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Halloween and the
Dia de los Muertos
Portland Obser
& Observador Picks
Ghosts, goblins, skeletons
(calaveras) and witches
blow into town this week.
Stroll to the polls with our handy
Election recommendations.
See Metro, page BI.
S c h o e n -N e w ^ D '
L ib r
M rs. F ra n c
o f O re g o n
Un i v e r s i t '
E u g e n e . 0» » n o n
97403
( nm mi tied to cultural di'
See Special Election Edition, page B5.
October 30. 1996
wMinpdiiy ax
Clinton Theater
Janice Scroggins. Theresa
Demarest. Chata Addy and
friends play the funky folk
blues jazz thing.
See Arts & Entertainment, page B3.
(The ^ a rtín n h (©bsœrtteE«
if
Hispanics, Blacks will vote together
bi
Dole ends California swing
With just a week left before the election,
Bob D ole’s campaign is struggling to put
together a travel schedule for the stretch
run The Republican presidential nominee
completed four days o f campaigning in
California today and promised to return
over the weekend. Polls showing Dole
trailing in many key states.
Clinton addresses colleges
President Clinton addressed college au
diences today as he solidified his lead in
Ohio and Pennsylvania. Clinton spoke at
the University o f Pennsylvania after ear
lier addressing students at Ohio State Uni
versity. At Ohio State, Clinton outlined his
ideas to raise standards in public schools.
Testimony undercuts
O.J. Defense
Testimony today in the O.J. Simpson
murder trial appeared to undercut Simp
son's strategy o f claiming a police frame-
up. A Los Angeles police detective said his
partner, Mark Fuhrman, was never alone
with the evidence in the early morning
hours following the killings. Detective Ron
Phillips also testified that he inspected the
crime scene and saw only one bloody glove.
Simpson’s lawyers have claimed Fuhrman
planted one o f two bloody gloves found at
the murder scene at Simpson’s residence
to falsely implicate the former football
star.
Two GM plants strike
The United Auto Workers union is turn
ing up the heat in its contract negotiations
with General Motors. The automaker says
about 7,500 unionized workers at plants in
Indianapolis and Janesville, Wis., have
gone on strike. GM has had no formal
response to the walkouts, which threaten to
paralyze much o f G M ’s highly profitable
light truck production. The strikes come as
GM and the UAW are locked in negotia
tions over a new national labor contract
covering 2 15,000 hourly workers.
Koop: Obesity a disease
Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett
Koop today urged American doctors to
view obesity as a dangerous and chronic
disease that can be treated with diet, exer
cise and drugs. Koop called obesity the
second leading cause o f preventable death
in the United States. Obesity has been
linked to heart disease, diabetes, hyperten
sion, gall bladder disease, arthritis and
certain cancers.
Investigating Jewell probe
The FBI says it is investigating the
“propriety" o f the manner in which agents
questioned former Olympic bombing sus
pect Richard Jewell. The FBI brought
Jewell to its Atlanta office three days after
the bombing under the false pretense o f
participating in a training film on how to
question a witness. Without telling him he
was a suspect in the bombing, Jewell was
then pressured to sign a waiver o f his right
to remain silent and to have a lawyer present.
Jewell was cleared of any role in the bomb
ing Saturday.
Women pulled
from Cairo Collapse
A Los Angeles woman and her Egyp
tian friend were found alive today, 36
hours after they were buried in the col
lapse o f a Cairo apartment building. The
ll-sto ry building caved in on Sunday,
killing at least 20 people Authorities say
the rescued women suffered minor abra
sions.
S eas C m /.
otivated by Republican attacks
on Affirmative Action programs
and legal immigration, African-
American and Hispanic citizens are pre
paring to vote in record numbers on
November 5th.
M
The nation’s two largest minority ethnic
groups are finding that they have a great deal
in common as Election Day approaches.
The Black example
Hispanics are determined to close the rep
resentation gap that separates their historical
political presence from their actual numbers,
and the example o f African-Americans who
successfully organized themselves in voter
registration drives in the Civil Rights Move
ment o f the 1960s is a key part o f Hispanic
strategy.
It was a scant 30 years ago that African-
Americans were even more disenfranchised
than Latinos are today, and many Black cit
izens were murdered simply because they
wanted to exercise their right to vote. Latinos
are more often deported than lynched.
California's Proposition 2 0 9
California continues its role as the nation’s
ideological testing ground with Proposition
209, which will end affirmative action in the
state. Previously, California’s Proposition
13 (predecessor to O regon’s Measure 5) gut
ted what was once the nation’s finest public
education system Prop 209 has the support
o f Republican Senator Bob Dole and former
head Ku Klux Klansman David Duke.
The Projects
Earlier this year, the Southwest Voter
Registration Project (SVRP) declared a goal
o f registering I million new Latino voters for
this year’s election. SVRP served as an
umbrella organization for a number o f state
s'ide registration drives, such as the Oregon
African A m erican O utreach sta ffe rs react to Bob Dole s s ta n d against Affirm ative Action. Dole called su c h program s a bl
a lle y ."
Latino Voter Regisrf,. j ,, i Education Project
(OLVRLP) in Oregon.
1 .4 7 million new Latino voters
The outreach campaigns that these organi
zations conducted resulted in 1.47 million
new Hispanic registered voters, a surge of
28.7°0 from the 1992 presidential election.
