Volume XXV Number Ib
Committed to cultural diversity.
Sara Jessie
Shines
Join In Celebrating Our
University’ o f Oregon
runner dominates at track
and field.
Latest Styles On
Revue
The Ebony Fashion Fair
comes to Portland.
See Sports, page B3.
l_
A p ril 19. 199S
A N N IV E R S A R Y
See Entertainment, page B4.
j
(TlìC íjJvrr ti ¿Ut lì C *
er 250
Tri-Met
Makes
Tracks
Coleman Leaves Hospital
Form er D etro it M ayor C olem an
Young was released from the hospital re
cently after a week-long stay for pneumo
nia complicated by chronic emphysema.
Young, 76, was known as a heavy cigarette
smoker during his five terms as mayor o f
I Detroit.
Ties and rail for Westside Max are in
place between Southwest 185th and
170th in Washington County. Flail that
has been welded into 960-foot sections
is stored next to the track. By the end
of the year, tracks will be installed from
Southwest 158th to the west tunnel
portal near Sylvan.
(Photo by Tim Jewett)
Rights To Image Awards Sold
The rights to the N A A C P’s annual
I Image Awards has been bought by Don
Cornelius, the producer o f the long-run
ning Soul Train program. The NAACP
show was blamed for draining $1.4 million
from the civil rights organization. Under
the new contract, the awards will move
| from the NBC network to Fox.
FBI Pays Shabazz Informer
Court hearings have revealed that the
I FBI agreed to pay the informer in the
alleged murder-for-hire plot against Louis
Farrakhan $45,000. Michael Fitzpatrick
recently told the U.S. District Court in
Minnesota that he already has been paid
| $34,000.
Car Lending Bias Examined
According to published reports, the
I federal government is investigating whether
the finance departments at the big three
U.S. auto companies have discriminated
against racial minorities by charging them
j higher interest rates on car loans.
Law Would Open Bank Books
Maryland Congressman Albert Wynn
has introduced legislation to require banks
and other commercial lenders to open up
their books for greater scrutiny. The rea
son: Wynn is convinced the lenders are
discriminating against minorities when it
| comes to mortgages and business loans.
Xerox Praised For Diversity
The Glass Ceiling Commission has
bestowed the Xerox Corp, an award for
diversity and excellence in management.
The Stanford, Conn, company employs
47,200 people o f which 32 percent are
women and 26 percent minority. O f Xerox’s
U.S. vice presidents and directors, 18 per
cent are minorities and 15 percent are
women.
Poll Rejects Affirmative
Action
A new ABC News/'Washington Post
survey finds that nearly 75 percent ofw hite
Americans oppose affirmative action pro
grams for black and other minorities. Af
firmative action programs were designed
to give preferences to minorities for jobs,
scholarships and government contracts as
a way to make up for past discrimination.
Only 52 percent o f blacks interviewed
voiced support for the programs.
Keyes Joins Race For Presi
dency
Conservative African American Alan
Keyes has announced his candidacy for the
Republican presidential nomination. He
sounded a theme which included opposi
tion to abortion and called for the beating
o f fathers who fail to support their chil
dren Keyes is a controversial figure who
has been accused by mainstream African
American ieaders o f being anti-black.
EDITORIAL
A2
Tiernan: Enemy Or Emissary?
b \
P romise K ing
obert Reis Tiernan, 39, a
Republican state represen
tative from Lake Oswego, is a
former lawyer with the National Labor
Relations Board who is now in private
practice as counsel to over 60
businesses.
R
As chairman o f the Oregon House Re
form Committee, he is charged with making
necessary changes in the way government
does its business.
Tiernan has served in the Navy for about
12 years. He is a reserve Navy lieutenant-
commander and recently he was in Panama,
busting drug lords. He is a Vietnam veteran
activist.
The impression you begin to draw from
Tiernan is that ofa high-profile businessman,
a no-nonsense politician and a courageous
naval officer.
You are right in as far as it relates to his
portfolio and not his attitude to life.
Tiernan is not your ordinary politician
placated by rhetoric or bullied by intimida
tions.
He is fearless and relentless in his pur
suit o f what he believes is good for O rego
nians. He forays his beliefs un-repentantly,
even to the verge o f insensitivity. Conse
quently, creating many enemies even among
his political peers.
