If f - I T | / | r f T I T
I
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■(■■Beaab .*»«’ 4 **'*
FEBRUARY 3, 1999
Committed to cultural diversi^, http://www.portlandobserver.net
Volume XX V I111, Number
Black History
Month
McMenamins
Kennedy School
The Mystical Temples
along the Nile
The school is host o f 9th
Annual Festival o f
African Film
BI LK RATE
l .s. POSTAGI
PAID
PORTLAND, OR
PERMIT NO.
1610
L
See Metro, Section B
See Black History Month
University o f Oregon
Knight Library
Newspaper Section
Hugene OR 97403
Bowman to
Receive Elite
Leadership
Award
m essage to staff. “W e continue w ith major
Kay Toran, the state’s child protective
changes that better serve the needs o f our
services d irector since M ay 1994, an
children and fam ilies.”
nounced M onday she plans to retire at the
Toran, 56, was chosen recently to receive
end o f February.
the
U rban League o f Portland’s Equal O p
Toran, w ho joined state governm ent as a
portunity
A w ard for 1999, w hich will be
Portland State U niversity assistant profes
presented
in M arch. D onna Shalala, federal
sor o f social work, said she plans to pursue
health
and
hum an services secretary, last
personal projects. She said she w ants to
sum
m
er
nam
ed T oran to a national advisory
w rite books, and she is expected to con
panel on kinship care.
tinue w orking with SCF through the bal
Toran w as nam ed adm inistrator o f the
ance o f the 1999 legislative session.
O ld C h ild ren ’s Services D ivision in May
“ K ay’s unselfish and energetic com m it
1994, and becam e director o f the State O f
m ent to the welfare o f abused and ne
fice for Services to Children and Fam ilies
glected children means O regon’s kids are
after the d ivision’s nam e and duties changed
better o ff than they w ere five years ago,"
fo llo w in g th e
s a id
G ary
“Kay
*s
unselfish
and
energetic
1995 legislative
W eeks, d i
session.
commitment
to
the
welfare
o
f
abused
rector o f the
Toran holds a
O reg o n D e
and neglected children means
m
aster’s
degree
p a rtm e n t o f
Oregon
’
s
kids
are
better
off
than
they
in
so
c
ial
w ork
H u m an R e
fro
m
P
o
rtla
nd
sources. "B e
were five years ago. ”
State
University
cause
of
-----------
and a b ach elo r’s degree from the U niversity
K ay’s O regon experience and expertise, I
o f Portland.
am asking her to w ork with us through the
SCF has a 1997-99 budget o f nearly $455
end o f the legislative session.”
m illion and a statew ide sta ff o f about 1,580.
W eeks said a decision about selecting a
K ay T o ran ’s Personal C om m ents to the
successor will be made in the com ing weeks.
Portland O bserver: "I leave the agency with
During her nearly five years as the state ’ s
m ixed feelings. Those o f sadness for a staff
top child-protective services adm inistra
that has becom e m uch like family to me -
tor, T oran’s achievem ents included dra
but w ith pleasure in the accom plishm ents
m atically increasing adoption o f foster
w hich the departm ent has m ade in creating a
children into perm anent fam ilies; devel
safety net for our m ost valued resources,
oping com m unity safety nets in local com
'our
children'. I will always be an advocate for
m unities to serve children and teens who
the
protection
and nurturing o f the children
are at risk o f being abused; im proving the
o
f
Oregon.
1
truly
appreciate the support I
d iv isio n ’s response to reports o f child
have
received
over
the years, that has al
abuse and neglect; and strengthening fam i
lowed
m
e
to
place
our
children higher on the
lies so children in state custody can be
conscience
agenda
o
f
all O regonians. "
returned to their biological parents.
“ SCF has m ade trem endous strides over
the last few years," Toran said M onday in a
B i L ee Pt reman
he once-stro n g relatio n sh ip be
tw een the B oise N eighborhood
A sso c ia tio n an d H o u sin g O ur
Fam ilies have undergone a drastic deterio
ration in recent years.
This w as revealed m ost dram atically by
the n eig hborhood’s reaction to the non
profit agen cy ’s latest project, the Fargo
S treet R ow houses, a 10-unit developm ent
on a vacant 19,000 square foot lot at N orth
Fargo Street and K erby A venue, im m edi
ately south o f B oise-E liot School. The three
and four-bedroom units are designed by
architects Jim and M artha A ndrew s, w ould
be built by T hom as D. W alsh, and rented by
H O F to fam ilies earning 60 percent o f
m edian income.
B oise has challenged the project. No
land use approvals are involved, but it is
receiving $361,000 in federal funds, and
B oise has convinced the federal D epart
m ent o f H ousing and U rban D evelopm ent,
and the Portland Bureau o f H ousing and
C om m unity D evelopm ent, to put a tem po
rary hold on the money.
