The Nation : Aide Fired in Disease Case

Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson fired his public health director, Thomas Kirkpatrick, for vacationing in Mexico during a salmonella outbreak linked to three deaths and the illness of 3,000 persons in five states. Thompson’s news secretary, David Gilbert, said agency employees had sent memos to the governor’s office saying that Kirkpatrick had been conducting daily meetings on the crisis when, in fact, he had been in Mexico. The milk-borne disease has caused the Chicago area’s largest grocery chain to close its dairy operation for an inspection.