Beauty Pleads With Power for More U.S. AIDS Funds

--Actress Elizabeth Taylor urged Congress to spend more money to find a cure for acquired immune deficiency syndrome. “There is an urgent need for intensified, accelerated biomedical research,” Taylor told a group of senators that included one of her former husbands, Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.). “Since my friend Rock Hudson died of AIDS last year, I have worked with the American Foundation for AIDS Research . . . . I have become familiar with the tragedy of AIDS and I am acutely aware of research funding needs,” she told the Senate Appropriations’ labor and health subcommittee. Taylor, national head of the research foundation, was the first witness to testify on appropriations for the National Institutes for Health and other health agencies. “I haven’t seen anything like this in the 30 days we have had hearings,” said Sen. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (R-Conn.), the panel’s chairman. “Given the option between beauty and power, I’d rather have beauty.” Sen. Mark Andrews (R-N.D.) told Weicker before the hearing began that his wife, Mary, “had decided to come to see what we’re doing on the committee.” On most days, “nobody pays attention to it,” he said.

--A cable television firm, alarmed by the high rate of illiteracy, broadcast announcements encouraging viewers to turn off their TV sets and open a book. American Cablesystems of Florida, which serves 88,000 customers in and around Pompano Beach, broadcast 30-second announcements urging children to read more and illiterate adults to seek help. “We realize too much TV can distract children from their homework,” said John Chapple, a vice president of the station’s parent company, American Cablesystems Corp. “We’ve never advocated mindless viewing, but selective viewing.”

--Town Moderator Harry L. J. Garret tapped an ashtray on the table to bring the meeting to order. Seven minutes later, he tapped again, completing the yearly town business meeting in Mount Washington, Mass., which has a year-round population of 105 people. The longest item on the agenda was a minute of silence for deceased or sickly townsfolk. And then, tea and chocolate chip cookies were served.

--Robert J. Walker has been named Mom of the Year in Kennesaw, Ga. Stacie Walker’s essay about her dad was selected from more than 750 entries. Walker, an electronics mechanic, is divorced and has custody of Stacie, 11. “I know my dad is not my mom,” Stacie wrote, “but he’s been like a mother to me.” The two will stay at a hotel in Atlanta for the Mother’s Day weekend and their home will be cleaned by the hotel employees.