Some 200 people turned out Saturday for a town hall meeting on AIDS in Fort Lauderdale. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) hosted the meeting, whose theme was "Reclaiming Our Community: Combating HIV/AIDS in Our Backyard." "Unfortunately, this state has become a nesting ground for this disease," Hastings told the crowd at the African-American Research Library.

Grim statistics, such as the fact that blacks make up 51 percent of Broward County's 6,877 HIV cases, prompted Hastings to call the meeting. In one presentation, Felicia White recounted the day in 1990 when she learned she was HIV-positive while carrying her second pregnancy. "I had to pick myself up and be a mother," she said of her determination to carry on regardless.

Some attendees wore T-shirts declaring, "Don't worry, only men, women, and children get AIDS."

Among those present were Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle, Oakland Park Mayor Larry Gierer, Sheriff Ken Jenne, and representatives of the National Campaign to End AIDS and the community-based AIDS organization Broward House.

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