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Volume XXVI, Number 35
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C ommitted to cultural diversity.
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Championship Spelling
Contest
Students who won county spelling con
tests will com pete at the annual Oregon
State Spelling contest Saturday, Aug. 31
at the 1996 State Fair. The event will be
held in the floral garden area. The ele­
mentary contest will begin at 10:30 a.m
M iddle school students com pete at 11:15
and high school students at noon. For
more inform ation, contact Larry Austin
(503) 378-3573.
bv
April Pena and Yolanda Jimenez (above, right to left) strategize with a volunteer
at the Back-to-School Low-Income Clothing Giveaway last Saturday at Peninsula
Park Community Center. Low-Income Families Emergency (L.I.F.E.) estimated
benefitting 1 ,800 community members. Children with proper identification
received a 3-day supply o f clothing and basic school supplies for the school year.
CALYX Cover Girls
The Interstate FirehouseC ulturalC en-
ter presents "C A LY X C over G irls,’
colorful, exuberant exhibition o f paint­
ings, draw ings, prints and photographs
by artists w hose work has been featured
on the covers o f CA LY X , a nationally
recognized publisher o f books and a jo u r­
nai o f literature and art by women. The
exhibit will open Thursday, Septem ber 5
with a free, public reception honoring the
artists, and will rem ain on view through
Septem ber 27. G allery hours are Mon
day through Friday from noon to 5:30
p.m. Located at 5340 N. Interstate Ave
(accessible viaT ri-M et bus #5). For more
info, call 923-2000.
SUBMISSIONS: Community
Calendar information will be given
priority if dated two weeks
before the event date.
The M artin L uther King M ain Street
Project is considering a proposal to restripe a
few blocks o f the street, elim inating a center
left turn lane and allow ing on-street curb
parking, as Phase I o f their plans for the
boulevard. The changes - between Northeast
Thompson and Sacrament/) streets, and North­
east Graham and M orris streets - could be
done for $35,000, w ould allow space for 30
to 35 parked cars, and could be done this
year
The group is also looking at the removal o f
parts o f the boulevard’s planted median to
create additional parking, the installation o f
ornamental street lights and other im prove­
ments between N ortheast Hancock and Fargo
streets as part o f a later phase.
Such im provem ents would cost between
$300,000 and $1.2 m illion, according state
traffic engineer Dan Layden o f the Oregon
Department o fT ransporation, one o f the staff
to the project. Also slated for future work is
median removal and on-street parking instal­
the past, city and state traffic engineers have
said that this would lead to traffic congestion
and accident. The effects o f the im prove­
ments will be studied and m odified if it
proves necessary.
In a related issue, Layden says, the project
staff has decided the issue o f whether bicycle
lanes will be added to the boulevard and its
traffic lanes will be cut from four to two;
neither will occur. "W e’ve determ ined that
we need the capacity” that four lanes provide,
he says. For this and other reasons, "bicycle
lanes on MLK are not on the table, he says.
Possibly installing them on nearby paral­
lel streets such as North W illiam s and V an­
couver avenues may be considered as part o f
future project phases.
The proposals received an informal approv­
al at the project’s advisory committee, includ­
ing representative o f government, community
and business leaders, at a recent meeting. The
project is a joint effort by the city, Metro, and
governor John K itzhaber's office.
ortland area crime for the first
ed hom icides are down this year; three com ­
six months of 1996 showed a
pared to five last year, for the first six months.
marked decrease over the same
C hief Charles M oose feels that the decrease
time period of 1995. The most notable
in crime rate for the first six months reflects
in the
the area of Motor Vehicle Thefts and
the continued effort ofthe public in partnership
Burglary.
with the Police Bureau to improve the livabil­
P
Person crim e rates decreased 12.6% over­
all, despite an increase in Homicides over last
year. A ggravated A ssaults made the largest
gain with a 14.8% improvement. D espite 25
homicides this year, we are running close to
our five year average o f 23 for the first six
months o f each year. 1995 was also the
lowest hom icide rate in six years. G ang relat­
ity o f our city Mayor Vera Katz adds that she
is happy to see the decrease in the crime rate.
The M ayor believes that the Police Bu­
reau and the citizens o f our city have worked
hard to strengthen the efforts against crime.
M ayor Katz applauds the work o f the
Auto Theft Task Force in reducing the motor
vehicle theft rate by 34%.
