Volume X X V Number 17
C ommitted to cultural diversity.
A pril 2ft, 1995
Join In Celebrating Our
Vote Looms On
Parks, Open
Spaces
Stoudamire Awaits
Draft
University o f Arizona standout
Damon Stoudamire visits his
hometown.
Metro Councilor Ed Washington
says Measure 26-26 is good for
North/Northeast Portland
See Metro, inside.
See Sports, Page B2.
A N N IV E R S A R V
(Lije
C
er>
Kaiser To
Close
Hospital
K
“War On The Poor”
Rep. M argaretCarter, D-Portland, has
scheduled a “ War on the Poor” forum for
Thursday, May 4 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at
the King Neighborhood Facility. "M uch o f
this legislative session amounts to a war on
the poor,” Carter said. “ I’m going to let
people know w hat’s going on. Advocates
for the poor will be available to discuss the
legislative developments and the impacts
on public assistance and heath care for
those at or near the poverty level.
K aiser m anagem ent annou n ced at a
press co n fe re n ce on T uesday that it has
re a c h e d a g re e m e n ts w ith P ro v id e n c e
H ealth System and O regon H ealth S c i
ences U niversity to p ro v id e h o sp ita l se r
vices for its K aiser m em bers. It says
n e g o tia tio n s are still on betw een K aiser
and C lark U nited P ro v id ers.
Under the agreements, Kaiser Permanete
members will be able to receive hospital care
at Providence’s St. Vincent Medical Center
early next year.
“ We view these arrangements as a major
advancement in the working relationship
between health care providers in this commu
nity” said Barbara A. West, vice-president o f
Kaiser’s regional medical services.
S tate Workers Fill
Cupboards
O regon state em p lo y ees donated
391,000 pounds o f food and $166,800 in
cash contributions in a recent drive to help
the Oregon Food Bank and its network o f
hunger-reliefagencies. The col lections are
enough to feed 52,108 people or 3,257
households for five days.
Community Energy
Project Gets Grant
State NAACP representatives Evonne Martinez of Salem (left) and ShaRee Rhone of Portland (right) join newly elected
national NAACP chair Myrlie Evers-Williams of Bend at a reception in Salem hosted by Gov. John Kitzhaber. See
additional photos, page B5.
(Photo by Chuck Washington)
by
The Community Energy Project, 422
N.E. Alberta, has been awarded a $2,000
grant for its weatherization program from
the PacificCare Foundation. Project direc
tor Bob Chaples said the money will help
keep the organization stocked up on sup
plies. Project volunteers install w eather
proofing materials like storm windows and
doorsweeps all year long.
Tyson Signs $20 0
Million Deal
Five days after finishing his prison
term, boxer Mike Tyson signed exclusive
agreements valued at up to $200 million
with MGM Grand Hotel and Casino and
Showtime and Viacom pay-per-view. The
deal is expected to spawn some o f the
richest fights in history for the former
heavyweight champion.
P romise K ing
money squandering from its past leaders.
Consequently its major donors are thinking
s the financially embattled
twice whether to put th e rm o n e y in NAACP
N atio n al A s s o c ia tio n of
confines.
Colored People asking folks
Evers-W illiams told the Portland Ob
to give them this day, their daily bread
server in an exclusive interview las, week
and to forgive them of the temptations
that she would assure folks during the drive
of their past leaders?
that her leadership will restore accountabiIity
Whether people will listen to this age-
and faith to the organization.
old prayer may be the biggest challenge
She said the tour would take her away
facing the agency’s new chair, Myrlie Evers-
from home for a long time, with the nearest
Williams o f Bend.
stop being a fundraising event in Seattle.
Evers-W illiams has embarked on a na
Reliable sources reveal that every dollar
tionwide fund-raising tour.
raised by the agency will be used to stop
Her mission is to restore the credibility
Republican Party erosion o f past civil right
o f the nation’s oldest civil rights group,
gains, which include affirmative action.
badly bashed due to incessant allegations o f
It was not clear how much the NAACP
I
needs for this campaign, but already the
civil rights movement is knee-deep in debt
w ith about S4 million needed to pay its
creditors.
Evers-W illiam s’ tour may be the best
hope to heal the deep gash in the agency’s
purse. Evers-W illiam stakesover from Wil
liam F. G i bson who was charged with squan
dering the organization’s money.
She recently had eye surgery, but said
she is well and ready for the challenge.
“The reception has been good and there
is a lot o f support for us,” she said.
Evers-Will iams was in Salem as a guest
o f Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber.
