Volume X X V I I, Number 22
Committed to cultural diversity.
May 28, 1997
Always the great
singer and
performer
Streets to fill
with Rose Fest
fun
Gladys Knight to perform
in Lincoln City at the
Chinook Winds Casino.
See Entertainment, page A6.
The Legendary
Sweetheart of
Soul
Portlanders head
downtown Saturday to
enjoy Saturday's Starlight
Run and Parade.
Candi Staton is once again
proving her versatility with
a new album.
See Religion, page B2.
See Metro, inside.
THE IN
Neighborhood
groups lose in
budget battle
REVIEW
Paula Jones Suit
Can Proceed
The Supreme Court handed down a
defeat for President Clinton Tuesday, rul­
ing that Paula Jones sexual harassment suit
against him will not have to wait until he
leaves office. The justices unanimously
rejected the argument that the president
has temporary immunity from civil law­
suits related to events that occurred be­
fore he took office. Clinton has denied that
he made unwanted sexual advances to­
ward Jones in a Little Rock hotel room in
1991 when he was governor o f Arkansas
and she was a state employee.
Yeltsin’s nuclear
surprise
Russian President Boris Yeltsin gave
NATO leaders more than they expected
at meetings in Paris. After signing a pact
that creates a stronger ties with the West­
ern alliance, Yeltsin made a surprise an­
nouncement that Russian nuclear missiles
will no longer be aimed at NATO mem­
ber states
NATO, Russia sign
agreement
NATO leaders and Russian President
Boris Yeltsin signed an historic treaty in
Paris Tuesday consigning the Cold War
to history. Although Yeltsin said again to­
day that Russia has a negative view of
NATO expansion, the accord clears the
way for the alliance to add new members
from the former Soviet bloc.
Marv Albert goes to
court in Virginia
By Lee Perlman
Mad science experimenter Troy McElhenny brings clouds o f smoke, bubbling potions and exciting
experiments to youngsters at S elf Enhancement, Inc.
(Photo by Neil Heillpern)
Mad science on rise at SEI
By Neil Heilpern
Clouds of smoke hovered over the crowd of
children at Self Enhancement Inc. when Mad Science
representatives showed them the science found in
magic.
Kim Holti, 9, huffed and puffed her breath into
a long cloth container in an effort to see how long it
would take to blow the sack up like a long sausage.
She scrunched the material together and blew into it
until she was out of breath.
“Mad Scientist” Sue Theissen gathered the
material together until she trapped all of Kim’s air into
an area only one fifth the size o f the long tube. “Now
let me show you how to use science to get the job done
quicker,” she said.
Theissen told the group of almost 100 young­
sters about air pressure and promptly pulled her mouth
back a good eight inches away from the tube's open­
ing. As she blew, the surrounding air was also sucked
into the tube and the looks o f amazement on the
children’s faces, were accompanied by oohs and aahs.
Theissen and her partner Troy McElhenny
bring their scientific demonstrations around to schools,
park and recreation departments and other groups in­
terested in educational entertainment. Their territory is
the greater Portland and Vancouver areas.
The youngsters at SEI were also treated to ex­
periments with dry ice, balls floating on top of air cur­
rents from hair dryers, squeezing an egg into a tiny open­
ing in a bottle, etc.
Why do Theissen and McElhenny do this?
“ We are concerned that turning youth on to
the wonders of science early in their educational pro­
cess will spark their interest to pursue the sciences in
their high school and college years," said Theissen, who
studied engineering at Portland State University.
So, they continue taking their bubbling potions
and exciting experiements to new places. And, the SEI
youngsters headed home to show their parents and sib­
lings the new things they had just learned.
Although the impact was less than it could have been, Portland’s
neighborhood offices and coalitions emerged from thecity’s budget
process with decrease money and influence.
In a compromise vote, the city’s budget retains 11 of the 15 full
time equivalent crime prevention specialist positions in the city’s seven
neighborhood offices. However, the personnel occupying the positions
will henceforth be city employees under the d i r e c t i o n of the O f f
i c e of Ne i g h bo r h o od As s o c i a t i o ns , rather than working for
the semi-independent, non-profit corporations.
The Northeast Neighborhood Office suffered a further loss when it
lost its $62,000 contract for graffiti removal to the Private Industry
Council.
