October 25, 2000
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United Way to Fund Scouts Despite Ban
The board o f O reg o n ’s largest
United W ay chapter decided Friday
to continue funding the Boy Scouts,
arguing that m aintaining a neutral
position on the ban o f hom osexual
m em bers and leaders was m ost ben
eficial to all sides.
H ow ever, the board said contribu
tors to the U nited W ay can designate
w hich program s they w ant their do
nation to support, giving co ntribu
tors ihe option o fn o t financially sup
porting the Scouts.
M em bers o f the YW CA held a
candlelight vigil outside the United
W ay building on Southw est l l t h
A venue, urging board m em bers to
stop funding the scouts.
T w o-thirds o f the board m em bers
voted to continue funding; how ever,
they also continue to "strongly urge”
m em ber agencies such as the Boy
Scouts to adopt anti-discrim ination
policies that include sexual o rien ta
tion.
“ The board o f the U nited W ay
decided to reaffirm its current poli
cies with regards to discrim ination,
which m eans that the United W ay
organization itsel fhas a nondiscrimi-
natory policy. And it strongly urges
all o f its agencies to follow that
policy,” stated John King, United
Way B oard o f D irectors Chair.
In June, the Suprem e C ourt up
held the S couts’ ban on gay Scout
AT&T Considering Four Way Split
Communications giant would split into business
service, wireless, consumer long distance, and
Internet Broadband
(AP) - Board m em bers o f AT& T
Corp., the nation’s largest long-dis
tance telephone service and cable
television provider, intend to con
sider dividing the com pany into four
distinct businesses, according to re
ports.
The split w ould create separate
com panies specializing in business
services, wireless, consum er long
distance, and “broadband” delivery
o f TV, Internet and phone services
over cable lines. The New Y ork Times
and The W all Street Journal reported
in M onday’s editions. T he board
m eets M onday.
T he com pany’s biggest and m ost
profitable unit, the Business Services
departm ent, w hich caters to corpo
rate custom ers, w ould becom e the
new AT& T and w ould create b rand
licensing and com m ercial agreem ents
w ith the three other businesses.
A T & T officials declined to co m
m ent on the proposed plan. I f the
plan, called Project G rand Slam , is
A T & T ’s m arket v aluation has
dropped by about $70 billion since
January, partly because o f falling
prices in the long-distance industry.
Its stock is trading at around h alf o f
w hat it was a year ago.
The proposed plan w ould repre
sent the second tim e the com pany
has been broken up since the federal
governm ent supervised the breakup
o f the Bell system in 1984. A T&T
spun o ff Lucent Technologies and
its NCR com puter unit in 1996.
In morning trading on the New York
Stock Exchange, AT&T was down 19
cents a share at $26.81, less than half its
peak value earlier this year.
approved, an announcem ent could
be made as early as W ednesday. Other
options the board w ere to consider
include leaving A T & T intact or spin
ning o ff one or m ore new businesses.
U nder the split-into-fourproposal,
A T & T ’s w ireless and cable TV op
erations would becom e separate com
panies over the next one to tw o years.
The com pany’s m ore than 60 m illion
telephone users w ould not feel m uch
im m ediate im pact from the plan.
T he four split units w ould be able
to concentrate on their ow n strate
gies and grow more quickly than they
w ould w hile confined to the larger
A T & T scheme.
Social Security Benefits Going Up for 2001
Social Security and Supplem ent
Security Income (SSI) benefits will
increase 3.5 percent in 2001, K en
neth S. Apfel, Com m issioner o f So
cial Security announced last week.
“T oday’s news tells us that infla
tion continues to be low w hich is
certainly good new s for everyone
living on a fixed incom e,” said C om
m issioner Apfel. “ Inflation is one o f
the w orst enem ies o f the elderly. T he
past eight years, w hich have seen
low inflation rates and a strong
econom y, have been p articu larly
good for the elderly.”
The 3.5 percent increase will begin
w ith benefits that Social Security
beneficiaries receive in January 2001.
Increased paym ents to SSI recipients
will begin on D ecem ber 29.