She was elected as the first woman to
the head the organization last February .
Walk Saturday For March Of Dimes
WalkAmerica
celebrates its 25
anniversary
Saturday as
Portland
participates in the
annual walk to raise
donations to fight
birth defects and
infant mortality. Last
year's walk (above)
brought more than
4,000 walkers to the
streets of Portland.
The Portland
Observer is
sponsoring King
Elementary Honor
Students in the
event.
Clinton May Veto
W elfare Bill
President Clinton has threatened to
veto a House passed Republican welfare
reform bill. Critics have charged that the
bill is not really a reform measure but a
series o f drastic cuts in benefits for poor
women and their children. The legislation
is expected to be modified in the Senate.
But the president has vowed to veto any
bill which harms children.
South Africa Anniversary
South Africans are marking the one-
year anniversary o f their first all-races
democratic election. While hope and opti
mism has no, diminished since first-time
voters began casting their ballots on April
26, 1994, social reform is slow in coming.
Ibrahim Gassama. a professor at the Uni
versity o f Oregon, who helped monitor the
elections, says the people o f the country
are very patient and are working to make
their lives better.
25TH ANNIVERSARY OF WALKAMERICA
Photos Wanted
The historical preservation com m it
tee o f the Kenton Action Plan in the Ken
ton neighborhood is asking for old pictures
o f streets, buildings, scenes and events in
north Portland. “ We want to share our
h isto ry ,” said co m m ittee c h a ir A lta
Mitchoff. Copies o f the pictures would be
made and the originals returned. To help,
call 289-6693
aiser Permanente will begin a
gradual closure of its in
patient hospital services at
Bess Kaiser on North Greeley Ave.
T
he 25th a n n iv e rs a ry of
W alkA m erica takes place
downtown in Portland Satur
day in at Tom McCall Waterfront
Thirteen additional sites in northern
Oregon and southwest W ashington will also
take part in the nationwide event as par, o f the
March o f Dimes' Lewis and Clark chapter.
More than 4,000 walkers are expected to
step out during the event, throughout the
chapter, raising an estimated $350,000.
Last year's W alkAmerica helped sup
Park.
port 23 local programs that strive to improve
health care services for at-risk pregnant wom
en and infants.
In addition, researchers a, the Oregon
Health Sciences University received more
than $260,000 in March o f Dimes' research
EDITORIAL
HEALTH
METRO
SPORTS
A2
A5
BI
B2
grants last year.
In 1970, residents in Columbus, Ohio
and San Antonio, Texas took par, in the first
historic steps on the road for healthier babies,
introducing an event that has become an
annual tradition for mi 11 ions o f Americans all
across the United States
In that firs, year, $ I million was raised to
fight birth defects and infant mortality.
ENTERTAINMENT
B3
lmost unbearable mourning
has follow ed last w e e k ’s
horrifying terrorist bombing
of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City.
A
Sunday was a day o f national mourning,
declared by President Clinton, who tried to
console the nation.
“Our words seem small beside the loss
you have endured,” Clinton told more than
20,000 people gathered at the Oklahoma
State Fair Arena. “You have lost too much,
but you have not lost everything. And you
have certainly not lost America, for we will
stand with you for as many tomorrows as it
takes.”
Relatives o f those who died in the blast
or who were still missing clutched flowers
and stuffed bears that were given to them as
they filed into the arena.
Clinton spoke o f “the innocent children,
only in that building because their parents
were try ing to be good parents as wel I as good
workers. Citizens in the building, goingabout
their daily business. And many there who
served the res, o f us, who worked to help the
elderly and disabled, who worked to support
our farmers and our veterans, w ho worked to
enforce our laws and protect us. Let us say
clearly, they served us well, and we are
grateful.”
The Rev. Billy Graham offered comfort
from the scriptures.
“Times like this will do one o f two
things. It will either make us hard and bitter
and angry' at God, or it will make us tender
and open and help us to reach out and trust in
faith. And I think that’s what the people in
Oklahoma are doing.
“The Bible says in Psalms 147:3, “He
heals the broken heart, he binds up the
w ounds.' And so with this service today we
stand together to say. Let the healing be
gin.” ”
Oklahoma Gov Frank A. Keating, a
Republican, said the explosion was senseless
barbarism never before witnessed in the his
tory o f the country .
“The tragedy o f April 19 shocked Amer
ica. An unspeakable evi I sickened the world,"
Keating said.
RELIGION
B5
♦
Nation
Mourns For
Oklahoma
Dead
CLASSIFIEDS
B7