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on
Volum e X X V I, N um ber 46
Committed to cultural diverit
N ovem ber Io. 1906
Her mother gave
her away
The secret of the
lamp
FRONTLINE takes viewers
on a journey across the
racial divide.
Community service
awards given
Aladdin discovers his
magic lamp at the Tears o f
Joy Theater.
The late Joyce Washington,
past publisher o f the Portland
Observer, was the recipient o f
the I 996 Neil Kelly Award
See Family, page A 7.
See Metro, page BI.
i
A
See Metro, page BI.
(The ^ a rtla n h
Black leadership rallies
Texaco shareholder has sued
officers of the company, includ
ing its chairman, over alleged
racist remarks and destruction of docu
ments sought in a discrimination suit, a
lawyer in the case said Friday.
The suit, filed in federal court in White
Plains, N. Y., where Texaco is based, was the
latest fallout from a scandal over tape record
ings in which Texaco executives discussed
purging key evidence and disparaged minor
ity workers as "’niggers” and "black jelly
beans.”
Earlier this week lawyers said that federal
prosecutors had begun a criminal probe into
whether evidence had been destroyed by the
executives. They also predicted Texaco would
be hit with other lawsuits, including share
holder actions.
On Wednesday Texaco Chairman
Peter Bijur, who is a defendant in the share
holder suit, announced that the company
suspended two current executives and cut the
benefits o f two former senior employees in
volved in the matter.
The law suit, w hich w as filed
Wednesday, is what is known as a sharehold
er derivative action, in which the plaintiff
“stands in the shoes" ofthe corporation to sue
its officers.
The plaintiff, shareholder Nathan Kaplan,
alleges he is suing on behalf o f and for the
benefit o f Texaco.
Kaplan’s lawyer, Joseph Weiss, o f New
York’s Weiss and Yourman law firm, said
the suit sought unspecified damages based on
the directors' alleged breaches o f trust and
fiduciary duty to Texaco and its sharehold
ers.
He said the alleged pattern o f illegal con
duct has subjected Texaco to negative pub
licity, the alienation o f employees and cus
tomers and could possibly cost it revenues,
earnings and capitalization.
In addition, the company could also be hit
Texaco in North/Northeast Portland may face boycott, over executive tape scandel.
with a large damage award, criminal and civil
fines and huge legal fees.
inating against them in promotions and fos
meetings, including former treasurer Robert
Weiss said the tapes could also open the
tering a hostile environment since at least
Ulrich.
door to claims by plaintiffs in other lawsuits
early 1991.
Both men are quoted in court papers as
against Texaco who have suspicions that the
The tapes were turned over by Richard
making racist remarks and discussing docu
company had not produced documents in
Lundwall, who was the senior coordinator
ment destruction.
their cases.
for personnel services in Texaco’s finance
“All o fth e directors have long known of
The tapes recently surfaced as part o f the
department. Lundwall was dismissed from
the wrongful acts at issue and have done
legal proceedings in a suit that was filed in
the company in August.
nothing cognizable or tangible to remedy the
1994 by six black employees who alleged
He is named as a defendant in the share
harm to the company,” the lawsuit states.
th a t! exaco had been systematical lydiscrim-
holder suit, along with others attending the
"Instead, the directors have fired the em-
A
Clinton eases stand
President Clinton eased his opposition
to a ll.S . constitutional amendment requir
ing a balanced budget — a top Republican
goal — before a meeting with leaders o f
the Republican-run Congress. The Demo
cratic president said he could accept such
an amendment if it were flexible enough to
cope with a recession.
Mistrial in Kelly rape trial
The judge in the Connecticut rape trial
o f Alex Kelly, who was a national symbol
ofprivileged youth in trouble with the law
declared a mistrial Tuesday when the jury
failed to deliver a verdict. The jury told
Superior Court Judge Martin Nigro they
remained deadlocked despite three days o f
deliberations last week.
3 Charged at Army base
Three U S . Army soldiers at the Fort
Leonard Wood, Mo., training base have
been charged with sexual misconduct, said
the Army. The Army said the three sepa
rate cases were pending court martial
Charges against the three noncom m is
sioned officers ranged from consensual
intercourse to indecent assault.
TV talk show verdict
A jury in Michigan this week found a
television talk show guest guilty o f sec
ond-degree murder for killing a man who
revealed a homosexual crush on him dur-
inga tapingofthe show. Jonathan Schmitz,
26, had been charged with first-degree
murder in the shotgun death o f Scott
Amedure, 32. The killing happened three
days after Amedure revealed his homosex
ual affection for Schmitz during a taping o f
the “Jenny Jones” show.
Canada may lead
Zaire force
Canada emerged as the likely leader of
a multinational intervention force to aid
starving refugees in eastern Zaire. U N.
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
said he expected more than 12 countries
would make up the Canadian led force and
hoped that the United States would pro
vide logistical support in the operation to
help some 1.2 million refugees fleeing
fighting between Tutsi rebels and Z aire’s
army.
100 Million Chronically III
Roughly 100 million Americans suffer
from chronic illnesses such as diabetes,
heart disease or arthritis, researchers said.
The experts said the U S. health care sys
tem is not designed to treat their growing
ranks and costs because it is based on “an
acute care system that emphasizes "curing’
disease.”
