United Press International; Tuesday, 1 September 1987.

Tim LaPlant, owner of the west Pensacola house, said someone placed a sign on the front lawn saying "Danger AIDS -- Keep Away," but a neighbor "who feels I deserve better than that" took it down.

The Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services wants to open the group home in five to six weeks if residents approve.

Hours before a planned Monday meeting between HRS workers and residents, about 40 mostly elderly homeowners had already gathered at a nearby home to discuss their fears.

"The meeting is to get the residents' comments and really find out how serious a problem there is in the neighborhood, whether this is a few people or whether there's general concern," said HRS spokesman Ray Wise.

Cheleene Schembera, district HRS administrator, said the home would have a staff of 12 and house six children aged 13 to 18 from anywhere in the state who test positive for the human immunodeficiency virus, which can cause AIDS.

"It is mainly for adolescents who are sexually active, who for one reason or another can no longer live in their own homes and who need close supervision," said Schembera, who said they would be supervised around the clock.

They will not attend area schools, she said.

Robert Fluck, 68, who lives in the neighborhood of Beach Haven, equated the situation to the one in Arcadia, where residents feared three AIDS-virus brothers.

"It's going to generate a like situation in the neighborhood we have," he said. Some residents are so angry "they are not even coherent when they talk about it -- and I don't think I'm overreacting when I say that."

Ozelle Fluck, 62, said an HRS worker told her Friday about the agency's plans. Mrs. Fluck said the worker "told me they (teen-agers) were AIDS carriers."

"Most of us bought our homes as retirement homes. Can you imagine how much that's going to cause our property to go down?" said Mrs. Fluck, who fears supervisors won't be able to control the teen-agers.

LaPlant said that when he agreed to lease the home for a year to HRS he was under the impression it would be used to house orphans. Neighbors who came to see him Saturday told him otherwise.

He said "eight or nine" people gathered in front of his house, so he went out to talk to them. "And I go walking into a hornets' nest. They're ready to lynch me," he said.

Schembera told him Sunday that the home would be used to house children with HIV or HTLV-3 virus, but "she never mentioned the word AIDS," he said. Now he hopes HRS will drop plans to lease him home.

"All I know is if they (HRS) think they are going to put AIDS victims in the house -- no way, that is not going to happen. I won't allow that," he said. "I see visions of that house down in south Florida that was burned, and I see that happening to mine."

Schembera said Pensacola was chosen in part because the local HRS office has had experience finding housing for such youths. Earlier this summer, a 14-year-old boy with the AIDS virus was committed to a hospital mental ward.

It received national attention, and the boy was removed from the locked ward.

"The most important thing is this is not a situation where we in the dark of night are moving people in," said Wise. "This is being handled in the sunshine, ahead of time . . . We want to work with the community."

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