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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 26, 2000)
See Focus Face of Africa 2000 named --------. , . . (Elie Volume XXX. Number 30 NE W Y O RK -C e n tra l Park will reopen after it was closed and sprayed w ith p e s tic id e s a f te r a u th o ritie s fo u n d m osquitos carrying the W est N ile virus. V irus-carrying m osquitoes have been found in the park and on Staten Island. T he discovery o f infected m osquitoes m arks the first tim e that the potentially d e a d ly v ir u s h a s b e e n fo u n d in m osquitoes in N ew Y ork C ity this year. L ast year, the virus killed seven people and infected 62 others in the metropolitan area. * < Colorado Blaze Threatens Indian Ruins M ESA VERDENATIONALPARK,Colo. - F irefighters fear a blaze that has scorched 34 square m iles o f Colorado w ild ern ess could sw eep tow ard the fam ed Indian ruins o f M esa V erde N ational Park. Key sites at the nation’s largest archaeological preserve have been spared so far through precautionary firefighting techniques. The advance o f th e fire w as slo w e d re c e n tly , b u t expected hot, dry w eather gives the fire the potential to “get up and run,” a spokesm an for the firefighters says. U.N.: 60 Million Affected by Asian Drought  UNITED N A TIO N S- Sixty million people have been affected by a severe drought in C entral and South A sia that has killed livestock and crops and threatens to uproot ram ifies as they look for food and w ater, the United N ations said. Earlier this w eek, the W orld Food Program appealed to donors for $55.4 m illion to help som e o f the estim ated 3 m illion to 4 m illion A fghans m ost seriously affected by the drought - the w orst A fghanistan has experienced in three decades. Bomb in Subway Station LO N D O N - B om b threats on several London subw ay stations plunged the c ity in to d is a r r a y as r u s h - h o u r com m uters and tourists coped w ith diverted trains, closed stations and suspended services. A t least one o f the packages, found on the tracks near the Ealing Broadw ay U nderground station in w est London, contained a bom b, said police, w ho were able to detonate it safely. “There were a num ber o f phone calls m ade in the Dublin area this morning nam ing threats in three areas o f London - E alin g B ro a d w a y , V ic to ria and W estm inster stations,” Scotland Yard spokesw om an A lex H athaw ay said. Clean Water Act: A Promise Unfulfilled N early 30 years after passage o f the historic C lean W ater A ct, pollution still prevents A m ericans from sw im m ing or fishing in 40% o f the nation’s waterways. Critics charge that states are failing to e n f o r c e th e a c t a n d th a t th e E nvironm ental Protection A gency is abdicating its responsibility to make them do so. W hen penalties are imposed, fines are o ften to o sm all to d isc o u ra g e polluters and crim inal charges are rarely pursued. Baby Begins Slow Decline For baby boom ers, the end has begun. N ew C ensus estim ates show that their ranks have begun to shrink for the first tim e as d e a th s b e g in to o u tp a c e im m igration. At its peak last year, the baby boom included alm ost 79 m illion people. T he boom ers' record num bers, bom in the bloom o f postw ar prosperity from 1946-64, reshaped everything from pop culture to politics worldwide. But now their numbers will dw indle steadily. Portland, OR Permit No. 1610 University o f Oregon Committed to Cultural Diversity Established in 1970 Wednesday July 26,2000 WEEK Kroeker will recruit police in four cities IN Mosquito Concerns Close Central Park PAID (©baSS^ www.portlandobserver.eom ™ REVIEW Bulk Rate U.S. Postage A ssociated P ress Portland Police ChiefM ark Kroeker will travel w ith a team o f recruiters to Seattle, Phoenix, Los A ngeles and H onolulu to draw entry- level and experienced officers to the Portland Police Bureau. T he recruiting trips will start w ith Seattle on F riday and continue through A ugust and Septem ber, with the chiefgenerally spending one or tw o days in each city to chat with prospective applicants. “ I’m