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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 1997)
AT . f «■«■A Z . ' . ä i £ J ? •• .'.. :* > r ■ j Rebuilding our families and our communities Welcome Brian Grant, goodbye Clifford Robinson PSU introduces Chicano-Latino studies this fall Author says modern culture erodes the family. Blazers wheel and deal to sign free agent.. Students to study forces that shaped Mexicans and Latino Americans in the U.S. See Metro, inside. See Metro, inside. ^ìnrflatih (B Jryant begins duties at Hu Diplomats defect Two North Korean diplomats are in the United States after defecting at the U.S. embassies in Egypt and France. Ana lysts said at least one of the men could shed light on suspicions that communist North Korea sells missiles and other weapons to Syria, Iran and Libya. DeKlerk quits party Former South African President F.W DeKlerk, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in dismantling apartheid, is quitting politics. DeKlerk said he’s re signing as leader of the opposition Na tional Party once a successor is chosen and plans to leave active politics alto gether. DeKlerk said he will write his memoirs in order to give his version of South Africa’s turbulent and racially di vided recent past. Beef plant on block Hudson Foods reportedly wants to un load the beef-processing plant that’s at the center of a contamination scare The Wall Street Journal says the company will try to sell the Columbus, Neb., plant. The federal government ordered Hudson to recall 25 million pounds of beef this month after potentially deadly E. coli bacteria was traced to meat produced at the plant. Sergeant’s fate pondered The fate of the Army’s highest ranking enlisted man is now in the hands of a chief investigator. Colonel Robert Jarvis pre sided over nine weeks of pre-trial pro ceedings in the sexual misconduct case of Sergeant Major of the Army Gene McKinney. McKinney faces 22 prelimi nary counts ofassault, maltreatment, adul tery and obstruction o f justice. Six servicewomen are making the charges, which McKinney denies. More problems on Mir New principal says parents will support changes when their children come home excited about school B y N eil H eilpern hen Judy Bryant was selected as the new Humboldt Elemen tary School principal last week, she said she wasn’t going to let controversy keep her from being focused on upgrading student test scores. “Failure is not an option,” she empha sized, during a press conference Wednes day at the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church, when Superintendent of Schools Jack Bierwirth named her to the post. “It is important to get students up to standard,” said Bierwirth, who recently replaced most of Humboldt’s administra tive and teaching staff in hopes of raising the school’s sagging test scores. Bryant, 45, will replace popular Princi pal LaVerne Davis, who Bierwirth said will be reassigned to Applegate school, also in north Portland. Bierwirth cited successes" Bryant has had at Hosford Middle School, where she taught seventh grade for seven years and was assistant principal last year. She also spent three years as assistant principal at West Sylvan Middle School, two years teaching at Whitaker Middle School and Judy Bryant answers questions after Superintendent o f Schools Jack Bierwirth seven years in the district’s curriculum (right) names her the new principal for Humboldt Elementary School. Rev. Amzie department. Bailey (center) o f the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church hosts the No child is pre-ordained to succeed or announcement. (Photo by Nell Heilpern) fail,” said Bierwirth, noting the need to have a “community partnership” in which and someone believed in me.” changes in the school’s faculty. “we will all have to work hard to get each M ost of the students at Humboldt The parents who object to the change will child to a level of success.” come from economically challenged fami come around, she noted, “when they see “We selected a woman with an out lies. their children coming home excited about standing career in Portland,” he said. "Most One of her first challenges will be fac school.” important, she believes what the district is ing parents who said they would keep “That will win the parents over,” she trying to do is possible.” their children out of school in protest if said. Susan Hagmeier, chairperson of the outgoing principal Davis w asn’t rehired. Bryant also noted that some criticism Portland school board, described Bryant “That is using children as a pawn” for a ol Humboldt parents who do no, show up a, as an "excellent problem solver and ener political statement, Bryant said. "We want schools is unjust because many hold two getic” person. students at school, learning.” or three jobs. “Children can succeed,” said Bryant. “I Bryant said most parents had expressed ▼ know this. I came from a poor background support for the plan to create wholesale Continued to page A3 W Arafat promises security Palestinian President Yasser Arafat says that security ties with Israel have improved to an extent that would enable a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Albright