For Social Security beneficiaries.
the average monthly benefits amount
for all retired w orkers w ill rise from
$816 to $845. The m axim um federal
SSI m onthly paym ents to an indi
vidual will rise from $512 to $530. For
a couple, the m axim um , federal SSI
paym ent will rise from $769 to $796.
leaders.
D enouncing that policy as dis
c r im in a to r y , n u m e ro u s sc h o o l
boards, city councils, corporations
and charities have halted or reduced
support for the Scouts. Since the
ruling, six o f 1.400 U nited W ay chap
ters — including groups in Provi
dence, R .L.and Evanston, 111. — have
adopted discrim ination policies that
effectively bar funding o f the Scouts,
according to the National United
W ay office.
At $252,000a year, the United Way is
the biggest contributor to the Scout
couneil’sSô. Imillionannualbudget. Ihe
council serves roughly 53,000 boys in
Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Self Enhancement Hosts
Home Buying Fair
T h e firs t a n n u a l H o m e B u y
ing F a ir g e a re d to w ard A fric a n
A m e ric a n s w ill be h e ld S a tu r
day from 11 a.m . to 4 p.m . at the
C e n te r fo r S e lf E n h a n c e m e n t,
3 9 2 0 N. K erby.
T h e e v e n t is a sp e c ia l e f fo rt
to a s s is t lo c a l re s id e n ts in th e
h o m e b u y in g p ro c e ss a n d p r o
m o te
A fric a n
A m e ric a n
h o m e o w n e rs h ip . It is fre e an d
o p e n to th e p u b lic .
T h e re w ill b e fo o d , d o o r
p riz e s e n te r ta in m e n t fo r th e
c h ild re n , a n d e a s y - to - u n d e r -
sta n d e d u c a tio n a l w o rk s h o p
su c h a s “ W o rk in g w ith a R e a l
t o r ” , “ U n d e r s ta n d in g Y o u r
C r e d it” an d “ T h e A B C ’s o f
H o m e B u y in g .”
R e p re s e n ta tiv e s fro m lo c a l
le n d in g in s titu tio n s , re a l e s
ta te a g e n c ie s , title a n d h o m e
in s u ra n c e c o m p a n ie s , fo r-
p r o fit an d n o n - p ro f it d e v e lo p
e rs , g o v e rn m e n t a g e n c ie s and
o th e r w ill b e o n h a n d
W h ile h o m e o w n e rs rate has
r is e n s te a d ily o v e r th e p a s t
eig h t y ea rs, A fric a n A m erican s
s till lag b e h in d , th e U .S . D e
p a r t m e n t o f H o u s in g a n d
H o u s in g a n d U rb a n D e v e lo p
m e n t re p o rts. F a c to rs th a t c o n
tr ib u te to th e d is p a rity in c lu d e
a lack o f ex p e rien c e in the hom e
b u y in g p ro c e s s , in a b ility to se
c u re lo a n s, b a d c re d it an d d if
fic u lty m a n e u v e rin g th ro u g h
th e b u y in g p ro c e d u re .
“ B u y in g a h o m e is o n e o f
th e s m a r te s t in v e s tm e n ts a
fa m ily c a n m a k e ,” sa id C ity
C o m m is s io n e r E rik S te n , a
s p o k e s m a n fo r th e fair. “ T h is
is an e v e n t th a t ’s lo n g o v e r
d u e .”
F a ir o rg a n iz e rs p la n to o ffe r
th e e v e n t tw ic e a y e a r, a ttr a c t
in g h u n d re d s o f p e o p le .
Asian Pacific Islander Law Conference
A first conference dealing with
issues and concerns facing the Asian
Pacific Islanders com m unity in the
areas o f violence and child abuse. It
will deepen the cross-cultural under
standing and aw areness o f the needs
o f our com m unity.
Presenters include judges, law
enforcem ent officers, attorneys, dis
trict attorney representatives from
Services for children and Families,
m ental health professional, andcase-
workers.
This conference will help service pro
viders and other to find culturally specific
and ethnically appropriate outreach strat
egies as well as help develop ways to
overcome cultural barriers.
Sponsors include the A sian Pa
cific A m erican N etw ork o f O regon,
The Im m igrant Refugee Council o f
Oregon, The M ultnomah Department
o f Com m unity Justice and the Port
land Police Bureau.
THE JOYCE
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