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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2000)
fiJTïT?T7TFÏïïmneu’s natural foods i gourmet treats unique toys & gifts exotic collars & luxurious beds Darcelle gives Mark Kroeker a hand for coining out to the party C r o w n in g A c h ie v e m e n t Pier Park Condominium $94,000 to $99,000 O r r ju ^ i PENINSULA REALTY INC. • 1 % Down available • Tax Abatement available 1 8 units, 2 & 3 bdrm, 4 floor plans to choose from Richard Vo»». GFI CENTURY 21 PENINSULA REALTY 503-804-9424 CeR/VM 503-286-5826 Office Ql X L=J for hep cafrj ¿ c o o I m \ a f t j 108 NE 28th Ave. 508-238-7793 Drag queen invites police chief to birthday bash by Jonathan Kipp ortland Police Chief Mark Kroeker has yet to apologize to the gay and les bian community for the disparaging comments he made years ago, but he says an apology is coming. “Sooner rather than later,” he told the Willamette Week. Kroeker’s failure to apologize has angered many people. However, some expect an apology might come during a forum Dec. 11, when he will meet face to face with the sexual minorities community. The meeting will be the first in a public setting since the taped comments were discovered and released to the media. The forum was arranged in a joint effort between Just Out publisher Marty Davis and the Sexual Minorities Roundtable. The roundtable held an emergency meeting Nov. 21 to discuss what role it would play in repairing the relationship between Kroeker and the gay community. The group serves as a con duit for communication between sexual minori ties and the police bureau. Organizers hope community members will come to share their feelings and have a chance for something positive to come out of the meet ing. Capt. Bob Ball, a gay reserve officer and a roundtable member, and Dan Cadigan of the Oregon Gay and Lesbian Lawyers Association will help facilitate the meeting. Although Kroeker has not said he has changed his mind about any of the comments made on the tapes, he has tried his best to assure his officers, gay and straight, that he is commit ted to fairness and respect for the entire police force. He has said the same about the citizens of Portland he was hired to protect. While Kroeker has been asked to resign by numbers of people, he is enjoying significant support from locals— including those in the sex ual minorities community. Some even want to help him rebuild the trust and popularity he was enjoying until the scandal broke. In an effort to do that, Kroeker was invited to Portland legend and drag queen Darcelles 70th birthday party. Some thought the chief needed to get up close with Portland s gay community. Video cameras and multiple reporters fol lowed, and Kroeker’s night out turned the pri vate party at Darcelles nightclub into a media event. Television viewers got to see the chief, smiling from ear to ear with his wife by his side, face to face with gays and lesbians. Even Oregonian columnist Steve Duin attended and devoted an entire column to the party. Despite the fun Kroeker might have enjoyed, some called the ploy a joke and a public relations nightmare. Mayor Vera Katz came out in strong support of the chief after meeting with scores of citizens and consulting with her staff. She said he is committed to repairing his relationship with the gay and lesbian community. The upcoming forum just might be the first step. i n V/ i s % % ' ' -V- K roeker to A ttend F orum Portland Police Chief Mark Kroeker will attend a forum 7 p.m. Dec. 11 at Metropolitan Commu nity Church of Portland, 2400 N.E. Broadway. Call 503-236-1252 for more information. 25 years o f professional expertise in representing your best interests... SS Deborah Betron Broker, CRB, G RI ifflL . t£> Office: 503/287.9370 V mail: 503/699.8061 BR ID C gO W N www.bridgetownrealty.com We use a different vocabulary to answer your financial questions. English. © h e r e shouldn’t be any mystery to financial planning. W ood P a n e l Forum focuses on the boat oar by Jim Radosta T he Police Chief Concerns Group held a forum to discuss Mark Kroeker’s controver sial audiotaped speeches Nov. 21 at Lutheran Inner City Ministries. Bonnie Tinker, Love Makes a Family execu tive director, moderated a panel of 10 keynote speakers including Alan Graf of the National Lawyers’ Guild, Susan Laarman of Bradley- Angle House and Derry Jackson of the Portland Public Schools board. Most of them focused on Kroeker’s advocacy of corporal punishment and the ongoing debate concerning police brutality. “This is not about past homophobic state ments,” Tinker said in a statement released prior to the forum. “A major concern is his recom mendation of violence within the family and his use of this type of family ‘discipline’ as a model for community justice.” According to one speech Kroeker gave dur ing the early to mid-1990s, he and his wife, Dianne, oversaw a Christian camp for 500 to 700 high school students at Hume Lake in Sequoia National Park for about 10 years. When one of the kids would violate the rules, they would be hit with a 3-foot segment of a boat oar. Kroeker has admitted speaking about the issue of paddling teens but insists that he must have misspoken during the speech and that he person ally never has used that form of discipline on any child. However, transcripts indicate he described the punishment in graphic detail, including where the oar struck the buttocks to avoid injury. Kroeker said the campers would return five to seven years later to thank him for swatting them. “They didn’t get it at home; they were dying for it—that form of attention.” Rick Fernandez was one of the few speakers who touched on Kroeker’s anti-gay remarks. He represented the American Friends Service Com mittee’s Grupo Arco Iris, a support group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgcndered Latinos. To illustrate his stance, Fernandez offered a scenario in which a police chief had slammed on Jews or African Americans. “I doubt that we'd still be having this discussion, and that’s what bothers us the most.’ 1 s n That’s why a Waddell & Reed financial advisor takes the time to meet personally with, and get to know, you and your family. We listen and learn what you want to accomplish. 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