Volume XXVI, Number lb
Committed to cultural diversitx
Ebony Fashion Fair
Lionel Richie
The 38th annual Ebony
fashion fa ir “The Power o f
Color ” at the Oregon
Convention Center ballroom
on Friday, April 19th.
Lionel Richie released his
debut Mercury Records
album, Louder Than Words
on April 16th.
See Metro, Page BI
See Arts dfc Entertainment, Page B2.
Chuck Washington (Coach/
Pubilsher o f the Portland
Observer), Presents a
check from the Oregon
Lottery's shratch fo r
charity to Barbara
Marquez President o f
Riverside Little Leauge
e Dlartíatth (Dhseruer
Rosemont Property Still In Flux
C
bv
entral City Concern and the Pied­
mont Neighborhood Association
still don’t agree on what to do
with the Rosemont School property, but
at least they've started to talk about it.
Bill McCoy
Suffers Heart Attack
State Senator B ill M cCoy was listed in
serious but stable condition at Legacy
Emanual Hospital after suffering a heart
attack. The six-term senator was still in a
coma at this printing. “ W e’re optimistic o f
course. H e’s in good health and he’s a
fighter,” said his son Paul M cCoy. “ H e’s
strong, and that’s in his plus.” M cCoy was
playing g o lf at the Colwood G o lf Course
Sunday morning when the heart attack
struck. The senator is 73.
Norm Rice Will
Run For Governor
I
Seattle mayor Norm R ice recently
launched his campaign for governor o f
Washington. The Democratic candidate
has been in office six years. He was elected
in 1989 after 11 years on the Seattle City
Council. “A s governor I w ill bring people
together to preserve what’s best about our
state, to help all othercitizens achieve their
full potential,” Rice said at a Spokane
conference.
1,400 Pounds
Of Explosives Found
In Mosier
Bureau o f Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire­
arms officials said more explosives were
found at the site o f the April 3 blast near
Mosier than to blow up the World Trade
Center. More than 1,400 pounds o f explo­
sives were discovered during an investiga­
tion o f the area. Fifteen hand grenades, 13
exploding projectiles and a rifle to fire
them, 11 canister bombs and about 30,000
rounds o f small arms ammunitions was
also found. O fficials estimate 200 pounds
o f explosives and 90,000 rounds o f ammu­
nition went up in the blast.
j
Mayor Bradley
Recovering From
Heart Attack
|
Cell Cordless Calls
Ruled Private
I
The Oregon Supreme Court ruled last
week that calls made on cordless or cellu­
lar phones are private. In the case, a
Redmond man had been convicted o f drug
charges based on information from an over­
heard call over a cordless phone. An uni­
dentified private citizen called police lead­
ing to the arrest o f four people on metham­
phetamine charges. The Oregon court o f
appeals ruled that cordless and cellular
calls are public because they are broadcast
over the radio spectrum. The Supreme
Court ruled that not all radio transmissions
are broadcasts. Phone calls are not met for
he whole community.
i
One out ofevery four children inGhana,
India, Indonesia and Senegal are in the
work force and most o f them work as field
lands or in fam ily businesses according to
a U N survey. Work is the main activity for
more than one out o f 10 children under 15
in those countries. Most are employed at
east nine hours a day, often six or seven
days a week. “The problem we have in
international discussions on child labor
practices is to get the governments to admit
there is a problem,” said UN spokesman
John Doohan
FRONT
S E C T IO N
EDITORIAL
A2
The Bumside-area based social service
agency has an option to purchase the 7.6 acre
form erCatholicgirlsschoolat 597N. Dekum
St. They plan to build 75 units o f housing
there for recovering alcoholics and drug ad­
dicts and their families, and another 25 units
o f housing for A ID S patients. The Piedmont
Association says that so much housing for
such a “fragile” population in one location
would defeat their goal o f creating a stable
neighborhood for permanent occupants. C C C
has invited Piedmont to participate in a mas­
ter plan process that would consider all “ fea­
sible” options for the property. Piedmont
claims that C C C is really offering them a
limited role in a superficial process that would
merely finalize their existing plans.
Instead, Piedmont has called for the city to
initiate an independent master planning pro­
cess for the property that would consider all
options and all possible developers. In sup­
port o f this, during the last month they have
canvassed residents near the property and
persuaded more than .300 o f them to mail
postcards in support o f this position to Port­
land C ity C o u n cil members and Steve
Rudman, director o f the Bureau o f Housing
and Community Development. The bureau
administers federal funds for low-income
housing development, and is likely to be
approached by C C C for any project it pur­
sues.
Last month Piedmont leaders announced
that Rudman had agreed to sponsor a master
plan process, and that C C C is prepared to talk
about it. Richard Harris, C C C executive di­
rector, says talks with Piedmont leaders have
i
|
: 1
il» ”
iO Esi W j í ’
Central City C o n ce rn s and the Piedm ont N eighborhood A sso cia tio n will c o n sid e r all fe a sib le options for the R o se m o n t Sc h o o l
Property.
been scheduled. He added, however, that
C C C has proposed from the beginning to
hold the sort o f inclusive study Piedmont
says it wants. Rudman confirmed that he, and
the city, “support" an open master planning
Rudman adds, “ We don’t believe there’s
been open communication on this by either
side. They've been talking around each other.”
