Volume X X V I, N um ber 39
C om m itted to cultural di versi tx
Chops are tops
Chavez
A majority o f children like
pork-chops, and this
article details this food's
best preparation
techniques.
This play based on the
life's work oJCezar
Chavez starts this
weekend.
See Family, page A 5.
ressurectlon
Light rail like MAX can
attribute its success to a
minority inventor.
See Portland Observador, page C4.
See Minority Enterprize Development, page DL
e |3nxtíatth
I'rU e r
Portland
national
Nuclear test pact signed
A
orporations, trad e groups,
The Associated Press derived the $400
unions and other special Inter
m illion spending total by randomly sampling
ests spent at least $4 0 0 million
one o f every 50 o f the more than 9,000
trying to influence the federal govern
lobbying reports on file at Capitol H ill and
ment in the first half of 1996, according
using their reported lobbying expenses to
to an analysis of the first disclosures
project an industry-wide total.
under a new lobbying law.
Among the largest spenders in the first
Expenditures ranged from the millions spent
half of 1996:
by A T & T and the nation’s largest doctors’
* Philip Morris. $11.3 million. Thetobac-
lobby to less than $10,000 by the San Fran-
co giant spent its money primarily in a fight
cisco-based Family Violence Prevention Fund,
to keep tobacco products from coming under
which can afford only a part-time lobbyist.
regulation o f the Food and Drug Adminis
The figure is the most comprehensive es
tration.
timate yet o f amounts special interests spend
* The American Medical Association. $8.5
on lobbying official Washington, but experts
million. The nation 's largest professional
say it is probably conservative.
group fo r doctors lobbied on Medicare and
“ I don’t think you’re at all out o f bounds
Medicaid, tobacco regulation, health care
with the thought o f a billion-dollar-a-year
and legislation to change liability reform
industry,” said Ron Shaiko, an American
* The U.S. Chamber o f Commerce, $7.5
University professor who teaches lobbying.
million. The chamber lobbied heavily on
Under a law that took effect Jan. I , groups
that lobby on federal legislation or regula
tions must file reports estimating their expen
ditures twice a year. The first were due begin
ning Aug. 15.
For two reasons, the first six-month figure
probably is low.
First, 1996 so far has been a quieter-than-
usual season for lobbyists, said Wright
Andrews, president o f the American League
o f Lobbyists, the profession’s main trade
group.
Second, the new reports ignore money
spent on grass-roots lobbying, the rapidly
growing practice o f using advertising, fax
machines, mail and telephone banks to stir up
public support or opposition to policies.
seven-year drive to take vehf
cles used by drunken drivers
Z
off the streets of Portland,
Oregon Is the model for a new nation
al crackdown on alcohol-related acci
dents launched by Oregon Congress
man Earl Blumenauer.
Blumenauer, who as a Portland C ity
Councilman wrote the Portland seizure
and forfeiture law, today introduced na
tional legislation based on Portland’s ex
perience.
“ Portland pioneered this approach,”
said Blumenauer. “ It was the first city in
America to seize the cars o f repeat drunk
drivers. The Portland law works, and the
bill I am introducing w ill put the same tool
in the hands o f cities across the country.”
The bill is Blumenauer’s first since
winning a special election in May and
reflects his goal o f using Oregon success
stories as a foundation for changing atti
tudes nationally about a broad range o f
issues inherent in making cities more liv
able
Blumenauer’s legislation has wide sup
port in Oregon from police officials, anti
drunk driving organizations such as Moth
ers Against Drunk D riv in g (M A D D ), beer
and alcohol distributors, and others.
Bernie Guisto, C h ie f o f Police in Gre
sham, Oregon’s fourth largest city, said,
“ Drunk drivers have a devastating effect
on families and communities across the
nation Repeat drunk drivers often ignore
fines and keep driving even after their
licenses are suspended. Seizing their cars
gives law enforcement an important tool
and leaves a lasting imprint on the life o f
the offender.
“ Forfeiture laws are real deterrents for
repeat drunk drivers,” agreed Jeanne
Canfield ofthe Oregon Chapter ofM A D D .
“Taking away the car gets their attention
and gets them o ff the road.”
This legislation is being introduced in
the face o f an increase in national drunk
driving deaths. From 1994 to 1995, drunk
driving deaths in Am erica went up 4% ,
with the death toll totalling 17,274. Port
land, however, experienced a 4 2% de
crease in drunk driving deaths during the
same period This decrease can be attrib
uted, in part to the vehicle seizure and
forfeiture program.
The Blumenauer B ill creates an incen
tive for states to adopt a forfeiture pro
gram. Nationally, almost $25 m illion is
awarded annually to states in federal anti
drunk driving grants. Currently, states must
meet five o f seven eligibility criteria to
receive such grants.
Exam ples o f the seven criteria include
expedited driver’s license suspensions
for people convicted o f D U 11 and state
wide checkpoints for determining if driv
ers are intoxicated. This bill would make
forfeiture programs the eighth optional
criteria.
esearchers at the American Film
Institute said Tuesday they un
director, and a co-chair o f the institute’s
covered the oldest surviving
preservation committee.
