The Region : Homeless Woman’s Cousin Gives Up

A Chicago woman who came to Los Angeles for a park-bench reunion with a 61-year-old cousin she recognized from a newspaper photograph said she is abandoning her effort to take her relative home with her. “She’s got her own plans,” said Barbara Whittington, 43, referring to Helen Oliver, “so I give up.” Whittington decided to come to Los Angeles when she saw a photograph that was taken when Oliver and 50 other homeless people were evicted from the Justiceville shantytown. But Oliver refused help, saying that she will be cared for, and talking of a forthcoming marriage to a man known only as “Herbert.”