New Home and Healthy Outlook

--Louise Ray, mother of three boys whose infection with the human immunodeficiency virus led to prejudice and arson against them last year, says that “1988 has been every bit as good as 1987 was bad.” Richard, now 11; Robert, 10, and Randy, 9, were barred from school in Arcadia, Fla., last year after contracting HIV, which causes AIDS, through a medication they were taking for hemophilia. Four days after they returned to classes under court order, their home was burned. But help and money flowed in from across the country, and the Rays say they now have a happy, normal life in Sarasota. “We never realized we were drowning in Arcadia,” said the boys’ father, Clifford Ray. “There, everyone has their place and they stay in it. The people of Sarasota have given us a chance to be somebody. People here have encouraged you to strive to do more.” The Rays granted an interview to the Tampa Tribune to let the people who gave them support “know what their investment has done,” Louise Ray said. The boys remain healthy and are taking the drug AZT as a preventive measure. All three are on a swim team. Pictures of famous well-wishers line the walls at the family’s modest home in North Sarasota County. Louise Ray is a room mother at the boys’ elementary school and works part time as a nurse. Her husband is a prison guard. The Rays say their ordeal renewed their faith in God and that the Catholics and Methodists of Arcadia helped them a lot.

--The son of former President John F. Kennedy will follow some other sons of the famous into a job at the Manhattan district attorney’s office in August. John F. Kennedy Jr., 28, is a third-year law student at New York University and, because he will begin work in the $29,000-a-year job before he passes the bar exam, he will start by doing research and leg work. Sons of journalist Dan Rather, Gov. Mario M. Cuomo and former Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance have also held the position, and Kennedy’s future boss, Dist. Atty. Robert Morgenthau, was appointed as a U.S. attorney by President Kennedy.

--Perhaps taking the lyrics “Baby, you can drive my car” to heart, museum curators went for a spin in a psychedelic Rolls-Royce limo once owned by John Lennon, and during the trip they stumbled across an 8-millimeter film they hope is lost Beatles memorabilia. Lee Manhas, gift shop manager at the Historic Transportation Centre in Cloverdale, British Columbia, outside Vancouver, said she was driving when staff member Roger Giguer found the canister under the passenger seat. In one scene, a man plays a piano painted in a manner similar to the limo. Museum spokesman Fred Davies described the 30-minute film as outtakes and said a viewing on a small editing screen did not allow for identification of any of the estimated eight people on the celluloid. “It’s a real mystery,” he said. Written on the canister is: “Phil Loomis. Orson Welles Film School.” Davies said he planned to ask Beatles experts to examine the film for clues to its origin.