April 11,1990 Portland Observer Page 7
N ews A round T own
Good Friday Procession to Walk M.L.K.J.
Blvd. to the New Convention Center
Over 250 members o f the Portland
Organizing Project (P.O.P.) are expected
together at noon on April 13 at Im m acu
late Heart Church (2926 N. W illiam s) to
participate in a Good Friday Pray Pro
cession that will take place in the streets
of Northeast Portland. The Procession is
intended to be a sign o f hope for the
community and reflect the com m ittm ent
of church and neighborhood people to
overcome the problem of crim e, poverty
and unemployment in neighborhood
throughout the City.
The Procession will begin atlm m acu-
late Heart Church and culm inate near
the new Convention Center. In between,
participants will walk the streets of
Northeast, stopping at predetermined
places to call attention and pray over
signs o f death and resurrection. The
theme o f this year’s procession is “ Let
the Trumpet Sound” which symbolizes
the hope that Easter brings to Christians
every where-and especially to those who
suffer from injustice and poverty, ac
cording to the P.O.P. “ Let the Trumpet
Sound” is also the title o f Stephen B.
Oates biography on Rev. Martin Luther
AMA, Coalition of Black Men & P.O.P.
Express Support For Mayor’s Revised
First Source Jobs Policy; Large Tiirnout
At Council Vote Expected
Leaders o f three Portland com m u
nity groups greeted the release o f the
M ayor’s first source job policy as an
“ important new tool” in the fight against
crime and unemployment in the city.
The three organizations have worked
for the past year with the M ayor’s O f
fice to develop a Jobs Policy that would
benefit Portland residents, North-North-
east residents and African Americans.
Members of all three groups plan to be
present in large numbers to testify at a
City Council hearing on the Policy on
Wednesday morning, April 11. The
Policy is expected to come up for a vote
around 10:30 a.m.
“ Overall, I would say that w e’re
pleased with the M ayor’s Policy” ,
commented Bishop A.A. W ells, Pastor
of Emmanuel Tem ple & First Vice
President of the Albina M insterial A lli
ance (AMA). “ It is significant that a
City Policy acknowledges the economic
realities & hardships that some o f our
people face. For exam ple, the docu
ment points out quite clearly that the
unemployment rate for African A m eri
can youth is four times the overall
unemployment rate.” Bishop W ells
recently presided over the funeral of a
youth gang mem ber who was killed by
gunfire after a firebombing o f a N orth
east Portland home.
“ W e see the Policy as an important
new tool in the C ity’s fight against
enm e and unem ploym ent,” said Jim
Francesconi of the Portland Organizing
Project (P.O.P.). ‘ ‘The policy has great
potential but we do have some specific
suggestions to the Mayor on how it can
Urban League to Assess
Needs of African
Americans in Portland
The Urban League o f Portland will
conduct public community forums to
assess and identify the current needs of
Portland African-Americans. Those
wishing to participate may attend one
or both forums. The first will be held
Tuesday, April 24, 1990 at Matt Dish
man Community Center, 77 NE Knott
Street, and the second one will be held
Thursday, April 26, 1990 at the M.L.
King Facility, 4815 NE 7th Avenue.
Both sessions will be held from 6:30 to
9:00 p.m. For more information, call
280-2600.
be strengthened. We plan to raise those
with him before the policy com es up for
a vote next W ednesday.”
Leaders o f the three organizations
came together over 12 months ago when
it became evident that only a handful of
the construction jobs for the new C on
vention Center were going to North/
Northeast residents. The goal o f the
discussions with the M ayor’s Office
over the past year has been to insure
that the jobs that are created as a result
o f Portland taxes - benefit Portland
residents. The most recent public meeting
on First Source occured on February 3
when over 350 people from the organi
zations met with Mayor Clark and
Com m issioner Bob Koch at St. A n
drew ’s Church. Both City Council
members gave their strong support to
the policy.
“ I see this policy not only benefiting
the African American community - but
the entire city,” said Harold W illiams,
of the Coalition o f Black Men. “ I also
think that the work o f these three or
ganizations over the past year has been
very significant. W e have come to
gether around a common concern and
helped to bring about something that
can really have a positive impact on all
Portland neighborhoods.”
The policy would target a specific
percentage of jobs to Portland residents
and North/Northeast residents on Pub
lic W orks projects and agreements
reached with private com panies that
receive assistance from the City. It
would also allow for a process whereby
the City can enforce those agreements.
AMA Banquet Holds
Annual Banquet
The Albina M inisterial Alliance will
hold its 11th Annual banquet “ Com
m ittment with Action-Agenda For the
9 0 ’s ” on Friday, April 2 7 ,1 9 9 0 ,7 p.m.
at the Holiday Inn-Airport (John Q.
