latly (Ear Heel
Helms Reverses Position on HIV, AIDS Research
By Emma Burgdj
Staff Writer
After 30 years in office, U.S. Sen. Jesse
Helms, R-N.C., appears to have reversed
his stance on battling the AIDS vims.
The Associated Press reported
Thursday that Helms told hundreds of
people at the “Prescription for Hope”
conference, held by Samaritan’s Purse,
in Washington, D.C. this week that he
regrets not exerting more effort against
the worldwide epidemic.
UNC, Penn State Raise
Money With Marathons
UM-College Park, UVa. and
Duke will join Penn State
and UNC in hosting campus
dance marathons this year.
By Amanda Iler
Staff Writer
Students at UNC and Pennsylvania
State University are planning to spend
this weekend dancing for a good cause.
Both schools will host dance
marathons to raise money for charity.
Money collected at UNC will sup
port the N.C. Children’s Hospital, while
money at Penn State will benefit the
Four Diamonds Fund, an organization
devoted'to funding research on child
hood cancer.
Started in 1998, the dance marathon
is still relatively new to UNC students,
but students at Penn State have been
dancing for charity since 1973. Last year,
they raised more than $3 million,
according to the organization’s Web site.
Christa Cavaluchi, entertainment chair
woman of the Penn State dance marathon,
said it originally started as a 24-hour com
petition but has turned into a 48-hour
marathon sponsored by the school’s
Interfratemity and Panhellenic councils.
Cavaluchi said she doesn’t know the
exact reason for the change. “I think the
reason is because it is the longest,” she
said. “It’s not documented why they
decided to change from a competition.”
Like UNC students, Cavaluchi said
Penn State students raise money for the
marathon by holding a 5K run and
soliciting businesses.
She added that more than 250 cam
pus organizations, including Greek
organizations and the campus newspa
per, also raise money.
She said planners hope that dancers
can stay on their feet for the entire 48
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“I have been too lax too long in doing
something really significant about AIDS,”
Helms said, according to the AP. “I’m not
going to lay it aside on my agenda for the
remaining months I have (in office).”
Helms, who is nearing the end of his
fifth term in office, is notorious for his
opposition to gay rights and AIDS and
HIV research.
Helms said he turned to Franklin
Graham, chief executive officer of
Samaritan’s Purse, for guidance on how
to deal with the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
hours.
UNC and Penn State are not the only
two universities sponsoring dance
marathons this year.
Duke University is holding a dance
marathon March 2 to raise money for
Caring House, a residence for cancer
patients who are 18 or older.
Duke held its first dance marathon in
2000 but did not hold one in 2001.
Students involved with the Duke
dance marathon said they are hoping it
will be more successful this year.
“We really want to get it off the
ground and get people there this year,”
said Kristen Kneier, chairman of Duke
Marathon.
The marathon is being held as part of
Duke’s Krzyzewski-ville weekend that
culminates March 3 with the UNC-
Duke basketball game at Duke.
Kneier said dancers are required to
raise $25 each, enough to fund a one
night stay at Caring House. She said the
goal of the marathon committee is to
raise enough money for 1,001 nights.
Kneier said the marathon will last
nine hours and participants will dance
in four- and five-hour shifts. She said the
committee has planned several activities
for the dancers - including dance
lessons and kickboxing. “They’re pret
ty booked the whole time,” she said.
“They’re getting a lot of dance lessons,
which is really cool.”
The University of Virginia and the
University of Maryland-College Park
also hold annual dance marathons that
benefit children in hospitals.
According to the UVa. Web site, the
2002 dance marathog (raised $111,879.43
for the Newborn Intensive Care Unit in
the UVa. Hospital. Money from the UM-
College Park fund-raiser supports the
Children’s Hospital of Washington, D.C.
The State & National Editor can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
State & Nation
Several AIDS activists said they are
pleased that Helms intends to do more
to fight the deadly disease.
