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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 17, 1997)
Pagc A 2 _____________________________ iFluf Port binò (Ohsmwr______________________SFPr 17’1997 News from around the world Conservatives sue the city of San Jose A conservative legal group said 209. Wednesday it has sued the The lawsuit is a key legal test of the city o f San Jose, accusing it of violat effect o f Proposition 209 on California ing a controversial California law bar cities. ring affirmative action programs based “This is a new era for individual on race or sex. rights in California,” Michele Justin, The Sacramento-based Pacific Le an attorney with the Pacific Legal gal Foundation alleged in the lawsuit, Foundation, said. “We are moving filed Tuesday in Santa Clara County quickly to enforce Proposition 209 Superior Court, that rules adopted by and to restore true equal opportunity San Jose that direct a share o f city in the state.” contracts to minority- and women- Last November, California voters owned businesses violate the new passed Proposition 209, which pro state law, also known as Proposition hibits state and local governments Civil War Memorial fror granting preferential treatment on 1 le basis o f race or sex in public edu ation, employment and contract ing t lallenged by civil rights groups, Pr< osition 209 was put on hold by a U distnctjudge soon after it passed. It k effect last month after a federal ap als court ruled that it was consti- tut lal. The civil rights groups are ap ling to the U.S. Supreme Court. Pacific Legal Foundation’s law- su. udllenged a San Jose resolution, ad *ed on Nov. 21, that the founda o v e r p r o p o sitio n 2 0 9 tion said required general contractors to grant preferential treatment to sub contractors on the basis o f race and gender when bidding on city con tracts over $50,000. The foundation sued on behalf o f Power Providers, a Rancho Cordova, Calif.-based general contracting firm that the foundation said was denied a contract to supply a circuit switcher for the city’s sewage treatment plant. The city rejected the contractor's $ 198,760 bid in favor o f a $202,314 bid by another firm because Power Pro viders intended to complete the project entirely with its own in-house work force, the foundation said. To comply with the city’s resolu tion, Power Providers would have had to subcontract some o f the work to minority-owned firms, it said. “Although the city ’s resolution purports to comply with Proposition 209, it is in fact a veiled attempt to entrench the same type o f race/gen- der preference program Proposition 209 is designed to abolish — all at taxpayer expense,” Justin said. San Jose C ity A tto rn e y Joan G allo said the c ity ’s p ro g ra m did not d isc rim in a te a g a in st any b o d y or p ro v id e any p re fe re n ce . “The city ’s position is that there needs to be inclusion, that Proposition 209 ... pro tects m inorities and women as well as white m ales,” she said. “ W e w ill v ig o r o u sly d e fend th is suit in c o u r t,” she ad d ed . H loring African-American servicemen. argot Webb, a retired pro the right one,” said Webb, 87, a gene fessor living in North Miami alogist. “If I just had an idea o f what Beach, has spent the last two company years he was in.” poring over military records, scan The African-American Civil War ning census data and looking through Memorial Foundation estimates at soldier names on a hunch that her least 7 million blacks are descended great-grandfather served in a black from Civil War servicemen. For some, troop during the Civil War. like Webb, tracing roots can prove She has whittled down her options difficult. to six “Isaac Smiths” but still doesn’t But a new memorial and heritage know which one is her ancestor. center in the nation’s capital aims to “I’m having a hard time getting to shed light on h isto ry ’s forgotten The African-American Civil lem orial Foundation broke Thursday on a $2 million f to salute black servicemen. ; ’ve come here to start the pro- ce >f setting the record straight,” said m emorial chairman Frank Smith Jr., a District ofColumbia councilman. The 9-foot high, 2-ton bronze sculp- nire, called the Spirit o f Freedom, de picts a group o f soldiers in service. Two stone walls around the statue wi 11 M bear the names of an estimated 209,000 soldiers who served in the United States Colored Troops. The project, above a subway stop in W ashington’sShaw neighborhood, is scheduled to be dedicated next spring. The memorial is a “thank you to colored soldiers for fighting for free dom, for fighting even when people didn’t want