<-• H
Volum e X X V I, N um ber 17
Committed to cultural diversity.
Volunteers Build
House
Volunteers construct a
local Portland home.
A p ril 24, 1096
Ebony Fashion Fair
Ny’a
Ebony Fashion Fail-
models Tijiany Kilbride,
Anesha Johnson and
Nicole Franklin showed
“The Power o f Color”.
Ny 'a is creating a buzz in
the industry with her debut
album Embrace on the
Independent label.
See Housing, Page A 7.
See Metro, Page BI.
QSlu'
See Entertainment, Page B3.
nt> (Ohsertiex*
T i n
U c
B W
EEK
irM
Police To Restore Gang List Terriorism
REVIEW
City Says Revisions Can Survive Legal Challenge
County Ponders Toll Bridges
"If a list is
| going to be
kept, people
need to know
th e y ’re on it
and they need
to know how to
get o ff it,"
M ultnomah C o un ty is considering
charging tolls on local bridges to raise
$290 m illion needed to maintain them for
the next two decades. Problems with the
aging spans have state and local officials
looking at a number o f financial options. If
financing is not found ultimately the coun
ty owned bridges -- Sellwood, Hawthorn,
Morrison, Burnside and Broadway - may
close. The state owns the St. John’s,
F'reemont, Marquam, Ross Island and is
leasing the Steel Bridge until 2006. The
bridges carry almost 160,000 vehicles a
day.
-Richard Brown,
Chairman of the
Black United Front.
A review board o f five senior-level Bu
reau o f Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
managers has recommended that 10 A T F
agents be punished for their behavior at
“good o f boy roundups.” Signs were post
ed and skits performed containing raciest
comments at the Tennessee gatherings.
The board recommendations ranged from
verbal cautions to four-day suspensions.
The board also recommended all receive
training in diversity and sensitivity. Three
other agents are to receive counseling.
The Clinton administration argued that
seizing property from crim inally prosecut
ed drug traffickers is not double jeopardy.
Ju stice departm ent law yer M ich ael
Dreeben asked the justices to reverse two
rulings in which federal appeals courts
found fault with civ il forfeitures o f proper
ty in Michigan and California. The high
court ruled in 1993 that drug dealers might
not be forced to forfeit so much property
that it violated the Eight Amendment’s ban
on excessive fines. The courts have inter
preted double jeopardy under the Fifth
Amendment to mean multiple punishments
for the same crime. More than 130 Oregon
defendants have filed challenges to forfei
tures. The Court is expected to make its
decision in June.
Do Oregonians Dislike
M easure Five?
In a Survey o f 500 Oregon voters 43
percent felt Measure 5 has been bad for the
state compared to 37 percent who praised
it. However, they reject the idea o f appeal
ing it 45 percent to 37 percent. Previous
surveys have shown the same divided atti
tudes about the measure that limits proper
ty taxes to five percent o f assessed value
Supporters say the law holds down taxes
and keeps state spending down. Oppo
nents site its impact on public schools.
Freaknick Tamer But Still B ig Party
Freaknick, the Atlanta street party, was
less unruly this year according to officials.
There were no significant problems caused
by thousands o f black college students on
spring break who gathered on city streets
paraded in car caravans and attended mu
sical events throughout the weekend
Freakinck has been in Atlanta since the
80s. In the last four years the event has
attracted as many as 200,000 people. This
years estimate was less than 100,000.
The INS Denies Raids
Rumors o, Immigration and Naturaliza
tion Service raids have Hispanics in Ore
gon avoiding groceries stores and laun
dries. IN S officials say they have raided
work sites an deported undocumented
workers in the past month but no more than
usual. There are an estimated 20,000 un
documented workers in Oregon and the
IN S does routine job site enforcement.
They have deported 2,600 Mexicans in the
past two years officials say.
FRO N T
section
EDITORIAL
A2
Bill Goes
To Clinton
T
ATF Agents Penalized
Supreme Court Hears
Case For Forfeitures
A t
Police Chief Charles
Moose with Richard
Brown o f the Black
United Front.
he Portland Police Bureau
Some say it got to the point that talking to
plans to restore the controver
a black kid in northeast Portland was enough
sial list of suspected gang
to be put on the list.
members with new determination meth-
Police used a loose guide o f clothes, jew
| ods and a revised appeals process.
elry, hand signs and tattoos to determine
Three years ago the federal courts ruled
gang members. With the old list, a kid in a
that the list was too broad and didn't give
starter jacket, who was friends with a sus
the 2,800 people listed a way to appeal their
pected gang member could be placed on the
inclusion.
list.
O fficials have maintained the lists help
The only way to know someone was on the
protect officers and warn them o f potential
list was to call police. And the way only to be
ly dangerous people.
removed fromthe list wastoask police —who
Many others have expressed concerns
made up the list. Some suspected gang mem
that the list is a violation o f peoples rights.
bers never knew they were on the list.
T
In Oregon such lists are public record
and people have lost jobs and apartments by
appearing on gang lists. Although the list
didn't presume guilt, it put the suspicion
there. Being in a gang is not a crime.
Police, community members and city
attorneys have worked more than a year to
redefine the list.
The new process includes explicit crite
ria based on specific behavior for place
ment and notification o f placement by form
letter. Characteristics must be carefully
▼
Continued to page A4
Political Pioneer Bill McCoy Dies
enator Bill McCoy died April 12
at Legacy Emanuel Hospital. The
74-year-old Senator never re
gained consciousness after suffering a
heart attack April 1 4 while golfing.
Considered a pioneering political figure in
Oregon’s black community, Senator M cCoy
was elected in 1973 to the house o f represen
tatives. A year later he was appointed to a
vacant seat in the state Senate. He was the
first black to serve in the Oregon legislature
and was its longest-serving member as ofthis
year.