ju st really excited because I think he will attract m ore attention for us,” said Jennifer Law rence, the b u reau ’s full-tim e recruiter. T he bureau has tested applicants m onthly in its ongoing struggle to fill vacancies, reach its authorized strength o f 1,040 officers and prepare for a w ave o f anticipated retirem ents in 2002. An entry-level training academy for 16 recruits began in M arch, and the bureau plans to begin another Oct. 20. Law rence hopes the coming recruitment drive will draw at least 700 applicants. E arlier this m onth, K roeker prom oted 10 officers to sergeant and urged them to serve as effective leaders and shining exam ples for the street-level cops under their com m and. Inevitably, though, the prom otions pulled m ore officers o f f the street and increased the num ber o f patrol vacancies to 63. T ogether w ith the 22 patrol officers now out on leaves o f service, m ostly for m edical reasons, there are 85 patrol positions open o f 744 authorized. “ It’s a balancing act,” said Lt. Ron Schw artz o fth e b ureau’s personnel division. “W e need to have supervisors out there, but w e also w ant to m inim ize the loss on the streets.” K roeker hopes he will have an effect by accom panying police recruiters and talking to applicants at inform al open houses in the cities he visits. In preparation for his Seattle trip this w eek en d , he reco rd ed a radio a d v e r tis in g s p o t to a le rt p r o s p e c tiv e A n A ir France C oncorde en route to N ew Y ork crashed outside Paris shortly after tak eo ff Tuesday, slam m ing into a hotel and a restaurant. A t least 113 people w ere killed when the charter flight o f m ostly G erm an tourists w ent dow n in the first- ever crash o f the needle-nosed supersonic candidates. The c h ie f s trip to Phoenix is scheduled for Aug. 11; Los A ngeles Sept. 7 and 8; and H onolulu, Sept. 13 anu . •+. “I think K ro ek er’s involvem ent signifies the im portance h e ’s p u ttin g on re c ru itin g ,” Schw artz said. “ I think it kind o f sends a m essage to potential applicants that h e ’s w illing to go out there and spread the w ord that P o rtlan d ’s lo oking for h ig h -q u ality applicants.” The bureau expects its new hiring standards, w hich relax the college degree requirem ent and reduce the training hours for police with at least two years o f experience, will ease its recruitm ent problems. U nder the new standards, police w ith at least two years o f continuous law enforcem ent experience wi 11 be eligible for hiring with either a tw o-year college degree or 60 sem ester hours or 90 quarter hours ofaccreditedcollege courses. T he experienced hires also w ill face an abbreviated training period o f about 12 weeks, com pared with a 21 -week academ y for entry- level recruits. They will be hired at midlevel or top pay. T h e b u re a u ’s fo u r-y ea r c o lle g e d eg re e requirem ent rem ains in place for entry-level officers. When is a CDC’s job done? by for Concorde crash kills at least 113 M axine F itzpatrick T he P ortland O bserner M axine Fitzpatrick, Executive D irector o f PortlandCom munity Reinvestment Initiatives, Inc. (PC RI), responds to an editorial in the Skanner new spaper titled “W hen Is A CD C ’s Job D one?”. I felt to do so w ould give this negative com m entary unw arranted value. H ow ever, after further consideration and b e c a u s e th e a r tic le is f ille d w ith m isrepresentations and inaccuracies I feel an obligation to the com m unity to respond. T o answ er the question. “ W hen is a C D C ’s Job done?” I w ould like to re-educate the general public about P C R I’s origin and the need for its continuance as a com m unity stabilizer. P C R I’s m ission and purpose has not changed since its formation in 1992. PCRI is not a quasi-govem m ental group nor is it positioned to strangle the prosperity it was Fitzpatrick designed to promote. PCRI started with assets o f a w eak and bankrupt corporate investor, now’ it is a strong, non-profit organization w ith the benevolent m ission o f providing affordable housing In the late 1980s and early 1990s. hundreds o f hom es