Petrelis Files

Forwarded Message:
Subj: Donating New York Times staff-produced HIV/AIDS-related articles to AEGiS
Date: 5/6/2004 1:14:07 AM Central Daylight Time
From: ed@amcat.org
To: mathis@nytimes.com
CC: MPetrelis@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)


May 6, 2004

Catherine Mathis
The New York Times
VP of Corporate Communication
New York City, NY

Dear Ms. Mathis:

I read in the minutes of your recent board meeting that Mr. Michael
Petrelis had asked Chairman Sulzberger to consider donating New York Times
staff-produced HIV/AIDS-related articles to the AIDS Education Global
Information System (AEGiS) - http://www.aegis.org.

I instructed my broker to purchase stock in the NY Times, just prior to
closing of the NYSE, today, and by this time tomorrow I should be a
stockholder in the Times. I did this so that I could better support Mr.
Petrelis' request.

AEGiS, in the past fifteen years, has become the definitive web site for
information on the AIDS-pandemic. AEGiS was the first U.S.-based
organization to be nominated to UNESCO's "Memory of the World"
programme. This happened because their database is considered the most
comprehensive AIDS knowledge-base on the planet.

News organizations, including, but not limited to, Agence France Presse,
the Associated Press, Bangkok Post, BBC, Business Wire, Chicago Tribune,
Integrated Regional Information Network, Inter Presse Service, Los Angeles
Times, Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg), New Vision (Uganda), PRNewswire,
Reuters, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, Sunday Times
(Johannesburg), US Information Service, United Press International, and the
Wall Street Journal have all granted AEGiS permission to reproduce,
archive, and disseminate their staff-produced HIV/AIDS-related articles
covering the period 1980 to the present and future.

Many of these organizations have provided free electronic news feeds;
others require AEGiS staff to visit their sites daily to clip the
news. Some of these organizations have asked nothing in return, while
others have requested an annual letter confirming their "in-kind" donation.
AEGiS is a 501c(3) tax-exempt educational and charitable corporation.

This has allowed AEGiS to not only fully-index the news, but they have also
been able to cross-reference the articles, so as to provide a comprehensive
history of the pandemic.

Although I am not a PWA, I have been a supporter of AEGiS's humanitarian
efforts since its inception. Sister Mary Elizabeth, the founder, is my
daughter.

I urge the New York Times to support Mr. Petrelis' request, by providing
copies of all previous Times staff-produced HIV/AIDS-related articles to
AEGiS, on CDROM, along with either an e-mail news feed or permission to
clip the articles from the on-line version, along with written permission
to reproduce, archive, and disseminate free of charge to all in need via
the AEGiS web site at http://www.aegis.org

Thank you for your consideration. I hope the Times will do the right
thing, and support AEGiS's humanitarian work.

Edwin F. Clark
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675