Hammond Trade Center).
Mr. Charles Jordan, Superintendent
of Portland Bureau of Parks and R ec
reation will be the speaker. Ticket
price is $29.95 and can be purchased by
calling the AMA office at 284-0493.
A lbina M inisterial Alliance is a non
profit organization which operates on
donations and grants. The community
gives to AMA and it, in turn, gives back
to the community through its programs
and services.
The Locker Room
Ullysses Tucker, Jr.
King. The procession intends to honor
King by staying on M.L.K.J. Blvd. for a
large portion of the procession.
The procession will end near the C on
vention Center and occur two days after
the City Council is expected to vote on a
“ First Source” Jobs Policy for the City.
M embers o f P.O.P., the Coalition of
Black Men, and the AMA came together
over a year ago when it became evident
that the construction o f the new C onven
tion Center resulted in very few jobs for
people in North & Northeast Portland.
The Portland Chapter o f Jack and
Jill of America, Inc. presents its annual
Spring Tea on Sunday, April 29,1990,
2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Town Hall, 3425
N. Kaiser Center Way.
This year’s special event is a theme
tea entitled “ Sun C ountry” , that in
cludes an afternoon o f tasting delica
cies from the regions o f Hawaii, M ex
ico, California and Southern states. Tea
tables will be judged by Geneva Jones,
Cooking Experts on AM NW; Sharon
M itchell, Reporter on PM Magazine;
Kathryn Bogle, noted Colum nist, Art
Alexander, A ssistant to Commissioner
Mike Lindberg and Robert Phillips,
President of the Portland NAACP. There
is no admission charge, but donations
will be accepted.
Jack and Jill of America, Inc. is a
national organization whose focus is
providing educational, social, recrea
tional, and cultural enrichm ent of m i
nority children.
Adoption Sunday
April 29th is “ Adoption Sunday.”
Over a hundred churches throughout
the state have been invited to partici
pate.
On April 29th pastors o f each church
will speak on adoption in their morning
service. They will invite the congrega
tion to open their hearts and homes to a
Black chid that is waiting for a loving
home.
Also, lavender ribbons will be passed
out for tying on car antennas to show
support o f the children w aiting to be
adopted. Adoption Sunday is spon
sored by One Church, One Child and
OCOC Board of Directors; each board
m ember is a pastor. One Church, One
Child is an organization whose goal is
to have each congregation com m it it
self to yielding at least one family or
single person from among its members
who will adopt a waiting child. Oregon
families are invited to open their hearts
and minds to One Church, One Child
challenge: Adopt a Black Child!!!
For more information, call One
Church, One Child of Oregon at (503)
285-7634.
pal Church Hall
120 NE Knott
Portland
Cost: Adults $6.00, Children under
12, $3.00
For tickets, call Bonnie . . . 287-
3724 or send a check to Immaculate
Heart Church, 2926 N. Williams, Port
land, OR 97227.
OMSI Seeks Volunteers
The Oregon Museum o f Science
and Industry is looking for perm a
nent and temporary volunteers, ages
16 and older, to work in various de
partments throughout the museum
starting May during the new Dinosaur
exhibit.
OMSI needs explainers, who will
work on the main floor to answ er dino
saur questions; Chemistry and Physics
Laboratory workers, to demonstrate and
work with visitors on various experi
ments; C uratorassitants, who will work
with OMSI’s Curator to categorize, clean
and store many of O M SI’s collections;
data entry workers; photographers and
graphic artists for exhibit production;
admission workers; Discovery Space
greeters; and workers with clerical
skills.
A pplications are being accepted
through May. Contact OMSI at (503)
222-2828 or write to OM SI, Com m u
nity Resources Director, 4015 S.W.
Canyon Rd., Portland, Orc. 97221.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Arc you concerned about crime, gang
activity, and youth prostitution in your
neighborhood?
W E NEED YOUR INPUT!
Current services to the African Ameri
can youth are being exam ined by the
Children and Youth Services Com
mission (formerly the Juvenile Serv
ices Commission).
Two separate forums have been sched
uled at the King Facility, 4815 NE
Seventh Avenue on the following dates:
A pril 12th
7:00 -9:00 p.m.
7:00 - 8 :0 0 -S ervice Provider Input
8:00 - 9:00~C onccm ed Parents, Fam
ily, Citizens
A pril 19th
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
7:00 - 8:00 -C o n ccm cd parents,
family,citizens
8:00 - 9 :0 0 -S crvicc Provider Input
Everyone is welcome: service pro
viders,com m unity m embers, parents,
current Children and Youth Com m is
sion Contractors, kids.
Hope to sec you there!
