Closures Ahead for Bridge Work
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Transportation officials prepare residents fo r closures o f the Broadway Bridge
See story, Metro section, inside
33nrtíanh (J)hsu
"The City Of Roses"
www.portlandobserver.com
Volume XXXI
Number 43
Wednesday
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Established in 1970
November 14, 2001
TUEWM
Critical
Budget
Decisions
i n P i r j 'T
raw
Joyce Harris (left)
and Antoinette
Edwards share an
emotional
moment during
Friday's Unity
Breakfast. The
session was
called by black
leaders to mentor
a new generation
o f voices and
bring into sharper
focus issues
important to
Portland's African
American
community.
Rebels Take Kabul
' K A BU L, A fghanistan — Ignoring ap ­
peals to stay out o f the capital, A fghan
opposition fighters rolled into K abul
after T aliban troops fled. Residents,
freed of the Islamic m ilitia’s restrictions,
celebrated by blaring m usic from radios
and shaving their beards.
NYC Crash Puzzling
W A SH IN G T O N — Investigators were
treating the crash o f A m erican A irlines
Flight 587 as an accident. The ch ief
reason, said G eorge Black, an investi­
gator w ith the N ational T ransportation
Safety Board, is the p lan e’s cockpit
voice recorder.
PHOTO BY
M ark W ashington /
T he P ortland
O bserver
Bush, Putin Meet
G eorge W. B ush and Russian President
Vladim ir Putin will m eet in W ashington
and at Bush’s ranch in Craw ford, Texas.
T heir official business will be to strike a
deal to slash each nation’s nuclear arse­
nals and let B ush pursue tests o f a
national m issile-defense system .
Roman Catholic Bishops Elects First
Black President
W A SH IN G T O N — T he group that
serves as the collective voice o f the
n a tio n ’s R o m an C a th o lic b ish o p s
elected its first black president. B ishop
W ilton G regory o f Belleville, 111.
More Anthrax Found on Hill
W A SH IN G TO N — Tests revealed trace
am ounts o f anthrax in several more Sen­
ate offices. Spores were found in the Hart
building offices o f Sens. M ax Baucus, D-
M ont.; Russ Feingold, D -W is.; Joe
Lieberman, D -C onn.; Barbara Mikulski,
D-M d.; and A rlen Specter, R-Pa.
Bush Pays Tribute to Veterans Day
NEW Y O R K — President Bush visited
the W orld T rade C enter’s rubble, tw o
m onths after the Sept 11 hijackings. In
a V eterans D ay tribute, he called on
Am ericans to rem em ber “the terrible
harm that an enem y can inflict” as they
reflect anew on the sacrifices o f their
nation’sm ilitary.
Rebels Claim Capture of Herat
K A BU L, A fghanistan — T he opposi­
tion N orthern A lliance claim ed it had
captured the w estern city o f H erat in its
•ad v an ce again st retrea tin g T aliban
forces. H erat is the largest and m ost
im portant city in w estern A fghanistan.
North Korea Reportedly
Trying to Sell Missiles
W ASHINGTON— North Korea, rebuff -
ing U.S. nonproliferation efforts, is trying
to sell missiles to three or four countries
in Asia and the M iddle East, a Bush
adm inistration official says. The official
said they are concentrated in an area west
of China to the M editerranean Sea.
Japan Commits Ships to
W ar on Terror
T O K Y O — Ja p an ’s C abinet voted to
dispatch three w arships to provide n on­
com bat support in the U .S.-led w ar on
terrorism , despite opposition to any
Japanese attem pt to expand its m ilitary
role. T he tw o destroyers and a supply
vessel will leave Sasebo.
Sen. A vel G ordly and local leaders are
encouraging north and northeast Port­
land residents to get inform ed and in­
volved in county budget hearings that will
im pact services to the A frican A m erican
community.
The urgent appeal follow s Unity B reak­
fast Friday, in w hich black leaders met to
encourage a sharper focus on issues im ­
portant to blacks and the m entoring o f new
generation o f A frican A m erican leaders.
M ultnomah County’s first budget m eet­
ing will be held on M onday, Nov. 19 at 6 p.m.
at the North Portland Branch Library, 512 N.
Killingsworth. It continues the next day
under the direction o f the county executive.
T estim ony can also be given on T h u rs­
day, Nov. 29 - the day the com m issioners
will be voting on the budget - starting at
9 :3 0 a.m . in th e b o ard ro o m o f the
M ultnomah Building, 501 S.E. Hawthorne.
Revamped Club a Gif t to Southeast Kids
T h o u san d s o f L en ts n eig h b o rh o o d
kids are en jo y in g a to ta lly rev am p ed
W attles B oys & G irls C lu b at 9 3 3 0 S. E.
H arold St.
The 24,000 square foot, state-of-the art
youth center opened last w eek thanks to
M ark W attles o f H ollyw ood V ideo who
jum p-started the $2 million renovation with
a $ l million gift.
For W attles, w ho had 5 children o f his
ow n, the donation is giving back to the
same com m unity that helped launch his
b u siness.
