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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1997)
Volume X X V II, Number 50 Committed to cultural diversity Helping Hands For Christmas Scratch For Charities Brownie Troop 700 gives St. Vincent dePaul a helping hand for Christmas Donated Oregon Lottery tickets help out Portland's favorite charities. See Metro, inside. See Metro, inside. See Sports, page B2 Justice For W elfare And Working Poor HV NEIL HEILPERN A barrage of complaints about the lack of justice for people on welfare and what work ing poor were levied during a rally last Wednesday. ft Topics ranged from welfare rules that keep Clinton Names Bill Lee SS people from receiving adequate training and President Clinton is expected to an income to the inability of the legal minimum nounce the appointment of Bill Lann Lee wage to provide a "living wage.” as the governm ent’s civil rights chief. Several speakers said current statistics -V Officials passed the word in advance of an showing people leaving welfare rolls were annuncement later in the day. Senate Re misleading. Laura Rodgers, Oregon Public- publicans have been blocking Lee’s nomi Employees Union shop steward at Portland * nation, so Clinton plans to name him as State Uni versity, noted state and federal offi "acting” assistant attorney general forcivil cials are “under pressure for better statistics, rights. That would allow him to serve in to remove clients from welfare, but at what the job without Senate conf irmation. cost?” The welfare debates in Washington are Inspector Awaits Reply focused on the needs of politicians, not the The chief U N. w eapons inspector poor, said Father Bob Krueger ofSt. Andre's pushed for access to dozens of restricted Catholic Church in Portland, where the fo sites in a second round of talks recently R W w r' rum was held. with Iraq’sdeputy primeminister. Inspec- I “1 ime limits and lectures are no substitute tor Richard Butler said he expects an Iraqi for wages to support a family.” » response to the U N demand to allow K i A recent survey of 40 social agencies in inspectors into roughly 60 sites before he three Portland area counties showed most leaves Iraq "The talks on that were people whose benefits were stopped after reasonable and that should be a pattern of lindingjobs were still economically strapped, the meeting,” he told The Associated Press. according to Wendy Lebow of Multnomah Chemical and biological weapons pro County Department o f Community and Fam grams were discussed, Butler said. “We ily Services. do have a problem here.” he told the AP "They have cut one third of the caseloads Group makes accusations in three years.” noted Nancy Weed of Port land, “but they haven't cut poverty." Nearly 700 American hospitals have She objected to instances of blatant ne illegally “dumped” untreated patients from glect of poverty issues. “If a woman and her their emergency rooms in the last lOyears, hut just a handful have been punished, a Laura Rodgers (right), o f Portland State University, spoke at Jobs With Justice rally. consumer group said . In a report. Public- C ontinued to page B3 Citizen hlamed hospitals for breaking the law and the Department of Health and Human Services for failing to enforce it. In most cases, dumped patients do not have insurance, according to Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen s Health Research Group. hink of a Christmas dinner table But he added that an increasing number seven days.” drives in churches and schools. St. Vincent I are not treated because their managed- set with turkey, ham, sweet pota St. Vincent de Paul plans to make 5,(XX) de Paul also participated in the NEST (Net toes, green beans, mashed pota care plans refuse to pay. I Christmas food boxes this year for families in work of Emergency Service Teams) door-to- toes, gravy, rolls and pie. Now add the spa Portland metropolitan region. At 65 pounds Hanukkah in Space ! ghetti, cereal, peanut butter and jelly, bread, door food drive in November which col American astronaut David W olf and his I per box, that amounts to 325,(XX) pounds of lected a total of about 60,000 pounds of food tuna, canned and fresh fruit, soups and food, most of which is donated during the Russian crewmates aboard the Mir space total tor the participating agencies. This was station plan to celebrate the holidays in I cookies. All together this does not make months of November and December. the first year for this collaborative effort. style. Wolf, who is Jewish, received a I your traditional American Christmas din Unfortunately, more people are coming to This is the 58th year the St. Vincent de ner. However, this list does make up the our dixir for help this year than ever