Law Officer Gently Puts the Squeeze on Ailing Infants

Premature and seriously ill babies are cradled in the long arms of the law at Sacred Heart General Hospital’s neonatal intensive-care unit in Eugene, Ore. Lane County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Kennedy is one of 14 volunteer “cuddlers� who give the babies the attention they otherwise might not get in their sterile hospital environment. Cuddlers hold, rock, comfort and talk to the tiny patients. Kennedy, who has been a deputy since 1966, is the first male cuddler at Sacred Heart, and may be the only cuddler anywhere who also works on a police force. “It’s the opposite of what I used to see so much of--the death and dying,� Kennedy said. “It’s the beginning, where people are starting out.� Kennedy, 41, is married and the father of two teen-age girls. “He’s real gentle with the babies, and the kids really seem to like his voice,� nurse Debbie Wilcox said.

--And in Houston, a judge extended the law’s grasp to noontime shoppers. State District Judge Ted Poe sent deputies to a downtown mall to gather people for jury duty in an assault trial. The judge used what he calls the “roundup law,� which dates from the 1880s when circuit-riding judges had to round up citizens to hold court. “It’s like any other kind of summons,� Poe told the 56 potential jurors. “Only this one’s personal.� Those refusing to serve faced contempt of court charges, but certain people, such as those over 65 and single parents with young children, were excused. Poe resorted to the action because there was no one left in the jury pool that was summoned earlier. Twelve in the group of shoppers were seated as jurors and the rest were allowed to go. Testimony in the trial is to begin Tuesday.

--An Italian opera troupe will take “Aida� home to Egypt--to the 4,000-year-old temple of Karnak in Luxor, organizers said. The first performance of “Aida,� which celebrates the fortunes of an Ethiopian slave girl in the courts of the Pharaohs, was planned for 1869 as part of festivities marking the opening of the Suez Canal. But the opera by Giuseppe Verdi, based in the Luxor area, was not completed in time. Its first performance was in 1871. The chief promoter of the $7-million production, Vienna-based Egyptian businessman Fawzi Metwalli, told a Cairo news conference he hopes the May 2-12 performance by the Opera Verona troupe will attract 30,000 tourists, mainly from Europe.