Lucky 7: Orphans Are Homeward Bound

Life looked bleak for seven orphan brothers in Georgia who were separated by death, poverty and a fire that destroyed a house trailer. But Jack Hodge, who initiated a nationwide fund-raising effort through his Gainesville church, said he has collected $42,000. A home-builders association is constructing a new four-bedroom home for the boys, a developer has agreed to furnish the home and offers of adoption, education, money and household goods are pouring in, Hodge said. The three oldest O’Kelley brothers--Terry, 18, Tommy, 17, and Charles, 16, are spending the weekend at Disney World as guests of Orlando, Fla., businessman Carl Kelley. “I talked to Terry last night and he said they’re having a blast. You could just hear him grinning over the telephone,” said Hodge, a Gainesville poultry wholesaler.The four youngest brothers--Jason, 8, Michael, 11, Jeff, 13, and David, 15--were not able to go to Florida because of preparations for school. The boys became orphans in 1983 when their mother died from a brain tumor and the father left home shortly afterward. The dying mother’s last request was for Terry to “take care of the boys.” The orphans moved into a house trailer with their grandfather, who ran a 7.4-acre poultry farm, but the grandfather died and the four younger boys were placed in foster homes when debt became overwhelming. Then fire destroyed the trailer. But that’s behind them. The seven boys move into their new home in November. “A man in Atlanta has agreed to pay for their education,” Hodge said.

--Actor Sean Penn, never known for his patience with the paparazzi , wasn’t going to take it sitting down when one of their number spit back at him. Penn and his wife, the rock singer and actress Madonna, were returning to their Manhattan apartment when free-lancer Anthony Galella and several other photographers moved in to get snapshots of the couple, the New York Post reported. Penn reportedly spat at Galella (a nephew of Ron Galella, known in the early 1970s for photographing Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.) Galella spat back at Penn, the paper said. “That’s it,” Penn reportedly said as he smacked Galella in the face with a plastic shopping bag. As Galella stumbled into the building’s courtyard, Penn shouted: “That’s it; now you’re on private property, you’re dead!” and started punching the photographer, the Post said. Police said that no charges were filed.

--Colorado state Revenue Department employees chipped in $56.35 from their own pockets to pay a man who waited 16 years for his tax refund. The check, dated April 23, 1970, landed in William Deatherage’s mailbox on Feb. 23, 1986, but the bank would not cash it because it was too old, and Colorado law prohibits issuing a new refund check if more than four years have passed. When state employees heard of Deatherage’s plight, they set up a fund themselves and handed the 54-year-old La Junta resident a check for the refund amount. Chuck Annen of the U.S. Postal Service said the original check went to the wrong address.