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Senior Triathlete route
Senior Triathlete ’s Route Passes
Through Vancouver
At 64, Jack Riley is a record­
holding senior triathlete battling
heart disease and prostate cancer.
In the Triathlon o f Hope, he plans
to cycle, run and swim from Canada
to Mexico to promote awareness
and research about breast and pros­
tate cancer.
Riley will have worked his way
fro m V a n c o u v e r, B .C . to
Vancouver, Wash, by Thursday,
June 5 when Riley and his wife are
scheduled to meet with M ayor
Royce E. Pollard.
Riley originally planned to swim
across the Columbia River but has
changed to bicycling due to the
currently dangerous high water
conditions. His plan is to cross the
river on a bicycle on Friday, June 6.
In 1996 Riley completed his
first Triathlon o f Hope by crossing
3,300 miles from the Pacific to the
Atlantic coast in 84 days to pro­
mote cancer research and aware­
ness. In 1984 his name was en­
tered into the Guiness Book o f
R e c o rd s fo r c o m p le tin g 52
triathlons in one year.
Call Karen Gee, Danville, Ca­
lif., 510-736-6732, for details o f
Riley’s schedule.
Charles Royer to lead
“Community Conversation”
Former Seattle M ayor Charles
Royer to Lead “Community Con­
v e rs a tio n ” on R e v ita liz in g
Vancouver
Charles Royer, former Seattle
mayor and director o f the Institute
o f Politics at Harvard University,
will lead a public forum entitled
“Vancouver Renaissance: a Com ­
munity Conversation,” Monday,
June 23, at 7 p.m. at Clark C ollege’s
Foster Auditorium. Sponsored by
the City o f Vancouver, the event
will explore how redevelopment o f
the city’s downtown and water­
front can revitalize the entire com ­
munity.
“Back from the Brink: Saving
A m erica’s Cities by Design,” a
television program produced and
narrated by Royer, will be shown
at 6 p.m. at foster Auditorium on
June 23 and will serve as a catalyst
for the com m unity conversation.
The video looks at how several
cities, including Portland, rede­
v elo p ed th e ir w aterfro n ts and
show cased their historic attrac­
tions, while bringing them together
with their dow ntow n areas, to ben­
efit the entire community.
A panel o f citizens and commu­
nity leaders will then begin the dis­
cussion on how design and commu­
nity planning can unite Vancouver
by revitalizing the city’s downtown
and waterfront and emphasizing its
historic assets. “Everyone is invited
and encouraged to attend this im­
portant forum,” says Vancouver City
Manager Vernon E. Stoner. “We are
excited to have Charles Royer guide
a community conversation at this
significantpoint in Vancouver's his­
tory.”
The Community Conversation
on June 23 is free and open to the
public. “Back from the Brink” will
also air on CVTV Channel 47 and
is available to community groups.
Royer was Seattle’s mayor from
1978-1990. He was director o f the
Institute o f Politics and a lecturer
at the John F. Kennedy School o f
Government at Harvard Univer­
sity from 1990-1994.
During his three terms as mayor,
Royer was a national spokesperson
for American cities in housing, the
arts, health care, energy, civil lib­
erties and the needs 6 f children and
youth. In 1988, he was named one
o f the top 20 American mayors by
U.S. News and W orld Report.
lack conservatives urge return to morality
Rap music producer Bill Stephney
told a gathering o f black conserva­
tives and clergy Saturday that “it
probably seems rather strange that
the likes o f me is addressing you.”
The 34-year-old co-founder o f the
rap group Public Enemy told the
Black Conservative Unity Summit
that he came because he was fed up
with w hat’s happening to the black
family.
With video clips from newscasts,
he clicked off the evidence: single
mothers who stabbed, beat or poi­
soned their children to death.
Those tragedies are an urgent call
to return to morality, Stephney said,
laying out the central theme o f the
H ow ard U niversity gathering o f
about 60 black conservatives who
want to infuse a new way o f ap­
proaching problems among African-
Americans.
“The past 30 years o f leadership
has not answered the spiritual, moral
and ethical questions” o f the young,
said Stephney. He blamed the wel­
fare system for pushing fathers out
o f families and replacing them with
a governm ent check.
In his attempt to counter the col­
lapse o f the family, Stephney said he
produced a music video “We Must
Be in Love,” which is a love song to
the institution o f marriage, deliv­
ered in soft tones by the group Pure
Soul. It was the biggest-selling single
his com pany has ever produced,
Stephney said. He pointed to rock
magazines and rock stars that are
beginning to discuss spiritual v a l­
ues.
Stephney was clearly preaching
to the converted at the conference of
a still tiny but increasingly visible
segment o f the black community,
including a handful o f ministers,
community organizers and profes­
sionals.
“We are beginning to make our­
selves heard,” said Brian Jones, who
helped start the W ashington-based
research group Center for New Black
Leadership.
“There is growing dissatisfaction
with the political leadership in the
black community,” Jones argued.
