Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, August 29, 2001, Page 5, Image 5

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    Page A5
August 29,2001
Youth Speakout Against Police Abuse
O ne hundred m ostly low -in­
com e youth cam e together Aug.
15 at a Y outh Speakout A gainst
Police to share experiences about
police m isconduct.
They w ere joined by M errick
Bonneau, D ora M cCrae, N orm an
W icks Jr., and Dr. and Mrs. Kendra
R osser - all o f w hom have o u t­
standing claim s against the city
for dam ages o r civil rights viola­
tions at the hands o f the police.
; The youth spoke o f having
experienced police abuse or hav­
ing w itnessed their parents being
abused by police. A speaker told
o f police using excessive force,
sexual harassm ent and racial p ro ­
filing o f him as a c a r theft suspect,
even though he w as riding a bi­
cycle in his w ork uniform .
M errick B onneau, w ho w as
badly beaten by police tw o years
( ago, and w hose difficulties seek­
ing legal redress w as the focus o f
new spaper reports, articulated the
im portance o f the speakout.
“W hat do you do w hen you
can no longer trust the police to
a c t reasonably? A nd w hen you
can no longer trust attorneys to
represent you in good faith? And
w hen the C ity C ouncil is apt to
silence your grievances? You turn
to the com m unity. And that's what
w e’re doing here,” B onneau said.
M cCrae, an honorary guest,
w as identified as an elder who
“w as young once” and who has
experienced police abuse as young
people have.
“Police abuse affects us at any
age,” M cCrae said. She stressed
that “it is important for us to com e
together at events like this, but to
stop police abuse, we need to
reshape our institutions and c re­
ate authoritative civilian o v er­
Campaign for Parental Involvement
W ith back-to-school prepara­
tion under w ay across the coun­
try, the N A A C P with the help o f
corporate sponsors, are launch­
ing a grass-roots media campaign
urging A frican A m erican and
Latino parents to become actively
involved in their children’s edu­
cation - w hich will improve the
success o f these students.
The three-year campaign, ‘ ‘Suc­
cess in School Equals Success in
Life,” is sponsored by The People
for the A m erican W ay Founda­
tion, Eastman Kodak, and the New
Y ork-based Advertising Council.
It will feature public-service an­
nouncem ents on television, radio,
newspapers, billboards and mass
transit.
“W e w ant to em pow er more
parents by show ing the im por­
tance o f parental involvem ent at
all levels oftheir children's educa­
tion,” said K w esi M fum e, presi­
dent o f the N A A C P. "B y getting
parents m ore deeply involved in
their children’s education, this
new ad cam paign show s that suc­
cess is attainable both in school
and in life.”
T he broadcast and ad d is­
p la y s are ex p ected to reach
25,000 m edia outlets across the
country, the largest outreach to
A frican-A m erican and Latino
p a r e n ts , a c c o r d in g to th e
NAACP.
The ads will also feature a toll-
free telephone number and a Web
site for parents to obtain m ore
inform ation. For m ore inform a­
tion parents can call 1-800-281-
1313 or log on to the w ebsite at
w w w .schoolsuccessinfo.com .
Oregon’s Hunger Rate Higher Than Nation’s Average
(AP) - A study by the Oregon
C enter for Public Policy says the
hunger rate in Oregon is nearly
double the national average. It says
5.9 percent o f Oregon households
contain members who go hungry at
times compared to an average o f3 .3
percent in the other 49 states.
The report notes that one child
in four in O regon live in hom es
w here parents struggle to put food
on the table. It says that in nearly
h a lf o f those hom es at least one
person, usually an adult, som e­
tim es goes hungry. Rural families
are m ore likely to face hunger, the
report notes, because jo b s are
m ore scarce in rural counties.
R is in g h o u s in g c o s ts are
blam ed by the report for putting
the squeeze on m any families.
sight. That is why it is im portant to
get behind the Police A ccount­
ability Campaign 2002.”
The speakout was the fourth
such event, the first in outer south­
east Portland, organized by the
campaign and other organizations,
including the Southeast W orks
Youth Advisory Board, with sup­
port from Sisters in Action for
Power, Latin America/Asia Pacific
Youth Program o f the A merican
Friends Service C om m ittee and
Love M akes a Fam ily.
The cam paign reports that it
now has m ore than 20,000 signa­
tures on a proposed initiative for
the M ay 2002 ballot.
School Superintendent Sued
for Delinquent Back Taxes
(A P ) - M ario n C o u n ty has
su e d S tate S ch o o l S u p e rin te n ­
d en t Stan B unn to co llect $5,481
for four years o f delinquent prop­
erty tax es, in clu d in g in terest, on
a S alem ren tal h o m e h e ow ns.
B u n n said he a rra n g e d last
W e d n e s d a y to p a y th e b ill,
w h ich he said w e n t to an o u t­
d a te d ad d ress.
B u n n said he w a s n ’t aw are o f
the tax bill o r th e law suit until he
saw th e c o u n ty ’s ac tio n listed
in a n e w sp a p e r’s legal notices.
T h e law su it b ro u g h t in c ir­
c u it co u rt said B unn o w es p ro p ­
erty ta x es for fiscal y ea rs 1997-
98 th ro u g h 2000-01.
S uch fo reclo su re n o tices p ro ­
v id e a p e rio d o f tim e for ow ners
to k eep th e irp ro p e rty by p aying
b a c k ta x es an d in te rest; o th e r­
w ise, th e co u n ty acq u ires the
p ro p erty .