O f C C C ’s current plans he says, “This is a
very ambitious project, and we’re not con­
vinced that it can work.” The property is not
for sale at a “bargain” price, he says. The
original V illa
St. Rose School building is a potential
historic landmark, and either renovating it
for use or removing it w ill require time and
additional money, he says. Development o f
exclusively low-income housing there could
make it eligible for government assistance,
but would also limit the revenue the property
could generate.
New Report On Patriot Groups Released
I
Former Lo s Angeles Mayor Tom Brad­
ley is reported to be in fair condition after
a heart attack he suffered at a fast food
restaurant in the L A suburb o f Norwalk.
The 78-year-old ex-mayor was alert and
awake at Kaiser Permenente Hospital in
Hollywood. Bradley served as Mayor o f
Los Angeles for 20 years.
Aslan, African
Children Work
L ee P erlman
..........Dees Warns Another Oklahoma City In The Making
he Southern Poverty Law Cen­
federal building in Oklahoma C ity was
ter has released A new report
bombed killing 168 people.
th a t identified more than 8 0 0
“ Unless we take decisive steps now to
groups, including 4 4 1 self-proclaimed
respond to this thereat, it's only a matter of
malitia units, that are part of a growing
time before the county endures another night­
patriot movement of organizations that
mare like the Oklahoma C ity tragedy,” wrote
operate independently but are linked
Dees
spiritually - and often electronically - by
He said he sent copies o f the report to
hatred of the federal government.
President Clinton, F B I director Lew is Freeh,
abortion rights and followers o f Christian
Identity that claims white people are superior
and that Jews are the children o f Satin.
The report said that members o f the group
are generally white, male, Christian and dis­
appointed in America.
Randy T rochmann, o f the Malitia o f Mon­
tana called the report ridiculous and accused
Dees o f using the issue to “Stir the pot. get
exposure and raise money to line his own
pockets.”
“They need a task force to police them­
selves," Trochmann said o f law enforce­
ment. “ Malitias have a better track record
than they do.”
Dees letter said that most people in the
T
S P L C chairman and civ ii rights attorney
Morris Dees is advocating for the establish­
ment o f a joint federal and state task force to
reduce the threat o f domestic terrorism.
Dees warned Attorney General Janet Reno
in a letter along with the report that the threat
has sharply increased in the year since the
and the attorneys general o f all 50 states.
The Montgomery, A L. center’s report pro­
vides a deta i led overview o f the patriot move­
ment describing it as a “potpourri o f the
American right” that includes white suprem­
acists, N eo-N azis, Skinheads, K u K lu x
Klansmen, Freemen, militant opponents o f
patriot movement had no intention o f com­
mitting crimes. But the report lists 30 crim i­
nal cases in 16 states since 1994 involving
people connected with patriot groups.
Dees urged Reno to take more steps to
reduce terrorist threats and suggested the
task force develop a plan for gathering infor­
mation and sharing it with all law enforce­
ment at all levels o f government. The report
issued 14 other recommendations.
A Congressional committee has been work­
ing for more than a year on a conterterriorism
bill that would address many o f the concerns
raised by the report.
Liberia Peace Tentative
frican peacekeepers fanned out
timidly Sunday to start taking
back the streets of the Liberian
capital Monrovia after a w eek of
m ilitia killings and looting, residents
said.
A
The United States wound up the first stage
o f its military rescue mission in which heli­
copters have ferried more than 1,500 foreign­
ers from Monrovia in over 50 sorties. A s
Monrovia’s urban warfare narrowed to around
the army barracks at the center o f the vio­
lence, the evacuation switched to the sea,
with a U.N. boat landing 300 people in
Freetown, in neighboring Sierra Leone.
A frica ’s oldest republic, founded by freed
American slaves in 1847 has been driven by
civil war for the past six years. More than
150,000 have been killed, the economy is in
ruins and half the population is displaced.
Samuel Doe was elected president in 1985,
but students, trade unions, and human rights
groups called his government repressive. In
EARTHDAY
EDUCATION
December 1989 Liberian fugitive Charles
I aylor launched a coup against the Doe re­
gime and declared himself president. Doe
tribal
was captured and tortured to death in 1990.
The country has been carved up by armed
factions, notably the National Patriotic Front,
The Liberation Movement for Democracy in
Liberia and the Liberian Peace Council
On August 2 0 ,1995 the main factions signed
a peace deal in N igeria, agreeing to share power
in a transitional government leading to elec­
tions in a year’s time after the disarmament of
guerrillas. However, the Economic Communi­
ty o f West African States contends failed prom­
ises o f cash and more troops have delayed
disarmament and the clashes escalated leading
to the U S led evacuation.
A spokesman for ECO M O G , the 8,000-
strong Nigerian-led peacekeeping force, said
units had taken control o f the central commer­
cial district around Broad Street . ’’E C O M O G is
still pushing in, taking control o f some of the
areas,” spokesman Frank Akinola said.
HOUSING
The city o f Portland threw a thank you party at P io n e e r S i
volunteers. It was a lso a fundraiser for flood victim s who
afterm ath o f the d isa ster.
METRO ARTS & ENT
SECTION
B2
SPORTS
RELIGION
CLASSIFIEDS