Volume X X V II, Number $ì
Committed to cultural diversity.
Fall passage
celebrated!
Let the party begin as thhe
Chinook make their way
upstream at Oxbow Park.
See Metro, inside.
OCT. 8, 1997
Helping even the
playing field for
kids
'Standard
Procedure' goes
public
Mothers Against Gang
Violence make call for
action.
Portland's talented Pamela
Jordan releases new and
first album.
See Metro, inside
See Entertainment, page B3.
■
REVIEW
Clinton uses line veto
President Clinton is using his line-
item veto power to lop off nearly $300
million from a military construction bill.
The military construction bill tradition
ally is plumped up with pork barrel
projects, and a White House spokesman
says Clinton w ill strike 38 projects worth
$287 million. A Clinton spokesman clas
sifies the projects as 'unnecessary
spending.”
Don’t ask policy upheld
The Supreme Court has rejected a
legal challenge to President Clinton’s
“don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that allows
the military to discharge homosexuals.
It’s the third time in the past year the
court has refused to get involved in the
legal battles over the policy. In another
ruling affecting Clinton, the court de
nied an appeal by a conservative group
seeking access to his videotaped testi
mony at the trial o f his Whitewater busi
ness partners.
Toran to visit Romania
Oregon official to assess child welfare in poverty state
regon’s lop child welfare offi
strengthen its child care system s. I can
cial is headed for Romania in
think of few things more rewarding.”
early October to advise the
The plight of thousands of Romanian chil
former Communist country on its dren
child
made headlines when the regime of
welfare system.
Nicolae Ceausescu was toppled in 1989.
Kay Toran. Director of the State Office
Ceausescu had abolished all social work
lor Services toChildren and Families (SCF),
and child welfare systems Americans re
is part of a United Stales delegation invited
sponded by adopting nearly 2,300 Roma
to assess Romania's current system and
nian children during 1991. Romania is now
consult on child welfare issues. The trip is
a republic under President Ion Iliescu.
sponsored by the US Department of Health
Iliescu’s government has asked for help
& Human Services (HHS).
in rebuilding its supports for troubled fami
"Seven years ago, many A m ericans
lies with children.
w ere m o v ed by the p ic tu r e s o f
“Oregon is recognized in this country as
R o m an ia's orphaned and abandoned
a family-friendly, child-centered agency. ’
children.' said Toran. “Now we have a
noted loraii. But she also expects to brine
w onderful, unprecedented opportunity
home some new ideas This is a 2-way
to h e lp the c o u n try re b u ild and
street We will learn by watching Romania
O
Kay Toran, director o f Oregon Services
to Children and Families
Espionage charged
Two suspected Israeli agents arrested
in Jordan in the attempted murder of a
leader of the Muslim militant movement
Hamas reportedly were freed today and
returned to the Jewish state. Israel Radio
says they returned shortly after Sheik
Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual
leader of Hamas, flew home five days
after his release by Israel from a life
prison sentence.
Mir docking delayed
Ground control says the docking of
the M® space station and a new cargo
craft is likely to be delayed because the
space tug occupying M ir's docking unit
failed to uncouple as planned. Deputy
Flight Director Viktor Blagov told a
briefing near Moscow that experts have
decided to stop further attempts to un
dock the Progress M-35 tug until they
work out why the initial attempt earlier
today failed.
War crimes suspects
surrender
One of the more wanted war crimes
suspects from the former Yugoslavia
has surrendered Dario Kordic was among
10 Bosnian Croats.who flew to the Neth
erlands today and were taken into cus
tody by the war crimes tribunal. Kordic
and a Bosnian Croat general who surren
dered last year arc charged with leading
a campaign of persecution against Mus
lims in Bosnia in 1993.
fter more than a year of planning
and public review, the Port of
Portland’s proposed program for
making landscaping and pedestrian access
improvements on Swan Island has been given
the green light for development.
rhe City of Portland’s Bureau o f Plan
ning formally approved the Port’s proposal
to make landscaping enhancements and build
a pedestrian trail system, viewpoint areas,
and interpretive facilities in and'around the
approximately 580-acre inner-city “island.”
