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Volume X X V I. Number 52
Committed to eulluial diversi,
Viola!
A new look
\ u e iis i
The Jones Girl
Bringing the Pier
to the beach
Rickie Lee Jones was one
o f the innovative
songbirds to perform at
the H.O.R.D.E Festival,
Saturday.
Southeast precinct gets a
face lift and brings
determined attitude to East
Burnside
See Metro, page BI.
7. I ‘ MX»
Pier I Imports brings their
wordly touch o f style to
Jantzen Beach.
See Entertainment, page B3.
See Business, page B6.
U n iv e r s it y
Eugene,
97403
o f
Ô rë g o r
O re g o n
L ib t
Median removal, parking proposed for MLK
bv
L ee P erlman
C
ity and state engineers have
devised a preliminary plan th a t
would remove the center medi­
an and restore on-street parking for
parts of Northeast M artin Luther King Jr.
Boulevard.
White House
goes after Dole
The White House is criticizing Bob
Dole’s new economic plan and saying Pres­
ident Clinton w ill not offer new tax cuts in
response to his Republican challenger.
Clinton spokesman Mike M cCurry says
D ole’s plan to make $548 m illion in tax
cuts while balancing the budget does not
add up.
New wreckage
being checked
A Navy search ship is looking at a new­
found trail o f wreckage from the T W A
disaster. Scanners have found luggage and
debris from the plane’s forward hold sev­
eral miles west o f the known crash site.
Deal reached in Mostar
Muslims and Croats in the Bosnian city
o f Mostar reached an agreement on form­
ing a local government, settling a dispute
that had threatened to disrupt the Bosnian
peace process. Croats had been refusing to
accept a slender Muslim victory in June’s
local elections in the city, which is deeply
divided along ethnic lines.
ABA won’t give
up ratings
The new president o f the American Bar
Association says the lawyers group w ill
continue to rate ju dicial candidates, de­
spite criticism from Washington. N. Lee
Cooper o f Birmingham, Ala., says cutting
the A B A out o f the process would be done
| at the peril o f the justice system.
Hiroshima bomb:
51 years later
On this date in 1945, an American bomb-
I er unleashed the world’s first nuclear at
tack on the Japanese city o f Hiroshima.
Japan marked the 51st anniversary o f the
event with prayers for the victims and fresh
vows to fight the spread o f atomic weap-
| ons.
Syria rejects Israeli
overture
Syria rejected Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s offer to resume
peace talks The official Syrian media dis
misses Netanyahu’s overture as a gesture
that has nothing to do with peace.
Wildfire near Reno
Hundreds o f firefighters are making
progress battling a 6,000-acre wildfire
about lOmilesoutside Reno,Nevada. They
say the blaze is now about 40 percent
contained and slower winds are helping.
Furor over pending twin
abortion
Anti-abortion activists in Britain are
now offering more than $69,000 to a single
mother who wants to abort one o f her
healthy twin fetuses because she can’t han­
dle two more children. But officials at the
hospital where the woman is a patient
refuse to relay the offers to her for confi­
dentiality reasons.
Whale needs help
A rare northern right whale is in trouble
o ff Massachusetts. Various vessels and a
Coast Guard helicopter have been trying to
find the 40-foot, 50-ton whale in hopes o f
freeing it from a tangled web o f fishing
gear The executive director o f the Center
forCoastal Studies in Provincetown, Mass.,
said rescuers are standing by.
FRONT
S E C T IO N
Dan Layden o f the Oregon Department o f
Transportation reviewed the interim propos­
al with the Martin Luther K in g Main Street
Project Community Committee at a July 23
meeting. Am ong other things, the proposal
would 571 feet o f median between Northeast
Alberta and Killingsw orth streets and pro­
vide curb parking for 30 vehicles. Between
Northeast Tillam ook and Fargo streets it
would remove 462 feet o f Median, and allow
70 parking spaces.
The plan does not provide curb parking on
all streets in the sections understudy because
o f the need to provide for other traffic fea­
tures, including lefi-turn lanes at Northeast
Killingsw orth, Alberta, Knott and Russell
streets, Layden said. Thus, the plan would
allow little curb parking between Northeast
Alberta and Wygant streets, or Killingsworth
and Webster streets, and none beween Russell
and Graham streets.
The plan proposes to remove a traffic
signal and left-turn lane on Northeast Morris
Street, and a lane allowing northbound traffic
to turn south where Northeast Grand Avenue
meeting the boulevard at Hancock Street. In
both cases, Layden says, “ We didn’t find a
compelling reason for them to exist.” At
Hancock he proposed putting in a pedestrian
crosswalk across the boulevard.
Several key features ofthe plan are still to
be determined, he noted. One is whether the
boulevard w ill continue to carry four lanes o f
MS
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Local officials plan to remove the center median on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. to make room for street parking
traffic, or two lanes with two bicycle lanes.
Another is whether to install curb extensions,
or small pedestrian “ islands” in the middle of
the street, at key intersections. (Layden noted
that curb extensions didn’t appear to give
pedestrians many additional opportunities to
cross the street safely. A third is whether
buses would pull o ff the street into designat-
More board Tri-met than see Blazer games
bv
J oky M i hpiiv
ore people are riding Tri-Met
than ever. Tr-Met said annual
ridership was up 4 .5 percent, or
3 million boardings, in the last fiscal
year th a t ended June 3 0.
