.Li* -«e«. V
Volume X X V I, N um ber 34
Committed to d ilu ira i diversity.
August 21, J ‘)%
National Premiere
Eternal Fame
The first o f its kind, our
new low-riding MAX light
rail glides into town.
Texan Bombshells
NE Portland rascal Mel
Renfro gets top honors in
Pro Football Hall o f
Fame.
Armed with acclaimed
musical mastery, the Dixie
Chicks bring a little
howdy-harmony to Oregon.
•’F
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— 7—
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See Metro, page BI.
See Sports, page B5.
W >ortianb
See Arts & Entertainment, puge B2.
s n c p c 0.-1.
■ v e rs x tv
t u q e n e , O r e a ,-,n
’5 7 4 0 7
TUCWEEK
IH C I
REVIEW
*°o r
n
Charity
fraud
ttorney General Theodore R.
Kulongoski has filed suit
against an Oregon corpora
tion and its chief officers for promot
ing an illegal pyramid by using a
bogus charity to lure participants into
the scheme.
A
President Clinton’s campaign this week
launched an attack on Republican presi
dential nominee Bob Dole’s record ofsup-
porting tax increases. Clinton deputy cam
paign manager Ann Lewis accused Dole of
distorting his own and Clinton’s record on
taxes by referring to the president’s 1993
budge, as containing “the largest tax in
crease in history.” She says that honor
belongs to a 1982 tax increase authored by
Dole and that during his 35-year career in
Washington, Dole voted to increase 450
different taxes and fees.
Air Force probes
Wyoming crash
An Air Force investigative team has
started searching for clues into the cause of
the crash o f a presidential cargo plane. The
C-130 slammed into a mountain in Wyo
ming just moments after taking off late
Saturday from the airport in Jackson Hole,
killing all nine people aboard. Air Force
Col. Steve Emory told reporters this week
the plane appeared to hit the mountain “at
a slight grazing angle going uphill.” Emory
says the tail section of the plane is “very
much intact” and that the flight data and
voice recorders housed in the tail section
appear to be in good shape.
McDougal sentencing
postponed
Boy saved by
gorilla recovering
The three-year-old boy rescued by a
protective female gorilla at a Chicago zoo
is recovering and could be released from
the hospital this week, his doctor says. The
boy, whose name has not been released,
suffered cuts and bruises after falling near
ly 20 feet into the concrete gorilla enclo
sure at the Brookfield Zoo. The eight-year-
old female African gorilla named Binti Jua
gently picked him up and carried him to a
service door where zoo personnel collect
ed him.
Chechens say
Russians attacked
Chechen rebels say Russian troops have
stormed rebel positions in Grozny, break
ing a fragile ceasefire. But Russian mili
tary officials deny that their forces had
launched an attack. A rebel spokesman
told the Russian Interfax news agency.
Yeltsin's health an issue
The Kremlin is trying to quell the latest |
reports about President Boris Yeltsin’s
health. Time magazine says it’s obtained a
government medical advisory saying
Yeltsin suffered heart problems in June
and needed constant monitoring. The memo
reportedly said a bypass operation was
under consideration.
FRONT
S E C T IO N
■
■
Clinton camp hits
Dole on taxes
A federal judge has ordered the sentenc
ing o f Arkansas businessman James
McDougal postponed in the clearest sign
yet that McDougal is cooperating with
Whitewater investigators. McDougal had
been scheduled to be sentenced today for
his conviction on fraud and conspiracy
charges in a Whitewater-related trial
Reform Party presidential nominee Ross
Perot today derided Republican nominee
Bob Dole’s tax cut proposal as “Washing
ton a, its worst.” On ABC’s Good Morning
America, Perot said before cutting taxes,
policymakers should know the govern
ment’s financial needs. “And you won’t
know that completely until you redesign
and re-engineer Medicare, Medicaid and
Social Security,” he said.
L l b '"
Coronation for Miss Black Oregon U.S.A. 1997 took place last weekend where Portland's own Tiffiney Martin 25 (above)
captured the title. Tiffiney spoke on "advocacy for youth" for her state platform, which each contestant formulated. Among
her many accomplishments, Tiffiney is a professional model, has worked as a Youth Coordinator for the Urban League of
Portland, and carries a Black Studies degree from Portland State University. Miss Black Oregon is a scholarship pageant
worth $3000. In addition to this, Tiffiney has also won a Presidential Award (for leadership) worth $1000, and will be provided
by Stewart Realty Group. The Portland-native will go on to the national competition in Washington D C on February 1 7th-22nd
next year where she will compete among other regional winners.
Photo by T,mothy Col„ m
I he lawsuit, filed Wednesday, August
7th, in Multnomah County Circuit Court,
names as defendants Portland residents
Franklin R. Haley, Carol Severance and
their company, American Funding Re
source Group, Inc.
‘We have a zero tolerance for pyramid
promoters, particularly those that would
use a bogus charity to entice participants,”
Kulongoski said. “In the last year, law
enforcement has noted a large increase in
the number of pyramids claiming to help
charities especially on the Internet. Orego
nians need to understand that organizing or
participating in a pyramid is illegal and
linking it to a charity makes no difference."
