Stream Work to Close Burnside
Big pipe will divert Tanner Creek from sewer system
See story, Metro
Section inside
PRSDRTSTD
US POSTAGE
PAID
PORTLANDOR
PERMITNO 1610
^flight Library
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene OR 97403-J 205
"The City Of Roses"
Volume XXXI
Number 31
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Established in 1970
Wednesday
Summer in the City
China Censors P ow ell’s
R em ark s
C
a n d c le a r o u t a ra d o n g a s
p ro b le m at W h ita k e r M id d le
S c h o o l h a v e d is c o v e re d n ew p ro b le m s
th a t c o u ld k e e p th e n o rth e a s t P o rtla n d
b u ild in g c lo se d fo r th e e n tire sc h o o l
y e a r.
E n v iro n m e n ta l c o n s u lta n ts sa y th e
3 2 -y e a r-o ld sc h o o l h a s a le a k y r o o f
a n d d ra in a g e sy ste m th a t c o u ld m ean
m o ld is g ro w in g th ro u g h o u t th e school.
T h e e x p e rts sa y re p a irs a re c ritic a l
a n d th e b u ild in g w o n 't b e sa fe u n til the
e n tire p ro je c t is c o m p le te .
W o rk e rs sa y th e y sh o u ld be a b le to
c le a r o u t th e ra d o n by fall, but th e ro o f
an d d ra in a g e p ro b le m s a re m o re se
v e re .
sc h o o l s a fe ty c o m m itte e
Rain Causes Third Round
of Flooding in Virginias
W H A R T O N , W .V a — N a tio n a l
G u ard m em b ers, h ighw ay crew s and
o th e rs dug th ro u g h m ud and d eb ris as
ev a c u e es retu rn ed hom e follow ing the
th ird d e a d ly round o f flooding in a
m onth in so u th e rn W est V irg in ia and
so u th w e st V irg in ia. T w o p eo p le w ere
k ille d Sunday.
E lection Day Holiday
P rop osed
A
W A SH IN G TO N — A com m ission
chaired by former presidents Carter and
Ford recommends turning Election Day
into a federal holiday and says voters chal
lenged by poll workers should be allowed
to cast ballots, with validity to be deter
mined later.
LONDON— Nation oflslam leader Louis
Farrakhan won his appeal against a gov
ernment ban preventing him from visiting
the United Kingdom. The ban, first im
posed by former Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher’s government in 1986, will con
tinue through Oct. 1.
Israeli Target Palestinian
Police Headquarters
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip— Israeli heli
copters fired rockets at Palestinian police
headquarters in Gaza City, sending people
running from the compound, witnesses
said. Two policemen were injured in the
attack. Earlier, six Palestinian activists were
killed in a West Bank explosion.
Teachers Offered ‘Unlawful
Homicide’ Insurance
W ASHINGTON — School shootings
have prompted the nation’s largest teach
ers’ union tooffera special $ 150,000 benefit
for teachers and other school employees
slain at work. The National Education As
sociation will announce the “unlawful ho
micide" benefit in a September newsletter.
China Frees 2 UJS. Residents
BEIJING — Two U.S.-based Chinese
scholars convicted o f spying were granted
medical paroles, clearing away a diplomatic
hurdle for Beijing ahead o f Secretary o f
State Colin Pow ell’s weekend visit. One
scholar, Gao Zhan, has already arrived in
Detroit.
H ew lett-P ackard
C utting 6,000 Jobs
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Computer and
printer maker Hewlett-Packard is slashing
about 6,000 jobs, about 6.6% o f its global
workforce, because o f deteriorating global
economic conditions and related weak
ness in technology spending.
M acedonia Slides
Toward Civil War
SKOPJE, Macedonia — The govern
ment has told ethnic Albanian rebels to get
away from the country’s second-largest
city or face a new offensive, causing thou
sands o f Macedonians to flee. NATO and
European Union envoys arrive to drive
talks aimed at preventing civil war.
Study: Medical Errors’
Estimate Overblown
CHICAGO — Alarming studies sug
gesting that medical errors kill close to
100,000 U.S. hospital patients each year
probably overestimate the problem, with
the real total perhaps 5,000 to 15,000, re
searchers say.
Leaky Roof
Closes
Whitaker
re w s h ire d to m a k e re p a irs
W A SH IN G T O N — T he State D e
p a rtm e n t c ritic iz e d C h in a for d eletin g
rem arks Secretary o f State Colin Powell
m ade on the se n sitiv e top ics o f hum an
rig h ts and T aiw an in a n a tio n a lly te le
v ised in te rv ie w he gave durin g his
v isit to B eijin g .
Farrakhan W ins Right
to Visit UK
50*
August 1, 2(X)1
Area kids enjoy their summer vacations with the big splash from the Salmon Street Fountain in Waterfront Park.
