European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 29, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Alabama doctor goes Public to deny aids Rumor in town Athens Ala. Apr the Banner headline was anything but typical for the front Page of a Small Southern newspaper a Athens doctor a i done to have  a or. James w. Smith a prominent paediatrician in his Hometown for More than 18 years decided on a Public defense against a a vicious lies that spread As Only gossip can. A people heard that i had tested positive for aids a he said. A i was supposedly leaving my practice and leaving  Smith 53, said he first heard of the Rumor when his office began receiving queries from nervous parents shortly after thanksgiving. A i have no idea who started it a he said. A obviously someone was trying to get Back at me for  then he Learned that Athens Limestone Hospital was getting Calls. So was the Athens news courier the local newspaper. The Rumor spread to the school system. Other paediatricians were approached by parents who did no to want their children treated by a doctor with the aids virus. A in a smaller town everybody knows everybody a said Sonny Turner news editor of the news courier. A a they re All related to somebody or have some friends who  Smith who divorced two years ago and has two adult daughters said he thought his physique contributed to the Rumoro a spread through the North Alabama town of 17,000. A i am slender a he said during a recent interview. A people who have aids Are usually slender. But in a slender by design and i make sure i stay that Way with regular  election top Story of 92 in annual a poll by the associated press Bill Clinton selection As president was the top news Story of 1992, according to an associated press Survey of . News executives. It was followed in the rankings by two More Domestic stories the los Angeles riots and Hurricane Andrew and two International events the . Intervention in Somalia and the civil War in former Yugoslavia. The stories were ranked by 160 . Newspaper editors and broadcast directors in the Apps 56th annual Survey. After several years in which the Survey was dominated by International news this years rankings were top heavy with Domestic stories which accounted Tor six of the 10. The second half of the top 10 included the . Recession no. 6the supreme courts abortion ruling no. 8 and the trial and sentencing of serial killer Jeffrey l. Dahmer no. 10. In Between were the aftermath of the soviet unions collapse no. 7 and the release of two germans who were the final Western hostages in Lebanon no. 9. The selection of the presidential election As the top Story was no Surprise. Presidential elections Are usually dominant news events in the United states and this years Campaign was especially turbulent and dramatic. The riots and Hurricane nos. 2 and 3 in the rankings were among the worst disasters in the nations history causing More than $21 billion damage and 100 deaths Between them. Turner decided to Call Smith after the Rumor reached him. With 3,000 children As patients Smith is Well known around Athens. 90 Miles North of Birmingham. A we usually done to report on rumours a Turner said. A but that Case was really a different  Turner said he could Tell from Calls he received that people believed what they heard. A my opinion was it definitely could have destroyed his business a he said. A one lady in particular Drew my attention. She told me we owed it to our readers to investigate this Rumor. She told me we should come out with a Story that sunday letting them know whether this was True or  so Smith was approached for comment and his denial ran at the top of the front Page on dec. 6. Connie Tucker was one of the readers. Her 11-Ycar-old son Nicholas is Smiths patient and she heard the Rumor. A i was kind of afraid but personally i did no to believe it a she said. A knowing or. Smith and the Type person he is i did not think anything of it. But i was pleased when he publicly stated it was not True. As a Parent that made me feel  Smith said that he has not lost any patients because of the Rumor and that support from the people of Athens has been a absolutely fantastic since the Story was published. But his eyes reflect a steely rage when he talks about what happened. A put yourself in that position someone tells you that people Are saying you have aids a he said. A How would it affect your Job How would it affect you and the people you know a Bakker released to see injured dad Charlotte . Apr former televangelist Jim Bakker was allowed to leave a Minnesota prison briefly sunday to visit his elderly father who was hospitalized in Charlotte with a broken hip. Bakker briefly visited with his father Raleigh at Carolinas medical Center said bakkers attorney Jim Toms. He was accompanied by a supervisor from the Federal medical prison in Rochester Minn., Toms said. Afterwards Bakker flew Back to Minnesota. A a in a so grateful for visiting my family at this time of need a Bakker said in a statement read by Toms on sunday night. A despite our troubles we give thanks for so Many  bakkers 86-year-old father was