B o ise’s o b jectio n s are tw o-fold: that
T
S ee M ore K ay T oran on page A 8
the neighborhood already has m ore than its
share o f subsidized housing projects; and
that B oise does not trust H O F to m anage
the p roject w ell, based on its recent track
record elsew here.
The second w ould have been unthinkable
tw o years ago. H O F, run by and for w om en,
o n c e h o ste d B o ise m e e tin g s. Its first
project, the rehabilitation o f a fourplex,
w as in B oise and nam ed after longtim e
B oise leader V esia Loving. It w as h ailed as
a savior for turning around the d ru g -in
fested C olonial A partm ents (now the M aya
A ngelou apartm ents). T he tw o g roups have
particip ated together in several co m m u
nity betterm en t projects, including rev ital
ization o f N orth M ississippi A venue. Boise
leaders p articip ated in the d edication o f the
flagship B etty C am pbell B uilding on N orth
M ississip p i A v en u e and S h av er S treet,
w hich houses the ag en cy ’s offices.
M ore recently, how ever, there have been
com plaints o f drug dealing in both the Betty
C am pbell and M aya A ngelou. A cting d irec
tor B arbara W ilier says it took tim e to
legally evict a problem tenant from the
Betty C am pbell, and there has been trouble
$1.7 Trillion Budge?
President Clinton w ill soon release hb $1.7
trillion Federal budget blueprint fix the year
2000. Under this new plan, he hopes to win die
bi-partisan support. His proposal will appeal to
liberal and middle-class constituencies with
his domestic programs and Republicans with
an increase in spending on the military, local
police and small businesses.
Calling On Wltneseee
House prosecutors in the Senate announced
their brief list o f potential witnesses. The three
main ones are Monica S. Lewinsky; Vernon
Jordan, die Washington lawyer who sought a
job as Ms. Lewinsky, and Sidney Blumenthal,
-•>
State Representan veJo AnnB<Twman was named
to the 1999 class o f Fellows at the Flemming
Fellows 1 cadetship Institute, the Center for Policy
Alternaos es recently announced. Representative
Bowman joins a diverse group o f state legislators
from across the country who were chosen tor their
leadership, dedication to public life and civil ser-
\ice and con am tn lent to making go vemment “part
o f the solution" to challenges facing our society .
■ This F ellowship is designed to help stateelected
officials leam to find common ground with un
likely allies in order to make government work,”
said Institute Director J. Wesley W atkins. ‘These
are leaders who will continue to have a significant
impart on ™ibh - nolicv in their official and private
lives.”
This is die fifth class o f Flemming Fellows.
Fellows participate in a series o f retreats held
throughout the year, at which they attend seminars
encouraging creative and progressive problem
solving strategies that can be implemented effec
tively in their districts. Participants focus on how
to develop a public decision-making process, what
role government can effectively play in this pro
cess and how public leaders can help build and act
on public consensus on policy issues.
Kay Toran, Director of the state office for Services to Children & Families
locating the source o f the problem at the
M aya Angelou. She readily adm its that "com
m unication has broken dow n" betw een her
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agency and the Boise Association.
B oise co-chair Chris Brow n is not satis
fied w ith this explaination.
“ T he lock on the front door was broken
for six m onths,” he says. “ People were throw
ing drugs dow n from upstairs w indow s, it
n r”
to » !»
»e 0
5 ÖL
ÎT L <
Jr
BLVE
w as so blatant."
C ontinued T o page A 8
a White House adviser to whom Clinton gave
a false account o f die relationship. The wit
nesses would first testify in private with law
yers before appearing in public.
Presidential Apology
White House lawyers issued a statement o f
regret to Monica Lewinsky from die President
for the disruption to her life and to her family.
Nicole K . Seligman read her an apology for
her ordeal act ass a year o f investigations. For
four hours, Lewinsky underwent questioning
before a group o f Prosecutors at the 10* floor
Presidential Suite o f the Mayflower Hotel
about her alleged affiur with Bill Clinton.
•» * * * * •!•* * •
Airlines Raising Faroe
Large domestic aHhnes, industrywide raised
their fines again. There has not been an across-
the-board increase smee 1997. Usually, fares
have just risen on individual routes. The new
rate increase is expected to bolster industry
revenue by 1.5 percent this year.
Time Warner Joins AT&T
A T & T Corp, and Time Warner Inc. joined
forces to sell local telephone service over
Time Warner’s Minions o f cable television
lines. This new venture oouid provide con
sumers with a good aheraative to die Baby
Bells and G TE Corporation within a few
years. Through this deal, A T & T i
‘
“
Chimpanzee AIDS Carriers
A n international team o f scientists
traced the origin o f the A ID S virus to a
subspecies o f Chimpanzees in A fric a .
that the
was closely
► H IV -1 , the type o f A ID S vires
worldwide,
no«
30 m illion people w ith
■ft
to resi« the A ID S virus w hile the