\o h iiiie \ \ X . Num ber 14
C om m itted to C u ltu ra l Diversity
w yy yy.portlandobseryer.com
50
A p ril 5, 2000
See Focus
See Metro
Bulk Rate
Chinese
gardens
raises the
roof
U.S. Postage
Special housing
issue inside
PAID
Portland, OR
Permit No. 1610
, ^ " ' W e r Sec„ .
-
I
'V
E “S ene OR , 74™
orthino Owseruer
■■■■■■■■■■ ,-ae,-awa
■■■■■■■■■■■H I
Katz, with cancer, urges women to get breast exams
• Portland’s mayor says her experience is a
victory and plans to slow her schedule only
a little during radiation treatments
ASSOClAIifiPjSiSS
Portland Mayor Vera Katz announced
Monday that she has been diagnosed
with breast cancer and appears to
have beaten it.
She said her prognosis is a victory for
routine mammography screenings
and early detection.
The 66-year-old mayor, who still plans
to run for a third term and maintain a
busy schedule, had a lumpectomy
» March 16 to remove cancerous tissue.
She will undergo six w eeks o f
radiation therapy beginning in two or
three weeks.
But Katz and her doctor, Nathalie
Johnson, said at a news conference
Monday that they think the cancer is
gone, more than a year after doctors
first found a lump in the mayor’s
b re a st as p art o f a ro u tin e
mammography screening.
The radiation treatment is designed
to kill any undetected remnant and to
prevent a recurrence, K atz and
Johnson said.
“Today, after all these months, I can
comfortably stand before you and
say 1 had cancer, and now 1 can go on
with my life,” Katz said.
“I expect her to be around for years
from now and doing well,” Johnson
said with a smile.
The mayor and her doctor said they ’ re
h o p in g
th a t K a tz ’s p u b lic
announcement will spurother women
to sch ed u le m am m ogram s and
conduct breast self-exams.
“She’s really a testament to the fact
that early detection and screening
mammograms can make a world o f
difference in breast cancer,” Johnson
said. “We were able to find this, and
find it very early.”
Johnson first found a small lump in
Katz’s breast a year ago as part o f a
routine mammography screening. Six
months,later, the lump had grown,
and Johnson scheduled a surgical
biopsy for the end o f February.
During that biopsy, Johnson removed
the lump and some nearby tissue that
she said looked suspicious to her.
The lump turned out to be harmless,
but tests indicated cancer in the
nearby tissue. On March 16, Johnson
removed those cells and enough o f
the surrounding cells to give Katz a
clear prognosis.
The cancer in the surrounding cells
probably was not related to the lump.
“After all these
m onths, I can
c o m f o r t a b ly
stand before you
and say I had
cancer, and now
I can go on with
my life, ” Mayor
Vera Katz said.
But Johnson said going after the lump
led her to find the cancerous cells.
“We got lucky,” Johnson said.
C ancer
c o n fin e d
Fortunately for Katz, the cancer was
confined to milk ducts and had not
spread into surrounding fatty tissue.
That type o f breast cancer — ductal
carcinoma in situ — is the most
common form o f noninvasive breast
cancer. Nearly 100 percent o f women
diagnosed in this early stage ofbreast
cancer can be cured, according to the
American Cancer Society.
Depending on how aggressive it is, it
can take ductal carcinoma in situ
anywhere from six months to three or
four years to break through duct
m em branes and start spreading
throughout the body.
Johnson said the cancer probably
would have been found by Katz’s
next mammogram, the most reliable
detection method because K atz’s
type o f cancer usually is too small for
a physician or a self-exam to find.
W ith m ore w om en g e ttin g
mammograms each year, diagnosis
ofductal carcinoma in situ is becoming
much more common, experts say.
Katz says she is a very private person,
and that description has been borne
out in her reluctance to talk about
biographical details, from her family’s
flight from the Nazis when she was a
child to her life as a single woman in
Northwest Portland.
The two-term mayor kept the details
ofhertreatment from most ofher staff
until a m onth ago, when tests
indicated cancer. She asked her staff
to keep her condition secret, and no
one else at City Hall appears to have
know n a b o u t her co n d itio n
beforehand. She informed council
m em bers ju st before th e new s
conference.
K atz’s son, Jesse, a new spaper
reporter in Los Angeles, encouraged
her to make her condition public for
the educational value to women. “He
said, ‘You have an obligation,’ and I
concurred with that,” Katz said.