has conditioned her first visit to the Middle East on a build-up in Israeli-PLO security cooperation dis rupted by a crisis over Jewish settlement expansion and a surge in violence. Nuke waste leaks A radioactive waste storage facility at a state-run nuclear reprocessing plant northeast of Tokyo leaked low-level ra diation over a period of about 30 years. A nuclear official said radiation leaked from about 2,000 drums each containing 53 gallons of low-level radioactive waste produced by uranium processing. j Berlin Wall conviction Egon Krenz, East Germ any’s last hardline communist leader, lodged an appeal of his manslaughter conviction for the deaths of refugees killed in the 1980s as they tried to flee over the Berlin Wall. A Berlin court Monday sentenced Krenz to 6 and a half years in prison. r25f Violence outdoes resolve (Editor’s note: The following is written as a "statement o f the Portland Observer to the community it so proudly senes. ") The crew of Russia’s ailing space sta tion Mir fixed the oxygen generating sys tems after a brief time without fresh air but hit another snag Tuesday try ing to aim the solar panels they repaired last week. The oxygen problem proved to be short lived and now the two Russian cosmo nauts and their American colleague are looking at the malfunctioning system that controls the station’s solar panels. ! ► SEI kids benefit from challenge Olympic Dream-Teamer David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs is joined by Portland achievers Ahquoya Brooks (from 'eft) Brandyn Brooks, Garland Neal Brown, Brandy Offord and Rodrick Edwards at a Nike-spcnsored community challenge golf tournament at Pumpkin Ridge. The event is a major fundraiser from Portland's business community for Self Enhancement, Inc., the non-profit organization dedicated to keeping our youth o ff drugs and away from gangs and violence. (Photo by David Brunkow) hey say that a community is re quired to raise a child but what is required to raise a community? To raise the lives o f its residents to that level of security and sense of well-being as permits the enjoyment of “ life, liberty and the pur suit of happiness.” The escalating wave of murder, assaults and other violence being inflicted on the persons and property of our loved ones, acquaintances or strangers has brought about a frightening perception of an imminent danger to our well-being at any time o f day or night; in our homes, in our cars, on public transportation, a* our workplace, at school, wherever! This ever-increasing crescendo shows no sign of abatement. We are all of us, youth or adults, the elderly or babies, motorists or gang mem bers, imminent victims of the stray or in tended bullet. The loud, but sporadic concerns expressed by our leaders, legislators and other politi cians do not evidence a sufficient resolve to bring about an early end to this murderous and unpredictable social chaos that has be sieged us. Whatever our social station or walk-of- life, we all seem so terribly vulnerable, and markedly so because the sources o f the violence are as equally diverse. No longer available is that clearly identifiable “crimi nal element” to which we may smugly assign our woes. And there is no further refuge in statistics such as those recently released by the FBI or in the social analyses released by the ‘think tanks’ in Washington and at the major uni versities - “our problems result from an array of complex and interacting forces” (well, so does the weather). We are in serious trouble in our nation, in our communities, and consequently, there must be a serious problem in the organiza tions that serve them, and quite likely in our homes and in ourselves to a great extent. It is quite natural that being at the hub of communications in the community, this newspaper receives a great number of ideas and comments on this traumatic situation from its readers, from community leaders and activists as well. As you might suppose the suggestions and directives are as diverse as the popula tion we serve But then, too, the amount of thought and concern expressed in these re sponses is in itself a reassurance that within our community (and other communities) lies the social structure, commitment and the spirituality that can retrieve our lives from the current chaos. We even have had the viewpoint expressed that the right people are not marching on Washington: "Why haven't 50,000 of the nation's police and sheriffs stood on the White House lawn demanding that the bor ders and ports be closed to the drugs that are making law enforcement all but impossible. The government has no difficulty sealing the border to fruits and vegetable contaminated with insecticides.” Others, after viewing the thinly supported demonstration by the Rev Willie Banks who recently lost his son to the senseless violence that is destroying our youth, have asked “why weren't there a hundred minis ters of all races and denominations march ing down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard that day - and on City Hall?” The Portland Observer wants to hear your opinions on these matters and wishes to play a major role in aiding in the implementation of needed solutions. T
