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Permit No. 1«10
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University of Oregon
Knight Library
Newspaper Section
Eugene OR 97403
Volume XXX.
Num ber 22
wwvv.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Established in 1970
Wednesday
BELFAST, N orthern Ireland - N orthern
Ireland regained a m easure o f self-rule,
giv in g th e p ro v in c e ’s P rotestan t and
Catholic leaders another chance to achieve
a lasting peace. B ritain handed back
pow ers to the four-party C abinet and the
A ssem bly created as part o f a landm ark
1998 peace agreem ent that envisioned a
C atholic-Protestant adm inistration.
P utin W an ts to R ein in
R egions
H ija ck er S u sp e c t’s B ody
Found
M A N ILA , Philippines - A crying man
tried to hijack a Philippine A irlines je t
carrying 291 people, then robbed everyone
and jum ped out o f the plane w earing a
hom em ade parachute. He died in thejum p
and his body w as found later in the day in
the town o f Real, Q uezon province, about
40 m iles east o f M anila, radio reports said.
A rm ed with a grenade and a pistol, the man
- w ho had d o n n ed a ski m ask and
sw im m ing goggles - ordered the pilot o f
PAL Flight P R 8 12 to return to D avao City
in the southern Philippines.
AssflciAitiiPBtss
U.S. Suprem e Court Justice Sandra D ay
O ’C onnor rejected an em ergency request to
delay O reg o n ’s 1998 adoption records law
from going into effect, clearing the w ay for
th o u sa n d s o f a d o p tee s to find o u t th e
identities o f their birth parents.
T he law took effect at 5:01 p.m. Tuesday.
O ’C o n n o r’s decision not to intervene was
w elcom ed by O regon adoptees w ho have
spent years trying to track down their birth
parents but have been thw arted because their
birth records have been kept sealed under
state law.
“ 1 was so frustrated by thejudicial system and
w hat I perceived as the unfairness o f the law,”
said 56-year-old Barry Price o f Albany.
But Frank Hunsaker, attorney for a group o f
six anonym ous birth mothers who had fought
the law in court over the past tw o years, was
not pleased.
"M y clients are extrem ely dissappointed and
scared and even angry that their rights have
b een ig n o re d by O re g o n ’s v o te rs and
O re g o n ’s c o u rts,” H u n sak er said in an
interview on K X L-A M radio in Portland.
The anonym ous birth mothers had argued
the 1998 law violates their privacy, and is a
breach o f w hat they had assum ed w ere
guarantees o f confidentiality w hen they gave
their children up for adoption.
"1 think it’s a sad day that this m easure is
E. coli O utbreak in Canada
Kills Four
MF.TULLA, Israel the last Israeli troops
and tanks rolled out o f Lebanon at dawn,
com pleting a sw ift and dram atic pullout
from the southern zone Israel occupied for
nearly tw o decades and closing one o f the
m ost bitterly divisive chapters in the
nation's history. In Israel, relief over the
safecom pletion o f the hasty and hazardous
w ithdraw al was tem pered by sadness over
the long conflict, w hich had cost the lives
o f more than 950 Israeli soldiers since 1982.
(Please see 'A doption' page 6)
The unveiling o f the fin a l stage o f
interpretive signage commemorating
Vanport, Oregon's second-largest
city in 1944, which was destroyed by
the Memorial Day flo o d o f 1948 was
held on May 30, 2000 at Heron
Lakes G olf Course Clubhouse. This
project was a collaborative effort by
Portland Parks & Recreation,
Portland State University, and
Kaiser-Permanente. The fo u r signs
which were unveiled trace the
history o f Vanport City and mark
two specific sites: where the dike
broke and the location o f the
infirmary'.
Presentations were made by PP&R
Director Charles Jordan,
Commissioner Jim Francesconi,
Barbe West, Regional President o f
Kaiser-Permanente, Meg Merrick,
Portland State University, and two
o f the PSU students who worked on
the project.
M O SCO W - Russian legislators approved
an am nesty for about 120,000 inmates in an
e ffo rt to im p ro v e c o n d itio n s in an
o v e rc ro w d e d , d is e a s e -rid d e n p riso n
system . T he State D um a unanim ously
approved the m easure, w hich applies to
people w ho com m itted m inor offenses.
A m ong those to be released wi 11 be inmates
w ith tuberculosis - about one-tenth o f the
prison population as well as w ar veterans,
invalids, elderly people and pregnant
wom en. Inm ates are to be released after
prison adm inistrators decide w ho fits the
requirem ents and process the paperw ork.
Is r a e l W ith d r a w s from
Lebanon
going into effect,” said Hunsacker.
But m any adoptees are elated.
G eena Stonum , 41, o f Portland has searched
for her birth parents on and o ff for 20 years.
