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Fighting Drug Abuse
January 31, 1996
Don’t Be A
Menace...
Men make choices for long­
term recovery from drugs at
the Volunteers o f America
Men s Residential Center in
northeast Portland.
As Portland Observer fdm
critic Lanita Duke explains,
it s a satire on the recent
“hood movies. ”
See Metro, inside.
See Arts A Entertainment, page B3.
CLÍie ^Jnrtl¿tnó C
er
250
■MMM MM MM MM MMMMMMMMMMM
Building
Plans
Clash
IN
Transmit Mall
Arrests Made
BY L u
Arrest warrants were issued last week
for 116 people following police surveil­
lance o f the downtown transmit mall for
drug dealing. The operation by Portland I
Police and the FBI was intended to im-1
prove the liveability of the downtown area j
to reduce street drug dealing.
wo very different new projects
T
are planned for the intersection
of North Mississippi Avenue and
Shaver Street. The two concerns In­
volved don’t care for each other, and
they’ve produced very different reac­
tions from neighbors.
Light Rail Funds
Expected
Metro’s elected officials last week said
they expect state legislators to re-confirm
a vote to fund expansion o f light rail, j
despite a recent Oregon Supreme Court j
decision that found the light rail funding
bill passed in the last legislative session j
was flawed.
Session To
Address Crime
Gov. John Kitzhaber will open a special
session of the Oregon Legislature on Thurs­
day. The lawmakers will address a com­
munity crime prevention plan that would j
transfer some inmates to county jails and
community corrections programs.
Hales Seeks Re-
election
Portland City Commissioner Charlie i
Hales last week announced his intention to J
run for re-election. Hales is a former neigh­
borhood activist.
Fred Meyer
Expands
Fred Meyer is expanding its fine jewel
ry business by purchasing 23 regional mall
jewelry stores in California and Washing­
ton. Distribution will be handled through
Fred Meyer Jeweler’s existing central dis­
tribution operation in Portland
No Fat Substitute
Approved
The food and drug Administration ap­
proved the controversial new fat substitute
olestra last week for use in snack foods.
While olestra has the taste and texture of
fat, it adds no fat or calories. However, it
also has been associated with some un­
pleasant side effects.
President Clinton delivered his State of
the Union address last week, offering his
own idea of limited government, challeng­
ing the nation to provide enough educa­
tional opportunities, economic security and
freedom from crime to allow Americans to
make the most o f an “age of possibility.”
Gadhafi Unites
With Farrakhan
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said
he and Louis rarrakhan, Icadei of ihe
Nation of Islam in the United States, have
agreed to work together to influence U.S.
elections and foreign policy. There was no
response by Farrakhan.
EDITORIAL
A2
Renfro Voted To Hall
M
el Renfro of northeast Portland
was elected Saturday to the Pro
Football Hall of Fame.
Renfro is a former University o f Oregon
footbal I and track star who was drafted by the
Dallas Cowboys in 1964. He played 14 sea­
sons with Dallas, from 1964 to 1977.
He earned a Pro Bowl berth his first
10 seasons, played in four Super Bowls
and had 52 career interceptions.
Renfro was born in Houston, Texas,
but raised in Portland where he attended
Boise Elementary and Jefferson High
School.
As a running back at Jefferson, he set
a Portland league record when he scored
36 points in one gam e. He helped
Jefferson play for the state cham pion­
ship three times and helped his team win
the cham pionship twice, in 1957 and
1958. In I960, he was named the Most
Valuable Player in the Shrine All Star
Game.
Currently, Renfro works as the Am­
bassador for the Bridge, a program and
center dedicated to bringing youth in
P ortland’s inner city long-term sp iritu ­
al, moral, educational and economic re­
newal.
About his year’s in the NFL, Renfro said,
“As I look back on my career, it’s clear that
the successes I experienced were not just
mine, but the work of the Lord.
“He gave be these talents at a young age
and has been guiding my life all along,”
Renfro said.
"We are so glad Mel has received this
ultimate honor.” Pastor Don Frazier, founder
of the Bridge Center and long-time friend of
Renfro said.
Renfro becomes the seventh member of
the Cowboys in the Hall of Fame.
Mel Renfro
Formal enshrinement will take place July
27 in Canton. Ohio, home of the Pro Football
Hall of Fame, on the day of the AFC-NFC
Hall of Fame game between New Orleans
and Indianapolis.
Quotes From Simpson Interview
he following are highlights of
T
Clinton Delivers
Message
P ehi . man
On whether he was guilty of murdering
his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her
friend Ronald Goldman: “This is America,”
Simpson said. “I’m as innocent as anyone
else out there.
‘No I did not commit those murders. I
couldn’t kill anyone and I don’t know of
anyone that was involved. Anything that I
may say along those lines would be pure
speculation.
