Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 2, 1994                   TAG: 9407040119
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.                                 LENGTH: Short

FORMER SOCIALITE GETS MONEY, LIFE BACK

Since 1991, Waln has been locked in court-appointed guardianships she didn't want - on the premise that she might abuse alcohol if free.

Waln has argued consistently that she is not an alcoholic, does not drink anymore and does not believe it's anyone else's business whether she has a drink.

After a 11/2-hour closed hearing in Broward County Circuit Court on Thursday, general master Alan Methelis concluded that Waln is legally competent. He recommended that she immediately regain all her rights, including the rights to manage her property, decide where she lives and consent to medical treatment.

The soft-spoken, carefully coiffed widow emerged from the hearing room both elated and exhausted, she said.

``I'm tired, but it's a good tired,'' Waln said. ``It's been a long fight.''

Waln's past attempts to escape South Florida's private guardianship industry - in which professionals go to court to have strangers declared incapacitated and placed under their care - have been thwarted by guardians and lawyers.