Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Where I Stand: Talk to your kids about AIDS

NOT TOO LONG ago, I tried to comfort the family of a wonderful, young man who died after a long and courageous battle against AIDS.

It is for him, and five dear friends I have lost to the horrible disease, that this column is written.

Once upon a time HIV positive and AIDS were not a part of the average person's vocabulary.

That was when some people thought the word "condom" was short for condominium, and kids spent more time in school on arithmetic and grammar than sex education.

Young girls who became pregnant had two choices: a back-alley abortionist or being shipped away to some private location to give birth to the baby and then give it up for adoption. Pregnancy was not politically correct and extra-marital sex was for the "fast" crowd.

It was a lot simpler then, until the 1960s when the great sexual revolution was born and proponents of free love created a whole new attitude toward human behavior.

Once the floodgates were opened we saw a complete breakdown of sexual taboos and it became apparent that youth demanded much more than the old stork story about birth and conception.

Sex education advanced from classes in hygiene to the most explicit teaching of human sexuality.

Was it good or bad? Who knows? There are arguments on both sides, but one thing for sure, we have come so far there's no turning back. We must keep our children informed and alert to the dangers they face in any kind of serious or even casual relationship, or careless use of drugs.

AIDS seemed to have popped out of nowhere and with it all kinds of myths and mystery as to its origin and means of transmission.

Frightening statistics are included in a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. One in every 270 Nevadans is infected with HIV. At the end of the year there were 2,629 known AIDS cases reported in Nevada. AIDS is the most common cause of death of people between the ages of 25 to 44. One in every 92 American men may be infected with HIV.

Of 501,310 cases diagnosed in the past 14 years, 62 percent have died.

Most tragic of all, from 1978 to 1994 approximately 15,000 children were infected with the virus before birth. Of those, more than a third developed AIDS.

The problem, which has reached near epidemic proportions, is not going away.

It calls for frank and open discussion by parents with their children. Explain the risks of using drugs and becoming sexually active. Discuss how to prevent HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases. Don't leave it to someone else to teach your children.

Children are not the only ones who should know about HIV-AIDS. Adults must be aware of the danger of unsafe sexual encounters, dirty needles and risky behavior. There are many legitimate sources of information and help to enlist everyone in a battle against a disease that seems to be gaining on us.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has an excellent brochure entitled "Preventing HIV and AIDS." It's yours for the asking.

Or contact Rose Marie George, director of development for Aid for AIDS of Nevada, for in-depth and detailed information.

Why should universities be concerned about the success of their athletic programs?

Big money is the answer.

The NCAA Final Four schools can sell millions of dollars in merchandise, and there are big cash payments to schools and conferences depending on the number of teams who make the tournament. The real money goes to those who last to the Final Four.

Some schools claim that alumni donations increase dramatically if the school can produce a championship team -- especially in football and basketball.

Syracuse University, which lost Monday night for the national basketball title, claims that applications from prospective students jump considerably with winning teams.

Then there are the deals made with shoe, uniform and equipment companies.

UNLV's basketball program brought millions to the university when it was in its heyday.

Is it any wonder major colleges seek super athletes and winning coaches?

A first visit to the Clark County Taj Mahal, known as the county building, is overwhelming.

After trying to forget how much tax money it took to build this magnificent monument to county government, one can't help feeling a certain pride in the unusual architecture and interesting interior; and it's functional to boot.

Forget the cost -- enjoy the beauty.

Gov. Bob Miller needs an image maker.

The National Journal didn't identify him properly in a recent picture and story.

USA Today ran a picture of Miller and identified him as Virginia's Gov. George Allen.

From Frank Tyger:

"We've got to make polluters realize that grime doesn't pay."

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