World Aids Day

Imploring residents to "talk, test and treat," local and state leaders and health officials gathered in the city Wednesday to mark World AIDS Day, remember past victims of HIV/AIDS and honor those living with the disease. The event, held at the Central Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, featured song, dance and poetry interspersed with the presentation of statistics: For instance, about 30,000 Marylanders are living with HIV/AIDS and are aware of it, and an additional 6,000-9,000 are unaware that they are HIV-positive.

Imploring residents to "talk, test and treat," local and state leaders and health officials gathered in the city Wednesday to mark World AIDS Day, remember past victims of HIV/AIDS and honor those living with the disease. The event, held at the Central Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, featured song, dance and poetry interspersed with the presentation of statistics: For instance, about 30,000 Marylanders are living with HIV/AIDS and are aware of it, and an additional 6,000-9,000 are unaware that they are HIV-positive.

Baltimore will join cities across the nation today and deck a signature landmark in red lights to observe World AIDS Day. The Monumental City has chosen the Washington Monument in Mount Vernon Place and will turn the nearly 200-foot tower crimson at 7 p.m. Ten American cities are participating in the observance to raise awareness and funds to fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa, where it's reported that 22 million people are coping with the disease...

Body found in Back Creek might be that of houseboater 2 A body found Monday morning in Back Creek in Annapolis was believed to be that of a man who lived on a nearby houseboat. The body's sighting was reported to police about 9 a.m., according to Annapolis police spokesman Ray Weaver. Officers went to the area, near Bert Jabin's Yacht Yard, and turned the investigation over to Maryland Natural Resources Police. Last Tuesday, police took a report that Heino Hans Gerard Hopp, 62, was missing and his dinghy found adrift in Back Creek, said NRP Sgt. Art Windemuth.

Western Maryland College will observe World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, with several events to promote knowledge of the deadly disease.World AIDS Day is an international response to the global spread of acquired immune deficiency syndrome crisis. A Western Maryland senior organized the campus events for a class project.The campus observance will include "Day Without Art," in which sheets will be placed over many works of art at the college, and "Night Without Light," in which the steeple lights on Baker Memorial Chapel will be turned off for a few minutes.

With a candlelight vigil tonight and a countywide conference tomorrow, Howard County health officials and members of the interfaith community will join HIV carriers and their families to commemorate World AIDS Day, which is tomorrow.The events will focus on the rights and treatment of those who are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), also called the AIDS virus."This is not just a health issue," said the Rev. Douglas Hunt, pastor of Columbia United Christian Church, which is the host for tonight's vigil at the Oakland Mills Meeting House at 5885 Robert Oliver Place.

By 9:35 on a typical morning at a downtown Baltimore AIDS clinic, nearly a dozen HIV-positive children already wait impatiently to see the doctor. Some read or color with crayons; others stare straight ahead -- they are too sick to play.The children are brought to this University of Maryland clinic by their HIV-positive mothers or by whatever adult remains in their lives in the wake of the AIDS epidemic: grandmothers, aunts, the occasional father, a foster parent.Families like these are the focus today of the seventh annual World AIDS Day, an observance begun by the United Nations to call attention to the estimated 14 million people worldwide who are living with the virus that causes AIDS or who already have the disease.

In recognition of World AIDS Day, which formally took place Wednesday, Howard County residents can see panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt and attend lectures on the illness today and tomorrow at Howard Community College.This is the first time parts of the quilt have appeared in Howard County.The free two-day event marks the county's biggest commemoration of World AIDS Day, begun six years ago by the World Health Organization to promote education about the disease."In the past, efforts have been sort of scattered," said Kathy Jones, an event organizer who works in Howard Community College's Office of Continuing Education.

Carroll Community College will mark World AIDS Day with somber reminders and factual displays during a three-hour exhibit Wednesday in the Great Hall."

We had World AIDS Day on Wednesday. And as world days go, it was a wild success.It was the only world day on which you could see a giant pink condom encase a 75-foot obelisk in Paris while, an ocean away, the president of the United States calmly listens to a heckler accuse him of hiding behind AIDS quilts.Certainly, there was great theater. The White House dimmed its lights to honor the dying. Liza Minnelli sang at the United Nations. Around the world, there were speeches and parades and street-corner condom handouts.

Baltimore will join cities across the nation today and deck a signature landmark in red lights to observe World AIDS Day. The Monumental City has chosen the Washington Monument in Mount Vernon Place and will turn the nearly 200-foot tower crimson at 7 p.m. Ten American cities are participating in the observance to raise awareness and funds to fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa, where it's reported that 22 million people are coping with the disease...

