Roberta Flack at Lincoln City:
PRSDRTSTD
Legendary Singer to ’’Set The Night to Music”
USPOSTAGE
PAID
See Focus Section C
PORTLANDOR
PERMITNO. 1610
Volume XXXI
Num ber 25
Wednesday
C om m itted to Cultural Diversity
Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
TUT WEEK
Garza
Executed in
Same Gurney
as McVeigh
review '
Woman slashes kindergarten
teacher in Japan
TOK Y O — A woman with a kitchen knife
forced her way into a Tokyo kindergarten
and slashed a teacher before fleeing T ues
day, less than two weeks after a man stormed
an elementary school and stabbed eight
children to death. The teacher was taken to
the hospital, but her injuries were minor.
Recent attacks have prom pted calls from
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and others
for increased school security.
Israel may reconsider cease
fire if attacks continue
JERU SA LEM — Israel w arned Tuesday
that it will reconsider its com m itm ent to a
cease-fire if the Palestinians do not prevent
attacks like those on West Bank roads a day
earlier that killed two Israelis. A cooling-off
period that was supposed to lead to peace
talks will not begin W ednesday as planned
due to the ongoing violence, Israeli officials
insisted. A m eeting M onday between secu
rity com m anders o f the two sides, who had
resumed cooperation in recent days, ended
with no agreement on a timetable forthe truce
negotiated last w eek by CIA direc tor George
Tenet.
Gates donates $100M to
U.N. group to fight AIDS
BRU SSELS, Belgium — The Bill and
M elinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday do
nated $ 100 million to a United Nations health
fund to fight AIDS and called on European
U nion nations and other countries to m ake
further contributions. The fund was pro
posed byU.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
in April, w hen he called for a “w ar chest” o f
$7 billion to $ 10 billion annually to halt AIDS,
w hich has hit Africa hardest and becom e the
continent’s prim ary killer. The M icrosoft
founder has also donated $ 126 m illion to an
earlier AIDS initiative and $750million in the
past five years to boost global imm unization
efforts and to research new medicine.
-------------------
an—
z*
'a r w m — w frr» i
Government bans protests
after massive march
ALGIERS, A lgeria— The Algerian gov
ernm ent has banned all dem onstrations in
the capital follow ing the fierce rioting that
broke out last w eek during a m assive pro
dem ocracy dem onstration. The unrest b e
gan am ong ethnic B erbers in the eastern
K abyle region but has since spread to the
capital, A lgiers, and other parts o f this
N orth A frican nation. In a statem ent re
leased late M onday, the governm ent said
it w as determ ined “to tackle serious ex
cesses ... during the tragic and painful
events that have taken place in recent
d ay s.”
UJS. embassy attack averted
W A SH IN G T O N — FBI and N avy in
vestigators in Y em en looking into the bomb
ing o f the w arship USS Cole were pulled out
o f the country because o f a security threat,
an FBI official said M onday. The m ove
follows a June 9 State D epartm ent warning
o f an increased threat o f terrorism against
A m ericans and U.S. interests in Yemen.
The departm ent authorized non-emergency
em bassy sta ff and their families to leave the
country and urged A m ericans to postpone
trips to Yemen.
i ■ >
M .- m
.
—
Parks Grandeur Sparkles During June
'■* ....
—
.«.
, P hoto by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Many people are enjoying a beautifully restored fountain at the historic Rose Garden in Peninsula Park. The fountain was completed
last year as part of a complete renovation o f the park at North Albina between Portland Boulevard and Ainsworth.
1-5 Project
Closes
Ainsworth
Philippine military
pinpoints rebels
ZAM BOANGA, Philippines— The mili
tary said Tuesday it has pinpointed M uslim
extrem ist kidnappers in a southern jungle
and were mov ing in for an attac k, despite the
guerrillas' call for negotiations. “It’s still a
gam e o f hide and seek, but their world is
getting smaller and smaller,” National Secu
rity Adviser Roilo G olez said on national
television. “W e have located them and our
troops are closing in.” W ith 5,000 troops
reportedly in pursuit, G olez rejected as unac
ceptable a letter from a leader o f the Abu
Sayyaf Muslim extremist group offering to
release more o f its about two dozen hostages
if the government calls o ff the military hunt.
