Group Raises Cash in Fight to Bar AIDS Victim From Class

KOKOMO, Ind. — A group of parents who want to keep 14-year-old AIDS victim Ryan White out of school raised enough money at an auction Sunday to continue their legal battle, officials said.

Circuit Judge Alan Brubaker last week ordered the group, which requested a temporary restraining order to bar Ryan from school, to post a $12,000 bond today to cover damages and legal expenses incurred by the teen-ager and his family should the case be dismissed.

Concerned Citizens and Parents of Western Middle School raised $5,000 in a door-to-door campaign, bake sales and other fund-raisers last week, and Sunday received at least $7,000 from an auction held at the school’s gymnasium.

Ryan, who contracted acquired immune deficiency syndrome through blood treatments for his hemophilia, returned to his seventh-grade classes Feb. 21 after a county health officer ruled that his condition posed no threat to others. Later that day, Brubaker granted the parents a temporary restraining order to keep Ryan out of further classes.