Bob Hattoy

President Clinton has chosen Dr. R. Scott Hitt, a Los Angeles physician who specializes in the treatment of AIDS cases, to head a presidential advisory council on the deadly disease, the White House said Thursday. The mission of the 30-member council is to help draft policies that will improve AIDS research, treatment and prevention.

Opponents of a $25-million West Hollywood civic center, planned for the city's western edge in West Hollywood Park, announced Monday that they will campaign for an initiative on the June ballot to block construction of the civic center in the park. Tom Larkin, a real estate broker, announced the formation of the Save Our Parks Alliance to spearhead the effort, which he predicted will result in "the single biggest outcry" since West Hollywood was incorporated in 1984.

Howard Rosenberg's article "Some Journalists Playing Wrong Roles" (Section A, July 16) wrongly reinforces misinformation that NBC anchor Tom Brokaw spread to his viewers after AIDS activists Bob Hattoy and Elizabeth Glaser spoke at the Democratic Convention. President Bush did not approve a 3% increase in AIDS research and education this last year as Brokaw asserted. In fact, Bush proposed a cut in AIDS research. Bush has entirely eliminated an important housing program for people with AIDS.

As the Southern California regional director of the Sierra Club, I am deeply disturbed by Boyarsky's analysis of Yaroslavsky's record on slow growth. It's perfectly clear, upon reading the article, that the evidence gathered by Boyarsky in support of his thesis does not in fact support it, and that Boyarsky was fishing for some sort of political angle that the facts simply do not bear out. The Sierra Club believes that Yaroslavsky, together with council members Marvin Braude and Ruth Gallanter, has the best environmental record on the City Council.

Because of his "special love for the outdoors," President Reagan should have the Angeles National Forest in northern Los Angeles County renamed in his honor, the Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday. The board, at the urging of Supervisor Pete Schabarum, voted 4 to 0 to urge Congress to change the name of the protected forested region to the Reagan National Forest.

PRESERVATION CONFERENCE: Bob Hattoy of the Sierra Club will be the featured speaker at a countywide preservation coalition conference in Laguna Beach on Saturday. Conservation, preservation and environmental groups are invited as well as the general public. The conference, from 9 a.m. to 4:40 p.m., is sponsored by the Laguna Canyon Conservancy. It will be at Anneliese School, 20062 Laguna Canyon Road. Lunch is included in a $15 registration fee. Group booths are available.

The only way state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal was going to appear on a televised candidates forum was if his opponents conjured him up. "Let's imagine Hersch here," said Assemblyman Tom Hayden, pointing at the space to his left at the taping of the only televised debate of the primary campaign. Rosenthal, Hayden and businesswoman Catherine O'Neill are in a hot three-way race for the Democratic nomination in the 23rd state Senate District, a newly drawn Westside-Valley district.

The only way state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal was going to appear on a televised candidates forum Wednesday was if his opponents conjured him up. "Let's imagine Hersch here," said Assemblyman Tom Hayden, pointing at the space to his left at the taping of the only televised debate of the primary campaign.

A spokesman for Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) said the congressman plans to compete actively for the endorsement of the Sierra Club--a political blessing from the nation's leading environmental group that Lagomarsino has never received during his 16 years in federal office. "We're taking this seriously," said John Doherty, Lagomarsino's spokesman. "We are competing for their endorsement."

Discussions of AIDS in traditional political arenas don't usually elicit hoots of approval and shouts of "Go for it!" from AIDS and gay activists. But Tuesday evening was different. Two people with AIDS--one gay, one not--were addressing the Democratic National Convention on prime-time television. History was in the making and members of Los Angeles' gay and AIDS service communities were watching with pride and a sense of affirmation.