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Volume XXIX. Number 48
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T U B WEEK
I n t in
REVIEW
Suspect Charged in Church
Attack
LONDON - A man was charged with
attempted murder today after police said
he storm ed naked through a Roman
C atholic M ass in a sw ord-w ielding
rampage, injuring 11 people. Eden Strang,
26, was charged with attempting to kill
Paul Chilton, 50.
Y 2K F ears M ay B ring
More Glitches
NEW YORK - Many government and
business leaders are concerned about last
minute stockpiling during the year’s final
weeks. Such moves repeated the world
over could create bigger problems than
computer bugs themselves. They say.
Some 55 percent o f Americans plan to
withdraw from two to six weeks o f cash in
preparation for2000.
Judge Imposes Restrictions
on IBF
NEWARK, N J- Federal prosecutors today
moved a step closer to achieving a court
takeover ofthe IBF, one ofboxing’s major
governing bodies. A federal judge
imposed spending restrictions on the IBF
and barred its leaders from concealing
funds or destroying records. The action
stems from a racketeering indictment and
a lawsuit brought against IBF president
Robert Lee Sr., accusing him and others of
taking $338,000 in bribes.
President Signs Fiscal 2000
Budget
W ASHINGTON- President Clinton today
signed a $390 billion budget package he
says represents “ real p ro g ress” for
A m erican fam ilies. The o m n ib u s­
spending bill includes for more teachers
and police officers and money to pay U.N.
dues and protect more sensitive lands
from development.
Urban League chooses new interim director
CONTRI Bl TEDSTORY
for T he
P ortland O bserver
Former State Representative Margaret Carter
becam e interim president/C E O o f the
embattled Urban League ofPortland last week.
Carter, who also is running for the Oregon
State Senate, was selected as the interim
director o f the 54-year-old organization out o f
about 20 candidates. Carter, 63, said she
believes she can help the organization get
back on solid ground.
In October, former Urban League President/
CEO Law rence Dark resigned after a
Multnomah County review raised questions
about the agency’s handling o f public and
private money under Dark ’ s leadership. A sa
result o f the questions raised, Multnomah
County stopped payments on a $1 million
contractto the Urban League. Worksystems,
one o f the league’s largest funders, also
canceled its contract and the United Way o f
the C o lum bia-W illam ette halted their
payments, too.
With questions of credibility, financial stability
and trust lingering, Urban League Board
Chairman Duane Bosworth said Carter was
chosen for her ability to communicate with
the community. Carter said her goal is to
spread the word that the Urban League is a
viable organization committed to serving this
community.
Carter, a Portland Democrat, served 14 years
in the Oregon Legislature as representative of
House District 18. But term limits prevented
her from running for the position again. She
unsuccessfully made a bid for the state
schools superintendent. But she is not likely
to face stiff opposition in her run for the state
Senate. If she wins, Carter would lead Oregon
Senate District 18, which represents North
and Northeast Portland.
C a rte r said she sees no p ro b le m in
campaigning while she is interim director. She
said the Legislature does not convene again
until January 2001.
Carter, who says she has devoted her lifetime
to families and community, started her career
as a music teacher in rural schools. She earned
d eg rees in elem en tary edu catio n and
education psychology. She was a teacher
and counselor for more than 25 years at
Portland Community College. She helped
thousands o f students at PCC find the right
career path. As a state representative, she
CONTRIBUTED STORY
for T he
helped create apermanent Head State program
in Oregon. She helped found the Oregon
Youth Conservation Corps and was a chief
SEATTLE - Police delayed for two hours
the opening o f the convention center
where the World Trade Organization plans
to hold a conference. Wto spokesman
Han-Peter W erner told reporters milling
around outside the building that someone
has tried to break in overnight, and the
Secret Service was conducting another
security sweep.
Maine Could Be Next With
Doctors Assisted Suicide
Christmas Tree Season In
Swing
PORTLAND, OR - Oregonians may still
be tossing out jack-o-lantem s. But
Christmas season is here for Christmas
tree growers. Oregon is the largest
producer o f Christmas tree in the U. S. The
state’s licensed tree growers expect to
harvest eight-point-five million trees this
year.
■ /
sponsor o f the Oregon Workforce 2000 Act,
bringing technology learning centers into
Oregon communities.
