ELDERLY HOUSING TENANTS CAN STAY

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Three elderly tenants whose evictions from public
housing over a relative's drug use were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court
will be allowed to stay in their apartments after all.

Housing authority director Jon Gresley said Thursday that three of four
eviction notices were canceled because the drug problems that prompted them
were resolved during a four-year court battle.

However, Herman Walker, who is 75 and disabled, must go, Gresley said.

Walker was given an eviction notice in 1998 after being warned three times
that his caretaker had been found with a crack pipe, and there have been
ongoing problems since then, Gresley said.

Pearlie Rucker, whose mentally disabled daughter was caught with cocaine
three blocks from their shared apartment, was allowed to stay. Also staying
will be Barbara Hill and Willie Lee, who were given eviction notices when
their grandsons were found with marijuana in a public housing parking lot.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Bill Simpich, criticized the upholding of
Walker's eviction.

"It's just the saddest thing imaginable," he said. "I'm not surprised, but
I am disgusted."

The Supreme Court said March 26 that public housing directors could evict
entire families for drug use by one member, regardless of whether the use
was on housing property or if anyone else knew about it.