The decision by Virginia Beach Mayor
Meyera Obemdorf, a breast cancer
survivor, to go public helped, too,
Katz said. Obem dorf is drawing on
her experience to push for expanded
(Please see ’Katz’ page 5)
Software giant's verdict creates mixed reactions
A ssociated P ress
A federal ju d g e ’s harsh antitrust
verdict against Microsoft Corp, is
almost certain to unleash a costly
wave o f consumer lawsuits against
the software maker. Legal experts say
the threat could deal Microsoft a
lasting legal blow even if the company
ultimately prevails against the U.S.
government.
Microsoft already faces 120 private
federal and state lawsuits brought
since last November, when U.S.
D istrict Judge Thom as Penfield
Jackson found Microsoft repeatedly
engaged in anticompetitive behavior
by taking advantage o f its monopoly
p o w e r in c o m p u te r o p e ra tin g
software.
But M onday’s verdict by Judge
- Ja c k so n p ro v id e s fresh legal
ammunition for lawyers pursuing
these private cases on behalf o f
• computerbuyers whoclaim Microsoft
exploited its software monopoly to
o v e rc h a rg e fo r th e W indow s
operating system.
The decision essentially affirms last
N o v e m b e r’s stro n g ly w o rd ed
findings, placing them into the
permanent legal record. It brands
Microsoft a lawbreaker that violated
the Sherm an A ntitrust Act and
ab u se d its o p e ra tin g sy stem
d o m in a n c e to m o n o p o liz e the
software market.
Legal experts said that frees private
lawyers from a difficult burden of
proof, giving them more leeway to
pursue potentially billions of dollars
in damages in both federal and state
cases.
Importantly, the judge found that
Microsoft could be liable under state
Justice D epartm ent official who
negotiated with Microsoft in a related
1994 case and now w orks for the
Brookings Institute think tank.
“All they will say is, ‘Look, the court
has already found that M icrosoft
violated the law,” ’ he said.
Microsoft officials suggested that
any immediate impact from the verdict
will be minimal, saying they will
forcefully pursue an appeal and that
the com pany w ill c o n tin u e to
aggressively develop and sell new
software technologies.
“ I t’s im p o rta n t fo r p e o p le to
understand that today’s court ruling
is just one step in a legal process that
could last several years,” Microsoft
lead counsel Bill Neukom said in a
statement.
“The ruling does not change the
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, left, and president and CEO Steve Ballmer address members o f the media at a news conference
Monday, April 3, 2000 in Redmond. Wash. Microsoft said that it plans to appeal a ruling earlier Monday bv U.S. District Judge
Thomas Penfield Jackson. Photo by Associated Press
anticompetition laws, easing the way
for plaintiffs in state suits to broadly
Friday
W eather
Today
Mostly
cloudy
53°F/11°C Saturday
Scattered
43°F /5°C
Showers
Mostly
cloudy
Thursday
59°F/14°C
41°F /4°C
M ostly
cloudy
J
Sunday
Showers
apply findings from the U.S. antitrust
case.
“This is a manna from heaven for the
private plaintiffs because it basically
Inside-A
Week in Review................... 2
should eliminate a lot o f their need for
proof,” said Robert Litan, a former
Metro-B
Chinese gardens raises the
Smith and Wesson agreement a roof.......................................... . 1
good but short step.................2 PDC facilitates housing
Steps taken to improve minority rehab........................................ 1
interest in health care................3 Preachers make the move to
Recommenmdation nears on
gospel singing.......................... 4
interstate corridor..................... 5 El Observador....................... 5
challenges and opportunities before
us,” Microsoft chiefexecutive Steve
Ballmer told reporters. “I intend to
talk to many o f key customers ... to
assure them” the ruling w on't slow
M icrosoft’s development and sale of
new products.
Indeed, private lawyers, who are
seeking to consolidate the federal
cases as they seek class-action status,
still face a high hurdle proving any
Microsoft overcharges to the vast
majority o f consumers. Most people
buy the Windows operating system
indirectly as part of a software bundle
that comes with a new computer.
It’s easier to calculate overcharges
for people who bought softw are
upgrades. Judge Jackson, in his initial
finding, cites M icrosoft's own study
to show that its monopoly power
gave it substantial discretion to raise
(Please see 'Microsoft' page 5)
This Week
in History
On April 7, 1712 Nine whiles were killed in a
slave revolt in New Y o rk City. Planned by 27
slaves, the rebellion was begun by setting fire to
an outhouse; as whites came to put the fire out,
there were shot The state m ilitia was called out
to capture the rebels and the city o f New Y o rk
responded to the event by strengthening its slave
codes 21 Blacks were executed as participants,
and P aliened committed suicide.
On A p ril9 , 1 \ \ Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee
surrendered his army to Union Gen. U lysses S
Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
I
I