F ocus on Employment:
Careers 2001 Second Edition
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PORTLANDOR
See Focus Section C
PERMIT NO. 1610
"The City Of Roses"
Volume XXXI
Number 24
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday
June 13,2001
Carter
Files Suit
Against
Census
Rebel Leader: Am erican
E xecuted
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — Muslim
rebels claimed that they killed an American
hostage, who was among three dozen captives
they hold. The military cautioned that the group
has previously lied about such killings. Abu
Sabaya. a leader o f the Abu Sayyaf rebels, said
the rebels had beheaded Guillermo Sobero o f
Corona, Calif
President Bush A rrives
in Spain
MADRID, Spain— President Bush opened
his first official trip to Europe, eager to sell his
missile defense system, support NATO expan
sion and assure U.S. allies that despite trans-
Atlantic tensions, they have a “trustworthy
friend” in Washington. Upon landing at
Madrid’s airport, the president and first lady
Laura Bush were greeted by a few Spanish
dignitaries, then headed to Zarzuela Palace to
meet with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia.
Bush was meeting later with Spanish Prime
Minister Jose Maria Aznar at Aznar's ranch.
Floods Leave 18 Dead
in Texas, La.
HOUSTON— Crews scrambled to repair
pow er outages and reopen roads closed by
flooding that was caused by as much as 3 feet
o f rain from the slow -m oving rem nants o f
Tropical Storm Allison. The storm was blamed
for 18 deaths in Texas and Louisiana, and
thousands o f people were forced to flee their
flooded homes.
C ourt Rules for
R eligious Clubs
WASHINGTON — In a 6-3 decision that
lowered the figurative wall o f separation be
tween church and state, the Supreme Court said
a New Yoik public school district must let the
GoodNewsChibholdafter-schoolmeetings for
grade-school children to pray and study the
Bible. The majority found that excluding the
club was unconstitutional discrimination based
on the club’s views.
Intel C orp. Unveils
F astest Transistor
SAN JOSE,Calif.— Intel said it has created
the world’s fastest silicon transistors, tiny
switches that turn on and off nearly 1,000 times
more quickly tfian those that power today’s
microprocessors. The technology also shrinks
the devices to a width o f 80 atoms.
G erm any Seals N uclear
Shutdown A greem ent
BERLIN— ChancellorGerhard Schroeder
and leading energy companies formally signed
an agreement to shut down Germany’s 19
nuclear power plants, making it the world’s
largest industrialized nation to willingly forgo
the technology. Though it could take decades
to complete, the plan underscores the divide
between Europe and the United States on
environmental policy.
Idaho Can Try FBI
Sharpsh ooter
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals
court mlcd that an! BI sharps hootercan be tned
for manslaughter in the slaying o f the wife o f
white separatist Randy Weaver during the 1992
Ruby Ridge standoff. Judges cleared the way
for Idaho prosecutors to charge agent Lon
Horiuchi in the shooting; the federal govern
ment had declined to prosecute him.
H alf o f Absent Dads
Face Tough Choices
W ASHINGTON— Halfoffathers who live
apart from their children are tied to at least one
other set o f kids, researchers said, meaning
many dads (ace complicated decisions about
where to spend their time and money Hie
study, based on a national survey o f house
holds, found that fathers with at least two sets
o f children in their lives were less likely to pay
child support and less likely to visit the kids who
live apart from them. Researchers examined
fathers' lives in a new way in an attempt to
measure their competing interests.
P hoto bv M
ark
W ashington /T he P ortland O bserv er
Im proving the Landscape on 42nd Avenue
Sybil Kelly o f northeast Portland (left) and a group of Whitaker Middle School students shovel bedding materials to
fill new planter boxes along Northeast 42nd Avenue. The students took donations of soil and seeds and grew starts
in the greenhouse on the Whitaker's roof. Meanwhile, Madison High School students built the planter boxes for the
street as part of the 42nd Avenue Revitalization Target Area.
