AIDS Scare at Tiny South Dakota College Shakes Town

College students from big cities in Texas and Florida, Michigan and Arizona are living in this small South Dakota town, attending college and being bored. So, many students at SiTanka Huron University party just about every night. They dance. They drink. And in an endless, reckless game, they pair off -- for a night or for an hour -- with a new face. Or, with a familiar one. They know about AIDS and condoms. "But, being drunk.... And your hormones are so raging," said freshman Tony Dawkins. "It's just like, oh, forget about it."

Forgetting is not possible now. Nikko Briteramos, a freshman basketball player, has been charged with five counts of intentionally exposing his new girlfriend to AIDS through unprotected sex after learning late last month that he was infected with HIV. Briteramos has given health officials the names of at least 10 other women with whom he has had unprotected sex in recent months. Two have tested positive for HIV. Those two have listed 50 recent partners between them. Through last Sunday, at least 135 people had been tested. Some results may not be back for weeks.

A fixture in Huron for 120 years, the university -- now owned by the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe -- is welcomed for the many jobs it provides. But there is also unease. At least half of the undergraduates come from out of state, recruited for the Screaming Eagles athletic teams. Many of them are black. Many come from big cities. On both counts, they are viewed with suspicion in the Plains state that, outside of the Native American reservations, is virtually all white.

A few old-timers openly tag black students as the source of most trouble. Many African-American students say they have encountered racism here. There is an undeniable clash of cultures when kids who have grown up in Chicago or Fort Worth set down roots in Huron.

Briteramos, a 6-foot-7-basketball star found out he was HIV-positive in late March when he attempted to donate blood. Under state confidentiality laws no one would have known of Briteramos' infection had state health officials not stopped by his dorm to interview him last Thursday. He answered the door in his boxer shorts and refused to let them in. A young woman was seen scurrying away from the room. She has not tested positive for HIV, but it can take up to six months for the virus to surface.

In South Dakota -- and in 20 other states -- it is a crime for individuals who know they are HIV-positive to engage in unprotected sex without informing their partners.

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