Serving the community through cultural diversity
Volume XXIV Number 32
Wilshire Park Thriftway
To Close
Volunteers Help
Children Read
Farmers Market In Full
Swing
The Wilshire Park Thriftway on
Northeast 33rd Avenue will be torn
down to make way fo r a new store.
Older men and women are taking
time to help young children learn to
read.
It's the peak o f the season for
Vancouver s open-air Farmers
Market.
1
Save
A call goes out to
Americans to volunteer as n^.
donors.
See Health, Page A5.
See Vancouver, Page A6.
See Metro, inside.
See Metro, inside.
igust IO, 1904
J|
^lortLxnb (©bseruer 250
Twins Earn Success Over Troubled Past
...
. .1 •___ r \ -
tion they enrolled at the University of Or­
egon, majoring in business administration.
“ We always wanted to be self-em­
ployed,” Johnnie Alfred explained.
The twins worked as crew leaders for a
youth and environmental project after col­
lege.
Then like a bang in 1977 and 197 8. these
young and aspiring brothers started a fall
with the use of drugs and alcohol. And for a
while they were enmeshed in criminal activi­
ties.
Their dreams went bleak before their
very eyes.
Both served time in prison.
“1 had time to think about the future and
also to focus on my life At some point, 1 begin
to think seriously about changing my lite,
Johnnie William said.
“1 don’t think we were bad kids. We saw
a positive role model in our single house­
hold,” Johnnie Alfred said. “ Mom never
stopped believing in us, even when we were
at the pit.”
Johnnie Alfred’s message for the youth
of today is “ look for a winner and stick with
Chavis Denies
Allegations
NAACP executive director Benjamin
F. Chavis Jr., has denied allegations of
sexual harassment made by a former ad­
ministrative assistant, saying that he en­
tered into a private financial settlement
with the woman to shield the 85-year-old
civil rights organization from “False and
slanderous allegations." The ex-worker,
Mary E. Stansel, filed suit in June claiming
that Chavis and the NAACP failed to com­
ply with a settlement reached last Novem­
ber in which she was to receive as much as
$330,000 in return for not filing a sexual
harassment and discrimination complaint.
Chavis denied “All allegations set forth in
the lawsuit. Any allegations of sexual ha­
rassment are particularly disturbing, given
my strong opposition to and long history of
defending victims of racial and sexual dis­
crimination. The NAACP opposes sexual ;
harassmentand we believe we will be fully
vindicated of the false allegations."
1
vocation.
The executives are modest in their own
youth.
success.
They say the opportunity to give back to
the community is what’s important.
“It certainly helps to give back and be a
Id e n tica l tw in b ro th e rs Johnnie
William Gage and Johnnie Alfred Gage
are beacons of hope. Johnnie William
is the executive director of the Minority
Y outh C oncern A ction Program
(MYCAP) and Johnnie Alfred, is the
executive director of the House of
Umoja. Both programs are residential
facilities for troubled youth in North/
Northeast Portland.
NNPA's Los Angeles-based court­
room reporter, Dennis Schatzman reports
that African American criminal defense
lawyer Johnnie Cochran, now firmly apart
of the O. J. Simpson defense team, says that
he is making arrangements to bring two
other black trial attorneys, Carl Jones and
Edi O. Faal, onto the team. Simpson’s
initial decision to hire a popular, but all-
white defense team, had rankled some Los
Angeles black leaders.
/
Twin brothers Johnnie William Gage (left) and Johnnie Allred Gage each serve as executive director ,n programs tor troubled
tn M ichael L eighton & P romise K ing
Simpson’s Team To Add
More Black Lawyers
The brothers have worked as indepen­
dent businessmen and as youth counselors.
They are owners of residential properties and
rentals and recently , with two other partners,
opened a non-alcoholic espresso bar called
Miracles at 700 N. Killingsworth St.
Two years ago, Johnnie Alfred was act­
ing executive director at House of Umoja
and Johnnie William was outreach coordina­
tor for the organization.
And last year, Johnnie Alfred received
his masters degree in non-profit agency man­
agement from Lewis and Clark College in
Portland. His brother plans to go back to
college and earn the same degree. Some­
times they wear the toga of a positive father
and almost always they share the chills and
frills of their own past with the youth in their
domain.