Sen. M argaret Carter, D -Portland, is filing
suit against the Bush adm inistration to force
the release o f census data that has been
a d ju s te d to c o r r e c t fo r an e s tim a te d
undercount o f m inorities.
“W e need to know who is w here,” Carter
said. “W e are talking about over $ 16 million in
potential loss o f federal funds that can assist
districts such as north and northeast Port
land.” The m oney w ould sevre a broad vari
ety o f local program s.
Portland attorney Thom as Balmer planned
to file the lawsuit in U.S. D istrict Court in
Portland on b eh alf o fb o th Carter, w ho repre
sents north and northeast Portland and Sen.
Susan Castillo, D-Eugene.
The defendant is the US C om m erce D e
partm ent, w hich conducted the 2000 Census.
In M arch, the U.S. Secretary o f Com m erce
decided to release only the uncorrected num
bers as the official census and the C om m erce
D epartm ent has continued to refuse to re
lease the corrected and adjusted numbers.
B alm er said at a new s conference the
agency last m onth refused the senators’ re
quest under the federal Freedom o f Inform a
tion A ct to release the adjusted data.
Carter, who also serves as director o f the
U rban League O f Portland, said the depart
m e n t e s tim a te s 4 3 ,0 0 0 p e o p le w e re
undercounted in Oregon in the 2000 Census.
Juneteenth Parade, Celebrations Set for Saturday
parade and other activi
tie s
to
c e le b ra te
Juneteenth and A frican
American history will take place
Saturday, June 16.
A special black history program
with skits, gospel, rap music, food
and other entertainment will begin at
11 a.m. with a “ Passage Over Cer
emony” and continue all day at Bethel
AME Church at Northeast 8,h &
Jarrett.
The “Freedom Trail Parade” will
start at 2 p.m. with a march down
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to
Broadway, returning to King School.
Parade participants will first as
P hoto by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
semble at 1 p.m. at Bethel AME.
Saturday, a Juneteenth and kids day celebration will fill this lot at Yam Yam's on Martin Luther
Highlights of the parade include
King Jr. Boulevard. It will be one o f many events to celebrate African American history.
A
McVeigh’s Death
Divides Americans
(AP) — As much as his crime
united the nation in shock, Timothy
McVeigh’s death left
Americans divided.
For many, there was
certitude and satisfac
tion that justice had
p re v a iled ; o th ers
wrestled with moral
doubts.
“ When a society
kills its killers, then we Timothy McVeigh
become a little bit
m ore like th e m ,” said C raig
Hammond, director of a charity pro
gram in Bluefield, W. Va.
But from Doc Hardaway, who runs
a shoeshine stand in Atlanta: “ Like
the Bible says, an eye for an eye.”
Although witnessed in person and
on closed-circuit TV by barely 250
i
people, McVeigh’s death on Mon
day was a public event in a sense, a
national execution.
In scores of communi
ties —people fumbled for a
way to mark the occasion
appropriately.
There were prayer ser
vices, vigils, subdued pro
tests.
It was a wrenching day
for many Americans, not
least for those who seek to
end all executions. McVeigh never
gave them ammunition for their ar
guments — no apology, no testimony
of mental distress or an anguished
childhood.
Even as she protested against the
S torv C ontinues
on
P age B3
Public hours o f operation at the
Police Precinct (above) will soon
I
the Buffalo Soldiers, units portray
ing the Underground Railroad and
Abraham Lincoln.
At Yam Yam’s, the Color Guard
of the Buffalo Soldiers will open a
special event that begins at noon and
continues all afternoon with live music
and guest speakers.
Another Juneteenth celebration
will be held at 7 p.m. at King School.
Juneteeth was started as a cel
ebration to observe the anniversary
of when people learned of President
Lincoln’s proclamation abolishing
slavery. The festivities mark the ap
proximate time, during the "teen" days
of June, that the news of indepen
dence was delivered by U.S. Troops
in Texas.