Editorial: Anti-AIDS group has it all wrong

Monday, Sept. 29, 2003 | 8:41 a.m.

This summer, during a special session of the Nevada Legislature, $250,000 in state funds were allocated to a group in Las Vegas to fight AIDS. The appropriation, sponsored by state Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-North Las Vegas, ostensibly was to go for outreach, testing and the dissemination of information about HIV/ AIDS. But last week the Sun disclosed that the group receiving the public funds, Fighting AIDS in Our Community Today, wants to spend $125,000 to stage a gospel festival. Officials from Fighting AIDS in Our Community Today say that the purpose of the gospel festival is to raise money, in order to create a self-sustaining means of support, so that it won't have to rely on public funds in the future.

Despite the group's intentions, it would be outrageous to spend any money on entertainment. The Legislature and the public viewed this allocation as money for AIDS prevention programs, not for fund-raisers. And if the group thinks a gospel festival is a great idea to bring in money, then it should ask singers and other entertainers in Las Vegas to volunteer in putting on a show. Many other organizations raise money this way, and if the group is sound enough and can demonstrate it's running a worthy program, then people would be willing to donate their time to such an endeavor.

We're strong supporters of AIDS awareness programs -- not enough is being done at the federal or state levels -- but such a frivolous expenditure that has been proposed would create a public backlash against other deserving programs that are combating AIDS. Fortunately, in this case, state officials do have to sign off before the money can be spent. In our view, they can't move fast enough to prevent such wasteful spending.