“ T h a t’s the first 1 k n e w o f it,’
B unn said w'hen co n tacted at a
state B oard o f E d u catio n retreat
inN ew 'port.
H e said the tax sta te m en ts
ap p a ren tly w ent to th e ad d ress
o f his fo rm er N ew b erg law o f­
fice, w h ich he said h a s n ’t b een
u sed fo r se v eral years.
T he c o u n ty ’s n o tice listed a
d ow ntow n N ew b erg address for
Bunn.
B unn is alre ad y the ta rg e t o f
a p o ssib le eth ics in v e stig a tio n
in v o lv in g his o ffic ia l conduct.
A co m p lain t pending w ith the
sta te G o v e rn m e n t S ta n d a rd s
and P ractices C o m m issio n asks
th at it look into w h eth e r B unn
v io lated eth ics law s in his use o f
sta te -o w n ed p h o n es an d state-
paid v eh icles.
T he O reg o n ian re p o rte d in
June th at B u n n h ad m ad e h u n ­
d red s o f p erso n al lo n g -d ista n ce
te le p h o n e c a lls u s in g s ta te
p h o n es, u sed a sta te -p a id ren tal
car for p erso n a l b u sin e ss an d
d id n ’t a c co u n t for h is u se o f a
ca r assig n ed to him .
B unn a c k n o w led g e d m ak in g
m any p erso n a l ca lls at sta te e x ­
p en se an d paid the sta te $676.
H e sa id h e w o u ld retu rn a sta te
ca r an d rem o v e th e sta te p h o n e
in his N ew b erg hom e.
S tate law p ro h ib its p u b lic o f­
ficials from u sin g th e ir o ffic es
fo r p erso n a l gain.
B unn, a fo rm er sta te le g isla ­
to r, w as e lec ted to a fo u r-y ea r
term as state school ch ie f in 1998.
Providence Opens New
Advanced Breast Center
,
’
P rovidence H ealth System re­
cently celebrated a new w ay to
care for w om en w ith the opening
o f the Ruth J . S pear B reast C enter
at Providence St. V incent M edical
C enter. T he center unites diag­
nostic, treatm ent, counseling and
patient education services in one
location to provide com plete and
convenient care for m am m ogra-
phy patients and w om en w ith
Change is good.
And it’s not as hard
as you may think.
A lot of things, from the grow th in high-tech industries to increased
population, tell us the energy crunch o u r region is facing right now
will continue for aw hile. D ealing w ith it m eans that each of us has to
change the w ay w e use energy. A nd w e have to start now.
H ere are som e changes an d tips that will m ake a difference now
breast cancer.
“T he B reast C e n te r o ffers pa-
tie n ts a u n iq u e , c o o rd in a te d
sy stem o f ca re an d is a ren ew al
o f P ro v id e n c e ’s o n g o in g c o m ­
m itm e n t to s c re e n an d tre a t
w om en fo r b re a st d ise a se ," says
B ru ce W eb b er, M D , p la stic and
re c o n stru c tiv e su rg eo n an d one
o f the c o o rd in a to rs o f the p ro ­
gram.
T he n ew c e n te r o ffe rs state-
o f - th e - a r t te c h n o lo g y in its
W o m en ’s Im ag in g D epartm ent.
Six m am m o g rap h y units w ill a l­
low for easy ap p o in tm e n t a v a il­
ability. M am m ogram resu lts are
v iew ed n o t o n ly b y a ra d io lo ­
g ist, b u t also sen t th ro u g h the
Im ageC hecker system for a com ­
p u te r iz e d “ s e c o n d o p in io n ”
reading. U ltraso u n d serv ices on
site w ill d e te rm in e if a m ass is
f lu id o r s o l i d - f i l l e d , a n d
stereotacic b io p sies w ill rem ove
m c r o c a lc if ic a tio n s fro m th e
b rea st w ith a n e e d le ra th e r than
an in cisio n .
“W e com bine the best diag­
nostic equipm ent available w ith a
w arm , inviting area and caring
staff,” says L o rn Jacobs, clinical
an d in the future:
■ Switch to com pact fluorescent
bulbs in lights that rem ain on
three or m ore hours per day.
T hey u se o nly one q u arte r
th e energy of reg u lar b u lb s.
■ Clean lightbulbs and fixtures.
D u st can reduce lig h t o u tp u t
by as m uch as 10 percent!
■ Turn off one 60-watt light that
w ould norm ally be on d u rin g
the peak sum m er hours of
2 p.m. to 8 p.m. If every one
of o u r 1.5 m illio n custom ers
d id , th e energy saved could
p o w er ab o u t 45,000 hom es.
■ Install dim m ers. T h e am o u n t
you d im e q u a ls y o u r energy
saved. For exam ple, lig h ts
d im m ed 15 p ercen t reduces
energy co n su m p tio n u p to
15 p e rc e n t
■ Install m otion sensors or
tim ers to autom atically turn
lights on an d off. M otion
sensor lighting is great for
o u td o o rs an d in y o u r w o rk ­
sh o p or la u n d ry room.
T im ers are th e rig h t choice
if y o u 'd lik e an in d o o r lig h t
sw itch ed on an d off at
specific tim es.
■ M ake saving energy a habit.
Do the bright thing.
PACIFIC P O W E R
Call us at 1-800-222-4335.
and ask for a copy of our
Bright Ideas booklet.
02001 PadfiCorp
im aging manager.
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