Announcements

** Political Funeral at White House, October 12

ACT UP/New York is coordinating a political funeral at or
near the White House on Columbus Day, Monday, October 12 (the day
after the October 9-11 display near the White House of The Names
Project AIDS Memorial Quilt). This funeral was organized after
David Robinson, of ACT UP/Golden Gate in San Francisco, decided
to bring his lover's ashes to the White House on that day.

Persons from across the U. S. are invited if they (1) have
ashes they want to bring, (2) do not have ashes but want to march
(there will be a procession); or (3) want to send ashes but
cannot come themselves. The group also hopes to encourage
similar actions at other times and places, for example at
campaign appearances of President Bush.

Although this political funeral is separate from The Names
Project events of the previous days (see below), it has been
endorsed by Names Project founder Cleve Jones.

The procession is tentatively set for 2:00 p. m., although
arrangements are still being worked out. For more information,
persons should call Eric Sawyer at ACT UP/New York, 212/564-AIDS,
or at home, 212/864-5672, or write to: ACT UP/New York Columbus
Day Project, 135 W 29th St., New York, NY 10003. Or call David
Robinson, 415/252-7401.

Note: This is not a project of Stumpf/Kane (see "Political
Funerals: Activist Organization Formed," AIDS TREATMENT NEWS
#157, August 21, 1992), although the groups are working together.
Stumpf/Kane has focused so far on the New York area, while the
October 12 event was initiated from San Francisco and will have a
national focus.

** ACT UP White House Demonstration Noon October 12

ACT UP/DC is planning a Columbus Day demonstration at the
White House two hours before the political funeral; the two
events are separate. Organizers hope that the earlier
demonstration, called Hands Around the White House, will have at
least 4,000 people, enough to link hands around the entire White
House. For more information, call ACT UP/DC at 202/328- AIDS, or
come to the White House on October 12 at noon.

Cleve Jones, founder of the Names Project, which is
organizing the display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in Washington
on October 9-11, has endorsed Hands Around the White House and
plans to attend.

** The Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt Washington, D. C.,
October 9-11, 1992

On October 9-11 the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt will
be displayed on the Washington Monument grounds. This major
display and the associated events, ceremonies, and conferences
could draw 300,000 people.

Cleve Jones of The NAMES Project noted, "the display is
several weeks before critical U. S. elections, when the spotlight
is on the President and members of Congress. This mobilization
...will ensure that AIDS is remembered as part and parcel of
American and international agendas."

The Quilt, the size of ten football fields, contains 20,000
panels -- representing 13 percent of U. S. AIDS deaths and two
percent of AIDS deaths worldwide. Panels from 17 NAMES Project
initiatives from around the world will be included in the
display.

For more information about the October 9-11 events, call The
Names Project, 415/863-5511.

** Hurricane Andrew Relief for People with AIDS

The PWA Coalition of Dade County, Florida urgently needs
contributions of money, medications, and nutritional supplements
to help meet the special needs of people with AIDS, which the
mainstream disaster relief is not able to handle. Homes and
physicians' offices have been destroyed, and many hospitals are
closed or full.

Contributions can be sent to PWA Coalition -- Dade County,
c/o Berne Teeple, 175 N. E. 36th St., Miami, Florida 33137. For
information, phone 305/573-6010.

** Rifabutin for MAC Prevention: FDA Hearing September 24

The Antiviral Drug Products Advisory Committee (a panel of
outside experts to advise the U. S. Food and Drug Administration)
is scheduled to meet September 24, 8 a.m. to 1 p. m. at the
Marriott Hotel, 620 Terry Parkway, in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

At a previous meeting, the committee did not vote to
recommend approval, despite two well-controlled trials which
showed that the drug prevented about 50 percent of the cases of
MAC in patients with T-helper cells under 200. Few AIDS
activists knew about the earlier meeting; some are now concerned
since this is the only drug proven to prevent MAC. While another
drug, clarithromycin, has greatly improved the treatment of this
disease, resistance to it develops in some cases. Rifabutin is
currently accessible under an expanded- access program, but
approval would make it more generally available (and might also
facilitate research in combination use with clarithromycin and
other drugs for MAC treatment). The drug might also be useful in
treatment of tuberculosis.

For more information about AIDS community concerns with this
drug, call Lynda Dee, 410/332-1170.

** In Memoriam: Ron Woodroof

Ron Woodroof, founder of the Dallas Buyers' Club, died on
August 15, 1992. He had been diagnosed as HIV-positive, with a
T-helper count of nine, in 1986; physicians gave him six weeks to
live.

In 1987 Woodroof was a leader in a class-action suit to
obtain AZT for persons with AIDS who were treated at Parkland
Hospital in Dallas. Later he became knows as the "cowboy
smuggler," opening the Dallas Buyers' Club in 1988; the
organization eventually assisted 3,000 persons with AIDS or HIV
to obtain non-approved drugs such as peptide T. His group was
perhaps the most radical of the buyers' clubs. Jim Campbell, a
former executive director, has started a new buyers' club, DBC
Alternatives, also in Dallas, to continue Woodroof's work.

A memorial service is planned for September 12 at 5:00 p.
m., at the AIDS Memorial Tree in Lee Park, in Dallas.