The registration drives' successful cam
paigns depended upon a threefold strategy o f
registering previously unregistered citizens.
encouraging eligible legal immigrants to be
come citizens and then registering to vote,
and educating one and all on the importance
o f voting.
Battle focuses on Congress
Now that the Republican Party has all but
conceded defeat in the presidential race, strat
egists are focusing on congressional and sen
atorial races, particularly on close ones like
the Senate contest between Democrat Tom
Bruggere and Republican Gordon Smith
and the House contest between Democra
Elizabeth Furse and Republican Bill Witt.
File closeness o f these races and the widt
chasms that separate the views o f the candi
dates make these two contests ones whert
literally every vote will count. On issue;
important to Hispanics and African-Ameri
▼
Continued to M etro, page B l
300 welcome new MHCC president
crowd of 3 0 0 turned out to greet
Dr. Joel Vela October 1 5 at a
reception to welcome him as
M t. Hood Community College's new pres
A
ident.
Vela, the fourth president in the college’s
30-year history, was hired by the MHCC
District Board o f Education in mid-August.
He previously was president o f Palo Alto
College in San Antonio, Texas.
Vela was joined at the reception by college
leaders, current and past MHCCD Board
members, several legislators, faculty and staff,
local school superintendents, Gresham city
councilors, members o f the Hispanic Metro
politan Chamber o f Commerce and local
business leaders.
Current MHCCD Board Chairman Greg
Lutje spoke o f how Vela has performed in the
time since he took over the previous presi
dent, Dr. Paul Kreider.
“Now that two months have passed since
Dr. Vela cam e...I'm proud to report that he
has exceeded our expectations,” Lutje said.
“ We have successfully negotiated a two-year
labor agreement.”
“We have formulated a bond proposal to
be presented to the public in March that has
obtained unanimous board approval and goes
a long way toward providing the college with
technological improvements to usher us into
the 2 1 st century' and protect the investment in
the plant infrastructure o f the 30-year-old
Dr. Joel Vela (left) is g r e e te d by Kim Freem an o f MHCC's S te p s to S u c c e s s .
facility.
“But most important, Dr. Vela has provid
ed us all with a leader who instills the willing
ness to recommit to education as the product
o f this college.”
Vela is a native o f Kerrville, Texas, and
the first generation o f his family to attend
college His parents left school in the first and
fifth grades, but later completed their GEDs.
His heartfelt motto is “Education should be a
right, not a privilege.”
He brings to the college a proven trac
record o f innovation and bridge-building.
The MHCCD Board hired Vela for hi
leadership qualities and vision, and ha
charged him w ith raisin g enrollm ent
passing a bond measure, and strengthen
ing the college’s connections to the commu
nity.
Under his leadership, Palo Alto Collegi
experienced phenomenal growth. Vela initi
ated several innovative projects to expant
the college’s service area, including dual
credit classes with surrounding school dis
tricts, tech-prcp courses with local higl
schools, an Agribusiness Institute, and ;
Mariachi Curriculum with Campanas dt
America. I le also served on the faculty, teach
ing history.
At each ofthe institutions he has served, ht
created new programs and partnerships, and
worked to build bridges to the Hispanic com
munity.
Vela holds a doctorate in education, a
master o f arts in education an history, and a
bachelor o f arts in social studies. His wife,
Maria, is a Reading Recovery teacher. They
are the parents o f a son and daughter.
( urrently. Vela is active in the Hispanic
Metropolitan Chamber o f Commerce, the
Mt Hood Festival o f Jazz Board, the Private
Industry- Council Board and the Region 2
Workforce Quality Committee.
Democratic Congress could see historic gains
S
everal members o fth e Congres
sional Black Caucus (CBC) are
Inline for senior positions if the
Democrats win back the House this
election year.
Representative John Conyers (D -M I), the
dean o f the Congressional Black Caucus,
said “ If the Democratic party regains control
o f the Congress, African American legisla
tive power will be at an all time high. African
Americans would have a strong hand in shap
EDITORIAL
EDUCATION
FAMILY
42
A3
A4
.
i
ing the nation’s policies. That’s why Newt
Gingrich is trying to scare voters away from
electing a Democratic Congress.”
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), who himself
would be in line to become Chairman o f the
Judiciary Committee, the committee which
oversees all civil rights matters, added, “The
Republicans are try ing to paint all the black
members into Willie Hortons. They want
voters to think black leadership is somehow
a dangerous thing, but people can see through
their demagogucr? .”
Conyers said a Democratic Congress would
not be as extreme as the Republican Congress
has been. “The Republicans shut the govern
ment down twice and led attacks on our cities,
education. Medicare and working people
T hat's what voters are afraid o f They don’t
want to see Gingrich in power next year."
The following African Americans would
be selected as a chairmen in a Democratic
Congress, while other would be selected for
HOUSING
BUSINESS
RELIGION
A5
A6
B2
ARTS & ENT.
r j
L>J
host ot other leadership positions
Rep. John Conyers (D-M I), Judiciary
Committee; Rep Charles Rangel (D-NY),
Ways and Means Committee; Rep William
Clay (D-MG), Education & Labor Commit
tee; Rep Ronald Dellums (D-CA). Armed
Services Committee
The CBC has 40 members from all over
the country, counting Sen Carol Mosley
Braun, the only African American to serve in
the U.S. Senate
ELECTION
CLASSIFIEDS
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B7