Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, September 18, 1996, Image 1

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Committed to cultural d i\e is it\.
S e ptem b er 18,
Learning grows
for youth
Retired business
woman inspires
Kaiser Permanente hands
out books on trees to
children at Beach
Elementary.
Miss Black USA
Contestants
Lillian Williams is
awarded by the Oregon
Health Care Association.
Newly crowned, Tifjinev
Martin, Miss Black Oregon
USA 1997.
See Metro, page BI.
See Family, page B2.
1996
See page B4.
- - F r a n c e s S c h o e n —N e w s p i )f?r
U n i v e r s i t y o f O re g o n L i b r
E u g e n e , O re g o n
9 74 0 1
P o o ff
Safety
awareness
through
fingerprints
IN
r-
-
-
— --------------- -- :----------
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p
ortland-area children will get
their hands dirty one finger at a
time during September, and it
just might help save their lives.
REVIEW!
Teaming up with the community, Cheveron
is sponsoring activities in September, and it
just might help save their lives. Teaming up
with the commun ity, Cheveron is sponsoring
activities in September which include the
distribution of over 32.500 free child identi­
fication kits. The ID kit, which can be used to
help locate missing and abducted children,
includes a fingerprint record, space for a
current photo, height and weight measure­
ments and other pertinent information. Ac­
tivities include Cheveron’s Hand in Hand: A
Local Child Safety Program at area elemen­
tary schools and fingerprinting at service
stations. The child ID kits will be made
available free-of-charge at participating
Cheveron service stations from September 9
to October 6. Photos will be made available
on Saturdays throughout the program at Port­
land Department of Parks and Recreation’s
Community Centers.
Panel says no to Perot
The commission planning for the 1996
| presidential debates has recommended
against including Reform Party candidate
Ross Perot. The commission unanimously
agreed “that only President Clinton and
Senator Dole and their running mates be
invited to participate,” co-chairman Paul
I Kirk and Frank Fahrenkopf said in a state- |
| ment. The Commission on Presidential
Debates says only Clinton and Dole have a
realistic chance of being elected president
I of the United States.
Deployment orders signed
President Clinton says he has signed
I orders to deploy U.S. troops to Kuwait, but
he’s not saying when they might go. Clinton
says he authorized the deployment last
| weekend and signed the orders soon after.
He denied that he had been reconsidering
his decision to deploy the Army troops
I from Fort Hood, Texas, as The Washing-
I ton Post reported. A defense official says
the U.S. will send 3,5000 troops from Fort
! Hood to Kuwait within days.
Industrial output jumps
Total output by the nation’s factories,
mines and utilities increased strongly in
August, according to the Federal Reserve.
It says industrial output increased 0.5 per­
cent last monthafteraslimO. I percent gain
in July. The Fed says the increase is due in
| part to a surge in electricity output.
Simpson II trial opens
The civil wrongful death trial of O.J.
Simpson began this week in Santa Monica,
California. In a final ruling before pro­
ceedings started, the judge ordered the
defense to produce all facts supporting
their theory that police tainted evidence
and tried to frame Simpson for murdering
I his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron
I Goldman. Without those facts, Superior
Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki says he will
bar the defense from presenting conspira-
| cy theories to the jury.
John Jacob Astor, Garrett Jones, and Jake Gibsen having ink removed by a Chevron volunteer
Photo by Timothy Collins
Gangs are going to suburbs
C hinta S trausberg
“Crime is escalating out there,” he said,
ang members are increasingly
referring to the suburbs. “That’s why we’re
taking their illicit trade to the
getting new anti-crime legislation.”
suburbs because many inner-
And, there are inner-cijy gangs as far away
city youth are refusing to join and as par­
Japan because members have joined the
take incriminai activities, according to
military, Beckom alleges.
Chicago policeman Jessie Beckom Jr.
The author o f Gangs, Drugs and Violence,
by
G
Beckom, 54, who is president of Gangs,
Drugs, V iolence Prevention Consultants, said
many youth "have learned that going through
the criminal justice system is not beneficial
and are talking to their siblings and are turn­
ing them around.”
Crime in Chicago, hesaid,“isallgoingout
to the suburbs.”
He said young people are “fed up” with the
gang turf wars and areas of no entry unless
they’re gang-affiliated.
Chicago Style, Beckon said while 85 percent
o f area youth don’t belong to gangs, for those
who do, their parents must be aware o f their
secret sign language, purchasing habits and
their friends.
“The graffiti on the wall - adults walk by it
thinking it’s just scribbling, but in actuality
it’s like a Third World cultural language”, he
said.
“When they see pitch forks pointed up,
they’re represented, but when they’re down,
that means the opposition has put that
there.
“They use Masonic, satanic and religious
symbolism as a guise to snare these children
into a membership to make them feel like
they’re part of a family.
“But all they want them to do is to sell
drugs so they can make money,” he stated.
“They’re called younger and dumber and
when one goes to jail, they get the next one.”
Interviewed during the No Crime Day
project in Chicago, Beckom said while youth
seem to be getting their acts together, parents
have a long way to go.
Too many parents have poor parenting
skills and there are far too many 15-year-olds
whose mothers are 30, grandmothers are 45,
and great grandmothers, 60, he said.
More Chernobyl radiation
Nuclear experts are investigating in­
creases in radiation levels this week inside
the Chernobyl nuclear power plant's ru­
ined fourth reactor. A Chernobyl official
in charge ofthe "sarcophagus” surround­
ing the reactor says meters recorded big
increases in radiation for a time yesterday.