3,000 Evacuated
in Mexico Fire
A state oil worker died o f burns and
more than 3,000 people were evacuated
from their homes as firefighters battled an
inferno raging in three huge fuel storage
tanks that exploded just outside Mexico
City Tuesday. At least 14 other people
were injured, four o f them critically, in
yesterday’s disaster. The fire flared up
when workers from state oil monopoly
Pemex were repairing a valve in a tank
containing 80,000 barrels o f fuel at a stor
age facility, but the exact cause was not
known.
ployee who brought the illegal conduct to
light and approved the expenditure o f many
millions o f dollars in legal fees and expenses
to attempt to cover-up their wrongdoing in
litigation brought by others.”
The suit alleges that the directors misrep
resented in T exaco’s 1995 annual report that
the com pany’s commitment to diversity “ is
an inclusive process, grounded in our core
value o f respect for the individual and in our
long-standing policies o f equal opportunity
for all employees.”
Texaco’s stock lost 75 cents to $95.75 on
the New York Stock Exchange.
The following are remarks by Peter I
Bijur (Chairman and CEO, Texaco Inc.
November 12,1996) following his meet
ings with Kweisi Mfume, Head of the
NAACP at the NAACP’s headquarters
in Baltimore; and with Rev. Jesse Jack-
son and other National black leaders, as
follows:
"These discussions have been a signif
icant help to Texaco, a n d ! "m gratified that
these leaders have been able to make lime
to jo in with us.
" I ’m grat ijied bee ause Texaco is facing a
difficult, but vita! challenge. I t ’s broader
than a single lawsuit, larger than any taped
conversation In any organization o f2 7,000
people worldwide, unjortunately/ there are
bound to be people with unacceptable atti
tudes toward race, gender and religion ( hit-
goal is to eradicate this kind o f thinking
wherever and however it is fo u n d in our
company A nd our challenge is to make
Texaco a company o f limitless opportunity
fo r all men and women.
"I've already announced a number o f
steps to start us on this mission, and we are
exploring still others. We are reaching
out. in meetings like today "s.for ideas and
perspectives that will help Texaco succeed
in our mission o f becoming a model o f
diversity an d workplace equality.
As / also said in the discussions, it is
essential to this urgent mission that Texaco
and African American leaders work to
gether to help solve the problem s we fa c e
as a company — which, after all, echo the
problems fa c e d in society as a whole
Discrimination will be extinguished only
i f we tackle it together — only i f we jo in in
a unified, common effort
Furse, Hatfield, Wyden, Blumenauer commended
ity Council awards legislators
for protecting Portland's drink
ing water
Today the Portland City Council and May
or Katz presented awards to Rep. Furse and
three other members o f the Oregon delega
tion for their work in Congress to protect the
C
Bull Run Watershed, which supplies Port
land's pristine drinking water.
“Oregonians have a right to know that
when they turn on the tap their water will be
clean and pure,” said Representative Eliza
beth Furse. “ I am pleased that the my work
with Senator Hatfield. Senator Wyden, Rep
African Burial Ground:
An American Discovery
mericans confront their painful
past in The African Burial: An
American Discovery, an original
mini-series airing on The History
nel this November.
Telling the true and timely story o f lower
M anhattan's African Burial Ground, recent
ly unearthed in an archaeological dig, this
fourpart docum entary covers the burial
ground’s discovery, relates the history o f
African Americans in early New York, wit
nesses how modern-day citizens are chang
ing government handling o f the area, and
delves into the discovery’s meaning for mod
ern-day America.
This special presentation airs on History
Showcase, the network’s forum for local films
A
about culture, community and tradition, that
started on Monday, November I Ith, and con
tinues on the 18th and 25th at 9 am ET/6 am PT.
Chan
Narrated by acclaimed actors Ossie Davis
and Ruby Dee, The African Burial Ground:
An American Discovery tells the dramatic
story o f a people whose history was not
recorded or preserved, the African Ameri
cans that lived in the New World as far back
as 200 years before the creation o f the Un ited
States and helped build the new nation.
Nearly one out five colonial New Yorkers
was African American, most o f them en-
slaved-but until the 1991 discovery o f the
burial ground deep beneath M anhattan’s
streets, historians knew little o f the way they
lived and died.
resentative Blumenauer and the City Council
resulted in succesful legislation to protect the
Bull Run.”
The final Omnibus Appropriations Act,
which passed in late September, contained a
provision to protect the Bull Run, which
provides drinking water to more than 750,000
Portland area residents. The legislation was
championed in the House by Representatives
Furse and Blumenauer, and in the Senate by
Senators Hatfield and Wyden.
“There was one person who real ly kept our
eyes focused on this effort...and who kept
looking for ways to move this forward
Building bridges between
Portland and Vancouver
GTE Directories and the Portland
Trail Blazers invite the public to take
part in “Building Bridges Between
Portland and Vancouver” on Satur
day, November 16, from 10 a.m. to 2
p.m..
This event will take place at the
Georgia Pacific Room adjacent to
the Memorial Coliseum.
The activity will benefit the Port
land and Vancouver Public Schools.
Spectators can try their hand at
bridge-building with yellow legos and
help us crea te a P ortland and
Vancouver mural, while elementary
students construct bridges to be
judged by local “celebrities”.
Other attractions include bridges
built by local university engineering
students, and a book drive for the
schools.
Parking and food will be available
for attendees.
The event is being planned around
the launched of the new Portland/
Vancouver GTE The Everything
Pages telephone directory that is the
first to combine the cities of Port
land and Vancouver.
The bridge-building theme de
notes the building of bridges between
Portland and Vancouver, and also
GTE Directories building bridges to
the community.
EDITORIAL
EDUCATION
HEALTH
OBSERVADOR
SPORTS
ARTS & ENT.
RELIGION
A2
A4
HOUSING
A5
A6
B2
B3
B4
B5
CLASSIFIEDS
B6