TLC’s top-rated shows trauma: life in the E. R. and paramedics
photoby
M ark W ashincton
To feature local
Portland heroes
Legacy Emanuel H ospital Featured on
Trauma: Life In The E.R. on December 7
A merican M edical Response Northwest
Featured on Paramedics on December 6
Have your ever seen the inside o f a Portland
emergency room? Or captured the roller­
coaster ride o f medical crises on Portland’s
streets and highways? Emergency rooms and
P ortland O bserv er
The N a tio n a l A sso c ia tio n for the
Advancement ofColored People (NAACP0,
under the leadership o f Kweisi Mfume,
President and CEO, convened a public hearing
today to examine the pattern o f discriminatory
treatment by the television industry against
African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos,
WTO Activities Delayed
PORTLAND, MI - Maine could be the
second state in the nation to legalize
doctor-assisted suicide. The secretary o f
state in Maine has certified an initiative for
the two thousand ballots. The proposal -
dubbed the Maine Death With Dignity
A ct - is similar to Oregon’s assisted
suicide law.
NAACP looks
into denial of
opportunity in
tv Industry
emergency medical services harbor more
drama-per-minute than most places. TLC’s
Trauma: Life In The E.R. and Paramedics take
viewers behind the scenes at Legacy Emanuel
Hospital and American Medical Response
Northwest to capture the life and death
urgency inside the real world o f emergency
medicine.
Trauma: Life In The E.R. offers tense, on-the-
scene dramas filmed at Legacy Emanuel
Hospital’s level one trauma center. The Long
Haul airs Tuesday. December 7 from 8-9 PM
(PT) and features a road worker struck by a
reckless driver; a
heroin overdose; a
logging accident
thatclaim sam an's
leg; a 7-month old
who suffers a head
injury; and a nurse
who is the victim
o f an overdose.
A cto r
M ike
M cG lone (T he
B r o th e r s
McMullen, She’s
The One) narrates
the Trauma: Life In
The E.R. series.
P a ra m e d ic s
plunges into the
liv e s
of
the
p a ram ed ic and
re sc u e u n its o f
American Medical
R e sp o n se
N o rth w e s t.
Portland Pioneers
p re m ie re s
M o n d a y ,
December 6 from 8-9 PM (PT) and documents
the everyday traum a and tragedy on
Portland's streets. A woman is trapped in her
car after a motor vehicle accident; a man
suffers from u n e x p lain ed seizu res; a
churchgoer collapses during services; a
woman experiences a severe allergic reaction
to antibiotics; a traveler has a severe heart
attack at the airport; and young women is
beaten during the course o f a robbery - and
the param edics o f A m erican M edical
Response Northwest are always first on the
scene.
Native Americans and other minorities.
M fume said, “The hearings today are
designed, not so much to determine whether
or not there continues to be a severe problem
with respect to equal opportunity in network
television, but rather to develop a public
record on why the denial o f opportunity for
people o f color continues to go virtually
unabated.”
The probe is a part ofthe NAACP’s ongoing
investigation o f diversity at the major TV
networks, ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX. It was
highlighted by testimony from CBS Television
CEO Leslie Moonves, the only network
president to attend the hearing.
Actors Blair Underwood (City O f Angels,
L.A . L aw ), A p esanahkw at (N orthern
Exposure), actresses Ann M ane Johnson
(JAG,In TheHeatoftheNight),Erika Alexander
(C osby, Living Single), and producer/director
Yvette Lee Bowser (Living Single) presented
their personal testimony.
Former Congressman Esteban Torres of the
National Hispanic Media Coalition, Sonny
Skyhawk, Executive Director o f American
Indians in Film and Television and Karen
Narasaki, Executive Director ofthe National
Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium
joined Mfume and the NAACP’s General
Counsel Dennis Hayes, and Assistant General
Counsel Debbie Liu as the panel officers who
queried the guest witnesses about experience
and/or perceptions o f the industry.
The seven-hour public hearing drew a crowd
in the Westside Room of the Century Plaza
Hotel & Tower in Los Angeles, California.
Also on hand to testify were industry insiders
re p re se n tin g m an ag em en t and talent
agencies, network executives, civil rights,
advocacy, actor and writer guilds and trade
unions.
Unable to testify at the originally scheduled
time, representatives from ABC, NBC and
FOX left the hearing without testifying
Mfume said, “We tried to rearrange the
sc h e d u le to h e a r from the netw ork
representatives, but time did not allow. They
can’t treat this like a drive-by hearing. Stop
two or three hours and then move on.
“We have made every attempt to meet the
four major networks more than halfway on
this issue o f diversity, but there is a limit to
even the NAACP’s patience. This issue will
not disappear and this movement will not go
away,’’ said M fume who brought this problem
to the forefront last summer after lambasting
the fall prime-time lineups forexcludingpeople
ofcolor from starting or leading roles in the 26
new shows. The NAACP has monitored the
opportunities o f African Americans in the
television industry since 1951.
Kweisi Mfume
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