before." inenorah as a Hanukkah gift from his sis Paul Christmas Food Drive will collect and ingredients in a Christmas Food Box from said Pelster. “This increase in need seems to be ter The menorah and gelt, holiday candy distribute food. Food boxes will be distrib St. Vincent de Paul that looks like coins, were delivered by a I a result ol the lack of affordable housing and uted on December 20 to families in Mult "Most people think the food we provide cuts in government programs. I hope that those Russian supply ship in October. The 41- nomah, C lackainas, Washington, Columbia, is just forChristmas day,” said Janice Pelster, who are able to help will be generous this year-old doctor and engineer said he feels T illam ook and C latso p C o u n tie s. St. the Executive Director for St. Vincent de holiday season to help us help others." extremely good after nearly three months V incent's is also running and "Adopt-A- paul. But we know that low-income fami The food is collected from numerous in space, although he misses his home - and Family” program to find sponsors for over lies often need food for a week, so we sources including door-to-door food drives, pizza. Wolf ’s replacement is scheduled to provide enough to last families four to food barrels placed in businesses, and food arrive in late January. W i 1 ï ■ Event organizer Nancy Haque is at left. (Photo by Nell Hellpern) Christmas Food Drive To Feed 5,000 Families T School Shooter Indicted Portland School Michael Carneal has been indicted on murder charges in the shootings at his high school. The 14-year-old freshm an is I charged with three counts o f murder, five I counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. Carneal is charged as a juve nile with murder, attempted murder and burglary for allegedly stealing the gun. The maximum sentence is life with the possibility of parole after 25 years. oard Fails to Comply d e p lo ra b le c o n d itio n as an “em erg en cy situ a tio n and passed a re so lu tio n on M ay 8, 1997 to rem edy the situ a tio n . So far, no pro g ress. I he p u rpose of the c o n fe re n c e was to a d d re s s the P o rtla n d P u b lic S c h o o l B oard s fa ilu re to c o m p ly w ith the S chool B o a rd 's re so lu tio n s. S ev eral m em bers o f C M A C w ere on hand to d e liv e r c o m m en ts. The keynote sp eak ers w ere A. H alim R ah saam , R ich ard L u cceti, C h a rlo tte B row n and Ron H erndon. C M A C m em bers arc c o n c e rn e d p a r ents a d v o c a tin g b e tte r e d u c a tio n for all ch ild ren . Each m em ber o f C M A C re p re se n ts one o f five d iffe re n t races. A sian. H is p anic, A frican A m e ric a n . W h ite and N ative A m erican. ( M A ( w as form ed in S e p te m b e r o f 1996 to o v e rse e the u u a litv o f e d u c a t i o n * Jackson Gets 26 Months A woman who tried to extort $40 mil lion from Bill Cosby by threatening to tell tabloids she is the comedy star's illegiti- I mate daughter was sentenced today to 26 months in prison. But an attorney for A u tumn Jackson said she might end up serv ing only six months because the judge said the sentence could be reduced if Ms. Jack- son completes a rehabilitation program in prison. I Trial Begins for the Jackal The trial of the man once known as one of the world’s most wanted terrorists began quietly today IlichRamirezSanehez-better ! i |__ known as Carlos the Jackal, the flamboyant mastermindofbombings.assassinationsand hostage dramas - is facing manslaughter charges in the 1975 Paris killings of two French agents and another man Prosecutors hope to put the 48-year-old former commu- mst terrorist behind bars for 30 years. A a£y( B y nesses, churches and schools through D e cember 18. People who wish to contribute non-perishable food may bring contribu tions to any St. Vincent de Paul thrift store, any C atholic church or to Central Catholic- High School (at the corner of SE 24th and Stark Streets) between December 8 and December 18. Anyone who would like to help by col lecting food or sponsoring a family in need can call St. Vincent de Paul at 235-7837. Fi nancial contributions can be mailed to the St. Vincent de Paul Christmas food pro gram, 3601 SE 27th, Portland, OR 97202. St Vincent de Paul is currently taking requests for food. People in need should call 232-9797. harlotte Brown and Ron Herndon o f CMAC held a press conference on Dec 10 to ubhc School Board. (Photo by M Washington) by the C om m unity M onitoring A dvisory C o a litio n (C M A C ). It w as determ in ed that the School B o a rd h as f a ile d in m e e tin g th e ir c o m m ittm en ts to p roperly ed u cate s tu dents w ho are a c a d e m ica lly p erfo rm in g below grade level The School B oard had regarded this
