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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 31, 1995)
• * T he P ortland O bserver • M ay 31, 1995 Take Over Day Committee To Examine Transportation Issues The Vancouver C ity Council and the Clark County Board o f Com missioners have agreed to form a citizen steering committee to exam ine regional and local transporta tion issues and report back findings to the community. The decision, which came M on day at a jo in t city-county workshop, begins the second step o f a commu nity based process developed to ad dress future transportation chai leng- es. A focus group comprised o f wide cross-section o f viewpoints met twice in May to identify trans portation issues and suggest a com munity-based approach for evaluat ing them. The larger citizen steering group, which w ill be called the Trans portation Futures Citizen Steering Committee, w ill pick up where the focus group left off, thoroughly ex amining the transportation issues al ready identified and reporting back its findings to elected officials by early 1996. “ We’ve accomplished a tremen dous amount during the past few weeks,” said Vancouver C ity Mayor Bruce Hagensen. “ An array o f issues has been identified. Now it's time for citizens to roll up their sleeves and really examine all the ideas on the table.” Among the issues the focus group id e n tifie d fo r further study are telecommuting, staggered work hours, a third freeway corridor across the Columbia River, improved bus ser vice, levels o f transit service to urban and rural areas, high occupancy vehi cle lanes and better walkways and bicycle paths. The Transportation Fu tures Citizen Steering Committee w ill evaluate these issues and develop long- range transportation goals. Several focus group participants emphasized the need to keep all op tions open, including light rail. Con sequently, the City Counc i I and Coun- ty Commissioners decided Monday to continue participating in the re gional South/North light rail study to keep all transportation options open until the steering committee develops its findings. The city and county w ill devel op a mission and scope o f work for the Transportation Futures Citizen Steering Committee w ithin the next few weeks Residents interested in serving on the steering committee can request an application by call ing Monica Welle, Clark County Public Works, at 699-2375, ext. 4883 or Sara King, C ity o f Vancou ver, at 696-8005. S tud en t C icero C u rry shares the classroo m te ach ing duties w ith his su bstitu te te a ch e r a t W hitaker M iddle School. County Stop Hunger Warehouse Must Relocate The Clark County Department o f Community Services is looking for warehouse space to house the Stop Hunger Warehouse. The cur rent warehouse, which has been lo cated in a 6,700-square foot build ing at the Port o f Vancouver, must vacate in late July o f this year be cause the Port needs the space. The Stop Hunger Warehouse is a distribution center fo r the 11 non-profit food banks in C lark Coun ty that provide emergency food as sistance to people in need. Lastyear, more than 700,000 pounds o f food was funneled to food banks through the county-operated warehouse. “ The Port ofVancouver has been a good partner in leasing this space to the county at a nominal cost for the past 10 years,” said Mike Piper, Com m unity Services Department Direc tor. “ W e’ re very thankful for their assistance. They’ ve more than done their part in helping the community in a significant way.” Piper said the county is actively look ing for donated or low-cost ware house space anywhere in the county at a minimum o f 4,000-square feet. The space preferably would also have cold storage for perishables. Piper said the goal is to keep the cost o f the space down so that the county can continue to use funds for direct ser vices to citizens. He noted that the Port leased the warehouse for $ I a year to the county. A larger warehouse space, Piper said, would be desirable to allow the county to continue to use the build ing for other uses such as storage o f W alk-n-Knock food each year as well as toys, bicycles and other gifts for needy children donated as part o f the Clark County Employee Children’s Sharing Project. Both interim and long-term space are needed, Piper said. He added that during the com ing months the county w ill be lookingj at the overall food distribution pro gram and how the public can best be served. “ We need to develop the best strategy to stabilize the ware house function over tim e,” Piper said. Anyone with suitable ware house space available is asked to contact Hatch at 699-2130. Clark The County Frog To Jump At Calaveras There w ill be an e n try from C la rk C ou nty in th is su m m er’ s w o rld renow ned fro g ju m p in g contest in A ngels C am p, C a li fo rn ia . C la r k C o u n ty E x e c u tiv e F a ir D ire c to r Tom M usser an nounced that the fa ir has en tered a fro g named C la rk to ju m p on its b e h a lf in th e 1995 C alaveras C o u n ty F air & Jum p ing Frog Jubilee. 'W ith a little lu ck, C la rk co u ld hop o f f w ith a new w o rld reco rd w ith a top p rize o f $5,000. The e ve n t’ s theme this year is “ H o o fin ’ and H o p p in ’ at F ro g to w n .” C la rk , w ho w ill be p u lle d from a large pond on S aturday' M ay 20, w ill ju m p as part o f the W estern Fairs A ss o c ia tio n Frog Jump. F or an entry fee o f $3, the C alaveras C ounty F air w ill p ro vide a fro g and ju m p it fo r p a rtic - Health Club Membership Up Double-digit increase for second year The number o f health club members in the U.S. grew by 10% for the second consecutive year in 1994, according to prelim inary re- sultsofthe 1994 IHRSA/American sports Data study on health club trends. This translates to an increase o f 1.8 m illion members, bringing the total health club population to 20 m illion Americans. The announcement was made e a rlie r th is m on th by John