Seeing the end of death row's tunnel
b \
J oey M urphy
death penalty. But when faced with deciding
regon will soon commit its first
between the life and death o f another, every­
execution in 34 years. Serial
one from the U.S. Supreme Court justices to
killer Douglas Wright’s execu­
courtroom jurors become am bivalent.
tion Is scheduled for Sept. 6, while the
The high court splits most o f their capital
perpetual controversy over capital pun­
cases 5-4, Kaplan writes. In 1987, Louisiana
ishment continues without progress.
executed four people in a nine-day period,
O
Death row inmates aren 't dying and their
numbers are growing, forcing continued d e­
bate but with little action on the topic.
For every inmate to die, there are five new
ones to take their place David Kaplan writes
in Newsweek, Aug. 7 ’95.
Total population in A merican death rows
number over 3000. To em pty those cells,
states would have to execute an inmate a day
through 2021, K aplan writes.
According to the U.S. Bureau o f Justice
Statistics, electrocution and lethal injection
aren't even the leading causes ofdeath among
death row inmates. T hey’re runner-up to
death by “N atural Causes.”
Seventy percent o f A m ericans support the
then four more in a five-week period later that
year. D uring the next 2 1 nTOnths, state ju ries
imposed only two death sentences, although
homicide rates hadn’t changed, Kaplan writes.
Also at issue is racial inequality. Blacks
constitute 40 percent o fth e death row popu­
lation, but only 12 percent o f the country’s
population. W hites make up 48 percent ofthe
death row population.
The death penalty was reinstated in 1976
with the provision that it must be adm inis­
tered in a m anner that safeguarded against
arbitrariness and discrimination.
Few believe in the effectiveness o f the
ruling, however.
R etired ju stice Harry B lackm un said,
“Twenty years have passed since this Court
declared that the death penalty must be im­
posed fairly, or not at all, and, despite the
effort o fth e states and courts to devise legal
formulas and procedural rules to meet this
daunting challenge, the death penalty re­
mains fraught with arbitrariness, discrim ina­
tion, caprice, and m istake.”
Executions were suspended in 1967 to
allow the appellate courts to decide whether
the death penalty was unconstitutional.
In 1972, the Suprem e Court ruled in
Furman v. G eorgia that the death penalty for
murder or for rape violated the prohibition
against “cruel and unusual punishm ent " The
Court argued that death was meted out with
“ freakish" irregularity and so its use was
“arbitrary" and “cruel.”
Most o f the states enacted new death pen­
alty statutes, however, and in 1976 the Su­
preme Court in Gregg v. G eorgia held that
these were not unconstitutional.
During 1987, the Supreme Court refused
Bosworth gives to communities
he Dain Bosworth Foundation,
D oernbecherC hildren’s I lospital, Parry C en­
an Inter-regional financial group,
ter for C hildren and St M ary's A cadem y, all
granted $563,0 00 to non-profit
located in Portland
organizations across the Pacific North­
“D ain Bosw orth is com m itted to helping
west, Midwest and Rocky Mountain re­
charitable organizations make a positive d if­
gions, including 16 charities in Oregon,
ference in our surrounding com m unities,”
in the first half of 1996.
said M ichael Baker, managing director o f
T
The m ajority o f charitable contributions
in O regon went to organizations in P ort­
land.
T he found atio n ’s largest grant in O regon
w en t to C h ild re n ’s O n co lo g y S erv ices,
Dain B o sw o rth 's Portland office.
The foundation focuses its contributions
in three strategic areas:
Youth education, with em phasis on cre­
ative education program s that impact stu­
dents o f color or those who are econom ically
disadvantaged, and programs that help young
people understand our co u n try 's econom ic
system.
S o cia l services, with em phasis on foster­
ing econom ic independence, self-sufficien­
cy, breaking the cycle o f poverty and strength­
ening families.
The arts, with em phasis on preem inent
cultural institutions that enrich the quality o f
life in the com m unities and the diverse cul­
tures.
Beefing up Portland Airport security
Neighborhood Meetings
Piedm ont N eighborhood Association
M eeting will be held at 7:00 p.m., August
29 at Holy Redeem er School, 127 N.
Portland Blvd.
latio n b etw een N o rth e a st A lb e rta and
Metro crime rate drops
Annual Tree Fair
Isaac Hayes, internationally renowned
singer and com poser, will be in town
August 31st for the official opening o f the
World Literacy C rusade’s Portland Learn­
ing Center. He will also perform at the
ribbon-cutting cerem ony at the new facil­
ity located at 3548 N. M ississippi at 1:00
pm, Saturday. There will also be a special
dinner reception at 7:00 pm at the Hilton
Hotel (on SW 6th & Salmon), which will
benefit the W orld Literacy Crusade. For
dinilcl tickets, call 203-1301.