5œ
June 20,2001
P hoto by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Closure of the Ainsworth Street overpass
at 1-5 in north Portland began Monday
and will remain closed for three months.
The closure will allow construction crews
on the 1-5 Preservation Project to raise
the structure several inches and give the
freeway below more room fora new
surface which will be added later. In
another big 1-5 construction note, the
freeway in the vicinity o f the Rose
Garden will be closed for the resurfacing
project every weekend beginning in July
for 12 weekends.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — With
an apology for “the pain and grief that
I have caused,” murderer and drug
kingpin Juan Raul Garza was executed
Tuesday, eight days after Timothy
McVeigh became the first federal in
mate put to death since 1963.
Garza died at 7:09 a.m. by chemical
injection, strapped to the same gurney
where McVeigh was executed last
week.
He nervously flexed his feet as War
den Harley Lappin tied the curtains
back on the witness rooms. As the
chemicals entered his veins, he kept his
head cocked to the left, toward the
room assigned to his own witnesses.
His eyes slowly closed half way and
his lips turned a light blue.
He went to his death calmly and
unlike McVeigh, with remorse. “I just
want to say that I'm sorry, and I apolo
gize for all the pain and grief that I have
caused,” he said. “I ask your forgive
ness and God bless.”
As Garza was being executed, about
50 anti-death penalty activists outside
the U.S. Penitentiary sang “We Shall
Overcome” and other protest songs.
The scene was in stark contrast to
the buzz of media activity that met
McVeigh's final days. Dan Dunne, a
U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokesman,
said only about 75 reporters had regis
tered for credentials to cover Garza’s
death. More than 1,000 reporters had
credentials for the McVeigh execu
tion.
Garza, 44, was convicted of murder
ing a man by shooting him five times in
the head and neck and ordering the
deaths of two other men. It was all part
of Garza’s marijuana smuggling op
eration, which federal prosecutors say
he ran ruthlessly.
He was the first person to be ex
ecuted under the 1988 federal Anti-
Drug Abuse Act, which imposes a
death sentence for murders stemming
S torv C ontinues on P age B2
Students Lose to Shoppers Youth outrased over Tri-Meis decision to
* *
B y A lyssa
expand Fareless Square
Z, B lack
T u e P orteanj ? .O bserver
T ri-M e t’s d ecisio n to ex p a n d F a re le ss
S q u are has d isa p p o in te d a g ro u p o f local
s tu d e n ts .
S iste rs in A ctio n for P o w e r re p re se n t
m in o rity an d low -in co m e w o m en an d g irls
w ho w ant m o n th ly stu d en t fares red u ced
from $31 to $10.
In stead o f allev iatin g the b u rd en on s tu
dents, T ri-M et, leaders o f the g ro u p ch arg e,
has ca te re d to sh o p p ers an d to u rists.
B eg in n in g in S ep tem b er, th e d o w n to w n
F areless S q u are w ill be ex p a n d ed to L lo y d
C e n te r w ith the aim o f in c re asin g th e e c o
no m ic p o ten tial o f the L loyd D istrict.
“ T ri-M e t says that th ey are in v e stin g in
b u sin esses an d w e say, ‘w hy n o t in v e st in
y o u th ? ” ’ said T eren ie F aiso n , a rec en t
g rad u a te o f Je fferso n H igh S chool.
H o w ev er, ac co rd in g to T ri-M e t, th e
F areless S quare expansion also cam e ab o u t
b ec au se the city o ffered to su b sid iz e the
free se rv ic e to h elp curb a u to m o b ile air
po llution.
M o st high school stu d en ts in P o rtlan d
rely on p u b lic tran sp o rtatio n .
S isters in A ction has co n d u c te d research
th ro u g h su rv e y s an d the In te rn e t an d
found that 10 p ercen t o f stu d e n ts d ro p o u t
o f school b ecau se they ca n n o t get there.
S tory C ontinues on P age A2
1
fe 01
-
■
-
________ ' '
W em
V ▼
J
1
PAy IKE PR!
P hoto b \ M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Members of Sisters in Action for Power are behind a proposal to reduce student fares on Portland's public transportation system to
help kids get to school and stay In school. ___________