Crime prevention specialists helped organize block watch networks,
foot patrols, business watches, and other grass roots volunteer crime
prevention efforts.
The mayor’s draft budget called for the neighborhood program to
be merged with the Portland Police Bureau’s crime prevention activi­
ties, placed under the Police Bureau, and its workers housed in pólice
precincts.
In addition to the budget issues, part of the motivation for the
change was rumored to be dissatisfaction by the city with the manage­
ment of the program by the coalitions in some cases.
Neighborhood leaders argued that placing the crime prevention
staff in precincts under police control would make them less accessble
and responsive to the community they were supposed to serve.
A counter-proposal developed by the Southwest Neighborhood |
Coalition and endorsed by Central Northeast Neighbors, the Northeast t
Coalition of Neighborhoods and Southeast Uplift, would place the:
merged crime prevention program under neighborhood jurisdiction.
After extensive lobbying Katz agreed to consider the proposal,,
but insisted that the police programs such as Womenstrength, senior -
and children self-defense training must be done by sworn police per- •
sonnel.
The budget assigns three full time crime prevention specialists to ,
Southeast Uplift, two and a-half to the Northeast Coalition, one and |
and half to North Portland, one each to Central Northeast, East Port­
land and Southwest, and half time positions to West/Northwest and a
"roving" juristiction.
Festival, fun day set
NBC sportscaster Marv Albert went
to court in Arlington, Va., Tuesday to face
charges o f sexually assaulting a Virginia
woman. Albert’s lawyer told the judge the
sportscaster would eventually plead not
guilty but that he was not ready to enter a
formal plea until “a number of analyses”
have been carried out on Albert’s behalf.
A Sept. 22 trial date was set. Albert
showed up for the hearing with his fian­
cee and did not speak to the throng o f re­
porters awaiting him.
Albina Rotary sponsors 11th annual event
Saturday at Peninsula Park
Albina Rotary is sponsoring it’s eleventh
annual Spring Festival and Family Fun Day
at Peninsula Park on Saturday from I PM to
4 PM
The Rotarians are planning a full after­
noon of fun, food and entertainment for the
whole family.
The festivities start with a picnic provided
by Albina Rotary, then check out the face
painting and bingo. Everybody loves a pa­
rade and what a parade is planned! Groups
from local schools, churches and other orga­
nizations will provide the afternoon’s enter­
tainment
Israel, Egypt hold
summit
Egypt and Israel said at a Middle East
peace summit they need more time and
consultations with the Palestinians to re­
start peace talks stalled by differences on
Jewish settlements. “We need another
meeting and we need more deliberation,”
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told a
news conference after three hours of talks
with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu .
Eirefighters believe a smoldering cigarette in a outdoor dumpster may have caused
this 4-alarm fire Friday that destroyed a warehouse on Northeast Sixth and Couch.
(Photo by Mark Washington)
McVeigh defense
plows ahead
Jefferson documents viewed
Defense lawyers in the Oklahoma
City bombing trial are renewing their
counterattack to the prosecution’s case
against Timothy McVeigh. Testimony
resumed Tuesday after a three-day break
for the Memorial Day weekend.
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Northeast fire clouds skyline
Presidential papers
arrive at JHS library
Thomas Jefferson never made it to Or­
egon, but reproductions of his handwritten
papers arrived Friday at Portland’s high
school named in his honor, thanks in part to
efforts by former Senator Mark Hatfield.
Hatfield and St^te Schools Superinten­
dent Norma Paulus joined Jefferson High
Principal Alcena Boozer and students in the
school library to celebrate the arrival of a new
educational publication. The Presidency of
Thomas Jefferson, and to discuss Jefferson’s
accounts of major events of his presidency.
The National Archives is sending free
copies of the Jefferson teaching package to
high schools across the slate, with funding for
the publication coming from sponsors whose
gift honors Hatfield's contributions to edu­
cation.
The Jefferson materials are high quality
facsimiles of his messages to Congress and
other documents that feature common histori­
cal threads extending from Jefferson’s time
to our own.
The publication includes essays on
events including the Louisiana Purchase, the
Lewis and Clark expedition and the end of
slavery. Lessons plans and other materials
also are included with the exhibit
Memorial
Day
'97
Flowers are left in
memory o f loved
ones on a hilltop
overlooking
Portland.
(Photo by Mark
Washington)