To be developed during the next two years,
these amenities will provide an opportunity
for visitors to Swan Island to learn more
about the workings of the Portland harbor,
the Portland ShipYard, and its associated
dry docks.
Enhancements will also include plantings
that encourage native habitat, sidewalk ex
tensions that offer better pedestrian access,
and creating information stations that ex
plain some of the history o f the property,
such as its use as Portland’s first airport.
The Port’s strategy for improving public
areas on and around Swan Island is in place
of creating new greenspaces within the in
dustrial environs of the Portland ship yard
and adjoining property. Previously, under
the City’s Willamette River Greenway Zone
regulations, any development occurring
within the ship yard was subject to a
Greenway review and mitigation process.
A
It took awhile for Stanley Prusiner’s
work to be recognized, but he got the
ultimate recognition Monday when he
was named winner of the Nobel Prize in
medicine. The biochemist from the Uni
versity o f California-San Francisco dis
covered a cellular protein that can cause
fatal brain diseases. His work is key to
understand Alzheimer’s and mad cow
disease.
Israel retrieves agents
examine their laws, their funding and put a
workable system together from scratch. I've
been impressed that they plan to involve
families in the process of finding the best
home for their children.'’
Oregon's SCF has gained national atten
tion for such innovations as family deci
sion-making meetings, strengths/needs-
based system of care, and its second-place
ranking for moving foster children into per
inanent adoptive homes.
Toran is one of only two state child wel
fare directors chosen for the trip The other
is Irom Delaware, along with two members
ol federal Administration on Children. Youth
and Families They will join other experts
Irom the U.S .Office ol \ssistance Io Inter
national Development
Walking trails •
for Swan Island
Nobel winner in medicine
U.S. Justice Department sources say
the FBI has arrested three people, in
cluding a lawyer who used to work at the
Pentagon, on espionage charges. The
sources say the three, who were arrested
over the weekend, allegedly tried to sell
U.S. classified documents to East Ger
many, the Soviet Union and South Africa
since the 1970s.
b m m b m i
Seeking skilled
workers
Sharon Washington Clark o f Providence Health Systems
represents one o f many Portland-based employers looking
for a qualified and diverse workforce at the job and career
fair at Portland Community College's Cascade Campus in
north Portland. See additional photos, Minority Enterprise
Development section, inside.
Photo by M. Washington)
A salute to minority and
women-owned enterprises
Sam Brooks and
Oregon
Association of
Minority
Entrepreneaurers
reach maturity -
See Minority
Enterprise
Development
section, inside.
BIERWIRTH’S DEPARTURE
UNFORTONATE. NOT SURPRISING
tate Rep. Anitra Rasm ussen, D-
tion funding is not a Portland problem .
Portland, calls the departure of
It is a statew ide problem in need of
P o rtlan d School S u p e rin te n
statew ide so lu tio n s.”
dent Jack B ierw irth as unfortunate but
“The problem s rem ain for those of
not altogether surprising given the cu r
us who have been struggling for years
rent political clim ate.
to find solutions that work for all of
It is a w onder that more educators
O regon,” R asm ussen said. “This ses
do not leave our state. The Legislature
s io n , w ith o u r u n u s u a lly ro b u s t
holds the purse strings and that Lcgis-
econom y, we had the opportunity to
S
“The problems remain for those of us who have
been struggling for years to find solutions that work
- State Rep. Anitra Rusmussen
lature is dom inated by people who care
more about refunding taxes to out-of-
state corporations and bashing on teach
ers than they do about the education of
Oregon s children," Rassm ussen said.
We are in a dangerous position if our
best educators start leaving at the same
time that we disinvest in our ed u ca
tional system , " Rasm ussen said.
“Jack deserves a lot o f credit for
reaching out to the rest of the state,”
Rasm ussen said. “ He knew that educa-
invest in our c h ild re n 's education But
despite the best efforts of m yself and
other education advocates, the R epub
lican leadership refused to reverse the
trend of grow ing class sizes and sh rin k
ing educational opp o rtu n ity ."
"Those of us who have fought for
education in the L egislature side-by-
s id e w ith Ja c k w ill m iss h im ."
Rasm ussen said. “ But we are firmly
com m itted to continue the light for our
children s fu tu re.”