McCarthy, executive director ofthe International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IH R S A ) in his opening remarks at the associa tions’s Fourteenth Annual Conven tion and Trade Show. More than 5000 club owners and managers at tended this event. In a separate study conducted for IHRSA By American Sports Data (A S A ), it was found that 5% o f non club members indicated that they would probably jo in a health club in the coming year. “ This is a considerable number when extrapolated to the population u niverse ,” com m ented H arvey Lauer, president o f ASD. The data o f this second study also suggests that “ the home exer cise market is not locked in mortal combat with the health club indus try,” according to Lauer. In fact, 67% o f all health club users both owned and used home exercise equipment in the past year. IHRSA is a nonprofit trade as sociation comprising 2,500 health, racquet and sportsclubs in 42 coun tries. Annual Music Celebration To Kick Off The second annual Northwest Black Music Month celebration w ill k ic k -o ff with a V IP reception on Wednesday, June 7 at 7 p.m. at the Red Lion Hotel. On June 8, Kevin Harewood o f Kashif, Bobby Duckett o f Mercury Records and Dwayne W iggins o f Tony, Tonie and Tone w ill fa cili tate a music seminar at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center. Several local musicians w ill be on the panel, including David Leiken o f Double Tee Promotions and Angela Jenkins o fK B M S Radio. The schedule for Friday, June 9, includes an autograph signing and K B O O radio live remote from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. with national recording artists. In addition, that evening at the Portland Conference Center w ill feature local artists at 8 p.m. • Tw o groups w ill be selected to open for the national acts on Satur- day, June 10, w ith Motown record ing artists BLU , V Y B E and others to be announced performing in con cert at the Roseland Theatre The event is hosted by UnForgettable Entertainment and sponsored by KBMS Radio, House o f Sound Records, KBOO and North west Entertainment Magazine. Tickets for the artist showcase and concert w ill be available at Fred Meyer Fastixx outlets. Keep Your Family Safe This Summer The good weather has arrived and with it comes a lot o f outdoor activities - everything from garden ing to flying a kite. There are a number o f safety concerns to take into consideration which involve power lines and bur ied power cables. Portland General E lectric’s Mel Eldridge, a specialist in energy, safe ty and efficiency, offers this general advide: “ Remember that common sense is your best protection against accidents when using electricity. When in doubt, don’ t proceed until you are sure it’s safe.” N ow that children are outside playing in the yard, they should be aware that clim bing in trees can be dangerous, especially where power lines are present. Avoid these areas. I f flying a kite with the children sounds like a fun activity, just be sure there are no power lines present. It’s best to find an open field or beach w ith no power lines in sight. “ As soon as your child is old enough to know right from wrong, this is the time to educate your children about safety,” says PGE’ s Eldridge. Gardeners need to take into con- sidération the location o f power lines when planning to dig or trim trees or shrubs. I f you have a major project underway which involves a lot o f digging, call the powercompany first and ask them to come mark the loca tion ofunderground cables. Be aware that these can be buried as shallow as 12 inches in the ground. Avoid all power lines when trim ming trees or shrubs and be careful that ladders do not come into contact with power lines. I f need be, contact the power company regarding trees that need trim m ing near power lines, I-8OO-332-2DIG. « » * Laughing is the sensation o f Love consist« in this that two feeling good all o v e r, and show solitudes p ro tect and touch and W e re it not fo r bunglers in the m a n n e r o f d oing it, h ard ly ing it p rin cipally in one spot. — Josh Billings greet each o th e r. — R a in e r M a ria R ilk e any man would e v e r find out he was laughed at. — L o rd H a lifa x ip a tin g counties w ho cannot a t tend them selves. Thé Calaveras County Fairalso promises to make sure that Clark is “ fed, bathed and ready for his big jum p.” I f Clark turns out to be a big winner, the Calaveras folks also promise to let us know. Io \(h c itis c in ¿Tlic t J n i lk u tb (O b s m ic r , call 15031 288-0033 or I a \ 288-0015. Ja nye lle M ille r a t the h e a d o f the class. The eighth grade students at W h ita k e r M id d le School to ok over the roles o f A d m in is tra to rs and teachers today. T h is is th e ir second annual “ T ake-O ver D ay.” “ T a k e -O v e r D a y” was the idea o f a group o f eighth grade students last y e a r,” said Edna Mae P ittm an, a W h ita k e r C oun selor. A ll s ta ff p osition s were up fo r grabs. The students had to a pply to p articip a te as s ta ff mem bers. Some o f the s ta ff members are u tiliz in g the services o f more than one student by le ttin g one w o rk in the m ornin g and the o th er in the afternoon. Some o f the students d id the jo b fo r a w hole S tud en t S e e C ha ng takes a d esk in the W h ita ker M iddle S ch o o l o ffice fo r “a d a y o n the jo b .” Photos by Mark Washington day. “ The purpose o f this event was to give the eighth-grade students and experience that they’ ll remember as part o f their eighth-grade year. It also allows the students to have an opportunity to be on the other side o f the educational sys tem” , said Edna Mae Pittman. Ayesha Coleman took over Pittman’s posi tion and she had a special treat be cause Pittman had to attend the A lb i na Rotary luncheon. As P ittm a n ’ s rep la ce m e nt, Ayesha d id in te rve n tio n s, faxed letters, file cards and gave pizza c e rtific a te s to students w ho had th e ir anger cards.