Volume X X V II, Number 11
Committed to cultural diversity.
love jones
Library Closure
protested
The film breaks away from
the stereotypical portrayal
o f African American
courtship.
See Arts and Entertainment, page A6.
Jammin’ Arts Fest
Local parents, students, and
concerned citizens protested
the imminent closure o f
Albina Branch Library.
See Metro, page BI.
(Ehe
H N N i
March 12, 1997
A free, family event
brimming with stage
performances, creative
crafts and local information
about arts opportunities.
©h
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The Thursday morning
fire Near the
Hollywood Theatre
closed down two
major streets
adjacent to the blaze.
A bakery, tax service,
and Club Coco were
badly damaged, but
Portland firemen
managed to save the
neighboring Hollywood
Theatre from the
Blaze. Faulty wiring in
the tax service was
discovered by
investigators to be
the source of the fire.
Five female soldiers from the U S
Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground said
Tuesday investigators coerced them in
seeking statements that the women had
been raped by higher-ranking soldiers.
Seven instructors at the proving ground
have been formally charged with rape or
other forms of sexual misconduct in a
scandal that eru p ted last y ear, and
prompted an army-wide investigation into
sexual harassm ent. N A A CP President
Kweisi Mfume called for an independent
investigation of the issue of sexual harass
ment in the military, saying that civil
rights may have been violated.
industry shaken by
rapper’s murder
DNC to return tribal funds
s
The Democratic National Committee
Tuesday offered to return $107,000 do
nated by Native Americans after tribal
leaders said they had been pressured to
make even more contributions. The Chey
enne-Arapaho Indians of Oklahoma gave
the money to the DNC last year hoping
their support would result in favorable
Clinton administration action on the re
turn of their tribal lands. Instead, they said
they were asked for more campaign con
tributions.
Four killed at Detroit bank
Singing the L ord’s Prayer during a
horrific shotgun rampage, a man dressed
in camouflage killed two Detroit bank
employees and a hostage Tuesday in an
apparent robbery attempt before police
shot him dead in a hail of bullets. The
shooting spree also left two wounded,
including a young male jogger the gun
man shot in the face at random on the
street before entering the Comerica bank
branch on the city ’s east side. The gun
man was identified as 21-year-old Allen
Griffin, who police said was apparently
depressed over a domestic dispute.
"»--------------------
EDITORIAL..................... A2
EDUCATION................... A4
HOUSING....................... A5
ARTS & ENT...................A6
METRO........................... B I
HEALTH.......................... B2
FAMILY............................B3
RELIGION....................... B4
CLASSIFIEDS................ B5
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Soldiers say coercion used
The m urderof rap star Notorious B.I.G.
has sent shock waves through the music
industry. Critics o f “gansta” rap called the
killing another example of the m usic’s
violent side and industry executives called
it a tragedy. Notorious B.I.G., whose real
name was Christopher W allace, was killed
in a drive-by shooting as he left a party in
Los Angeles early Sunday. H alf a year
ago, rival rap star Tupac Shakur was
killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.
No arrests have been made in Shakur’s
death and police are having difficulty
finding witnesses to Notorious B.I.G .’s
killing, apparently due to fear o f retalia
tion. The upcoming album from the late
Notorious B.I.G. has a spooky title —
“Life After Death ... Til Death Do Us
Part.” But in an interview shortly before
he was gunned down in Los Angeles, the
New York rapper indicated he was not
predicting his own death.
See Family, page B3.
Photo
by Mark Washington
Clinton seeks to limit gun sales
apitalizing on the popular law-
and-order issue, President
Clinton invoked last month's
shooting spree atop the Empire
Building in pushing recentely for a ban
on foreign visitors buying or carrying
firearms.
With uniformed state troopers and Demo
cratic lawmakers assembled in the Oval
Office, Clinton also signed an executive
order requiring that firearms carried by fed
eral law enforcement officers be equipped
with child safety locks.
“ Easy access m eans deadly c o n se
quences,” Clinton said and noted that chil
dren and teen-agers are involved in more
than 10,(MX) unintentional shootings each
year In a Boston speech last month, Clinton
recommended safety locks on all guns sold
in the United States.
Wednesday’s brief ceremony, also attended
by gun-control activists Jim and Sarah Brady,
broke scant new ground. Clinton successfully
mined crime-fighting, always politically piipu-
lar, in his re-election campaign.
C
Spokesman Mike McCurry dismissed
suggestions that the president staged the
ceremony to draw fire away from questions
State
about campaign fund raising swirling him
and the White House. ’’That would be im
possible,” McCurry said
In brief remarks, the president urged
Congress to make it illegal for nonimmigrant
foreigners to carry or buy firearms and an
nounced new proof-of-residency require
ments for legal aliens to buy guns under
current law.
The new rules would require a photo
identification card and other proof such as
utility bills that the applicant has been in the
country for three months.
Clinton said his initiative was prompted
by a Palestinian teacher s attack on New
York City tourists last month.
