Pic from GayVN Awards

It wasn't my numer

AIDS Hot Line Number Rings Up Sex Line

Thursday, March 1, 2007

(03-01) 14:25 PST ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) --

A bookmark distributed by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services not only teaches teens and children about HIV and AIDS, it provides a phone number that patches them into a hardcore sex hot line.

St. Joseph resident Lori Felzien said she found out about the hot line when her sixth-grade son dialed the number printed on a bookmark he received during a health lesson at Bessie Ellison Elementary School.

The boy handed her mother the phone and said, "Mom, listen to this."

Felzien's reaction: "We've got to get these cards out of these kids' hands."

The toll-free number once belonged to Teens Teaching AIDS Prevention, part of the Kansas City-based nonprofit Good Samaritan Project. But the AIDS hot line went out of service about a year ago and a sex hot line has since taken over the number.

Felzien said she contacted the school and Mitzi Teliczan of the Buchanan County Health Department, which is also listed on the bookmark.

Teliczan said the department approved a series of bookmarks on different topics several years ago. They were distributed throughout local schools over the past few years.

Nanci Gonder, a spokeswoman for the Missouri health department, said her office is attempting to contact HIV and AIDS prevention groups around the state about the mix up.

She said the health department didn't know the AIDS hot line no longer existed until this week. Gonder added that it will now review all phone numbers it distributes.

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Information from: St. Joseph News-Press,

www.stjoenews-press.com