“ It’s a really difficult thing to do, especially
with the limited inform ation— which is pretty
m uch no inform ation — that I had,” Stonum
said. “ I’m a single mom, so I d o n ’t have
thousands o f dollars to throw aw ay with no
guarantees I’d get anything back.”
She w ants to know her history.
“ I have a w onderful family, but th ere’s still
that piece th at’s missing. W hen you see
people w ho m aybe look like you, you w onder
if they ’re m aybe related to you,” Stonum said.
In 1998, Oregon voters passed a new law that
w ould allow O regonians age 21 and older
access to their original birth certificates.
But the law was challenged by attorneys for
six birth mothers who claim ed the law violates
the privacy o f people who give their children
up for adoption.
T he Oregon C ourt o f A ppeals in D ecem ber
rejected their constitutional challenges to the
ad o p tio n rec o rd s law , and th e O regon
Suprem e Court has tw ice refused to review
that ruling.
T he O regon Court o f A ppeals refused to
extend a stay blocking the law from taking
effect, leaving the U .S. Suprem e Court as the
only option for the group o f six birth mothers,
w ho filed their challenge anonym ously.
O 'Connor, who fields emergency matters from
Oregon forthe nation’s highest court, rejected
their em ergency request to stay the law.
In 1997, the U.S. Suprem e Court refused to
review a sim ilar open adoption records law
from Tennessee.
Tennessee and ju st three other states —
A laska, D elaw are and K ansas — allow adult
adoptees access to original birth certificates.
A n adoption records bill in A labam a has been
signed by that sta te ’s governor, and it takes
Unveiling of Vanport Interpretive Signage
Am nesty o f 120,000 Inmates
Approved
W A L K E R T O N , O ntario - E. coli bacteria
in a southern O ntario tow n’s w ater supply
has kil led three elderly adults and an infant
and sick en ed h undreds m ore. Seven
people were in critical condition and dozens
o f other victim s w ere hospitalized and
officials w arned that m ore infections w ere
likely in com ing days. It w as unclear how
the bacteria, often spread by fecal m atter,
got into the w ater supply in W alkerton, 80
m iles northw est o f Toronto.
50*
May 31,2000
N. Ireland R egains Som e
G overning A uthority
K A ZA N , R ussia - Since the collapse o f
the Soviet Union in 1991, many o f R ussia’s
89 regions have turned into mini-kingdoms
w ith their ow n law s, a repressive attitude
tow ard the m edia and disdain for fair
elections. But in his first m ajor policy
initiative as president, V ladim ir Putin
announced m easures to reinstate federal
control from Moscow. One-fifth ofregional
legislation conflicts with federal law, Putin
noted. He called upon Russia’s State Duma
to consider three bills that, am ong other
things, would give him the pow er to dismiss
regional leaders.
I
Left: Kathy Schnider, Vanport
Cartographer
Sabin CDC Housing Our Families to move
T w o n o n -p ro fit h o u s in g d e v e lo p m e n t
agencies. Housing O ur Families and the Sabin
C om m unity Developm ent Corporation, plan
to enter into an active partnership.
The new “collaborative venture” w i II be cal led
theC om m unity H ousing Partnership, the tw o
organizations said in an executive sum m ary
released to the O bserver.
A cco rd in g to the release. H ousing O ur
Fam ilies will provide property m anagem ent
services to Sabin CD C, w hile that agency w ill
assist HOF in property developm ent. The
governing body o ft he new ageney will eonsist
o f the com bined boards o f its parent bodies,
plus additional recruits, m eeting quarterly.
“CHP links the two CD C s together in a
substantial business alliance," the release
said. "It is cem ented through a w eb o f
eollaborativecontracts o f three years duration
to provide specific services.”
The tw o organizations plus tw o others.
Franciscan Enterprises and the N ortheast
C om m unity D evelopm ent Corporation, had
been in d iscu ssio n s for several m onths
exploring ways to more efficiently use their
joint resources. The discussions were brought
on in part by the increasing scarcity o f available
affo rd a b le land in north and n o rth east
Portland, and the loss o f funding sources
such as the N ehem iah program.
H ousing ( )ur l am ilies was created by a group
o f professional w om en seeking to aid low
income single women and families in the inner
city. They now m anage more than 400 units in
north and northeast Portland.
S abin C D C w as cre ate d by th e S abin
C om m unity A ssociation to help retain a
supply o f affordable housing in Sabin and
other inner northeast neighborhoods. They
began with rental housing restoration and
developm ent, but later launched into a “ land
lease” program U nder this arrangem ent
houses are sold at low cost, but the agency
has the right at tim e o f resale to repurchase the
house at a price based upon an agreed-upon
formula.
In theirdiscussions the two agencies identified
“sim ilar core com ponents," the release said.
They will henceforth “share infrastructure
costs, specifically office space and staffing
alignment, rather than continuing to m aintain
separate organizational infrastructure."
*