M
That translates into 64 m illion yearly
boardings. M A X light rail hit a record high 9
million boardings for the year, said Tri-Met.
The results were measured by a revenue -
based model, Tri-M et manager o f communi­
cations Mary Fetsch said.
Fetsch explained why ridership reached
record levels. “ We offer a couple o f innova­
tive services,"Fetch said. Also, public transit
is a cheaper alternative to private transporta­
tion, Portland’s population has increased,
parking is limited, and Tri-M et extended
their service hours,” she said.
Portland State University professor in the
center for urban studies, Jim Strathman,
agreed with Fetsch.
“ For some, public transit is their only
option,” Strathman said," they're too young
or too old, or can't afford a car.”
Strathman called those the “captive popu­
lation." Others, he said, choose public transit
because “ its level o f service is preferable.”
Part o f the “ innovative services” include
organizations partnering with Tri-M et to of­
fer their employees express bus routes to and
from work. Fetch said.
Passengers board a Tri-Met
bus in Northeast Portland.
The number of users in the
metro area has risen
drastically in recent years.
Among them are O H S U , the veteran's and
shriner's hospitals.
Even though Portland's Tri-M et is grow­
ing, the national trend shows declining use o f
public transit, Fetsch said.“ Portland is a na­
tional model for public transit,’’Fetsch said.
“Other cities look to us to see how to do it
right.”
Along with ridership increases, M A X line
is expanding from downtown Portland into
Hillsboro. Fetsch said it's expected to open to
the public in the fall o f ‘98.
Strathman sees benefits to a successful
public transit system.
“ It improves a viable central business dis­
trict, which is important for overall economic
health,” he said.
Cities without a healthy public transit sys­
tem “have real mobility problems,” Strathman
said. “ In other mid-sized cities, a decline in
bus service means a large segment o f the
population is not able to get to work.”
Overall, however, Strathman said “ if I
were to give (Tri-M et) a grade, it would
certainly be in the B range, and some would
argue higher.”
Ridership is expected to continue increas­
ing, Fetsch said.
ed bus zones (reducing the amount o f on­
street parking), or stop in traffic as they do
▼
Continued to page A5
Max Kid’s
Creative
Contest
P
en a poem, scribe a story,
draw or paint a picture. MAX
is turning 1 0 and Tri-M et
wants you to help celebrate!
M A X 's 10th Birthday K id ’s Creative
Contest is underway.
Youth ages 18 years old and under are
invited to create and enter a poem, short
story, drawing, painting or any combina­
tion.
Winners w ill receive a 1997 summer
youth pass and other great prizes. W inners
w ill be featured during M A X ’s birthday
celebration at noon Thursday, Sept. 5 at
Pioneer Courthouse Square.
Entrants should describe what they like
about M A X and how they think M A X has
made Portland a better place to live. Po­
ems and short stories should be 50 words
or less.
Entry categories are 10 and under, 11-
14, and 15-18 years o f age. O fficial entry
forms are available by calling Tri-M et at
2 3 8 -R ID E .
The deadline to enter is Aug. 19. Tri-
Met will notify winners by Aug. 30.
omb detection research targets safer skies
he downing of TWA Flight 8 0 0
tion (F A A ), seeking to develop a workable
has heightened public concern
bomb detection system.
about terrorism and aircraft safe­
In their work, the researchers use a con­
ty and raised the question: is there trolled
any beam o f neutrons. When short through
new research currently under way in the
a suitcase, for example, the beam passes
field of bomb detection th a t may some­
through the various materials inside and cre­
day lead to safer air travel? The answer
ates a shadowy image similar to the image
is yes.
T
Two University o f Oregon physicists are
exploring the feasibility o f a very high-tech
answer to this very basic question o f survival.
For the last five years. Jack Overley and
Harlen Lefevre have been conducting exper­
iments for the Federal Aviation Adm inistra­
EDITORIAL
HEALTH
A2
A3
HOUSING
A4
created when an X-ray passes through soft
tissue and bone, Unlike an X-ray, however,
the neutron beam shadow is able to identify
various kinds ofexplosives by detecting their
chemical fingerprints.
“ It is like candling an egg, only we use
neutrons instead o f light,” Lefevre says. “E x ­
FAMILY
A7
plosives show up different from other items
in a suitcase.”
Overly states,"there is no question in our
minds that the technique can detect a wide
variety o f explosives with a high degree of
reliability—if given lots o f time. We are now
exploring ways to speed the process."
Overley and Lefevre conducted a series o f
successful tests last year using live plastique
explosives.
The scientists are quick to point out that
their research is still far from practical appli­
cation. However. Lefevre notes, “we’ve had
some good news lately. Our research group
METRO
S E C T IO N
SPORTS
ARTS & ENT.
B2
B3
has developed a new method that dramatical­
ly lowers the number o f false-positive test
results.”
At the same time, recent events have in­
creased their sense of mission. In a horrifying
coincidence, Overley's wife flew to Paris on
the very day T W A Flight 800 exploded
Overley notes that with a slightly different
itinerary, his wife would have perished along
with the rest o f the passengers on the doomed
fligh t.„
“ That was just too close to home,” he says.
“ I came in to work the next day with a
remarkable sense o f purpose."
RELIGION
CLASSIFIEDS
B5
B6
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