STATE REPRESENTATIVE PAUL BELL WILL BE UNDERGOING TESTS
AT IOWA METHODIST MEDICAL CENTER IN DES MOINES TODAY, AFTER
BECOMING ILL IN ISTANBUL TURKEY. ACCORDING TO STATE SENATOR
DENNIS BLACK, THE 59 YEAR OLD BELL WAS LEADING A FRIENDSHIP
TOUR OF TURKEY, AND BEGAN FEELING ILL SEVERAL DAYS AGO. THE
NEWTON DEMOCRAT SPENT FOUR DAYS IN AN ISTANBUL HOSPITAL,
AND UNDERWENT SOME BASIC TESTS. BUT SENATOR BLACK SAYS AN
UNSPECIFIC DIAGNOSIS OF BELL’S ILLNESS PROMPTED HIS RETURN
TO IOWA EARLY YESTERDAY MORNING, BY LEAR JET. ACCORDING TO
BLACK, REPRESENTATIVE BELL COULD NOT RETURN TO THE U.S. BY
REGULAR PUBLIC AIR SERVICE. FROM ISTANBUL…THE PRIVATE JET
WENT TO MUNICH GERMANY, WHERE BLACK SAYS A MEDICAL TEAM
JOINED THE FLIGHT. THE FLIGHT THEN MADE REFUELING STOPS IN
ICELAND AND CANADA, BEFORE ARRIVING IN DES MOINES. BELL’S WIFE
NIKI ACCOMPANIED HER HUSBAND ON THE 20-HOUR FLIGHT FROM
ISTANBUL TO DES MOINES EARLY YESTERDAY MORNING. BLACK SAYS HE
TALKED TO BELL YESTERDAY, AND HE SOUNDED STRONG, RESTED, AND
WAS ANXIOUS TO WATCH HIS YANKEES PLAY IN LAST NIGHT’S WORLD
SERIES GAME.