L ee P erlman
K
The Ch icago Board o f T rade (C BOT),
the w o rld ’s leading futures exchange
will host free educational sem inars d i­
rected tow ard food processors on Sept
4-5 at the C ourtyard M arriott. Although
there is no fee for the seminar, reserva­
tions will be accepted on a first-com e
first-served basis. T his sem inar is lim it­
ed to ingredient buyers, financial offic­
ers, accountants, presidents/C E O ’s and
other representatives in the food pro­
cessing industry. To register or obtain
more inform ation, call Richard Jelinek at
(312) 435-7206.
Isaac Hayes visiting
Portland
B
eep it simple, cheap and fast Is
K illingsworth streets, at a cost o f about
the philosophy behind Phase I
$250,000 to $300,000, he said.
of a traffic reconfiguration plan
U nderthe Phase I proposals, vehiclescould
for Northeast Martin Luther King still Jr. turn left onto side streets, but would have
Boulevard.
to stop in the left-hand travel lane to do so. In
Risk Management
Strategies
M em bers o f the Board o f Education
and the Citizen Budget Review Com m it­
tee are scheduled to m eet on W ednesday,
Septem ber 11, 1996, at 6:00 p.m., in the
balcony conference room at the Robert
Blanchard Education Service Center, 5 0 1
N. Dixon St. The purpose o f the meeting
is to discuss long-term funding.
SECTION
$35,000 buys 35
parking spaces
nm m u n i t y
a l e n h a r
Public M eeting Notice
4» • •
August 28, 1996
(Elje ^ o rtla n h (Observer
The 38th annual Pacific N orthw est
Christm as Tree Association Tree Fair
andT rade Show is scheduled for Septem ­
ber 6 & 7, at the Portland A irport Holiday
Inn. A selection o f winning trees in seven
species categories o f com petition will be
a highlight event.
W inners will be eligible for further
com petition for the honor o f supplying
the W hite House Christm as tree. It runs
Friday, N oon-5:30 p.m., and Saturday,
9:00 a.m .-5:00 p.m. A dmittance is $10
for PN WCTA mem bers and $ 15 for non­
members. For more info, call (503) 364-
2942.
• -
1 X * \,
A
irlines serving Portland Interna­
tional Airport (PDX) have begun
implementation of Increased se­
curity measures.
Passengers traveling through PDX should
expect delays at the ticket counters and the
security checkpoints as a result o f more bags
being searched. Rem eber to:
-C learly label luggage and be prepared to
answ er questions about your bags.
-H ave identification m atching the name
on the ticket, including a governm ent-issued
photo identification.
-Be prepared to have both carry-on and
checked baggage inspected
-A rrive at PDX early, at least 1.5 hours
ahead o f a dom estic flight and 2.5 hours
ahead for those flying internationally.
Also, there will be restrictions on curbside
check-in for those people flying to interna­
tional destinations other than C anada or
M exico, and those flying to United States
destinations that are over water, such as Ha­
waii and Puerto Rico.
to rule in M cCleskey v. Kemp that the death
penalty was racially biased against blacks
convicted o f m urdering whites.
W right is scheduled to be the 342 person
executed since 1976. The slow rate o f execu­
tions, and hence, the long stay o f inmates on
death row (Florida triple-killer Gary Alvord
has lived on the row for 22 years), has reduced
the death penalty to a paper tiger that’s power­
ful in the political arena, Richette Haywood
writes in Jet magazine, March 13 '95.
“ Politicians have inaccurately and unfair­
ly used the death penalty as their ace in the
hole when it com es to casting them selves as
tough on crim e," H aywood writes.
At what cost does the continued persistence
o f capital punishment come? California spent
a reported $90 million annually on capital
cases, but has only executed two inmates.
W right waits for the death chamber, but
the rest ofdeath row w aits in a tw isted purga­
tory where their fates have each been decided
and still wait to be fulfilled.
Prostitution
nets 55
n Thursday, August 15, and
Friday, August 1 6 ,1 9 9 6 , Of­
ficers from Southeast Pre­
cinct arrested and charged 55 people
for crimes relating to Prostitution.
O
On Thursday, SE 82nd Ave and Haw­
thorne BI vd., along w ith N E 30th and Sandy
Blvd. were the target areas. 29 arrests were
made from those areas, 25 male and 4
female. 22 vehicles were seized.
On Friday, NE 82nd Ave and NE
H olladay St., along with NE Sandy Blvd
and NE 30th Ave w ere the targeted loca­
tions. 26 arrests were made, 20 male and
6 female. 19 vehicles were seized.
The mission was established because
o fa high volume o f vehicular traffic search­
ing for prostitutes in these areas This
mission was perform ed between the hours
o f 6:00 p.m and 4 :00 a.m. and will be
done as needed