"I could not have killed anyone and I did
not kill anyone. I’m an American and I just
want to be treated like an American. I want
people to treat me the way I treated all ofyou
for the last 20 years.
And that’s the only thing I’m asking
now. If you don’t like me, leave me alone.
I’m not bothering you. Let me raise my
family and give me the opportunity to earn
HOUSING
A3
a living and support my family.”
OJ. Simpson's first full TV inter­
On why some people feel he may be guilty:
view Wednesday since his ac­
“I think the media is the main reason America
quittal on murder charges last October.
is feeling the way they're feeling,” he said.
“I don’t think the public saw, when they
came home from work, or whatever they
were doing at the end of the day, and sat down
and watched the news and watched some of
these talk shows, they were lied to.”
On his search for the real killer o f Nicole
Brown and Ronald Goldman: “It’s difficult.
One, because they block my ability to earn
money, I only have a few people working on
the case.”
On the reaction by womens’ rights groups
to his not guilty verdict: “I think I am now
every a certain group of women out there
who have had a bad experience with a man,
who have been in an abusive relationship, I
have become their whipping boy. I am the
guy they’re looking at.”
Asked about his 1989 no contest plea to
charges he beat his ex-wife, Simpson said.
“In 1989 I was involved in an argument that
go, physical in my home. I feel I was wrong
I should have handled the situation a Io,
better. 1 didn’t make any excuses. I went
through the legal system. I made no excuses
there. They gave me I guess a fine or penalty
I had to do community service I did it all
My wife and I a, that time went on with our
life. We had a very close relationship We
talked about it.
“I paid my dues for whatever that crime
was. If it was a crime, I paid my dues. I’ve
gone on with my life.
Asked why someone should buy his
$29.95 mail order video, Simpson said he is
the sole supporter of his family: “I’m at the
point where I have to support my family I
have to send a check each month for my kids.
I'm the sole supporter of my kids. Hopeful­
ly, in the not too distant future, I’ll be
supporting them in my home. There are
people who don’, wan, me to earn a living in
any way shape or form
Housing Our Families, a non-profit agen­
cy that provides low-income housing for
single women and families in north and north­
east Portland, has acqu ired a vacant lot south­
west of the intersection from Multnomah
County.
According to staff member Linda Grear,
they plan to build a two-story structure on the
site. The upper floor will have nine housing
units. Below they plan 1,000 square feet of
commercial space, thegroup’s first non-hous­
ing venture. The space will include theirown
offices.
Staff member Linda Grear said the group
is seeking community input on other possible.
uses.
Across the street, Jeff Stewart is renovat­
ing an existing 1,000 square foot building at
9 15 N, Shaver St. as a bar and grill, and has
applied for a liquor license. His plans so far
call for 50 seats, pool tables, and occasional
live jazz performances.
Stewart proposes to operate from 10 a m.
- to 2 a.m. Monday through Saturday. 2 to 2 on
Sunday. He is no, sure if he will sell beer or
wine to go, he said.
Both properties are zoned CS, which re­
quires no off-stree, parking for housing and
businesses. Housing Our Families will have
four off-street spaces for their building.
Stewart’s bar will have none.
Grear, who lives two blocks away, is con­
cerned about this. At a recent Boise Neigh­
borhood Association meeting she told
Stewart,
“You’re adding a lot of traffic right next to
a residential street.” Later, noting she spoke
for herself rather than her agency, she voiced
other concerns. “That building's not big
enough to be a ‘restaurant and lounge,”’ she
said. “There’s no way to ge, 50 people in
there with a kitchen It’ll be a tavern, and not
a nice one a, that.”
She is not alone. Jerry Van Horton and
Terrell Garrett, who are renovating historic
buildings at the northeast and southeast cor­
ners ofthe intersection, respectively, say they
are also opposed.
“I’ll do everything I can to defeat this,”
Garrett said.
“The last thing this block needs is another
tavern,” Van Horton said. There have been
intense liquor-related problems in the area in
the past, he said, so much so that “a few years
ago it was dangerous jus, to stop here." Both
men say they support Housing Our Families’
proposal.
Stewart insists he can operate his place
responsibly.
It won’t be “a sports bar where people
slam down their beer and then go out and piss
in the street,” he said. "I, depends on the
people in the community. There are a Io, of
decent people in the community and If they
come there regularly, it will be their place.
That particular neighborhood really doesn’t
lave much going for it. A Io, of storefronts
are boarded up, and the businesses that are
there don’t have much to do with the neigh­
borhood. As long as you keep the area dark
and dim, you’ll have a lot of problems.”
As to Grear’s concerns about parking he
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Continued to page B7
FAMILY
ENTERTAINMENT
SPORTS
RELIGION
CLASSIFIEDS
A5
B3
B5
B6
B7
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