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Biased & Unfair

Having been out of town for a couple of weeks, I have just now read Ms. Bean's vitriolic, completely biased, and unfair article about AIDS Response Knoxville ["ARK At Loose Ends" Vol. 9, No. 16]. This is not the first time that Ms Bean has written an unfair article about ARK. Does she a have personal ax to grind? It certainly seems so.

I am Michael H. Arve and was employed with ARK until January of 1999 when the education grant ran out. I was in charge of the Masque Theatre portion of the education department. Last year, Ms Bean erroneously alluded to the fact that Masque Theatre was a luxury that ARK could ill afford. She never bothered to report that Masque cost ARK nothing! All moneys for the Masque program were garnered from ticket sales, subscriptions, in-kind donations (venue spaces, props and the like) and specifically applied for grants. As a matter of fact, The Masque Theatre program was in the black! It raised much needed discretionary money for non-grant covered expenses. Albeit not a huge sum, but enough to pay for office supplies. All the work I did on Masque Theatre was accomplished after business hours. My daytime hours were filled with HIV/AIDS prevention education in a 16 county area. At no time did any portion of my salary pay me for the work I did on Masque.

It also bothers me that Ms Bean's current article was so totally negative. Nowhere in the article is a supporting word from the community at large cited. Nowhere does she even mention one word from a satisfied client. I am sure that she could have, if she wanted to, find at lest ONE. As a matter of fact, the photo captions were the only comments thus cited. She never contacted me. I would have been more than glad to speak to Ms. Bean! My phone is listed and even though I have moved, my calls are all being forwarded to my new listing. I have voice mail and caller ID. As a journalist, Ms. Bean, might have thought that a mere former employee was unimportant in her search for FACTS. Or perhaps she may have not wanted to hear a good word.

At the risk of sounding self serving, I will tell you that the Masque Theatre program was nationally recognized as one of the most innovative education tools in the country. I was asked to hold a seminar at the AIDS, Medicine & Miracles Conference and pass on the values of a theater program in the HIV prevention war.

Ms. Bean cites quotes that take issue with ARK's growth into a bureaucracy. However she never once cites the good all the grant moneys Ms. Nickoloff and ARK employees garnered for the agency did for the AIDS community. No social service agency can run without paying salaries. The Red Cross, Child & Family Services, VOA, The Salvation Army, and the list goes on, all pay executive directors and employees. Priests, Rabbis and Ministers all receive salaries for their work with the community. Ms. Crumm also pays a staff to do her work. I venture to say that she also takes a salary herself. So why all the anger at ARK for paying salaries?

In closing let me say that I have always felt the Metro Pulse was fair in its reporting. Even though I did not always agree with some stands, I was always, until Ms. Bean's article, impressed with the sterling, unbiased reporting done by your staff. Hopefully, Ms Bean's latest diatribe against ARK does not a represent a trend in the quality of Metro Pulse's journalism.

Michael H. Arve
Knoxville

Such Polite Boys

We would like to once again thank the readers of Metro Pulse for the awards they bestowed upon on us in this year's Best of Knoxville poll. It is truly an honor to receive such support from the Knoxville community. In addition, a belated thanks for helping make our album release show such a memorable event.

The V-roys
Knoxville