Fight Over AIDS Quilt Ends

Cleve Jones, the founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and the Names Project Foundation, the Atlanta-based caretaker of the quilt, have settled a lawsuit that he filed against the agency after he was fired from his job as a spokesman. Jones, who in 1987 stitched the first panel of the quilt, which now reportedly weighs 50 tons, says he was dismissed in 2004 after he complained about the agency's reluctance to display the full quilt before the presidential election that same year and for questioning the effectiveness of Names Project leadership. A San Francisco judge previously threw out portions of Jones's lawsuit that claimed wrongful termination and breach of contract but allowed claims to continue that the foundation deliberately caused him mental distress. Names Project officials say settlement terms did not include a financial payout to Jones but do allow him to nominate four finalists for two positions on the foundation's board of directors each year.