Offers of Legal Aid, Money Pour In to Dying Boy’s Family : Public Rallies to Assist ‘Chuckie’

Barry Haney came home early Friday, his eyes brimming with tears, to help his wife, Sue. But it was good news, not bad, that had summoned him home.

Offers of help flooded the family’s San Dimas apartment throughout the morning Friday after a story in The Times told of Haney’s fight to keep his dying son and family from being evicted from their home. And Haney wanted to be there to thank the callers.

Actor Michael Landon was trying to reach the family. He wanted to donate $2,000. More than 25 attorneys had called offering free legal service.

Then there was Herbert Wagner, a retired salesman from Redlands, who believes that charity starts at home. He wanted to give $50.

Haney, his voice shaky with emotion, said he was overwhelmed by the response.

“I just can’t believe it. I don’t know what to say. Sometimes you feel like throwing in the towel. Then something like this happens. People standing beside you. It’s been very gratifying.”

Deputies Find No Evidence

Haney received a three-day eviction notice Monday alleging that he had become a “nuisance” by “staring (at) and watching” the apartment’s manager, taking photographs of her children and making verbal threats. Sheriff’s deputies investigating the matter have found no evidence to support the allegations, saying it is likely that the eviction was prompted by the mistaken fear that the boy’s diseases are communicable.

Haney fears that uprooting his son from his school and friends would speed his decline from two rare and incurable genetic diseases for which he is being treated at City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte.

Chuckie Haney, 11, whose dreams of becoming a police officer had earlier captured the hearts of movie stars and President Reagan, blames himself for the eviction. His parents have been unable to calm him, even after the numerous offers of help.

“He keeps saying, ‘We’re going to be kicked out,’ ” Haney said. “I’ve tried to reassure him, but the disease has literally eaten away his brain. Last night I had to put my arms around him and sleep with him all night to calm his nerves.”

Dr. David Cummings, a geneticist at the City of Hope who oversees Chuckie’s care, said the stress could have an adverse physical effect on the boy, who suffers from adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a fatal disease that attacks the brain and nervous system, and Tourette’s syndrome, a nonfatal genetic disorder characterized by such bizarre behavior as barking and tics.

Most of the offers of help came from attorneys who expressed outrage that the Haneys couldn’t fight the eviction because they could not find an attorney willing to take the case without a retainer of at least $1,200.

‘It’s Just Embarrassing’

“It’s incredible to me that in this situation any attorney would ask for money,” said Charles Lindner, an attorney who had called to offer free legal assistance. “I’m encouraged that my colleagues have come forward and offered to help. It’s just embarrassing that it had to get to this point.”

Landon, who had met Chuckie last year after inviting him to visit the set of the television show “Highway to Heaven,” said he hopes that his donation of $2,000 will ease the family’s plight.

“Mr. Haney has done everything he could to save his boy’s life,” Landon said. “Then to have something like this come down on his head. . . . It was hard to read about and not get involved.”

Herbert Wagner explained his $50 donation this way:

“I’m not doing this for publicity. When we feed the kids in Ethiopia, that’s fine. But charity starts at home. This is a dying boy in our own backyard.”

John Konwiser, the owner of the Daisy apartment complex who is moving to evict the Haneys, was in San Francisco and unavailable for comment.