“We were all shocked,” Clinton said,
recounting how the man had been living on
a tourist visa in a Florida motel for only three
weeks before buying a pistol there. A man
from Denmark was killed and six other
tourists wounded when the gunman opened
fire on the Empire State Building’s observa
tion deck, then fatally shot himself.
The president also:
• Announced that the Treasury Depart
ment would am end applications fo r firearm
sales to make explicit the requirement under
current law that foreign visitors he in the
United States 90 days before buying one.
• Resubmitted to Congress ' 'cop-killer
bullets'' legislation to prevent future devel
opment and manufacture o f armor-piercing
ammunition. The bill is a leftover from the
last Congress, which did not act on it
Rep. Bill McCollum, chairman of the
House Judiciary subcommittee on crime,
expressed reservations on the ammunition
ban and blanket mandate for child-safety
locks. But he said he is open to looking at the
broad ban on gun sales to foreigners.
"Obviously, someone who is not a citizen
doesn’t have the same rights as citizens or
legal permanent residents,” said McCollum,
R-Fla. "S o I’d think about it. I don’t fore
close anything there.”
The National Rifle Association said it
stands by the rights of foreign visitors to
carry firearms. Spokesman Chip Walker
said the bill would ’’essentially announce to
criminals a whole category of people they
can attack without fear that this person is
going to own a gun and protect himself.”
Andrew Molchan, director of the Na
tional Association of Federally Licensed
Firearms Dealers, said C linton’s plans to
keep guns from foreign hands would only
’’make it a little more inconvenient but not
solve the problem .”
The only foolproof check would be through
a national, computer-based identification
system, said Molchan. who represents 9,(MM)
dealers.
Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and
Richard Durbin, D III., proposed banning
gun sales to foreigners just days after the
Feb 23 Empire State Building shooting.
The bill also would prohibit gun dealers
from knowingly selling a firearm to an un
qualified foreigner. Certain embassy per
sonnel and foreigners coming to the United
States for hunting would be exempted
New ‘boot camp’ to receive youth offenders
he first “platoon” of 26 juvenile
they would be sent to MacLaren, and they
offenders will begin a four-week
know the next step is the adult correctional
program of education, training
system.” (MacLaren is a state-run youth
and work at the new Tillamook Youth
correctional facility at W oodburn.)
Accountability Camp on March 17.
The Tillamook camp, designed for youth
The fully fenced boot camp is a 52-bed,
offenders ages 15-18. is similar in program
15,400-square-foot one-level facility located
to the state’s Shutter Creek Correctional
on 40 acres in the Port o f Tillamook industrial
Institution for adults at North Bend.
park o ff High way 101 about two miles south o f
Hill said the Tillamook camp will operate
Tillamook It was authorized by Senate Bill I
a seven-day, 16-hour-a-day regimen o f edu
approved by the 1995 Oregon Legislature.
cation, treatment and work. He said the state
O ffenders placed at the Tillamook camp
Department o f Education, responsible for
are predom inantly property offenders who
schooling in youth correctional facilities,
otherw ise would serve their sentences at the
has contracted with the Tillamook School
M acLaren Youth Correctional Facility in
District to provide teachers. He said OYA is
W oodburn, said Rick Hill, Oregon Youth
contracting with the state Department of
Authority director
Forestry to take two eight-person crews a
“ A lot of these youth are vary receptive to
day to do reforestation, trail-building, clean
making a change, turning their lives around,
up and other work on the Tillamook State
and getting out o f the corrections system ,”
Forest.
Hill said. “ Most o f these kids never thought
Included in the facility are four class
T
rooms, a half-size gymnasium and a large
fenced field with a paved running track.
Mike C onzoner, cam p director, said
youths will wear uniforms and participate in
physical training and drills as well as treat
ment that includes alcohol and drug, com
munication skills, decision-making, anger
management, job skills and team building
He said youth will be brought into the
Tillamook camp in 26-inember platoons
every 60 days to help teach teamwork, and
that the second group would enter in May.
Conzoner said the camp will be highly
structured with intensive parole supervision
following the boot camp experience. “ It’s
incredible how they respond to structure if
it's consistent and fa ir" Conzoner said of
youth offenders.
He said more than half o f the 38 staff and
teaching jobs will be held by local persons,
who were reached by way o f community
meetings, newspaper ads and the state em
ployment department.
The Oregon Youth Authority, which will
operate the new Tillamook camp, already
operates an adjacent work-study camp. The
new camp was financed by $1.6 million in
federal crime bill money, which was matched
by a 25% match authorized by the state
legislative Emergency Board A second boot
camp in Bend is serving a few youth offend
ers and is expected to be at full strength in
several months, and Conzoner said Gov
John K itzhaber’s 1997-99 recommended
budget includes operating dollars for a third
boot camp
O Y A , w hich operates H illcrest and
MacLaren youth correctional facilities in
Salem and Woodburn, is also building five
youth-correctional facilities in A lbany,
B urns, G ra n ts Pass, P rin e v ille and
Warrenton, scheduled to open in late 1997.