them to,” said Mayor Marion Barry. The National Park Service, which is building a database o f Civil War sol diers from National Archives records, is providing the names for the memo rial. The foundation is also working on a Family Heritage Center, to be housed in the Garnet-Patterson Middle School near the memorial, which will include computers and searchable databases. Harold Ashby, a 49-year-old col lege teacher in Honolulu, said he be lieves the project will give blacks a stronger sense o f cultural identity. “I think it’s important fora younger generation, especially a younger black generation, to have some grounding,” said Ashby, who keeps the discharge papers o f his great-g ran d fath er, George Ashby, in his bedroom. Ashby is still investigating where George Ashby was born and how he got to Trenton, N.J., where he enlisted in 1864. Judge accussed Of sexually harassing women with his dog Connecticut judge sexually arassed w om en and o b structed their access to courts by al lowing his dog to go up behind them and put its snout under their skirts, a lawyer alleged Thursday. In an unusual case before the pres tigious U.S. 2nd Circuit Court o f A p peals, the lawyer argued that a district judge erred in throwing out the case by saying the female plaintiff was ‘ ’barking up the wrong tree. ’ ’ The Second Circuit handles federal constitutional rights were violated because the judge was acting in his official capacity when he allowed the dog to assault women and interfere with their access to the courthouse. A federal judge in Connecticut had dismissed the suit, finding that Supe rior Court Judge Howard Moraghan was not acting “under color o f state law” but as a private citizen when he brought the dog into the courthouse. Nancy Burton, the p laintiffs law yer who was also attacked by the dog, appeals from New York, Connecticut and Vermont. The class action suit was filed last year on behalf o f all women who were allegedly attacked in Connecticut Su perior Court in Danbury by Kodak, a golden retriever. The dog allegedly “aggressively nuzzled” the lead plaintiff, raised her skirt and “projected its snout upward toward the plaintiff scrotch,” accord ing to the suit. The suit alleges that the plaintiff s disagreed and told the appeals court that Moraghan was able to bring his pet into the courthouse because he is a judge and that allowing the animal to harass women was an "extension of his judicial persona. ’ ’ “This was not a casual, random act on the part o f the judge ... it was ritualized,” Burton told the panel. She said the judge would bring the dog into the clerk’s office, unleashed and unmuzzled, and watch “with a smirk on his face” as it harassed the c o u rth o u se o n ly b e c a u se Moraghan is a judge. Cooney said that Moraghan was not performing any judicial function at the time, and was merely walking to his office. “He w asn’t trying to keep anyone out o f the clerk’s office,” he said. But Newman responded that the case is not about a judge keeping a dog by his side. “This case is about a dog harassing women,” he said. women. Burton said the suit also alleges gender discrimination because the dog only went after women wearing skirts. Robert Cooney, M oraghan’s law yer, argued that the district’s judge’s ruling should be upheld because his client was not acting in his official capacity when he brought the dog to the courthouse. Circuit Judges Ralph W inter and Jon Newman questioned Cooney as to whether the dog was allowed into ATTACKING CANCER Harvard Medical School researchers find new weapon gene sim ila r to one blam ed for m any ty p es o f c a n c e r co u ld o p en up a new w ay o f a tta c k in g the k ille r d is ease, A m erican sc ie n tists said L ast w eek. W illiam K a e lin Jr. and r e se a rc h e rs at the D ana F arb er C a n c e r In stitu te and H arv ard M ed ical S ch o o l e x a m in e d the p ro p e rtie s o f p 7 3 , a g en e w h ich is a clo se c o u sin to the tu m o r su p p re sso r g en e p53 lin k e d to m ore than 50 p e rc e n t o f all c a n c e r cases. W hen p53, the m ost im p o rtan t su p p re sso r gene know n, is m u ta te d or n o t w orking, tum ors can d e v e lo p . In a rep o rt in the scientific jo u r nal N atu re, K aelin said that p73 can m im ick the w ork o f p53 — in d u c in g c an cer cells to die. “ O ur study show s th a t in p rin c ip le th e re is a c tu a lly an o th e r gene w hich is very sim ila r to p53 and w hich could perform the fu n c tions norm ally perform ed by p 5 3 ,” he said in an interview . K aelin said th at one o f the re a sons c a n c e r c e lls d o n ’t die, and w ith a lot