African Drums to Sound
at SEI Auditorium
See Focus, Page B2
PCC Zooms-in on
Careers From A to Z
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Volume XXXI
Number 23
W ednesday
Committed to C ultural Diversity
Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
50f
June 6,2001
Whitaker Reopens After Clean Sweep
More actions to reduce radon, improve air quality to come
Police Find Guns, Squalor
in Rural Idaho Home
SANDPOINT, Idaho — S h eriffs depu
ties have recovered ammunition and five
guns amid the feces-strewn squalor where
the six M cGuckin children lived in the
north Idaho woods. The arrest o f their
mother, JoAnn, prom pted the children to
hole up in the ramshackle home for five
days, keeping officials at bay with the help
o f their 27 dogs. The children surrendered
to sh e riffs deputies and were taken to a
hospital. A hearing was scheduled Tues
day to determine if they should remain in
state custody or be returned to her care.
Peru’s New President
Faces Tough Road
LIM A, Peru — Peru’s president-elect
was swept to pow er largely by the poor,
Indian majority. Now Alejandro Toledo
faces die daunting task o f not letting them
down in one o f South A m erica’s most
troubled nations. The self-styled “ Indian
with acause” must battle a four-year reces
sion, deliver jobs and higher wages in a
nation mired in poverty, and root out the
remnants o f corruption left by a previous
government. Toledo, 55, became Peru’s
first freely elected president o f Indian de
scent on Sunday when he defeated former
President Alan Garcia.
Iraq Halts Oil Exports
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq stopped ex
porting oil to all but neighboring Turkey
and Jordan. The indefinite halt was meant
to protest a U.N. decision to extend by one
m onth instead o f the usual six months the
program under which Iraq can sell oil. Iraq
had been pum ping about 3 m illion barrels
a day.
You May Have a Free
Rental Coming Your Way
M IAM I — Blockbuster is offering to
settle 23 class-action lawsuits by custom
ers claim ing they’ve paid inflated fees for
overdue video rentals and that the com
pany profited unfairly as a result. The total
settlement could approach $450 million.
All customers charged extended viewing
or non-retum fees at its stores between
Jan. 1, 1992, and April 1, 2001, will be
eligible for refunds if Blockbusters offer is
approved by the federal court. To qualify,
customers must fill out and return claim
forms — now being attached to store re
ce ip ts— before Dec. 15.
Nevada Lawmakers Approve
Internet Gambling Bill
CARSON CITY, Nev. — Legislators
have approved a bill allowing N evada to
become the first state in the nation to offer
Internet gambling, a jackpot that could be
worth $6 billion to casinos by 2003. Law
makers approved the bill even though the
Justice D epartm ent considers Internet
gambling illegal. Experts estimate that rev
enues from Internet gambling — largely
conducted by offshore companies because
o f the U.S. b a n — reached $1.5 billion last
year and could quadruple by 2003.
Captors, Hostages Spotted
in Southern Philippines
M ANILA, Philippines— A boatload o f
hostages and their Muslim extremist cap-
tors was spotted o ff a southern Philippine
island T hereportcam easPhtlippinem ili-
tary officials said the United States offered
to help the Philippines search for the 20
hostages, who were snatched from a re
sort.
President’s Daughters
Investigated
AUSTIN, Texas — President Bush’s
19-year-old daughter, Jenna, tried to pur
chase alcohol at a restaurant using som e
one e lse’s identification card, police said.
Less than a month ago, Jenna Bush pleaded
no contesfto a charge o f being a minor in
possession o f alcohol in another incident
P hoto by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
A worker fora Portland cleaning company takes aim at a dirty ventilation grill at Whitaker Middle School
Saturday as the Portland School District worked to improve air quality at the school.
2001 Queen
ofRosaria
W hitaker M iddle School reopened Monday after losing
six days o f the school year because of high levels o f radon
gas and a dirty air ventilation system.
The decision to reopen the northeast Portland school
followed a second round of test results from Key Technol
ogy, Inc., an EPA-accredited radon testing lab.
The lab reported radon levels ranging from 0.2 to 3.5 pCi/
I. in all but one room. In that room, the radon level was
reported at 6.1 pCi/L. The federal Environmental Protection
A gency’s acceptable level of radon gas is 4 pCi/L.