The lawsuit alleges that I laley and Sev
erance organized an Oregon version of a
Texas pyramid called Liberty. As chief
officers of the American Funding Re
source Group, Inc. (AFRG), an Oregon
corporation, defendants created the “Hear,
o, Gold" fundraising program and added
their own charity spin by incorporating a
bogus charity. The Ross Foundation, solely
for the purpose of enticing participants
into the program.
Department o f Justice investigators al
lege that AFRG “Hear, ofGold” materials
falsely claimed that its unique networking
program would take each $60 initial dona
tion and turn it into $160 in commissions
to the donor and $ 1,200 donation to the
charity and an income tax deduction to the
door. In fact, none o f the approximately
$50,000 in pyramid sales went to any kind
▼
Continued to page B4
The Future of Portland: Central City 2000
rv M
bv J In
oey
M inniai’
i rpiiv
ortland's preparing for the fu
P
ture in leaps and bounds.
Like a kid growing out of old clothes, the
Metro region is getting too big. But instead of
bursting at the seams, Metro’s already sew
ing a new suit.
Based on Metro’s 2040 growth concept,
Portland s Central City 2000 Task Force
finished 18 months of work with recommen
dations for developing Portland's job market
and affordable housing in the central city.
Portland’s central city districts, including
the Central Eastside district, will all receive
substantial infrastructure improvements as
part o f the plan.
“It's a very exciting vision for the future,”
Central City 2000 chairperson and CEO of
NW Natural Gas, Robert Ridgely, said.
The 2040 growth concept is a plan for how
the Metro region, encompassing 3 counties
and 24 cities, will grow in the next 50 years.
It aims to preserve open space and natural
...
areas while redeveloping urban areas and
creating new development relying more on
mass transit and plans for affordable housing.
Soon after Metro’s growth concept was
introduced, the Portland City Council estab
lished in December of 1994 Central City
2000 Task Force.
It was designed to create a strategy to
foster 15,000 new housing units and 75,000
Undertheplan, Portland’s downtown would
grow at the same rate as the rest of the region.
Currently the downtown is stagnating: while
Metro employment increased by 95,200 jobs
between 1990 and 1994, central city employ
ment increased by 800 jobs, the Mayor’s com
munication manager Elisa Dozono said.
So, the city task force identified five issues
which will help Portland increase its share of
’s influenced Katz’s budget, and the Portland
Development Commission’s five-year p la n *
-Robert Ridgely, Central City Spokesperson
new jobs by the year 2010 in order to meet
Metro’s 2040 plan.
“We were driven by economic strategy, to
accommodate growth in the region, and to
maintain the infrastructure,” Portland Mayor
Vera Katz said.
Ridgely agreed. “Without the plan, we’d
have more sprawl, more congestion, more
pollution - it wouldn't be pretty," he said
new housing units and jobs: housing, busi
ness climate, target industries, workforce
development, district infrastructure.
There are many advantages to the plan.
Among them, Ridgely said, "more people of
modest means will be able to buy their own
homes.”
I entral City 2000 presented recommen
dations on how to tackle each issue.
Ridgely said the recommendations, though
yet to be enacted, have already impacted the
city.
“It’s influenced Katz’s budget, and the
Portland Development Commission’s five-
year plan,” he said.
The PDC is in charge of implementing the
actions in the Central City 2000 Strategy.
Katz outlined the progress made on each
o f the recommendations. Some already have
funds budgeted, others don’t and some may
even require a vote of the people, she said.
The most obvious changes will be the
infrastructure improvements in each central
city district, said Steve Siegel, executive
director of the Central City 2000 Task Force.
"Ih e y ’ve already began construction on
the Eastside Esplanade Project,” he said
The esplanade is part of the infrastructure
improvements. It will step up the original
idea of a couple o f small trails along the
eastside near OMSI, Siegel said. “ It will be a
▼
Continued to page B6
Highway 217 Subarea Transportation Plan
1 *7 C ..1 _______ 'T'_____ ’
.
I he 1-5 Highway 217 Subarea Transpor
tation Plan Team is happy to report that
progress is being made and at tins point the
project remains on schedule.
The Oregon Transportation Commission
has recently approved this project and has
indicated that it is one of ODOT’s highest
priority transportation projects in the Port
land metro region.
Even so, many steps remain before con
struction begins.
In October 1994, ODOT, in partnership
...
. .
.
with Metro, the Cities of Lake Oswego and
Tigard, and Clackamas and Washington
Counties, committed to find a workable solu
tion to the increasing traffic congestion and
safety of problems occurring at the l-5/Hwy
2 17 interchange and surrounding area.
Consultants were contracted to assist in
the year-long project, to develop designs that
would have community support while in
volving as many citizens as possible.
The participation of hundreds of commu
nity members during the alternative develop-
ment process led to a freeway interchange
design that not only addressed the needs and
values of the community but met technical
needs as well.
While a new interchange will significantly
address many of the current problems, it
cannot solve them all.
As a result, several local (off-freeway)
transportation improvements will be neces
sary for the interchange and the overal I trans-
Continued to page B6
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EDITORIAL
A2
FAMILY
HOUSING
A3
A4
f
EDUCATION
A6
METRO
S E C T IO N
SPORTS
B5
»
ARTS & ENT.
RELIGION
CLASSIFIEDS
B2
B4
B6