Volume X X V II. Number 79
Get Your Wallets
Out Because It’s
Time To Shop For
Art!
The Salem Art Fair Is
Cinning beginning M y 1 7.
Committed to cultural diversity, http://www.portlandobsener.net
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Julio de Diego
The Art o f the People
proudly present the estate
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The Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods’ Youth Gang Outreach program Comes to End
B y L ee P erlman
he N o rth e a st C o a litio n o f
N e ig h b o rh o o d s’ Y outh G ang
O utreach p rogram , once c o n
sidered a national m odel, has
at least a tem porary end, out o f m oney
and forced to lay o ff its staff.
M anager Halim Rahsaan w as laid o ff
on June 26th, and the rest o f the six-
person sta ff on June 30th. T he only
rem ain link to the program is p rogram
m anager John Canda, w hose duties also
in clu d e su p e rv isio n o f th e N E C N ’s
T
R ider A dvocate program and w hose sa l
ary com es in part from a c o n tract w ith
T ri-M et.
N E C N e x e c u tiv e d i r e c t o r B en
P riestley
says the coalition hopes to se
com
e to
c u re new fu n d in g fo r th e p ro g ra m
sh o rtly , possibly through a priv ate fo u n
d atio n grant or through the city o f P ort
land. H ow ever, he says, “ W e c a n ’t m ake
pay m en ts based on funding th at we hope
w e ’ll g e t.”
C anda says that he hopes th at at least
som e o f the sta ff can be reh ired if new
funding can be obtained.
The program w as created by the c o a
lition in 1988. It provides outreach w ork
ers w ho p ro vide cou n selin g to A frican-
A m erican, A sian, H ispanic and w hite
youth gangs, gang m em bers and at risk
youth. They w ork w ith the Portland Po
lice B ureau and P ortland Public Schools
to defuse po ten tial gang violence. They
also provide inform ation about youth
gangs to civ ic and com m unity groups.
For m ost o f its ex istence the program
was funded by a $280.000 contract with
M ultnom ah C ounty. In 1996 the county
aw arded the c o n tra c t in ste a d to the
H ouse o f U m oja in co o p eratio n w ith
tw o o ther agencies, say in g it w anted a
m ore “b ro a d -b a se d ” a p p ro ach to the
problem .
The NECN board d ecid ed to seek
other funding to keep th e ir ow n program
going. Last May they secured a $200,000
grant from the Fred M eyer M em orial
T rust. T hose funds have now been e x
hausted.
S h a ro n M cC o rm ack , d ire c to r o f the
c ity ’s N eig h b o rh o o d C rim e P re v e n
tion Program , says o f the Y outh G angs
P ro g ram , “ 1 c e rta in ly hope they can
find som e m oney b ecu ase th e r e ’s a
real need for th is kind o f o u tre a c h ,
e s p e c i a l l y in th e s u m m e r w h e n
s c h o o l’s out. T h is pro g ram has the
m ost d iv e rse app ro ach o f p eo p le d o
ing th is so rt o f th in g . T hey h av e
p e o p le w ith good c o n ta c ts in the A f
rican -A m erican com m unity, the A sian
c o m m u n ity , the L atino c o m m u n ity ,
all th e m ost v u ln e ra b le p o p u la tio n s .”
Some MAX ticket Machines Now
Credit Cards
Chief Moose Receives The
William French Smith
Award
I
C hief Moose recently received the Attor-
i ley G eneral’s 46th Annual Award called
t he The William French Smith Award for
< Outstanding Contributions to Cooperative
I „aw Enforcement. The awards ceremony
vas held at the Constitution Hall in Wash-
ngton, D C.
Chief Moose was nominated for this award
by the United States Attorney, forthe District
o f Oregon, Kris Olson. This award is for
effectiveness and efficiency o f law enforce
ment through cooperative policing, citing
Chief Moose’s dynamic leadership in com
munity policing.
Wyden and Smith Introduce to
Crack Down on Guns in School
ents to help kids long before they become a
Responding to concerns raised by Spring-
threat to their community.”
field residents in the wake o f the Thurston
Smith said: “This legislation is
High School tragedy, U.S. Senator Ron
just one step toward giving schools more
Wyden (D-Or.) and Gordon Smith (R-Or.)
resources and better options for keeping
introduced legislation today calling for stu
children safe-from
dents who bringguns
their peers and from
to school to be held
"Government'sfirst respon themselves.