Clubs
at Payless Drug Stores in Oregon and
southwest W ashington. Proceeds from
the sale of the cassette are being donated
to the Boys and G irls Club o f Portland to
help their “ Sm art M oves” program.
To tip off the debut o f “ Rip City
Rhpasody” , Kersey, Porter and Young
are scheduled to be at the Payless Drug
Store in Beaverton Mall on Thursday,
April 12 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. to auto
graph copies o f the cassette
Jack and Jill Portland
Chapter Spring Tea
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
Enjoy the atmosphere and flavorful
cuisine o f Southwestern Louisiana
at Im m acu late H e a rt C h u rc h ’s
an n u a l chicken an d seafood
G u m b o D inner.
Date: Saturday, April 21, 1990
Time: Noon until 8:00 pm
Place: St. Philip the Deacon Episco
Blazers Rap On Z100 To Benefit Boys And G
The Boys and Girls Clubs “ Smart
M oves” program is being developed to
help youth identify and resist peer, so
cial and media pressures that promote
high-risk behavior. The program will
help provide information and resistance
skills needed to say “ N o” to gang
membership, alcohol and other drugs
“ Rip City, Rhapsody, Portland, O re
gon, USA. Rip City, Rhapsody, W e’re
the Blazers and we love to play . . . ”
Add a little bass music to those lyrics,
some Portland rap m usicians and three
Portland Trail Blazers basketball play-
ers-tumed singers, and you’ll hear the
latest song talking about one o f the hot-
tes teams in the National Basketball A s
sociation’s W estern conference: “ Rip
City Rhapsody” .
Blazer players Jerome Kersey, Terry
Porter and Danny Young teamed up with
radio personalities Dan Clark and Tony
Martinez of ZlOO’s Morning Zoo and
local songwriter Josh M ellicker to pro
duce “ Rip City Rhapsody” , a rap song
about the Portland Trail Blazers electri
fying the fast-paced fame of professional
basketball with their spectacular play
this season. The song can be heard on
Z 100 and cassettes are being sold for $3
and to sexual involvement. The Boys
and Girls Clubs o f Portland are open to
youth aged 7 to 18 for S 10 per year m em
bership. They offer a variety o f options
for their members such as homework
assistance, team sports, outdoor activi
ties and more.
“ The 'Smart Moves' program is new
to Portland. It was developed by the
Boys Clubs o f America and is a concept
brought to Portland when Executive
Director H.C. “ Butch” Holden was hired
last September.
Clark and his radio partner, Tony
Maruncz, have dabbled in writing jingles
lor the Morning Zoo show. So it w orked
well for Clark to work on sound effects
and friend Josh M ellicker to w rite the
music. M artinez wrote the lyrics and
came up with the title.
* ‘It’s like a puzzle with w ords,’ ’ Tony
said o f writing down basketball terms
and listening to Schonely announce the
game. He listened closely to “ The
Schonz ’ ’ and that’s how a few o f the lyr
ics
came about:
“ Rip City Rhapsody” was the brain
storm o f radio personality Dan Clark, a
“ Steal it, Score it, Lickety Brindle
member o f Portland’s Morning Zoo on
T hat’s what we call Swish and
Z100. He w anted to write a fight song
Sw indle”
for the Blazers because they were play
Once the song was presented <o Blazer
ing so well, Clark said.
personnel, it took about two months for
“ I ju st wish I would have thought of
' “Rip City Rhapsody” to debut in the
it two months earlier,” he said of his
Portland market.
January idea.
Rod Strickland: Kicking Up His Spurs In Texas
by Ullysses Tucker, Jr.
Rod Strickland was very unhappy in
New York with the Knickerbockers.
Like all NBA players, he wanted his
minutes and the opportunity to show his
skills night in and night out with the
best athletes in the world.
Strickland did not hide his displeas
ure in playing behind former “ Rookie
o f the Y ear” , Mark Jackson, consid
ered by some critics to be over-rated
and a step slow by point guard stan
dards. The Knicks tried everything.
Splitting minutes, playing them together,
individual meetings, and nothing worked.
Jackson pouted when Strickland subbed
for him and vice-versa. It got real ugly
at times, according to the New York
papers, but Strickland says that he does
not want to talk about it. He calls it the
past.
“ I’m not going to say much about
the New York situation,” he said.
“ Things arc great for me in San A nto
nio. I’m doing fine. I’m with a great
organization, playing with a lot of tal
ented players, and a fine coaching staff.
I really like it here.”