injured in a car Accident. Bakker a a he a doing reasonably Well. But Given his age the doctors Are treating his injuries As serious a Toms said. Last week a Federal judge reduced bakkers prison sentence to eight years. His attorneys maintain that the former pal Leader would have been eligible for parole last april under the reduced sentence. They plan to ask the parole commission to consider bakkers parole at its Jan. 29 meeting. The reduction was the second for Bakker who was sentenced in 1989 to 45 years in prison for fraud. He and his wife Tammy Faye divorced earlier this year. Toy Salesman suspected in Christmas fires Matewan . Apr a travelling toy Salesman has been arrested on suspicion of setting a string of Christmas weekend fires in this historic mining town. Jerry Lee Barker 38, of Sparta tenn., is accused of setting fire to a truck one of four blazes that occurred within minutes of one another saturday police chief David Stratton said sunday. Barker is also a suspect in those other fires and in a Blaze Friday that gutted four buildings and injured seven people Stratton said. Barker was arrested sunday after he called for an ambulance saying he had injured his Back. But police officers who accompanied the ambulance saw Burns on barkers hands Stratton said. Barker was under suspicion by the time he called for the ambulance Stratton said. He was questioned after saturdays fires at a Bank a tavern and a fire station.5 fatal shootings linked to a Joy killing rampage from wire reports Dayton Ohio a five people have been shot to death since thursday in what police called a a Joy killing spree. The latest victims a Man and a woman who were shot in the head were found sunday in a former Landfill. The shootings a started out As robberies but it became easier and we think it turned into Joy killing a sgt. George Hammann said. The assailants  like a shark a once they tasted blood they   police said they think the deaths sunday arc linked to a string of holdups in which three people were slain and two wounded sgt. Larry Grossnickle said. On thursday a woman was shot seven times and killed while standing at a pay phone. On Friday a Man was found shot to death to a wrecked car. On saturday two people were wounded during an attempted robbery at a store. A Man was found shot to death in his ransacked Home saturday and police arrested two juveniles and two adults after they allegedly were seen taking items from the victims car. Their names were not released pending  Gas leak stopped Titusville Fla. A emergency Crews sunday shut off the source of a dangerous Gas Cloud that passed Over a neighbourhood and forced the evacuation of about 450 residents. Workers in chemical suits scaled a leaking barrel of phosphorus trichloride at Charmco laboratories said police spokesman Jay Cullen. The leak was discovered by an employee who notified authorities saturday morning. No serious injuries were reported. Two people were treated at a Hospital for irritated throats and nasal passages officials said.2 officers killed in shootout Richmond Calif. Apr two police officers were killed monday morning in a shootout with a Man who apparently also shot and killed his teenage son and wounded his wife before turning the gun on himself police said. Officers responded to a reported hostage situation at an apartment about 6 30 . Monday said Richmond police it. Tommy Phillips. A Deputy Alameda county Coroner who declined to provide his name said his office had been informed the two officers were shot to death when they arrived at the apartment. Police said the Man apparently responsible for the killings took his own life. A daughter escaped unharmed.2 survive night in raft Milford Conn. A two Brothers on a Jaunt into Long Island sound survived a night in frigid Choppy Waters by huddling Low in their inflatable raft the . Coast guard said sunday. The 8-foot rubber raft washed ashore sunday morning near Shoreham n y., and the Brothers sought help at a nearby House said coast guard Petty officer Joseph Coughlin. They were treated at a Hospital for exposure and released. The Brothers had been missing since saturday when they set out to visit Charles Island about a mile off the Connecticut coast. Their three horsepower outboard engine conked out Halfway there stranding them in 4-foot  of 2 slain by police Turtle River Minn. A Bureau of Indian affairs officer shot to death two people in a bar and seriously wounded two others before he was slain by a sheriffs Deputy. It. Dilwyn Dudley a 42-year-old officer at the red Lake Indian reservation shot up the Turtle club with a pistol and a Rifle Early sunday in a rampage sheriff Dwight Stewart said May have stemmed from a Domestic dispute. Dudley would not elaborate except to say some of those shot were bystanders and All were unarmed. A witness Mike Schoneberger said an angry Dudley came in argued with one victim then pulled a gun. When bystanders tried to disarm him he broke free and shot one Man. He left returned with a Rifle and shot up the bar Schoneberger said. Dudley was slain when he tried to escape in his car and ignored orders to Stop Stewart said