American feature film, preserved in near
“ The fact that the print is in nearly mint
mint condition for over 30 years in a cool
condition is nothing short o f a miracle,”
Oregon basement.
Scorsese added in a statement
The 1912 adaptation o f “ Richard I I I ” was
In recent years movies produced before
only the second feature length film ever pro
1951, which were made on strips o f nitrate,
duced in the U .S., and it was the first o f a
have been disintegrating at a rapid rate, send
Shakespearean play Moreover, it was col
ing researchers and historians scrambling to
ored with a rare process that shades some o f
find and preserve them.
the film ’s scenes in red.
The Los Angeles-based American Film
“So few o f the earliest feature film s exist
Institute, known as A F I, defines a feature
today that each new discovery is like finding
film as running at leas, 40 minutes, or about
four reels o f 35 millimeter film. The first
feature, “Oliver Tw ist”, still exists, but it is
missing a reel
In 19 12, the first year o f American feature
films, eight o f the long reeled movies were
made. Only three exist in complete form, and
two others are incomplete.
"Richard II I ’ was thought to have van
ished completely until 77-year-old Portland.
Oregon resident W illiam Buffum donated it
to the institute
Buffum, a former $50-a-month film pro
jectionist at Portland's old Bluebird Theater
in the 1940’s, swapped his entire collection
o f silent films for “ Richard II I ” and 19 19’s
rare “ When Bearcat Went D ry” over 30 years
ago.
He stored the movies in his basement,
carefully rewinding them once a year to keep
them from sticking He said he did not know
o f the film ’s importance and only recently
decided to donate it in order to preserve the
quality.
“Richard III” starred English actor Frederick
Wardc, who was described in playbills ofthe
time as an “eminent tragedian " The movie was
made for $30,000 and featured 70 scenes and
hundreds o f actors and extras.
President Clinton signed the nuclear
test ban treaty at the United Nations this
week. He used the same pen that President
Kennedy used to sign a limited test ban
treaty. Clinton is the first world leader to
sign the treaty, which would forbid all test
blasts. Clinton exchanged a cordial hand
shake with the man he has vowed to oust —
U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-
Ghali.
V
Atlantis, Mir separate
The space shuttle Atlantis has undocked
from Russia’s M ir space station after a
five-day visit to pick up one astronaut and
drop o ff another. The seven Americans
and two Russians had earlier wrapped up
five days o f joint work in which U.S.
astronauts Shannon Lucid and John Blaha
swapped places and more than 6,000
pounds o f cargo was transferred to and
from Mir. Atlantis is due to head back to
Earth Thursday.
Do The Right Thing Day
was held on Saturday, Sept.
21, 1996, with children
marching down Martin
Luther King Jr. Blvd (above).
The march was held to
celebrate inner-city youth in
Portland.
Fed meets on rate hike
The Federal Reserve’s policy-setting
committee is meeting to decide whether to
institute the first interest rate hike in about
a year and a half. A slim majority o f
international economic experts said they
expect the U.S. central bank’s policy-m ak
ing Federal Open Market Committee to
decide to bump up short-term rates by a
quarter o f a percentage point. Arguing for
a rate rise are tight labor markets, rising
wages and an economy that is operating in
an “ inflationary danger zone.”
!
Urban League volunteer
Helloise Hill (left) and
others welcomed marchers
at Jefferson High School’s
football field.
Dole finds silicon support
A group o f about 180 Silicon Valley
executives, venture capitalists and attor
neys are planning to endorse Bob Dole for
president today. An organizer says the
announcement w ill be made at the head
quarters o f Advanced M icro Devices Inc
in the heart o f C a lifo rn ia ’s high-tech
center.
j
I Report links hillary, deal j
I
A report from federal banking regula
tors says first lady H illary Rodham C lin
ton’s legal b illin g records suggest she
helped draft a sham deal under which
Madison Guaranty savings and loan in
Arkansas evaded regulations and deceived
bank examiners.
S.Korean new war games
South Korea says it wants to re-start
military maneuvers with American troops
as soon as possible. The “ Team Spirit”
exercises were suspended last year as a
peace gesture toward North Korea. But
now South Korea is angry about last week’s
incursion by a submarine from the North.
Clinton signs defense bill
President Clinton has signed into law a
measure that provides money for a 3 per
cent pay raise for U .S. military personnel.
Clinton put his signature on the $265 b il
lion blueprint for U .S. military spending in
the fiscal year that begins on Oct. I .
Turkey, US
agree on N.lraq
The United States and Turkey have
agreed to work together to try to contain
Baghdad’s role in northern Iraq. U .S. offi
cials said the strategy now being devel
oped by Washington and Ankara is to have
the Kurds and the Turkmen minority take
control o f security in the Western-protect
ed area, fillin g the void left by Iraq’s
intervention there.
EDITORIAL
EDUCATION
Lobbyists paid 400 million
C
R
HOUSING
FAMILY
RELIGION
behalf o f the Republican "Contract with
America, " which included many business-
friendly provisions
ARTS & ENT.
CLASSIFIEDS
OBSERVADOR