso and head were found along a rural Madera County highway. 'Dried Blood Spots' In other testimony Friday, two employees of Jack Rents in Hollywood identified Franc as the customer who rented a chain saw from them last Aug.

21 but had difficulty learning how to operate it. William Sheppard, a salesman, testified that he was reluctant to rent the tool to Franc because "I knew he didn't know what he was doing." The store's assistant manager, Robert Michael O'Brien, told the court that he taught Franc how to use the saw but ended his work shift before the item was returned. The next day, O'Brien said, he "noticed a bad odor" and traced it to the chain saw. When he examined the saw, he found "little dried blood spots" on the muffler and "blood and some stuff hanging down from" the oil chamber, O'Brien testified. "whajt iffing." What if he had bought that ticket? "I probably would have quit my job," he mused.

"And I would have paid off this place and another place we have at the river near Bullhead City, And I would have done a lot of fishing. Maybe even bought a boat." But DeSantis isn't messing around anymore. He will change his numbers and buy a lottery ticket for Saturday's drawing, worth $12 million because nobody drew all six winning numbers Wednesday. And he will keep buying, playing every Wednesday and Saturday, until he does hit that jackpot that he knows was meant for him. average pollution.

7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Ozona: invisible, irritates and impairs breathing. Nitrogen dioxide: brown, impairs breathing. Carbon monoxide: invisible, reduces blood's oxygen.

Clean air standard (Blanks indicate missing data) 1 st stage episode; air unhealthful for everyone 2nd stage episode; air hazardous for everyone Nitrogen dioxide andor carbon monoxide not measured. Source: South Coast Air Quality Management District Continued from Page 1 tron or Nielsen, according to Sheridan, because the services were too expensive. Volpe, based on his experience, came up with his own ratings estimates, Sheridan told jurors. "Everybody has a right to make an estimate," Sheridan said. "Mr.

Volpe has as much a right as Mr. Nielsen." Conobre alleges that Volpe ordered the sales force to use his figures and to say they were from "ARB," a term commonly understood in the industry as a reference to Arbitron. If a potential client insisted on knowing the source, Volpe told the sales staff. to identify it as the Hourly 1 2 7 9 2 4 6 2 4 6 Ml Loe 1 LOTTERY: Loser Almost Was Winner Continued from Page 1 figured I wouldn't play that day," DeSantis said, recounting his folly Friday at his Huntington Beach home. And after all, those numbers had no real significance, like a birthday or a draft card number or some-such.

They had just seemed lucky when DeSantis first chose them. But, then again, maybe he had been wrong. So DeSantis stayed on the job, where he has been for almost 19 years. He didn't even give a thought to rushing out, just for a minute, to play his numbers. He did ask a colleague whether she was going out to buy a ticket.

Nah, she wasn't. So he wouldn't either. He would live dangerously. But habit being what it is, DeSantis later called up the winning numbers on a computer terminal at The Times. That's what he does when his 8-year-old son, Jimmy, forgets to call him at work after he watches the winning numbers chosen on TV.

"Well, I got a really strange look on my face," DeSantis said of that fateful moment at the computer screen. Those numbers seemed awfully familiar. He went to his desk to check his old lotto cards, the ones with those same numbers played week after week. "I was with another guy, and he told me how my face just started looking really strange," DeSantis said. "I looked at the card, and I couldn't believe it.

He looked at the card, and he couldn't believe it, either." DeSantis seems a low-key kind of guy. He said he doesn't remember saying anything at that moment. Maybe he was stunned. Maybe he was trying to interpret the cosmic meaning of it all, why Nov. 18, 1987, was fated to be the day the big one got away.

"I just sat there for about an hour and didn't move," DeSantis said. It was a while later, about 9:30 that night, that DeSantis returned a call from his son, who was then asleep. His wife, Beverly, answered the ArerP' I I rn 2- lj-L0H 7 9 2 4 6 I Coat Mm 2 rr.y i iLn Vy El Tore I 7 9 2 4 6 (((jillilitegr fifnilr i A AURELIO JOSE BARRERA Los Angeles Times Jim DeSantis holds some of his old lottery tickets with the same numbers that would have made him a big winner Wednesday. 1 I MMfrMl phone. "I just told him that Jimmy wanted to tell him that he forgot to write the lottery numbers down," she said.

"Then he told me about the numbers and about how he didn't buy a ticket. "I told him I thought that was grounds for divorce," she said with a laugh. Or sort of a laugh. "He's very sick about it," she said. "He didn't do anything yesterday (Thursday).

He. just sat around. He only had soup before he went into work. He didn't have any breakfast today." DeSantis said that's understandable. How would you feel? "I ain't felt like doing a hell of a lot," he said.

Oh sure, he will indulge in a bit of 2 4 6 Orange County Edition We're here for you,.