Pieman recently spoke from his heart,
exclusively with the Portland Observer, in
the state capitol. He talked about his life in
politics, his legislative plans to undo “big
government" and about his friends and his
enemies.
Ironically, this two-term legislator de-
Ftep. Fobert Tiernan, R-Lake Oswego
tests being defined as a politician.
He said the word connotes something
negative in his mind.
“Like you flip-flop like a fish," Tiernan
said. “That is not the way I am. I’d like to
consider m yselfan emissary or a diplomat for
the people."
Tiernan ’ s u nderstanding o f what O rego
nians want, fits well with the conservative
slogan o f “ less government and lower taxes.”
“1 think most Oregonians want a more
efficient government, they want smaller gov
ernment and at the same time they want
criminals that are convicted to do their term ,”
he said, in a manner o f prosecutorial indigni
ty
Tiernan’s interest in politics dates back
to his high school days. But his resolve to
Gordly Refused Minimum Wage Hearing
ep. Avel Gordly, D-Portland
necessary 3 1 votes to pass the measure in
is protesting the hearings
the House.
process in the Legislature
Gordly responded on the floor with
in Salem after being refused
the a
following statement:
hearing on her proposed law to
"I question a process that is supposed
raise the minimum wage.
to be democratic and deliberative that
R
G ordly's bill would raise the mini
mum wage in Oregon from $4.75 to 6.35
an hour. But the legislation is stalled in
the House Labor Committee chaired by.
Rep John Watt, R-Medford
Watt has refused to give the bill a
hearing unless Gordly could nail down the
says you must have 3 1 votes before you
can get a hearing on any issue.
"Something is wrong with a process
that says you must commit before you
have heard any public testimony, before
there has been any thoughtful delibera
tion o f an issue.
EARTHDAY
METRO
SPORTS
A4
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B2
“On behalf o f the folks, most o f
whom are women who are trying to pay
rent, feed and clothe their families, and
pay childcare on $4.75 an hour, I protest
the process and say that not hearing the
minimum wage bill is no way to respond
to the needs o f some o f the most vulner
able folks in our state - woman and
children,” Gordly said
It's estimated there are over 40.000
people in Oregon making the minimum
wage o f $4 75. Fifty-eight percent o f
them are women, Gordly said.
ENTERTAINMENT
B4
seek public office came during his tenure
with the Labor Relations Board in W ashing
ton, D C., watching federal politicians shuf
fle issues to create laws.
He returned to Oregon in 1983 and three
years later tried unsuccessfully for a seat in
the state senate. He lost to Lake Oswego
Democrat Joyce Cohen.
Tiernan tried again in 1990 and lost.
He won his current seat in 1992.
His fame or if you wish, his notoriety,
came early when he headed a judicial sub
committee as a freshman lawmaker.
Tiernan has used his hard-won political
mandate to undo legislation that was un-
beneficial to big businesses.
Last year, he successfully nipped the
state employee unions over pension plans. A
move that made him famous among em ploy
ers and notorious among state employees.
But that was not the beginning o f
Tiernan's notoriety.
“The first big fight I had here (Salem)
was trying to defeat the sales tax on the floor
last session,” he said.
Tiernan also clashed with a coalition o f
Republicans and Democrats over increasing
gas taxes and vehicle registration fees.
He fondly recalls the maneuvers he took
to kill the bill.
Tiernan may sing like a good Republi
can and bark like the Newt Gingrich new-
breed conservatives, bu, when it comes to
respecting others he doesn't allow politics to
get on his way.
“There are people I don’t respect around
here” Tiernan said. “They are the ones who
say one thing and do something else.
▼
Continued to page B2
VIEWS NOT SUPPORTED
The Portland Observer wants to publicly issue
a retraction to a letter to the editor in last week’s
edition regarding the Oregon Judicial System.
The article, entitled “ Who Will Ask,” does not
reflect the views o f the publisher or members o f the
Portland Observer staff.
We apologize for not realizing that this letter was
written by Stressla Johnson, 38, a murderer o f two
A fric a n -A m e ric a n w om en in o u r co m m unity.
Johnson’s death sentence was overturned in 1993 He
is currently at the Oregon State Penitentiary, serving
two life sentences without the possibility of parole
Joyce Ha\/i ¡nylon, Publisher
RELIGION
B5
CLASSIFIEDS
B7