In remote villages throughout Africa, most people appear far removed from the financial crisis rolling through much of the world. The economy these villagers encounter is unconcerned with complex financial instruments and liquidity on Wall Street. But millions of these men, women and children will suffer the consequences of this crisis unless the new administration and Congress refuse to let the poorest of the poor suffer due to the mistakes of the richest of the rich. Many expect an Obama administration to be very friendly toward Africa; it is not every day that the United States gets a president with a Kenyan father and a Swahili name.

A Towson University graduate who contracted the disease from a drug-abusing boyfriend who pressured her to have unprotected sex. A Parkville phone company employee who thought her relationship was monogamous. A University of Maryland horticulture student diagnosed with the disease just years after college. All three of these victims of HIV/AIDS are Jewish Pikesville natives. One - College Park graduate Steven Kaufman - is dead. But his memory lives on through the organization his family founded after his death in 1990, and it was honored at a World AIDS Day event the group co-sponsored yesterday with the Towson University Athletic Department.

Ballots due Dec. 6 in local election for Farm Service Agency The Carroll County Farm Service Agency reminds farmers, ranchers and other eligible voters to cast ballots in the local county committee election before the Dec. 6 deadline. Ballots were mailed to eligible voters this month. Eligible producers who did not receive ballots should contact the local farm service agency office at 410-848-2780. Ballots must be returned to agency offices or postmarked by Dec. 6. All ballots will be counted publicly by Dec. 20. Elections may be challenged by nominees within 15 days after results are posted.

A year after Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley declared a state of emergency in the battle against AIDS, health officials say they're worried that a drop in AIDS cases could lead to public complacency. "While AIDS is becoming more and more a chronic disease and less of a fatal disease, we want to avoid media fatigue from setting in and an attitude where people feel they can ignore what's still a very serious threat," said Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, city health commissioner. The number of city residents dying of AIDS has dropped steadily over the past decade, from 959 in 1993 to 93 last year, he said.

ON WORLD AIDS Day, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday visited and shook hands with three AIDS patients at a Beijing hospital. Along with China's recent decision to begin distributing free anti-retroviral drugs to some HIV-positive citizens, the unprecedented, highly symbolic visit was another sign that the world's largest nation may finally be getting serious about one of the world's fastest-growing AIDS problems. If so, it's a desperately needed switch from the Chinese leadership's years of unconscionable denials in the face of spreading AIDS problems on the mainland.

When Jeff Collins heard that a minority teen-ager had been diagnosed with HIV in Anne Arundel County earlier this year, he said he became angry. Angry, he said, because despite an array of AIDS awareness campaigns, it was clear some people have not been getting the message. "HIV transmission is worse than ever," said Collins, executive director of Love & Action, a national Christian AIDS ministry based in Annapolis. "We need to remind our young people that if they are sexually active, they are putting themselves at risk for infection."

When Jeff Collins heard that a minority teen-ager had been diagnosed with HIV in Anne Arundel County earlier this year, he said he became angry. Angry, he said, because despite an array of AIDS awareness campaigns, it was clear some people have not been getting the message. "HIV transmission is worse than ever," said Collins, executive director of Love & Action, a national Christian AIDS ministry based in Annapolis. "We need to remind our young people that if they are sexually active, they are putting themselves at risk for infection."

WE ARE FIGHTING a war against terrorists, but we face a larger one at home and abroad. It is a war on biological/viral terror that we can win through education, compassion and conscious effort. September 11th is passed and will be remembered next year. Today is World AIDS Day, but it is rarely, if ever, celebrated or remembered because HIV/AIDS is a lonely and seemingly forgotten disease. It once meant certain death for those who contracted it; now it's been moved to the ranks of a chronic medical condition -- one with no cure, but one that is manageable with the right combination of pills and drug cocktails.

In Baltimore City Water restrictions end at Hopkins after Legionnaires' tests Johns Hopkins Hospital has ended water restrictions in its Comprehensive Cancer Center that had been prompted by discovery of a trace of the Legionnaires' disease bacteria -- apparently after tests found no additional traces, spokesman Trent Stockton said yesterday. The restrictions, which included prohibitions on showers, tub bathing and drinking from water fountains, were instituted Oct. 24 after a trace of the bacteria was found during routine testing of the water supply for the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building, which houses the center.