Governor John Kitzhaber ordered flags
flown at half-staff at state buildings.
“Senator M cC o y’s passing is a great loss
to the state o f Oregon and to me personally,”
said Kitzhaber, who served with the senator
Senator Bill McCoy
“ He understood the issues important to work
ing fam ilies and worked to preserve civ il
stay at home with a sick child or family
rights for all Oregonians.”
member and al lows up to 12 weeks o ff to care
His voting record included support for the
for a seriously ill family member. He also
family leave bill which allows employees to
opposed bills that would have cut workers
S
k
compensation benefits and bills that would
damage the environment which he called
“Oregon's legacy to future generations.” The
Portland Democrat was running for re-elec
tion in Senate District 8.
“ He was a very quiet unassuming person.”
said his long time friend Matthew Prophet,
former Port land Schools superintendent. “ He
was more the salt-of-the-earth sort o f leader,
who really cared.”
Representative Avel Gordly called him a
mentor to her and other young black politi
cians. And Representative Margaret Carter,
who represented half o f M cCoy's district,
said he was an advocate for
peoples rights “especially for the mentally
ill and poor people." At the time o f his death,
Senator M cCoy was working on an effort to
put a statue o f Martin Luther K in g Jr. along
M L K Jr. Blvd.
Before election to office, the Senator
▼
Continued to page A4
he House sent President Clinton
a major counter-terrorism bill
Thursday to mark Friday's first
anniversary of the Oklahoma City bomb
ing.
The bill passed 293-133 after clearing the
Senate 91-8 Wednesday. It is a compromise
between a stronger Senate bill passed last
year and a weaker version approved by the
House last month and was pushed through
both chambers because o f the impending
anniversary.
“ 1 think it has some very effective tools
that we can use in our efforts to combat
terrorism,” Attorney General Janet Reno said.
She cited provisions making it easier to expel
foreigners suspected o f being extremists or
belonging to groups the U S. government
considers extremist and preventing such
groups from raising money in the United
"tates.
The bill provides $ I billion for anti-terror-
m efforts at the federal and state level over
>ur years and requires chemical “tagging”
fplastic explosives so they can be traced if
iey are used in bombing. It also calls for a
study o f similar tagging o f other explosives
Clinton is expected to sign the bill when he
returns from his trip this week to A sia and
Russia. He asked Congress to pass the bill
quickly after the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma
C ity blast that killed 168 people. But it was
delayed for months in the House by objec
tions from diverse groups including the Na
tional Rifle Association and the American
C iv il Liberties Union, both o f which feared
the legislation would give the government
too much power.
“The balance between public safety and
order and individual rights is always a d iffi
cult dilemma in a free society. For this rea
son, significant time was needed to consider
this legislation,” said Gerald Solomon, R-
New York.
I he N R A , which opens its annual conven
tion Friday in Dallas, said it was not opposing
the compromise bill. “ We have had our con
cerns taken care of,” said Tanya Metaksa, the
gun group’s legislative director.
But Michigan Democrat John Conyers
said the legislation was too weak to do any
good. "This bill would do nothing to prevent
another Oklahoma C ity bombing," he said.
"It’s a sellout to the N R A and the freshmen
Republicans.”
First-term Republicans led an effort last
month that gutted much o f the previous House
bill to the dismay o f Republican leaders.
Some o f the previous provisions were re
stored in a conference with the Senate.
The bill also limits the number o f federal
appeals o f death sentences, long sough, by
most Republicans and supported by Clinton
but fought by opponents o f capital punish
ment.
It does no, include expanded authority
sough, by the administration to allow wire
taps to be switched from phone to phone to
keep up with suspects who use multiple cel
lular telephones.
More Problems For Minority Students
in P romise K ing
f there is anything Samuel Wade
of King Elementary School I*
certain of, it’s the impact the
current Portland school budget
will have on minority students.
“ Everything that was in place to really
empower African Americans and poor stu
dents has been systematically wiped ou,”
Wade laments.
Wade is a counselor whose job is to curb
student antisocial behavior, motivate stu
dents to work diligently and pursue excel
lence. He also teaches these young folks to
I
HEALTH
A3
BUSINESS
A5
reason ethically and behave morally.
H is job, however, is par, o f the special
programs the district says it can’, aflord next
fall.
crisis
The majority o f those who need counsel
ing at K in g School happen to be those who,
for economic reasons, rely on the school
system to provide a niche
This crisis has raised plethora o f questions
on how minority and low-income students
w ill be affected. Many area school adminis
trators - depending on who you talk to -
agree that less privileged students w ill be
worst hit by this budge, rift.
HOUSING
A6
“ When our inner city schools are destroyed,
we have a population that is left with no
options. It doesn’t make sense to build more
ja ils and not put more into schools” Tom
Schraw o f Fair share argues passionately.
Minority students are scoring less in basic
assessments since the school funding crisis
began in 1993. Scores by students o f color
have plummeted consistently Bu, Lew
Frederick the school district spokesman says
it’s still better than a decade ago Many fear
that with fewer teachers and programs the
number would worsen
Last week, the school district made des
METRO METR0
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ARTS & ENT.
B3
perate attempts to lure the business commu
nity and well-meaning citizens to help reju
venate it’s cash-scraped volt.
In coalition with the Portland School Foun
dation, Mayor Vera Katz, and the Portland
Association o f Teachers, the district has
launched an aggressive campaign to involve
the entire community.
A fund-raising pledgewalk, March For
Our Schools, o f 30,000 students, parents,
teachers and political leaders, lead by Mayor
Katz and Sho Donozo o f the Public School
Continued to page A4
RELIGION
CLASSIFIEDS
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