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Volume XXXI
Number 42
"T hp The
f i t v City
O f Of
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www.portlandobserver.com
Roses"
Wednesday
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Established in 197«
50*
October 17, 2001
Job Losses Slam Oregon Into a Recession
Economic effects from the terrorist attacks still wait to be measured
Northern Alliances Says Troops
Near Mazar-e-Sharif
D U SH A N B E .T ajikistan— The North
ern A lliance reported that its troops are
approaching M azar-e-Sharif in north
ern A fghanistan, w ith som e units only
four m iles from the key city. M azar-e-
S h arif has been held by the T aliban
since 1998.
Jordan Foils Terrorist Attempts
A M M A N , Jordan — Jordanian and
L ebanese security officials helped d e
rail terrorist plots against U .S., British,
Jordanian and other em bassies in L eba
non. O fficials declined to say w ho was
behind the attem pts, but suggested it
w as a group linked to O sam a bin Laden.
Blair, Arafat Discuss
Mideast Peace Process
L O N D O N — Palestinian leader Y asser
Arafat said that the present turm oil over
terrorism and m ilitary action against
A fghanistan w as no reason to delay a
resum ption o f peace talks w ith Israel.
British Prim e M inisterT ony Blair said a
Palestinian state is necessary for long-
lasting peace.
DMVs Get Stricter on Licenses
A m id concerns that it's too easy to get
legal identification, many states are tight
ening procedures over driver’s licenses
and IDs. O fficials say it is unlikely the
Sept. 11 attac k s w ould have been
stopped had hijackers been denied IDs,
but as m any as five o f them did get such
cards under false pretenses.
Deal Reached by Minn. Unions on
Ending Strike
ST. PA U L, M inn. — Leaders from the
tw o largest state em ployees unions
agreed to accept contract deals reached
w ith the state, ending a tw o-w eek w alk
out by 23,000 governm ent workers. The
unions had struck over w age increases
and changes to health benefits.
The difficulty in finding and maintaining employment was evident last week as a line of prospective workers attends a
job opportunity fair, sponsored by the Oregon Employment Division on North Webster Street. The office has scheduled
another job fair on Nov. 1.
photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Walnut Park Theater
To Be Demolished
(AP) - The jo b less rate nudged upw ard
again last month, officially pushing O r
egon into a recession.
The unem ploym ent rate rose to 6.4 p er
cent in Septem ber, its highest level in
seven years, David Cooke, the state’s
labor econom ist, said Friday.
The jobless figure was a full percentage
point above the U.S. rate, making O regon’s
unem ploym ent rate one o f the highest in
the nation.
O fficials noted the figures w ere com
piled before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in
New Y ork and W ashington, D.C.
Econom ic effects resulting from the
attacks will not be reflected until O ctober
figures are collected.
M anufacturing in O regon was hit hard
by layoffs in Septem ber, particularly high
tech, w hich saw substantial losses com
pared w ith the prior month.
C onstruction continued to falter, los
ing 1,400jobs at the end o f sum m er, when
a loss o f 300jo b s w ould be norm al for the
tim e o f year, C ooke said.
“ In the last few m onths, several o f our
state econom ists and I have been debat
ing w hether O reg o n 's current econom ic
dow nturn should be characterized as a
recession,” said G raham Slater, research
director for the O regon Em ploym ent D e
partment.
But Slater said the Septem ber jobless
figures and continued layoffs - including
additional jo b cuts announced Friday at
Freightliner in Portland - indicated “that
O regon is indeed in the m idst o f an eco
nomic recession.”
Freightliner Keeps
Portland Headquarters
Demolition workers
plan to save the old
Walnut Park Theater
sign so that it can be
incorporated into a new
development in the
Martin Luther King Jr.
Boulevard
neighborhood.
Indian Army Shells Pakistan
JA M M U , India — India's army shelled
Pakistani military' posts across the dis
puted cease-/ire line in Kashmii aftera 10-
month border calm, destroying nearly a
dozen posts. It com es a day before Sec.
o f State Colin Powell arrives in New Delhi
to ease tensions between the rivals.
photo by M ark W ashing -
TO n /T hf . P ortland O b
server
Phone Threat Prompts U.S.-Canada
Border Closing
HIGHGATE, V t.— A bomb threat made
to a business near the U .S.-C anada
b o r d e r an d a s u s p ic io u s v e h ic le
prom pted federal officials to close two
m ajor border crossings. O fficials were
investigating the threat and could pro
vide few details.
Report: Gotti Hospitalized for
Blood Clot
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. —H rm erN ew Yotk
mob boss John Gotti was in stable condi
tion at a hospital undergoing treatment
for a blood clot, a family friend said.
by A rlene G hoi . ston
T he P ortland O bserve «
The northeast Portland cultural land
m ark, the W alnut Park T heater, is slated
to be tom down.
The Portland D evelopm ent C om m is
sion is currently soliciting bids for the
demolition o f the approxim ately 70 -year-
old structure, w hich has been vacant for
m ore than six years. A sbestos rem oval
will begin this week. D em olition is ex
pected to begin the second w eek o f N o
vem ber, taking about tw o w eeks, accord
ing to project coordinator Lois Cortell.
The PDC purchased the theater last
January. They worked with the building’s
former ow ner on feasibility studies to pre
serve the building, but a structural crack
continued
on page AS
Freightliner has decided to close its parts manufacturing plant on Swan
Island, but keep its corporate headquarters in Portland.
photo in
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
( A P I— Freightliner, the largest m anu
fac tu re r o f heavy co m m ercial tru ck s in
N orth A m erica, has an n o u n ced a re
stru ctu rin g p lan th at w ill clo se m ost o f
its C anadian op eratio n and a parts m anu
fac tu rin g p la n t in P o rtland.
T he restru ctu rin g plan w ill also m ean
the lo ss o f 1.100 w h ite -c o lla r jo b s in
P o rtlan d , alo n g w ith a c o m p an y w id e 5
p ercen t pay cut. B ut it reta in s P o rtlan d
as the c o rp o ra te h ea d q u arte rs fo r the
truck m aker.
continued
on page AS
Mailrooms Tighten Security After Anthrax Reports
(AP) — W ith anthrax-contam inated
letters arriving in offices from N evada to
the nation’s capital, m ailroom s and d eliv
ery services across the country arc p ut
ting new handling procedures in place.
M ailroom em ployees are being warned
tocheck packages for m isspellings in co m
mon nam es and words, to look for po w
dery substances and excessive or in ad
equate postage, and to contact authorities
about any suspicious mail.
The Postal Service announced the cre
ation o f a task force to exam ine mai 1 secu
rity and hazardous-m aterial safeguards.
T he C enters for D isease C ontrol and P re
vention issued guidelines for handling
letters and packages. And private delivery
com panies are scrutinizing their ow n p ro
cedures.
At NBC, where one employee contracted
the skin form o f anthrax and another has
sh o w n sy m p to m s, the n e tw o rk has
stopped accepting mail from the Postal
Service.
"O urentire mail system is being looked
at by professionals," spokeswoman Kassie
Canter said. “O ur interim procedure for the
4
near-term future is that w e 're accepting
U PS an d F ed E x , and th e y 'r e b ein g
screened. E m ployees have the option not
to accept anything."
In California. Gov. G ray D avis ordered
state em ployees to stop handling letters
and packages until they com plete training
continued
on page AS
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