AIDS Walk Draws Record Numbers

WEST HOLLYWOOD - More than 30,000 people took a record-breaking stroll through West Hollywood Sunday, in the largest turnout ever for the 22nd annual AIDS Walk Los Angeles.
Gray clouds did not dampen the spirit of participants who were amped up for the 6.2-mile walk, cheering on friends and each other as they made their way down Melrose Avenue. Others walked in silent remembrance of a loved one or a friend or of the millions of strangers worldwide who have died of AIDS-related illnesses.
"These days, we're all focusing on the Iraq war and other issues and AIDS has taken last place," said San Fernando Valley resident Maggie Schroyer. "I feel we need to revisit it."
Organizers said more than $3.7 million was raised on Sunday, a record and at least $500,000 more than last year. Money raised will go toward AIDS Project Los Angeles, an umbrella agency that supports nonprofit organizations that provide medical and social services to those with the disease.
"We had an extraordinary event," said Craig Miller, organizer and founder of AIDS Walk Los Angeles.
"I think it had to do with our message this year," he said. "We really focused on poverty, racism, sexism and homophobia as it relates to AIDS and I believe
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it resonated with people."
Braulio and Madeline Garcia of Hollywood brought 10 members of their family for the walk. Together, they made up what they call the Locomotion Gang, and have participated for the last 15 years.
They walk in memory of Braulio's brother Bernard, who was 27 when he died and whose photograph is seen on the back of each family members' T-shirt.
"I think people are realizing more that (AIDS) is not centralized to one group," Garcia said. "It's affecting the youth, the kids now."
This year marked the 25th anniversary of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention's first reports of AIDS. The CDC estimates that AIDS and HIV affects more than 57,000 people in Los Angeles County. Since the first AIDS Walk Los Angeles in 1985, more than $52 million for AIDS programs, advocacy and prevention has been raised, organizers said.
Los Angeles resident Bessie Novos has participated in the walk for the last 20 years. Originally from South Africa, she has seen firsthand how a people become divided for one reason or another.
"People are entitled to receive medical help," Novos said. "I think there's a lot of progress being made, but still, when you tell people you support people with AIDS, there are some who turn away. There is still work to be done."
from The LA Daily News

Assemblyman May Offer $10k Reward To Find Killer

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - Assemblyman Paul Koretz said he was willing to add $10,000 to rewards offered to find the killer of a Chicago gay rights activist, whose body he found in a Beverly Hills alley 12 years ago Monday.
Koretz, then a West Hollywood councilman, said he was walking his bichon fries on Cinthia Street, between Oakhurst and Sierra Drives, on Oct 2., 1994, when a woman walker told him she thought she saw a body in the alley that Sunday morning.
Koretz walked closer and found the naked body of Jon A. Simmons, lying face down, with a single bullet wound to the head.
A burned-out car rented by Simmons was found more than 20 miles away in El Monte later that day, according to Beverly Hills police.
The Beverly Hills Police Department's Cold Case Homicide Unit resubmitted evidence to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Scientific Services Bureau for DNA analysis in 2005, but additional evidence was not found, according to Beverly Hills police Lt. Mitch McCann.
"This case has gotten cold so probably the only way that we ever figure out who did it is someone who knows, see this and decides to pick up a reward," said Koretz, D-West Hollywood. "Unfortunately, there's nothing out there."
Simmons was Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's liaison to the gay and lesbian community as well as a leader who helped passed an ordinance protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination.
Simmons was at the Abbey Cafe in West Hollywood the night before his body was found, and may have visited bars nearby, according to McCann.
"It was kind of an odd case because (Simmons) was probably abducted in West Hollywood, but was found in Beverly Hills," Koretz said. "Neither city really wanted to make this crime a particular area of focus and so neither did anything extraordinary to solve it."
As a West Hollywood councilman, Koretz sponsored a $5,000 reward in the case.
"I'd love to see both cities make an additional effort to solve (this case)," said Koretz, who said he thinks about this case "all the time" and has had nightmares about it. "I would certainly be willing to add $10,000 (from personal or campaign accounts) to the amount if either of two cities offered a reward at that level."
Koretz said he made a similar offer on another crime several years ago, paying $5,000 to the reward fund which resulted in convictions in a West Hollywood assault.
from CBS 2

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