According to Spurs' Coach Larry
Brown, his team had no choice in trad
ing Maurice Checks, who they acquired
for Johnny Dawkins from Philadelphia
before the season, for Strickland. Checks
was unhappy with the trade and ex-
pressed his feelings by living in a hotel,
1 Who was the first track and
field athlete to win four Olympic
gold medals9
2. What was Muhammed Ali’s
name before it was changed to
Muhammed Ali?
3. Who was the first to win the
Masters Tournament four times9
4. What is the most popular sport
in the world?
5. In tennis, how wide is a singles
court?
never accepting San Antonio as his new
home At the end of the season, Cheeks
would have become a free-agent and
hard to retain because o f his unhappi
ness. The Spurs got something for
Cheeks while they could. It's business.
In short, the Spurs gave up the stabil
ity to today for along range future with
Rod Strickland. At 23 years old, Strick
land is twelve years younger than Cheeks.
“ I wanted Rod when he was at
DePaul. H e’s tough. W hen my owner
originally asked me about the trade, I
told him that it would be phenomenal in
the long range, but short range real
tough,” said Brown. “ I can’t think of
a kid coming to a team with any more
pressure. He came in during the middle
o f the year, we were going great be
cause Mo helped us out with his leader
ship, and he helped our young players.
Then all of a sudden, Rod com es in
February and not only did we bring him
in at the time, we lost Vernon M axw ell,
our sixth man. It’s tough losing two key
players like we did, but after struggling
a little, we made the adjustment. Rod
has a good future here.”
Strickland has a different opinion
about the pressure some say that he is
under. All he wants to do is play bas
ketball and do well in the upcoming
NBA playoffs.
“ It’s always pressure in this league,
regardless of who you are,” he said. “ I
just want to come out and help the team
win. T hat’s the bottom line.” C u r
rently, Strickland is averaging alm ost
14.0 per conest and eight assist. He is
happy.
David Robinson, the “ A nchor” of
the Spurs and leading candidate for
“ Rookie of the Y ear” , is a strong Rod
Strickland fan too. He said “ They are
definitely different types of players,”
smiled Robinson. “ Mo had a lot more
experience. He had more leadership
qualities, he was more subdued, and
controlled. Rod likes to take chances,
he penetrates, dishes the ball well, and
you have to sec the blind passes. Rod is
a tremendous talent and 1 think our_
Test Your Sports Trivia
6 How many heads are there on
a croquet mallet?
7 Where is the world’s largest
bullfighting ring?
8 What sporting good is not less
than 9 inches nor more than 9 14
inches?
9 Who was nicknamed “The
Georgia Peach" and was one of the
first players elected to the Baseball
Hall of Fame?
team has done a good job in making that
transition to a new point guard at a criti
cal point during the season.
'H e ’s going to be great for us in the
future. His biggest thing in New York
was ju st getting the time and know ing
that he was the man. Here, he knows
that he is the m an.”
A solid endorsem ent from Coach
Larry Brown, great praise from the team’s
lranchise player, David Robinson, and
a com petitive young team. W hatm roe
can a player want?
“ An NBA Cham pionship is w hat
life is all about in this league,’ ’ he said.
“ T h at’s what I live and play for every
time I step on the basketball co u rt.”
Perhaps, he will get a shot at the Knicks
one day.
SHORT SHAKES
Richard Maughan, KATU’s Sales DepL,
how long does it take to pay off for
losing your NCAA Final Four bet? Yes,
I picked UNLV from the start! You
picked Arizona . . . Ken Fields, thanks
for your prom pt payment o f those cold
H enrys-they are still chilling in the
fridge . . . A great quote from C oach
Larry Brown of the Spurs, “ I will take
a Georgetown player any day o f the
week,” he said “ 1 like the John t ompson
style. His guys hustle, play good d e
fense, and they don’t take it personal
when you scream at them because they
are used to it.” Brown made his c o m
ments after being asked about form er
Hoya star Reggie W illiam s, w ho was
picked up on waivers from the C lev e
land Cars. W illiams was a form er first
round of the “ L.A. C lippers” . . . My
warmest regards to Terry Porter o f the
Blazers and his family. P orter’s m other
died last Friday after complications from
a stroke. The funeral is scheduled to be
in Milwaukee. Louise Porter w as 62
years o ld . . . Roy Tarpley, please w ake
up and get your life -d ru g s are a drag
and basketball is a kick . . . C ongratula
tions to W ayne and D enise C ooper.
The lovely couple celebrated their tenth
wedding anniversary this week.
1. Jesse Owens
2. Cassius Marcellus Clay
3. Arnold Palmer—in 1958.
I960, 1982. and 1984
4. Soccer I In places other than the
United States. soccer is referred to
as football.)
t. 27 feet <8 2 meters) wide
6. two
7. Mexico City The Plaza de
Toros Monumental
8. the circumference of a baseball