“It takes about the sam e am ount of
m oney to build a Boys & G irls C lub as it
does to build a juvenile detention center,”
W attles noted. "T he difference is, when
you build a C lub, you offer kids guidance,
hope and options. It’s a real thrill to see
this new club and to know that thousands
o f kids in southeast Portland now have a
safe, fun place to go instead o f hanging
around on the streets.”
City Commissioner J im Francesconi said
the club is ju st the beginning o f an urban
revitalization effort in Southeast Portland.
“T he new W attles club is a sure sign
that tim es are changing for both kids and
adults in the L ents district. T his C lub will
be followed by a new fire station, new retail
and housing developm ent and a w ave of
im provem ents that will bring renew ed v i­
tality to an area th a t’s been underserved
for a long tim e,” he said.
T h e W a ttle s C lu b w as fo rm e rly
know n as the L ents B oys & G irls C lub
and has serv ed th o u sa n d s o f y o u th and
fam ilies in th e L en ts co m m u n ity fo r the
4 brand new gymnasium floor gets a passing grade from kids as the totally
past 50 years.
revamped Wattles Boy- and Girls Club a t9 3 3 0 S. E. Harold St. opens to the public.
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
50*
U.N. Calls
for Post-
Taliban
Afghanistan
The United Nations General
Assembly pauses for a moment
o f silence Monday after an
American Airlines Flight 4 8 7
crashed into New York's
Rockaway Beach community,
killing more than 2 5 0 people.
Early reports by investigators
blame mechanical failures for
the crash, ju s t after takeoff from
Kennedy International Airport.
AP) — The United N ations envoy
called Tuesday for a tw o-year tran si­
tional governm ent backed by a m ulti­
national security force in A fghani­
stan.
Lakhdar Brahim i, outlined a plan
before the U.N. Security Council to
bring A fghanistan’s m any ethnic and
tribal groups together “as early as
hum anly possible.”
He envisioned a m eeting betw een i
the U .S.-backed northern alliance,
whose forces captured Kabul on T ues­
day, capping a five-day drive to the
capital, and representatives o f other
ethnic groups to discuss the fram e­
w ork for a political transition.
Brahim i said the goal w ould be to
convene a provisional council that I
reflects the co untry’s ethnic diver- I
sity. He suggested it should be chaired I
“by an individual recognized as a
sym bol o f national unity,” an ap p ar­
ent reference to A fghanistan's exiled
king, Z aher Shah.
The 87-year-old monarch, w ho has
lived in Rome since he was ousted in
1973, is seen by som e as a unifying
figure in a possible transitional g o v ­
ernment.
Linder B rah im i's p ro p o sal, the
council would put together the tw o-
year transitional governm ent. D uring
that period, a loya jirga. or grand co u n ­
cil o f prominent Afghans, would draw
up a constitution and a second g ath ­
ering w ould approve it and create a
perm anent A fghan governm ent.
Brahimi.an Algerian diplom at, sa id ,.
turning around “a collapsed and d e s­
titute state" that has becom e a b ree d ­
ing ground for terrorists w ould re ­
quire the political and financial sup­
port o f all nations.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
w ants B rah im i's deputy to travel to
K abul soon, and the U nited N ations
is eager to try to get its staff back into
the country and to deliver h um anitar­
ian aid.
Brahim i said a governm ent ruled
by A fghans “w ould be far m ore cred ­
ible than one run by U.N. officials
parachuted in," he said.
Dropouts Dism al for O regon’s M inority Students
(A P) — A study o f the C lass o f 1998
show s that one-third o f O re g o n 's high
school students failed to earn a diplom a,
giving the state one o f the n atio n ’s h igh­
■
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est dropout rates.
The num bers were particularly bad for
O regon ’ s black and L atino students, more
than hall o f w hom failed to graduate.
“T here is one system for the affluent,
and an o th er for the poor,' said Ron
H em dou, o f Portland, co-chairm an o f the
Crisis T eam , a group o f activists repre­
senting m inority and low -incom e children
in Portland schools. “T hey system atically
ensure that poor kids get the least ex p eri­
,1
’ There is one system for the
affluent, and another for the poor
—r Ron Herndon, co-chairman of the Crisis Team.
enced teachers. If this is not child abuse,
I d o n 't know w hat is. No one does any­
thing about it."
T he M anhattan Institute for Policy
Research calculated graduation rates by
4
taking eighth-grade enrollm ents in 1993.
adjusting them for state population growth,
and then com paring them with the num ber
o f students earning diplom as in 1998.
The report show s graduation rates vary
widely, from alo w o f 57 percent in G eorgia
to 93 percent in Iow a O regon ranked 40th
am ong the 50 states and District o f C o lu m ­
bia, ju st above Louisiana
“The problem w ith low graduation rates
is probably m ore severe than m ost people
realize, "said Jay P. Greene, w ho conducted
the study as a senior fellow at the New
Y ork think tank. “School districts do not
inform them about this situation in an
honest and straightforw ard w ay."
A lthough m ost states including O r­
egon consider students w ho earn G eneral
Educational D evelopm ent C ertificates as
continued
on page A3