While
for 72 hours to un
sibility
is
to
protect
our
there
are
no
simple
dergo psychological
answers to a prob
evaluation.
citizens, particularly our
lem so complex, we
“ T h e se
tra g ic
voting people, from violence. ” must have the cour
school incidents have ----------„ — --------------------- ,------------ -
age and the dedica
taugl it us that we must
tion to discuss the multiple causes that lead
proceed on tw o tracks,” said Wyden.
our youth to bel ieve violence can solve their
“G overnm ent's first responsibility is to pro
problems. Our children's lives and the
tect our citizens, particularly our young
future o f our society are depending on it."
people, from violence. That means that
O v er 100 O reg o n stu d e n ts w ere
when a kid brings a gun to school we need to
caught bringing guns to school las, year.
get them out o f the classroom, o ff o f the
A lle g e d T h u r s to n H ig h a s s a ila n t
streets, and in front o f a professional who
K ipland Kinkel was apprehended the
can determine what steps to take next. On a
day
before the shootings for bringing a
parallel track, we have to make sure that we
gun
to school, bu, was not held by the
are providing prevention and intervention
police.
assistance to our schools, police, and par
Roy Rogers Dies
Roy Rogers, for 12 years the No. 1 W est
ern star at the box office, died recently.
Rogers was 86 years old when he had
passed away. He suffered from congestive
hear, failure. The star was in 87 modest-
budget movies in the 1930’s, 4 0 ’s and 50’s
and had a popular television show from
1951 to 1957.
Weekend Crash
During the Fourth o f July holiday, sev
eral traffic accidents claim ed six lives in
Oregon. Last year, five people died in car
w recks on the July Fourth weekend. The
year before, the num ber was eight. The
Max ticket machines takes credit cards for fare payment
AX riders can now use their bank cards to buy monthly passes and 10-ticket books at certain stations.
New ticket vending machines, recognizable by their silver color, can take Visa. Master Card or
Discover cards. The new machines, part of the Westside MAX program, are at all downtown
Portland stations. Civic Stadium and Salmon stationson the westside, and selected eastside stations - including Rose
Quarter, Convention Center, Lloyd Center, Hollywood, Gateway, 122nd, Rockwood, Gresham C ity Hall, Gresham
Central, and Cleveland.
Credit cards cannot be used to purchase only one or two tickets.
All Westside MAX fare machines will have the bank card feature when the new line opens for service September
12.
dead include two young siblings from La
Grande, men from the m etro and Dayton
areas, and a M olalla man.
Summer Courses
M ore students are attending summer
school to help prepare for tougher local
and state academ ic benchm arks. Those
benchm arks are measured by tests given in
grades three, five and eight. School dis
tricts throughout Oregon are focusing their
efforts on getting students to achieve higher
education standards.
Medicare Awareness
Citing a consum er group’s study show
ing few low-income elderly and disabled
A m ericans take advantage o f new assis
tance in paying M edicare premiums. Presi
dent Clinton launched a campaign to make
people more aware o f the aid and sim plify
enrollm ent. He is proposing to im prove
enrollm ent and sim plify the application
process to make eligibility inform ation
available via the Internet.
Russian Summit
President Clinton has agreed to travel to
Russia in early September to meet with
President Boris Yeltsin. The U.S. Presi
dent hopes to discuss further arms reduc
tions. The precise dates for their meeting
have not been finalized yet. C linton is
also eager to visit Ireland and N orthern
Ireland to celebrate the recently approved
peace agreement.
Meyer Memorial Trust
The M eyer M emorial Trust aw arded a
$1 m illion challenge grant that will be
used to put more com puters and com
p u te r - a id e d le a rn in g in O re g o n
classroom s.The grant will match m oney
raised by Oregon high school students to
pay for com puter parts and teacher train
ing in com puter-aided instruction. The
M eyer M emorial Trust awards about $20
million annually in grants o f all types.
t
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