He says experts are trying to determine if |
this could eventually cause a chain reac­
tion. Scientists do not have full control
over the nuclear fuel inside the reactor ten
years after it exploded and sent radiation
I over much of Europe.
Lucious Hicks
addresses a gathering
at woodlawn
Elementary on the
issues surrounding
school uniforms.
Photo by Timothy
Collins
900 POWs in North Korea
More than 900 U.S. prisoners of war
| may have been left behind in North Korea
in 1953. A congressional aide says newly
I declassified records say some ofthe POWS
may have been subjected to deadly medi­
cal experiments. House aide Al Santoli,
who helped gather the information for a
hearing held recentely, says the records
support recent reports that some Ameri-
' cans may still be detained in North Korea.
New Parents revert
Even the most progressive couples re-
I vert to traditional husband and wife roles
| when a new baby arrives. That’s the find­
ing of new study from British psycholo-
I gists at Birmingham University. They found
that even the most progressive couples
who share responsibility for earning a liv­
ing and housework regress to old-fash­
ioned roles once a baby is born.
EDITORIAL
A2
HEALTH
A4
Public Safety Coalition Fall Campaign
he Public Safety Coalition, rep­
resenting thousands of police
officers, firefighters, other pub­
lic safety officers and community
ers, today announced they are kicking
off the fall campaign in support of Ballot
Measure 43, the Oregon Public Safety
Act.
T
Ballot Measure 43 supports increased com­
munity safety, it puts public safpty above
politics.
The Oregon Public Safety Act enjoys sig­
nificant statewide support -Mothers Against
Drunk Drivers to Multnomah County Sher­
iff, Crime Victims United to Corrections
officers. Fire Chief to District Attorney.
“Firefighters, police and others on the
emergency response team are supporting
Ballot Measure 43 because they want to be
EDUCATION
A5
able to arrive at emergencies completely
prepared to save lives. Ballot Measure 43
reverses a bad law that is of, by and for
lead­
politicians, who mistakenly want to tell po­
lice and firefighters what kind of training and
equipment they think will save lives,” said
Tom Chamberlain, a Portland Firefighter
and president of the Oregon State Firefighters
Council.
Oregonians can look forward to a positive
campaign that focuses on the men and wom­
en who make our streets safer Ballot Mea­
sure 43 guarantees public safety employees'
voice will mean something in decisions over
their equipment and training needs When
public safety employees are properly trained
and outfitted with the essential equipment,
they are able to do their work of saving lives
efficiently and effectively.
HOUSING
A6
“All Oregonians’ safety depends on the
quality of the men and women responding to
the emergencies in our neighborhoods. Those
on the front line include police, firefighters,
state police, 9 1 1 dispatch, sheriffs, correc­
tions officers and emergency medical techni­
cians.
Ballot Measure 43 is synonymous with
safety for Oregon’s communities, Orego­
nians support the men and women that m c on
the front-lines of emergencies,” said Doug
Hoffrnan, a Roseburg Police Officer, presi­
dent of Oregon Council of Police Organiza­
tion
The Public Safety Coalition has coordina­
tors in every region in Oregon. For informa­
tion about the campaign to support The Ore­
gon Public Safety Act - Ballot Measure 43
contact the campaign office.
Let the
punishment
|fit the crime!
T
he Governor’s Juvenile Crime
Prevention Task Force met)
yesterday to approve their fi­
nal recommendations to the Governor |
I for addressing juvenile crime.
Senator Shirley Stull (R-17) was the|
only committee member to cast a no vote.
Senator Stull says she was opposed to the I
full report largely because it contained a
proposal to expand a soft on crime pro­
gram.
“Oregonians overwhelmingly support­
ed tougher sentencing laws. To disregard
their opinion on something so seriously
affecting our state is an outrage,” stated!
Senator Stull. “People in the state of Ore­
gon have spoken loud and clear on this I
issue It is difficult to see any reason why]
we should even consider reducing sen­
tences at this time or at any time in the near |
future.”
The controversial program, known as|
Second Look, allows some juvenile of­
fenders meeting certain requirements to I
possibly be released for the second half of I
their sentences I he Task Force voted to|
recommend that the program be expanded
to include most juvenile offenders, includ­
ing those who commit violent crimes This
recommendation goes against a measure
approved by voters in 1994 demanding
that stricter sentences be enacted for vio­
lent crimes committed by youth.
“My committee twice studied expanding I
this program at the request ofthe Governor |
and both times we arrived at the same con­
clusion," stated Senator Stull. “ Itisextreme-1
ly premature and irresponsible to make a
policy decision on this issue when we have
no information. We came to a consensus that
there wasn’t enough data available to even |
debate the merits, and the Governor request­
ed that we look at it again. We came to the |
same conclusion the second time.”
“Toconsider softening sentences when
the violent crime rate is still so high and our
youth and communities are still in danger
is incomprehensible. I refuse to support
this recommendation or any report that
contains it,” concluded Senator Stull.
The Governor’s Juvenile Crime Pre­
vention Task Force was created in 1996 as I
part of an ongoing process of reviewing
and reforming the juvenile justice system
The 16 member task force studied all fac­
ets ofjuvenile crime, the factors leading to |
it and communities' strategies for respond­
ing. This report and its recommendations)
are based on their findings.
ARTS & ENT.
FAMILY
RELIGION
BU SIN ESS
A7
B2
B4
B6
CLASSIFIEDS
B6