The district took the precaution of moving students in the
classroom with a level of 6.1 pCi/L to space elsewhere in the
building.
Fans have been running 24-hours a day to vent the radon,
a radioactive byproduct from rock in the ground beneath the
school, from the building.
In addition, the district is responding to staff and parent
concerns about overall air quality in the building by thor
oughly cleaning all horizontal and vertical surfaces, and
rem oving and cleaning the building’s vents.
“It will be a full-force effort,” said Pam Brown, director
o f the district’s facilities and asset management depart
ment.
During the summer, the district will have a certified
industrial hygienist look at the building and recommend
additional actions to improve air quality. The district will
take corrective actions as recommended.
Still, about 220 kids did not return to class Monday.
Some parents have requested transfers from the school
and others have taken homework packets home to home-
school their children for the rest oT the year
The district also released the second round o f radon test
results for both G regory Heights Middle School and Kelly
Elementary, two other northeast schools that closed follow
ing reports o f radon gas lurking in the buildings.
The second round o f tests conducted at Gregory Heights
found levels ranging from 0.2 to 3.0 pCi/L.
The second round of tests conducted at Kelly found levels
ranging from 0.2 to 3.0 pCi/L in all but three rooms. In those
three rooms, radon was reported at levels o f 6.1, 13.0 and
25.5 pCi/L. The district has moved students in these three
classroom s to spaces elsewhere in the building.
More accurate long-term tests for radon will be made
during summer break and throughout the next school year at
all three schools, according to Brown. “We will seal cracks
and improve ventilation systems as needed and will retest
until the levels are acceptable,” said Brown.
Woman Killed on UP Campus
Strangled, Sexually Assaulted
Wesley Grout of Lincoln High
School was crowned the 2001
Rose Festival Queen Thursday.
Wesley has been an active
member of student government
throughout high school and was
on the varsity ski team.
After graduation, she plans to
attend the Fashion Institute of
Design and Merchandising in San
Francisco to study fashion
design.
PCC Cascade Moves
to Condemn Properties
B y L ee P erlman
Tut_EiiRILiV'e.QBShK>tR
In their quest to expand the Portland Com
munity College Cascade Campus, administra
tors are beginning to use the “condemna
tion” word.
The college's board has asked vice presi
dent for adm inistrative services Randy
McEwan to prepare a resolution authorizing
the use o f condemnation - the purchase o f
private property without the ow ner’s con
sent - for dozens o f properties on the cam pus's
periphery. The board is expected to adopt the
resolution at its June 21 meeting
McEwan listed the parcels in the following
order o f priority, as:
1
• An enclosed parking lot on the northeast
side o f campus near Jackson Hall;
• The remainder of a square block, south of
North Killingsworth Street and west o f
Jefferson High School, part o f which the
college already owns;
• The Albina Christian Life Center building
at 5522 N. Albina Ave.
• Fourteen properties, mostly single family
homes, located on the west side o f North
Albina and the east side ofN orth Mississippi,
and betw een K illingsw orth and Jessup
Streets.
Meanwhile, McEwan told the board. PCC
CONTINI EDON PAGE A7
Police on the University of Portland campus look for clues in the slaying of a woman
found dead in her dorm.
(AP) — A 21 -year-old woman found dead in a U niversity o f Portland dorm itory room
was strangled and sexually assaulted, the M ultnom ah County medical exam iner’s office
said. Friends discovered the body o f Catherine Mary H elen Johnson, o f Vancouver, a
senior at the small Catholic university, in her M ehling Hall room on May 29. Johnson, a
music m ajor at the north Portland school, was last seen two days earlier, when she had
dinner with friends.
Police would not confirm the cause o f death listed Thursday in an autopsy report by
Dr. N icholas H artshorne, deputy medical exam iner for M ultnom ah County. The school is
in sum m er session, and only about 150 students now live on cam pus. About 2,600 are
enrolled during the school year
John G oldnck, vice president for student services, has said there were no signs o f
forced entry into the dorm itory. Only two students had coded access cards to the building,
and they were both female, university officials said. Johnson is the only student to have
been killed on campus. In December 1981, a university com puter specialist was fatally shot
by a cam pus janitor, who then took his own life in the engineering building.
t