Relatives Speak of U.S. ‘Special Responsibility’

The families of four Americans held captive in Lebanon met Thursday with the Rev. Benjamin Weir, who is now free, to learn new information about their loved ones. Some family members voiced fears that the six remaining hostages might soon be forgotten by the American people.

In a day of whirlwind meetings with U.S. officials here, family members urged the Reagan Administration to step up its efforts to win the release of the six and implored the news media to keep the issue alive.

“There are still six hostages whose lives are in extreme danger,” Carol Weir, Weir’s wife said at a news conference. “I would like to say to you, if you want to save the lives of these men, you have a special responsibility. Please don’t let it (the story) get buried again.”

During an emotional meeting with Weir, the families of hostages Terry A. Anderson, David P. Jacobsen, Father Lawrence Jenco and Thomas Sutherland said they learned that the four men were in reasonably good health.

Medicine, Letters

Father John Jenco, of Joliet, Ill., said Weir told him that Lebanese captors had given his brother medicine for his high blood pressure. He added that Weir delivered letters Thursday from each of the four hostages to their families.

“I want to share the letter with the members of our family before I make a decision about releasing its contents,” said Jenco, whose brother has been held captive for 16 months.

Other news was not so encouraging. Weir told family members that the hostages were forced to wear blindfolds whenever their captors were in the room. And he said he had no clues about where the two other American hostages--William Buckley, a political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, and Peter Kilburn, a librarian at American University in Beirut--are being held.

“I don’t know what the American government’s doing to get them released,” said John Patten, a Virginia resident who is related to Kilburn by marriage and who has been monitoring developments in Washington this week for Kilburn’s relatives in California.

Asked if Weir’s release had raised expectations that other captives might soon be freed, Patten said: “I think anything like that would be premature right now . . . certainly not until we’ve heard something more concrete.”

The families are scheduled to meet with Vice President George Bush today, but a senior Administration official said that President Reagan is considering the possibility of seeing them instead.

“I have a great deal of trust in the American people that they will press our government for the negotiations that are necessary for the release of these men,” Carol Weir said.

Return to ‘Back Burner’?

Others were less confident. As they hurried from the office of one elected official to the next, some family members expressed fear that the elation over Weir’s release will soon fade and that their loved ones’ status will once again be on the “back burner.”

“I can’t tell you what it’s like to talk to people in a number of states, as we have, and have them say, ‘What hostages? Weren’t they all just released?’ ” said Sue Franceschini, Jenco’s sister, at another news conference.

The hostage families have banded together in the last eight months to keep the issue alive, and some have traveled as a group to several states, reminding people that “there is still a hostage crisis going on in Beirut and it’s happening today,” she said.

Franceschini added: “We’re just common people. We don’t know much about politics. But what would you do if your brother was held captive? Please, don’t forget us.”