“The black community, like most
other A m ericals, see that there’s a
Blackwell, one o f two black Repub­
licans holding statewide office, said
that the national problems stem from
pushing God and faith out o f the
“public square” and giving govern­
ment “primacy” instead of individu­
als.
“It’s time to let faith-based and
local community efforts solve the
problem s,” Blackwell said, drawing
warm applause.
As an example, he pointed to the
past 20 years in which the federal
“There is a growing dissatisfaction
with the political leadership in the
black community. The black
community like most Americans, see
that there's a moral dimension to the
problems."
moral dimension to the problems.”
Jones held that three decades af­
ter the passage o f major civil rights
laws and anti-poverty programs, the
black community is in worse shape,
not better, with poverty about the
same but now added to the plague o f
drugs, crime, teen pregnancy and
family disintegration.
Blacks own fewer banks than in
the years 1884-1930, and they have
watched new immigrant groups es­
tablish profitable businesses in black
neighborhoods, he said.
Established leaders are not deal­
ing with these problems, he said,
because “the black leadership is ob­
sessed with racism as public enemy
No. 1.”
O h io sta te tr e a s u re r K en
government granted disability ben­
efits to alcoholics, who frequently
had the monthly checks mailed di­
rectly to their local bartenders.
An avid promoter o f tax cuts to
boost economic growth, Blackwell
said that the cost o f government at all
levels now exceeds 50 percent of gross
personal income. “That is commu­
nism under another name,” he said.
Blackwell, who has announced
that he will run for governor o f Ohio
next year, is an exception to the rule
that most black Americans remain
entrenched in the Democratic Party.
For conservatives at the unity
m eeting, that alliance, especially
with the black church, is a major
problem.
“The greatest failure in the Afri-
can-A m encan community has been
the clergy,” said the Rev. Levon R.
Yuille, pastor o f the Bible Church in
the Detroit suburb o f Ypsilanti.
“We have failed,” he said. “We
have bought into worshipping at the
altar o f the (Democratic) donkey
instead o f the cross.”
Moreover, he said that the clergy
have gone soft on sinning. “Preach­
ers don’t want to say ‘fornication’
and adultery,’ “ he said, and they
excuse lying and stealing.
Now, he said, “the chickens have
come home to roost” in the form of
sexually transmitted diseases and an
abandonment o f morality.
“There are going to have to be
some conservatives who are brave
enough” to speak out, despite the
unpopularity o f the message, Yuille
said, conceding that among blacks,
conservatives are still lonely. “When
you’re the only one, it’s hard,” said
the minister, who admits that many
o f his own flock disagree with him.
“But you have to do it.”
A tlanta c o n se rv a tiv e a c tiv ist
Teresa Jeter Chappell echoed that
sentiment in an interview. “If I truly
believe, I must walk into the lion’s
den and take on the black, liberal
leadership,” she said. “They have
failed the community.”
She said that she has grown “im­
patient” with the conservatives for
being too conservative in their tac­
tics. “ We ’ ve got to make more noise,”
she said, to compete with the estab­
lished leaders.
Organizers o f the unity confer­
ence have promised to finalize an
agenda this fall for urging action on
school vouchers, the moral decline
in the black community, the black
church and the family.
OLCC Cancels Mama Mia’s Liquor License
The Oregon Liquor Control Com­
missioners voted May 28 to cancel
the liquor license held by Mama
M ia’s Restaurant and Lounge in
Beaverton.
The Commissioners adopted an
OLCC administrative law judge’s
proposed order to cancel based on
violation o f illegal drug use, disor­
derly activities, 15 incidents o f sale
of alcohol to minors, and serving
alcohol after hours.
The decision comes after 13 days
o f hearing held last year, and a
reconvening on M arch 6 to hear a
w itness recant part o f her testi­
mony.
The cancellation will take effect
10 days after Commission mails the
formal final order to Mama M ia’s,
or in about two or three weeks.
The licensee has the right to re­
quest the Commissioners reconsider
the decision.
The licensee can also choose to
appeal the Liquor C om m ission’s
decision to the Oregon Court o f ap­
peals.
Planning Commission vacancy
The City o f Vancouver is seek­
ing applicants to fill a vacancy on
the Planning Commission.
T h e P la n n in g C o m m issio n
serves as a citizen advisory body to
the city council. Commissioners
work in a voluntary capacity to
conduct studies and public hearing
on subdivisions, com prehensive
plan am endm ents, rezoning re­
quests and zoning text am end­
ments.
The commission makes recom­
mendations to the city manager to
give to the city council for review
and final decisions.
Applicants must live within the
city limits.
For applications or further in­
formation contact Peggy Fum o in
the City M anager’s Office at City
Hall, 210 E. 13th St., P.O. Box
1995, Vancouver, WA. 98668 or
call 696-8121 (fax 696-8049).
Applications must be submitted by
Thursday, June 19.
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