Local News in Brief : Councilman Will Return

Carson Councilman Tom Mills, who recently was hospitalized for complications stemming from gall bladder surgery in June, says he expects to be back at council meetings by the end of the month.

Mills’ absence from the council since Jan. 6 has provoked widespread rumors at City Hall. In an interview he gave from his hospital bed recently, Mills denied that he has cancer or any other degenerative disease. He said his doctors have told him that his condition is treatable and curable.

Mills said the effects of gall bladder surgery have plagued him intermittently since June, and became particularly severe late last year after he returned from a trip to Japan. He has been hospitalized at the Kaiser Medical Center in Harbor City.

“The last couple of weeks have pretty tough,” he said.