See Focus
Face of
Africa 2000
named
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(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.
*
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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
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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
!