Galanter Meets Press, Says She Hopes to Resume Drive

Speaking in a constricted and frail-sounding voice that seemed to gain strength as she talked, City Council candidate Ruth Galanter met with reporters visiting her in the hospital for 10 minutes today--her first appearance to outsiders since she was knifed by an intruder in her Venice home May 6.

Dressed in a white robe, Galanter, 46, walked into a small visiting room at UCLA Medical Center; sat on a chair; answered questions in a lucid, often cheerful manner, and said she hopes to resume campaigning before the June 2 election. She faces Pat Russell, the incumbent and City Council president, in the runoff race for the 6th District council seat.

Galanter’s neck showed several bruise marks and bandages from the assault, which left her near death with two stab wounds. A suspect, Mark Allen Olds, 27, a neighbor of Galanter’s with an arrest record, is in custody.

During the hospital visit today, reporters observed that the left side of Galanter’s face contrasted markedly with the right. On the left, she was droopy-eyed and the facial tissue appeared to have lost its muscle tone, while on the right her face was normal, often cheerful and expressive.

Numbness Wearing Off

Her campaign manager, Marcella Howell, attributed the left side appearance to numbness from the more severe of the two stab wounds that Galanter received. Howell said the numbness is gradually wearing off.

Galanter spoke of her condition, her campaign and a little about her attack. Asked whether she could identify her assailant, she replied: “Listen, it was pitch-black in my house. . . . I fought back (as long as I could).”

“From everything the doctors told me, I’m recovering very, very well,” Galanter said, although she said she still has some difficulty eating and swallowing.

The interview was halted abruptly after 10 minutes, before reporters could ask further questions about her condition. The interview session did not make clear whether she is undergoing psyc1752134760assaulted, nor did it divulge the exact cause of the immobility on the left side of her face.