Patsy Clarke, who lost her son, Mark,
to AIDS, wrote a plea to Helms in 1994,
trying to convince him to cease his
opposition to AIDS research.
After receiving a reply from Helms
stating that he was unwilling to change
his stance on homosexuality and AIDS,
Clarke co-founded Mothers Against
Jesse in Congress.
Clarke said she was not angry at
Price Discusses Poverty, Job Training at Conference
By Michael McKnight
Staff Writer
DURHAM - Area commerce and
civic leaders asked U.S. Rep. David
Price, D-N.C., for more federal aid to
assist the Triangle’s unemployed popu
lation at a summit Thursday morning
The round-table discussion focused
on the impact President Bush’s proposed
budget might have on unemployment
benefits and job-training programs.
Several of the conference attendees
expressed concerns that the budget pro
posal might force cuts to such programs.
“We sort of downplay job training,
and we forget the importance of it,” said
Ted Abernathy, executive vice president
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Helms for his response, but found
Helms’ stand on AIDS unsettling.
“I was disturbed that such a view could
exist in someone so powerful,” she said.
But after Helms’ speech, Clarke said
she is pleased with his change in atti
tude. “I’m very glad he’s more
amenable to AIDS research,” she said.
“It seems he has a more accepting view.”
Although Clarke said she thinks
Helms has taken the first step in halting
his indifference toward AIDS research,
she does not think Helms’ views on
of the Research Triangle Regional
Partnership. “The idea that it’s not an
issue is completely wrong.”
Employment analysts at the conference
attributed the growth of Triangle area lay
offs to recent national economic trends. “I
think what we’ve seen in the last few years
is a lot of the manufacturing going away,”
said Mike Ahem, a senior policy analyst at
the N.C. Department of Commerce.
According to data from the N.C.
Employment Security Commission, the
statewide unemployment rate is 6.1 per
cent, compared with 4.2 percent in
Wake County and 4.3 percent in
Durham County. Orange County has
the lowest unemployment rate in the
state at 2.4 percent.
homosexuality have changed.
“I didn’t see any change in his view of
gay people,” she said. “I see a change in
his willingness to treat the disease of
AIDS. That’s definitely a good step.”
Jeremy Blume, public relations
account executive for The DeMoss Group
Inc. - the public relations firm represent
ing Samaritan’s Purse - said people like
Helms who were late responding to AIDS
and HIV often thought the virus would
not be as widespread a problem as it has
become. “A lot of people thought there
“(Orange County) always has one of
the lowest rates because the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill never has
any layoffs,” said Wayne Beverly, the
Raleigh-Durham regional manager for the
N.C. Employment Security Commission.
Price, who sat quietly and listened to
attendees’ comments for much of the
meeting, said it is likely the U.S.
Congress will pass an extension of
unemployment benefits.
Bush supported this idea last month
in his State of the Union address.
But Price added that additional funding
for job training might meet resistance in
Congress. “I think the heat is on on the
first issue we discussed, the extension of
unemployment benefits,” Price said. “This
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would be a pill to cure AIDS by now,” he
said. “Now, there’s 40 million people liv
ing with AIDS in Africa. Something must
be done.”
Clarke said she is thankful for Helms’
ability to admit he was wrong in oppos
ing AIDS research.
“It takes a strong person to admit they
are shamed,” she said. “I am grateful at
(Helms’) ability to admit he has shame.”
The State 8 National Editor can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
job training program is a little different -
it’s a little off everybody’s radar screen.
“I think the focus on job training and
the things we were talking about this
morning were not the first filings on the
news, but that doesn’t mean they are not
important.”
Price said he will take information from
the conference back to Washington, D.C.
He added that he will work to allocate
more money for unemployment benefits
and job training programs in the national
budget, before it is passed by Congress.
He said, “We’ve somehow got to fig
ure out how to shore up that budget.”
The State 8 National Editor can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
5