o f gen etic dam age they should, is because they w ere sm art e n o u g h to in a c tiv a te p53 w hich w o u ld o rd in a rily induce the dam aged c e lls to co m m it suicide. “ W hat our stu d y show s is that w hen you a c tiv a te th is unknow n p53 h o m o lo g u e , p 73, it w ill lik e w ise induce cancer to undergo cell d e a th .” T he d isc o v e ry o f w hat p73 does c o u ld lead to the d ev elo p m en t o f new d ru g s th a t w ould a ctiv ate the ex p re ssio n o f the p73 gene, w hich Kenya “ O ur stu d y show s that if you did in d u ce the ex p res sion o f p73 in a can cer cell you could reason ab ly expect that the cell w ou ld undergo cell su icid e (a p o p to sis). A n other im p o rtan t aspect o f the study is the p o ssib ility th at there may be additional p53 fam ily m em bers w hich have not b een id e n ti fied. “ I th in k it is a n o th e r fo o t in the d o o r,” said K aelin , w hen asked if p73 w as an a d d itio n a l clue to the m y stery o f how to co m b at cancer. “ It c e rta in ly o p en s up an av enue o f attack th at we d id n ’t know existed. The problem is m ost drugs w ork by in a c tiv a tin g so m eth in g , not by a c tiv a tin g so m eth in g . H ere we are saying there is an a d d itio n a l a p p ro a c h , th at there w as a copy o f p53 there all along th at w ould be cap ab le o f doing p 5 3 ’s jo b if we w ere ju s t sm art eno u g h to figure o u t how to re in d u c e its e x p re ssio n .” K aelin said the n e x t step s w ould be to find out w h at sig nals norm ally re g u la te the ex p ressio n o f p73 and to fin d out w h eth er the gene is m u ta te d in c e rta in cancers. “ I think it is very im p o rtan t to d eterm in e w h eth er th is gene is m u tated and to find o u t in w hat tissu es it n o rm ally fu n c tio n s .” SHOW ME THE SAVINGS under attack from raiders One person was killed and two were w ounded last Thursday in an exchange o f fire between police pa trol units and unidentified raiders in Ukunda area, south o f the port city o f Mombasa, police said. A police spokesman said one po lice officer was also shot in the arm. The police gave no further details on the incident in which the raiders attacked a popular bar in Ukunda. Last Friday, up to five people, in cluding a two-year child, were hacked to death by unidentified raiders in M om basa's Likoni suburb. In last F rid a y ’s incident, the heavily armed raiders also left some 20 people seriously wounded. A reas around M om basa have since August been hit by a wave o f violence which President Daniel arap Moi, 73 and in power for 19 years, blames on the opposition and ethnic feuds. Thousands o f people have fled the port city o f M ombasa and sur rounding areas after Moi ordered a police crackdown on the unexplained violence which has left more than 40 people dead. Moi accuses the opposition o f fuelling tribal tensions before a gen eral election this year. But many “upcountry” people leaving the coast say the government wants them out because they would only vote for the opposition. so far does not a p p e a r to be fre quently m u tated in hum an cancer. “ Y ou m ay have a copy o f the p 5 3 -lik e gene th a t is in a so m e w hat dorm ant state that could then be a c tiv a te d by a d ru g ,” he said. SAFEWAY (kl) COUPON SAFEWAY Kraft Miracle Whip or Mayonnaise FOOD & DRUG Look For Your Safeway Weekly Shopping Guide • 32-oz. «cire • SAVE up to $1.60 • First 1 with coupon In Your Oregonian FOOOday in the Portland Metro Area ...and save more shopping at Safeway Beef Chuck Roast •B la d e or 7-Bone Enjoy Extra Savings With The SAVE up to $1.01 lb. SAFEWAY EXTRA In-Store Savings Guide One coupon per customer Coupon valid 7 a m 9/17/97 thru Midnight 9/23/97 at your Oregon Safeway stores (except Milton-Freewater) and SW Washington stores servma Wahkiakum Cowtitz, Clark. Skamania and and Klickitat ¡^Skamania Klickitat counties counties Available at your Safeway store. •3 2 -o z. - SAvriiptoii.il PRICES EFFECTIVE MONTH 1997 Tue o " “UÜOOO 08572'1" 4 10 lb. Oregon Potatoes Visit Safeway s Web site at w w w .sa fe w a y.c o m M on 000000085724 W ed Thur Fri 17 18 19 23 21 22 PrlcM Ellecti«« W»dn«»»l»y Sept»mb«r 17, thru TimwHwy Swptumhw t 3 . MirtmqM • Limit 1 Sat 20 h tm 'terns & prices in ttM ad are avarfaMe it your loc* Safeway s’ores | No sales to dealers restaurants or institutions Sales m retati quantities only Quantities of some items may be limited and subiect to avaAi&bfy Not responsible for typographical or pictorial errors We resene the nght to correct a l ponied errors O tM 7 Safeway Stores Inc N obody does it B etter for L ess .
