Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, March 29, 2000, Image 1

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    \o liiin e XXX. Num ber 13
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C om m itted to C ultural Diversity
Crimestoppers
and you
See The Focus
Miracle
Theatre and
See Inside
See El
Observador
® foe
Bulk Rate
U.S. Postage
Ebony fashion
show hits
Portland
El Paso Blue i
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March 29, 2(100
RAID
Portland, OR
Permit No. 1610
University o f Oregon
Knight Library
Newspaper Section
Eugene OR 97403
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■H M M HSH M i
Seattle's Kingdome is a thing of the past
A ssociated P ress
O ne m inute the K ingdom e w as there,
all 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 h u lk in g to n so fit.
Then it w as gone.
Sparks flickered across the ro o f as
21.6milesofdemolitioncordexploded,
setting o ff a series o f blasts that
knocked dow n the support posts and
collapsed the dome.
The 25,000-ton roof settled tidily onto
the ground Sunday like a doily _
distinctive ribs still visible _ as dust
from the blast blew north.
“ It’s a sham e. It w as a good-looking
building,” said Steve A lbert, 46, o f
Seattle, w ho w atched from nearby
Pike Place M arket. “ It did n ’t seem
that old as buildings went. It’s a
w aste.”
It took 16.8 seconds to im plode the
2 4 - y e a r- o ld K in g d o m e , w h ic h
brought professional football and
baseball to Seattle. T he dem olition
m akes room for a new $430 million
football-soccer stadium ju st south o f
the Seattle M ariners’ brand-new $517
m illion arena in Pioneer Square.
Tens o f thousands o f people gathered
to watch from hillsides, inoffice-tower
parties, and in boats o f all description
b o b b in g o f f th e d o w n to w n
waterfront.
“ It ju st happened so fast. Everyone
started clapping. T hey w ere ju st
gasping and yelling and clapping,”
said Susan Clark, one o f about 130
people who w atched the im plosion at
a$250-a-headftindraiserfrom the 11th
floor o f a nearby building.
Vibration from th ecollapse_gauged
by seismic experts from the University
o f W a s h in g to n a n d th e U .S .
Geological Survey _ w as less than
expected and w ell below allow able
lim its , s a id
M a ry la n d - b a s e d
Controlled D em olition Inc.’s Mark
Loizeau.
Some w indow s in nearby b uildings_
draped in fabric to protect them _
were shattered by the concussion as
68 million cubic feet o f air inside the
dome was displaced.
“I’m going to m iss the K ingdom e,”
Left: Sept. 21, 1974: Viewed from the side, the Dome 's
fam iliar curved lines are already visible. Photo by the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Above: The Kingdome implodes
Sunday, March 26. 2000, in Seattle. The Kingdome, which
went from engineering marvel to anachronistic eyesore in
ju st 24 years, was demolished in a controlled implosion
Sunday to make room fo r a new, more expensive stadium.
Photo by Stevan Morgain. Right: A closer-up view o f the
D om e’s remains on March 26, 2000. Photo by Paul
Kitagaki Jr./Seattle Post-Intelligencer
(Please see 'D o m e ' p ag e 5)
Census Bureau battling in Oregon to get accurate head count
A ssociai id P ress
The Census Bureau is struggling in
some places in O regon to get its head
count for 2000 and start o ff the new
century with a better idea o f w ho lives
in this state.
Some people consider the Census
2000 questionnaire an invasion o f
privacy w hile others, such as migrant
farm workers, m istakenly fear the
in fo rm atio n w ill b e g iv e n to
immigration authorities.
Gordon Morris, 65, a retired computer
analyst, says he received the long
version o f the questionnaire, but h e’s
only filling in his nam e, age and race.
H e’ll leave the other 50 questions
blank.
“ It’s noneo fth eir business how much
I m ake," M orris said, referring to
questions about income. “T hey can
go ahead and com e to my
door _ I still w o n ’t tell
them .”
T he num ber o f so-called
“ n o n resp o n d e n ts,” w ho
for various reasons d o n ’t
return their census forms,
nearly doubled during the
past three census takings,
from 22 percent in 1.970 to
35 percent in 1990, officials
say.
Census
Thursday
M osjjy
1
65°F/17°C
44°F /6°C
Sunday r
Show ers
Inside-A
W eek in Review......................2
55°F/13°C Saturday
Scattered
3 9 °F /3 °t
Show ers
M ^ tiy
2000
70°F/20°C
42OF/5°C
M ostly
cloudy
Through the weekend
Today
The last census already had problem s
enough. It failed to count m ore than
7,500 H ispanics in O regon _ and
thousands m ore Asians, Indians and
blacks.
T h e m a jo r ity o f th e
u n d erc o u n ted in O reg o n ,
how ever, w ere m igrant farm
w orkers, the hom eless and
children, said Sam Davila,
outreach coordinator for the
Census Bureau in Salem.
O fficials estim ate that those
n o t co u n ted in th e 1990
census caused the state to
lose $162 m illion _ m oney
w hich could have funded
^ ^ U n ite d States
Friday
W eather
During the last census in 1990, groups
su c h a s th e V o lu n ta ry C e n su s
C om m ittee prom ised to bum their
form s instead o f taking part in the
governm ent tally.
64°F /17°C
39°F /3°C
F ■ 'F * F
• • . • • 1 » • • •
60°F /15°C
38°F /3°C
Arrest made in 1982
homicide...................................2
Allergy season is on its
way............................*............. 3
Spring cleaning the health smart
way............................................ 5
everything from new schools to job
placem ent programs.
“There is a lot o f concern,” said
Ramon Ramirez, a farm w orker union
spokesman. “ I’ve talked to a lot o f
people. The concern is im m igration.
The concern is the confidentiality."
T o com bat the fears o f m igrant
w orkers, the Census B ureau has
joined with the farm w orker union,
health care providers, social service
agencies, Spanish language radio
networks and religious organizations
to assure people the census forms are
strictly confidential
Randy Hil.Ierbrand. who heads the
Salem census office, said Eugene may
Metro-B
DePriest exemplifies excellence
towards music........................ 1
Urban renewal program draws
debates................................... 1
Urban gospel shows its
strengths.................................. 3
El O bservador.........................4
suffer less accurate census reporting
because o f its anarchist com m unity.
Incom plete or unretum ed form s also
are likely to be a worse problem among
the one in six people w ho receive the
long form, he said.
By not m ailing in census forms,
O regonians throw aw ay thousands
o f state and federal dollars each year,
H ilderbrandsaid.
Salem alone m issed out on funding
for two schools and 39 teachers as a
result o f the undercount from the
1990 census, he said.
Still, several radio talk show hosts
(Please see 'C e n s u s ' p ag e 5)
This Week
in History y
On March 29, 1973. the last United States
troops left South Vietnam, ending Am erica's
direct military involvement in the Vietnam
War.
On March 30, 1981, President Reagan was
shot and serio u sly injured outside a
Washington. D C. hotel by John W Hinckley
Jr. Also wounded were White House press
secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent
and a District of Columbia police officer.
On April 4. 1968, civil rights leader Martin
l.uther King Jr., 39. was shot to death in
Memphis. Tenn
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