The first days of August are expected to start with some cooler temperatures.
h as re c o m m e n d e d th a t th e
b u ild in g re m a in e m p ty u n til
a ll th e w o rk is c o m p le te d .
T h e sc h o o l d is tric t is try in g to find
c la ssro o m sp a c e fo r th e 6 5 0 stu d e n ts
w h o a tte n d W h ita k e r.
O p tio n s in c lu d e s e n d in g 7 th a n d 8,h
G ra d e rs to th e o ld C o lu m b ia B o u le v a rd
W h ita k e r b u ild in g an d p la c in g 6 th g ra d
e rs in R ic e S c h o o l.
Oregon Election Fight Enters New Round
Bv M ichael L eighton
T he P ortland O bserver
The fight for election law justice drags
on in Oregon.
A fter years o f struggle, the Freedom
Socialist Party won a state court decision
that allows it to run candidates for election
under the party’s official name.
But that victory has not come to frui
tion.
An appeal by Oregon Attorney General
Hardy M yers and Secretary o f State Bill
Bradbury, both Democrats, may keep Free
dom Socialists o ff the ballot for the next
two years.
Last week, the Attorney G eneral’s of
fice said it would seek a second 30-day
extension to file briefs in the case.
Freedom Socialist Party members are
crying foul.
“Republicans and Democrats don’t want
any com petition,” says Freedom Socialist
Adrienne W eller o f Portland.
In O regon, the F reedom S o cialists
haven't made the ballot because the So
cialist Party has exclusive use o f the word
socialist. It stems from a decades-old law
that says no party can use even one word
in the nam e o f another ballot-qualified
party.
The law was ruled unconstitutional by
M ultnomah County Circuit Court Judge
Robert Redding in February, but faces an
uncertain future because o f the appeals.
The Freedom Socialist Party began more
than 30 years ago.
P hoto by M ichael L eighton /T he P ori land O bserver
Outside the Bread and Roses Center, 819 N. Killingsworth, a headquarters shared by
Radical Women and the Red Letter Press, are Portland residents Linda Hunter (left) and
Adrienne Weller of the Freedom Socialist Party.
Its members have been fighting for civil
rights, labor rights, and issues important to
A frican A m ericans, N ative A m ericans,
low-income residents and gay and lesbian
people.
Locally, the party has rallied against
P ortland’s Joint Terrorism Task Force,
which gives local police new powers. It
joined in marches against police brutality.
It has supported a citizen-based police
review board and is a long supporter o f
abortion rights.
“Change and reform is the goal,” says
Weller.
“W e need to break the stranglehold o f
the two-party system that is controlled by
the m ega-corporations,” W eller added.
Linda Hunter, another member o f the
Freedom Socialist Party and an African
American from Portland, said she sees the
effort to get on the ballot in Oregon as a
continuation o f the civil rights struggle and
the right for blacks to vote.
“It’s a lack o f progress," Hunter said.
Both women express rage at the m a
nipulation o f politics in Oregon.
Unions such as the American Federa
tion o f State, County and Municipal E m
ployees Local 328, United Food and C om
mercial W orkers Local 555, Portland C om
m unity C ollege Faculty Federation and
Portland Com m unity College Classified
Employees Local 3922, feminists, civil
rights w orkers and the Socialist P arty
itself are among the many endorsers o f
Freedom Socialists to be on the ballot.
Harlem Welcomes Bill Clinton
(AP) - Several thousand people roared
and chanted “We want Bill!” as former
President Clinton was welcomed to Harlem
for the official opening Monday o f his
post-White House office. “Now I feel like
I’m home!” a beaming Clinton told the
crowd. “I am honored to be in H arlem ....
You were always there for me.”
“We don’t just get a former president.
We get Bill Clinton, who is still an interna
tional leader in an international commu
nity,” said Rep. Charles Rangel, the Harlem
Democrat who helped persuade Clinton to
locate in the neighborhood. The welcom
ing ceremony had the trappings o f a cam
paign appearance, with Clinton introduced
to the cheering crowd by actress Cicely
Tyson.
“Harlem Welcomes PresidentClinton!”
read an enormous banner stretching be
hind the stage where Clinton sat with
Tyson and politicians such as former
Mayor David Dinkins and state Comptrol
ler Carl McCall.
Clinton told the crowd that his wife and
their daughter. Chelsea, had hoped to join
him. but “my mother-in-law had surgery
this morning, and we couldn't reschedule
that I ask for your prayers for her.”
A statement from George Washington
University Hospital in W ashing
ton said Dorothy Rodham under
went a two-hour operation to re
move a cancerous growth from her
colon. She was expected to remain
hospitalized for several days, but
doctors said she is in good health
and expected to make a full recov
ery
Red, white and blue balloons
decorated the plaza where the
Harlem ceremony was held, down
the street from Clinton’s new of-
Former President Clinton in the Harlem
neighborhood of New York, near his
new office building. (AP Photo)
S tory C ontinues on P age B4
I
I