Life for the Gages has not been a bed of
roses. Bom in Connecticut, their parents
divorced and they moved to Portland at a
young age. They scrubbed floors and washed
Mom never stopped believing in us, even
when we were at the pit.
-Johnnie Alfred Gage, executive director of House of Umoja.
“Mr. Booker gave us discipline and a
general sense of responsibility, Johnnie
Alfred said.
They pursued an education at Benson
and Washington high schools After gradua-
by
M ichael L eighton
Goals for minority hiring and contract­
ing on the Oregon arena construction are
being met and exceeded, according to Port­
land Trail Blazer officials.
The latest figures from Oregon Arena
Project show about 17 percent of the public
and private sub-contracting bids for the con­
struction have been awarded to minority-
owned firms. The work represents about $ 12
million in business.
Women-owned firms have 8 percent ot
the bids and emerging small business have
about 12 percent o f the work.
The contracting goes beyond the mini­
mum targeting goals Oregon Arena officials
set last fall at 10 percent minority, 5 percent
women-owned and 10 percent emerging
small business.
Employment figures for the project show
638 people have been hired to work on the
construction. O f those workers, 446 were
Caucasian (70 percent), 158 were African
American (25 percent) and 34 were His­
panic, Native American or Asian American
(5 percent). Equal employment opportunity
consultant Lou Boston said the PDC and
North/Northeast Work Force Center have
helped bring minority workers into trade
unions to work on the construction
M ichael L eighton
Students returning to school this fall
are going to see more new teachers
than norm al because of early
retirements.
by
A2
bathrooms to make ends meet in a job pro­
vided by Floyd Booker of Booker Janitorial
in Portland, whom they remain grateful.
role model”, Johnnie William noted. A lot
of what w e do is supported and sustained by
the community.”
They look at themselves as the products
of healing.
Teachers Retire In Droves
Arena Passes
Minority Work
Goals
EDITORIAL
them.”
A dults should also be realistic, he
added, encouraging parents to push to ­
ward good role m odels in the broader
spectrum o f life instead o f a particular
V. <
G e o rg e ^ s e ^ u th o ro fS u c c e s s Runs In Our Race, presents a powerful
seminar on minority business networking at a breakfast meet,ng Fnday from 7
a.m. - 9:30 a.m. at the Benson Hotel. The Portland Urban League is sponsoring
P articularly hard hit are Benson
and W ilson high sch o o ls, P ortland
School D istrict o fficials said.
The teachers are retiring early b e­
cause o f financial incentives, said Lew
Frederick, director o f public inform a­
tion for Portland schools.
Frederick said the d istrict offered
special com pensation as an incentive
to retire. The reason was to save money.
New hires cost less than veteran em ­
ployees.
T h ere’s also fear that future re tire­
ment benefits for state em ployees will
not be as lucrative. Fueling those con­
cerns is a proposed ballot m easure in
N ovem ber which calls for elim inating
some o f the retirem ent and sick leave
benefits o f the Public Em ployee Re­
tirem ent System.
B ringing down the district s bu d ­
get on teaching salaries was a bottom
line reason for the early retirem ent
incentive, according to Ed Schm idtt,
head o f personnel for the district.
Under the plan, retirees receive a
one-tim e lump paym ent ot 35 percent
o f their salary.
But another reason for the in cen ­
tive was to stave o ff a possible flood o f |
retirem ents in the m iddle o f the school
year, Schm idtt said, should the ballot
m easure pass and teachers want to re ­
tire before the initiative goes into e f­
fect.
He said recruiting quality teachers
at m id-year is much more difficult.
Even sum m er retirem ents present
problem s for finding quality teachers.
At Benson, for exam ple, good re­
placem ents are m ore difficult to find
because th e re 's less o f a supply o t |
teachers with the kind o f vocational
needs the school requires.
This is the second year the district has
offered incentives to retire early and each
time the district has doubled the number of 1
employees who normally would retire.
Schm idtt said 226 teachers took
early retirem ent this sum m er, last year
192 teachers retired, and in a norm al
year th ere’s only about 100 retirem ents.
In order to be eligible, the teacher must
have 30 years of experience or be at least 58
years old. They also must have at least 10
years of employment in Portland public
schools.
the session.
HOUSING
A4
HEALTH
METRO
A5
BI
SPORTS
B2
ENTERTAINMENT
B3
CLASSIFIEDS
B6