Mayor Applies Lessons of Pandemic

Ellis returned this week from an AIDS education tour of five African nations. He said that officials in Uganda have made strides in reducing that country's infection rate by being open and by educating their public about the pandemic.

"I learned as much as I shared," Ellis said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. "Because I think we can do more to publicize and to be more forthright about AIDS, especially given sex education and other things in our school system, because right now we have some prohibition as to even what we can discuss in our school system, be it condoms and other sexual matters. I think we have our head in the sand somewhat."

It's very refreshing when public figures like Ellis refute the commonly held position among politicians in the United States that even mentioning alternatives to abstinence is to be forbidden. Comprehensive education is the only way to reduce pain and suffering and unwanted, uncared for children.