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Committed to Cultural Diversity
www.theportlandobserver.com
December 15, 1999
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Winter Break
Break, many youth-serving organizations will
The Police Activities League (PAL) Youth
Center at 424 NE 172nd will be open to youth
ages eight through high school for recreation,
sports, arts & crafts, movies, reading, and
special classes, December 2 0 ,2 1 ,2 ,2 3 ,2 7 ,2 8 ,
29, 30, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. cost is $20 for a
youth membership which lasts through June 9,
2000; or free to PAL members.
B
Freight train derailment causes Steel Bridge fire
When schools close their doors for Winter
open their doors to keep kids active and involved.
SECTION
A freight train derailed near the Steel Bridge
T uesday evening, breaking a natual gas line
and causing a m assive fire on the historical
bridge that halted late night traffic.
The train was traveling w estbound toward
U nion Station at about 8 :50 p.m. when it went
o ff the tracks and hit a gas pipeline near the
bridge, said Neil H eesacker, a spokesm an for
the Portland Fire Bureau.
Firefighters sprayed w ater from the river and
above on the flam es that shot about 50 feet
into the air.
A spokesm an for the N orthw est Natural G as
said a train car fell on a gas regulator and the
valve broke.
H e also said the dow ntow n post office on
H oyt had been the only gas customer impacted
by the fire at about 10:30 p.m.
Firefighters continued to douse the bridge
w ith w ater throughout the night because o f
the fact that when steel reaches 1,000 degrees,
it loses about 90 percent o f its strength,
H eesacker said.
Holiday Luncheon
You are invited to join us for a “Holiday
Partnerings building
better communities
Luncheon” on Saturday, December 18 at
Shenanigan's Restaurant, located at 4575 N.
Channel at 11 a.m. The special guest speaker
will be Prophetess Pat Hyche o f Seattle,
Washington. Donation amount is $25. The
event is sponsored by the Kings Temple
Christian Center Pastor Sam Bailey. For further
information, please call 503/287-5177.
Parents root of nations ills not
children, SEI president says
PlQ.VitJPuriES
Christmas Fantasy Trail
Take a walk through a lighted, wooded trail
decorated with thousands o f lights. We have an
assortment o f Christmas trees, cedar boughs,
swags and holly are for sale. Refreshments are
available. Open from 6 to 9 p.m., Mondays
through Saturdays at Wenzel Farm, 19754
South Ridge Road, Oregon City. Admission
costs are adults $3, ages 12 and younger $2.
Oregon Tradeswomen
The next meeting of the Oregon Tradeswomen
Network is scheduled for Thursday, December
16, 1999 at 6 p.m. at the State Office Building,
800 NE Oregon St., room 120. This month’s
topic will be “From Junk to Jewelry”. Create
some unique gifts from hardware and electronic
parts. Childcare is provided at no cost and
everyone is welcome. The meetings are free and
no pre-registration is required. For more
information, call 503/943-2228.
ZooLights Festival
The ZooLights Festival at the Oregon Zoo, a
Nike opened its Factory store on
Northeast. Martin Luther King Jr.
Boulevard last Wednesday just in time for
Christmas and just in time to coincide
with a "Community Volunteer Day, "
which was held on the same day.
Trailblazers Scottie Pippen and Damon
Metro facility, runs every evening through
January 2, except December 24 and 25.
Christmas Tree
Recycling
Metro will help recycle about 50,000 trees this
year. It will have the master list of the Scout
groups and other n o n p ro fit com m unity
organizations that recycle trees as a way to raise
funds. Area-specific lists will be available soon
for publication. Trees can be recycled through
curbside yard debris programs and at local yard
debris processing businesses. Metro can assist
with information on recycling other after­
holiday stuff ranging from packing peanuts to
cardboard. Contact Judy Miller at 503/797-
1503.
Winterizing the
Chinese Way
Leam to winterize the Chinese Way with winter
herbal tonics and other tips for staying healthy
Stoudamire, along with Houston Comets'
Cynthia Cooper joined in the opening
celebration and the volunteer day.
Volunteers o f America Oregon, Nike and
Hands On Portland came together to
implement the volunteer day.
More than 600 Nike employees teamed up
with the agencies to complete a variety o f
community projects.
Volunteers o f America solicited
community projects from local schools
social service organizations. More than
30 social service agencies in need o f
volunteer help submitted projects,
including the Ronald McDonald House,
Robert Gray Middle School, FISH
Emergency Services. Common Bond.
Vision Northwest, Loaves & Fishes,
Community Action Organization,
Neighborhood House and the Children's
Club.
"We applaud Nike fo r making
volunteering and community involvement
part o f their culture, ” says Kay Toran,
president and CEO o f Volunteers o f
America Oregon.
School shootings.
Gang violence.
D rugs and disrespect.
M any people say America has a problem with
its youth today. But Tony H opson, president
o f Self-Enhancem ent Inc., said it’s not the
young people w ith the problem . It’s the
nation’s adults.
“I f they (youths) are doing w rong, they have
seen an adult doing w rong,” H opson said.
“They leam from w hat they s e e .... If we w ant
our kids to do the right thing, w e need to love
them and they need to see that w e are doing
the right thing.”