stood vacant throughout inner North and N ortheast Portland. H om eow nership through conventional m eans w as nearly impossible. F inancial institutions did not make loans in the area and consequently, property values plummeted Several real estate investors stepped in to take advantage o f the situation, som e were honest and others w ere not. One g ro u p o f d ish o n e st in v e sto rs w ere the principals ofDom inionCapital who insidiously com m itted real estate fraud on unsuspecting, volatile, low -incom e resid en ts’ desirous o f h o m eo w n ersh ip D o m in io n ’s 272 rental clients fared no better. A fter years o f running ( P lease see 'C D C ’ page 6) jet. Police said all 100 passengers and nine crew m em bers on board F light A F4590 w ere killed, and the Interior M inistry said four others died at the 72-room Relais B leus hotel. A ll the p assen g ers w ere G erm an except for one A m erican and two D anes, A ir F rance said. At least a dozen people w ere injured at the hotel. They w ere in good condition. Prim e M inister L ionel Jospin said. A fterw ard, none o f the C oncordes were flying. A ir F rance agreed to tem porarily ground its five rem aining C oncordes, and British A irw ays, w hich ow ns the other se v e n C o n c o rd e s, g ro u n d e d its tw o rem aining flights for T uesday night. F rench television show ed a chilling still- photograph o f the plane flying low over the airport, flam es already trailing from its m idsection. T he hotel the plane crashed into w as in flam es, and sections had been reduced to rubble and tw isted m etal. F irefighters poured stream s o f w ater on the blackened w reck ag e, w h ich h ad b ro k en up into scattered, sm oking chunks. T he rem ains o f the C oncorde w ere b arely recognizable as an airplane fuselage. T here w as no im m ediate w ord on w hat m ight have caused the crash o f the jet, w hich had been in service sin ce 1980, had flow n 12,000 hours and had ju s t had a m echanical checkup Ju ly 21. In the m ore than 30 years that C o n co rd e je ts have flown, none had gone dow n. T he plane had been ch artered b y Peter D eilm ann Shipping C o., a G erm an tour group, and the p assengers w ere on their w ay to N ew Y ork to jo in a cru ise ship. The jetlin er crashed at 4 :44 p.m . in an area o f farm land crisscrossed by highw ays and the sm all town o f G onesse, ab o u t nine m iles northeast ofParis. It w ent do w n soon after takeoff from Charles de G aulle airport. W itnesses said the supersonic aircraft w as not able to gam sufficient altitude before it crashed O thers said a huge cloud o fb la c k sm oke went up in the air. Sam ir H ossein, 15, a student in G onesse, w as playing tennis with friends w hen they saw the plane go by with an engine on fire. “W e saw it lose altitude. It chopped o ff those trees and headed to the ground,” H ossein told The A ssociated Press. “T he pilot tried to bank but the plane rolled over and sm acked into the hotel nose first and turned over. “W e saw flames shoot u p 4 0 m eters (yards) and there was a huge boom ,” he said. “The pilot tried to yank it up, but it w as too late.” Frederic Savery, 21, w as driving along a highw ay on the way hom e w hen he saw the plane go down. “ I saw the plane, it passed 30 m eters above us. the w hole back end o f the plane w as on fire,” Savery told the AP. “ W e saw it start to turn, but w e d id n ’t hear a noise w hen it crashed All o f a sudden, everything was black.” A ir France President Jean-C yril Spinetta, w ho said he had w itnessed the crash but d idn’t specify from where, told reporters at the airport: “For those w ho w ere w itnesses, o f w hom 1 was one, it seem s that there w as a fire in one or m ore o f the engines on takeoff.” C louds of dark sm oke could be seen for m iles around. Police blocked o f f all roads leading to the crash scene, backing up traffic on rural roads in the farm fields near the airport. Dozens o f fire trucks and am bulances rushed to the scene. Jospin and French Transport M inister Jean- Claude G ayssot visited the scene o f the crash. “ It’s a terrible m om ent,” G ayssot said !