T he B lack U n ited F und o f
Oregon honored H opson this
m o n th fo r h is u n w a v e rin g
com mitm ent to Portland’s youth
and his com m unity. H opson
re c e iv e d th e B lac k U n ite d
Fund’s L egacy A w ard at the
organization’s Fourth A nnual
Com munity U nity Banquet held
at th e P o r tla n d H ilto n in
d o w n to w n . A s a trib u te to
Hopson and other awardees, the
Black U nited Fund dedicated
the banquet to the com m unity ’ s
youth.
Throughout the dinner, youths
show cased
th e ir ta le n ts
through so u lfu l ballads, tap
dance and speeches as w ays to
pay hom age to the com m unity
le a d e rs a n d H o p so n , w h o
m entored several o f them.
H o p so n , a P o rtlan d n ativ e,
s ta rte d S E I in 1981, as a
weeklong summ er camp for high
school students. The cam p
served 80 students. Since then,
SEI has expanded to serve more
than 1,200 students and was
recognized as a Point o f Light by former
President G eorge Bush.
But H opson, w ho does not w ork one-on-one
w ith youths as he once did, wa.- quick not to
take all the credit for S E I’s success. “There
are a lot o f people w ho have their hands in the
work. T here are m any in the SEI family,”
H opson said. “ I w ill never accept an award
w ithout putting them first.”
R e p re s e n ta tiv e s fro m U S B a n k an d
PacificCorp received the agency’s Unity
A w ard and three Portland high school seniors
each receiv ed $1,000 scholarships. The
scholarship recipients were Roderick Edwards
o f Jefferson High School, Crystal Roberts o f
Roosevelt High School and Sadiki Stone o f
Jefferson H igh School.
Rosemont to be converted to senior housing units
with Chinese medicine. The Oregon College o f
Oriental Medicine will present ways to stay
healthy during this rainy, cold winter in Portland
by Hong Jin, Dean o f Faculty at the college on
Wednesday, December 8 from 6:30 - 8 p.m.
The cost is $5 for Garden Society members and
$10 for non-members. For more information,
call Melissa at 253-3443, ext.204.
The Heathman Lodge
There’s no better place in Vancouver to visit
with Santa than The Heathman Lodge. In addition
to experiencing the magic of the hotel’s one-of-
a-kind decorations, kids o f all ages can enjoy
FREE hot chocolate and cookies and pose for
a photo with a very special “Celebrity Santa.”
Through December 17, the Lodge will turn the
annual tradition o f visiting with Santa into a
way to support important programs funded by
SWIFT. For a suggested $2 donation, kids and
families can sit with Santa and pose for a
keepsake photo. “Celebrity Santas" will be on
site each evening from 5:30 to 7 p.m. All
proceeds will be donated to SWIFT. Call 503/
221-0480.
A consortium headed by W alsh Construction
C om pany has been selected to redevelop the
form er R osem ont School Property.
W alsh w as selected from among four finalists
last w eek by a com m ittee o f neighborhood
representatives and city officials, according
to B a ru ti A rth u re e o f th e P o rtla n d
D evelopm ent Com m ission. PDC will now
enter into negotiations w ith W alsh on a
contract for the project, A rthuree says.
W alsh proposes to convert the p roperty’s
historic convent into 100 senior housing units,
plus som e m arket rate rental housing. On the
rest o fth e 7.5 acre form erCatholic girls school
at 597 N. D ekum S t., he will build 31 market-
rate hom es designed by A ndrews A rchitects
plus som e below m arket rate rentals. HO ST
C om m unity D evelopm ent, and Habitat for
H um anity, will each build another 10 homes
for first-tim e hom e ow ners at below m arket
rates. Innovative H ousing Inc. will m anage
the rentals.
“ I’m really pleased with this proposal,” Tom
■HV
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M IS U H V F
Markgraf, a representative and former chair o f
the Piedmont N eighborhood Association told
the Observer. “It has m ore quality housing, o f
th e q u a lity th a t a lre a d y e x is ts in the
neighborhood, than I w ould have thought
possible. W e w anted a mix o f incom es and a
mix o f developers, so that the w hole thing
d id n ’t look like a project. W alsh ’s houses are
o f such high quality, o f the kind that I would
w ant to m ove into, yet he m anages to sell them
for$ 120-$130,000."
M arkgraf had at one point been a vocal critic
o f PDC plans to develop the property for low-
incom e housing, and had tried to prom ote its
use as a satellite cam pus by the LaSalle
C atholic High School o f M ilwaukie. Earlier
th is m o n th , L aS alle a n n o u n c e d it w as
establishing such a cam pus at the former
Q ueen o f Peace school on N orth Delaware
A venue.
The former V illa Saint Rose property has been
v acan t sin ce the R o sem o n t S chool for
delinquent girls left in 1987. A bid by the non­
p ro fit ag e n cy C entral C ity C o n cern to
red ev elo p the p roperty for low -incom e
housing met with strong opposition from
Piedmont. C CC sold its option to purchase to
PDC.
Tom W alsh, ow ner o f W alsh Construction,
said he was attracted to the project by the
“unique partnership” betw een Piedm ont and
the c ity, its cal 1 for a m ix ture o f incomes as part
o f the developm ent, and the chance to utilize
the historic convent.
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