Dance Company Presents ‘Hair Stories’
Performance explores politics o f African American hair
See story, Metro Page A10
ISnrtlanh (Ohse
"The City Of Roses"
Volume XXXI
Number 45
www.portlandobserver.com
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Committed to Cultural Diversity
Established in 1970
Wednesday
November 28, 2001
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Firefighters Disciplined for Harassment
Fire bureau to assess its culture to prevent similar problems
Police Soy School Safe, But Many
Students Stay Home
NEW BEDFORD, Mass, — A high
school where three teenagers allegedly
plotted to use explosives and guns to
kill fellow students reopened, but 41 %
of the 3,300 students stayed home de­
spite a security sweep by nearly 40
officers and five bomb-sniffing dogs.
jo b s as a result o f their conduct.
A battalion ch ief is being dem oted to
captain, a lieutenant is being dem oted
to firefighter, a fire medic will be sus­
pended w ithout pay for tw o m onths,
another lieutenant Will be suspended
w ithout pay for one 24-hour shift, and a
fire fig h te r w ill receive a le tte r o f
reprimand.
Fire C om m issioner Jim Francesconi
The Portland Fire Bureau has d isci­
plined five firefighters, including three
supervisors, for racially harassing an
African American firefighter or allowing
him to be harassed.
Letters inform ing the firefighters o f
the action were delivered Sunday and
M onday, follow ing a five-m onth inves­
tigation.
None o f the firefighters w ill lose their
and Fire C hief Ed W ilson say the disci­
pline is part o f a broader effort to ensure
that racial harassm ent is not tolerated
among firefighters.
The bureau will hire an outside con­
sultant to assess the bureau’s culture
and recommend changes in policy o rg a­
nization or training to prevent sim ilar
problems.
The harassment case stems from the
Economic
Downturn
Made
Official
Afghan Peace Talks Start
KOEN1GSWINTER, Germany— With
billions in international aid at stake,
Afghan factions opened talks on how
to share power once the Taliban is
defeated. Three Afghan exile groups
and the Northern Alliance are part of
the talks in Germany. The Taliban was
not included.
Recession puts to end
a 10-year streak of
economic prosperity
Bush warns Saddam
W A SH IN G TO N — President Bush
w arn ed Iraq i P re sid e n t Saddam
Hussein to allow United Nations arms
inspectors into Baghdad. Bush said
W ashington w ould no longer toler­
ate Baghdad’s refusal tocom ply with
terms o f the accord that ended the
1991 G ulf War.
Bin Laden's Camps Teach
Curriculum of Carnage
JALALABAD, A fghanistan — Plas­
tic explosives, tim ing devices and
sketches o f the best places to hide a
bomb on an airplane filled the files of
O sam a bin L aden’s terrorist training
cam ps near here.
Researchers' Claim to First
Embryo Draws Criticism
BOSTON— A company ’ s claim that it
has cloned the first human embryo has
drawn swift opposition from anti-abor­
tion and political leaders, who see it as
a step toward cloning human beings.
The researchers say they hope to de­
velop genetically compatible replace­
ment cells — not human clones.
WTC Count Falls Below 3,900
NEW Y O RK — The number o f people
missing or dead in the Sept. 11 terrorist
assault on the W orld Trade Center has
dropped below 3,900, according to the
city’s official tally. The number, which
once neared 7,000, has dropped steadily
as police eliminate duplicate names and
people who were initially reported miss­
ing but turned out to be safe.
L e t th e
o l i d a y S e a s o n B e g in !
94-Year-Old Has Anthrax
OXFORD, C onn.— Federal health of­
ficials confirmed that an elderly woman
is infected with inhalation anthrax, baf­
fling authorities. A family member iden­
tified the woman as 94-year-old Ottilie
Lundgren. She was in critical condition
at Griffin Hospital in southwestern
Connecticut.
U J . Offers S25M for bin Laden
W A SHINGTON— The U.S. military
hopes that Afghans seeking a $25 mil­
lion reward, not American soldiers, will
creep through caves hunting for top al-
Q a’eda terrorist leaders. Defense Sec­
retary Donald H. Rumsfeld says.
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stress-related disability of Rick Fizer, 31,
who joined the fire bureau in J une 1999 and
worked at the fire station off North Inter­
state and Going.
Fizer, an African American, was subject
to racist comments about “cotton picking
in Mississippi,” negative comments about
the North Portland neighborhoods the
firefighters served and demeaning porno­
graphic pranks.
Portland's Christmas tree at Pioneer Courthouse Square sparkles beautifully in the twilight Monday. The 85-foot
grand fir from the Hampton Tree Farm o f Oregon was lit in an official tree lighting ceremony Friday and marks the
start o f the city's holiday season.
photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
(AP) — It’s official. The National Bu­
reau of Economic Research announced
Monday that the United States entered a
recession in March, the month in which
the longest expansion in U.S. history cel­
e b ra te d
its
10th
a n n iv e rsa ry .
The committee, composed of academic
economists from Harvard, Stanford and
other prestigious universities, posted its
decision on its Web site.
It ruled that the long expansion ended
in March and the nation’s 10th recession
since the end of World War II began at the
same time.
Even though it dated the start of the
recession as March, the NBER panel said
a full-blown downturn still might have
been avoided if not for the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks.
“Before the attacks, it is possible that
the decline in the economy would have
been too mild to qualify as a recession,”
the group said in a statement.
The group's decision means the long­
est expansion lasted exactly 10 years. The
previous record for uninterrupted eco­
nomic growth was set in the 1960s, a period
of eight years and 10 months lasting from
February 1961 to December 1969.
At the White House, President Bush,
whose father lost the White House partly
as a result of the country’s last recession,
pledged, “We will doeverything we can to
enhance recovery.”
The president called on Congress to
move quickly to pass an economic stimu­
lus so that he will be able to “sign it before
Christmas.”
The country’s last recession begin in
July 1990 and lasted until March 1991. But
the NBER did not officially declare the
downturn over until December 1992.
OAME Youth Store Fosters Entrepreneurship
The O regon A ssociation o f M inority
E ntrepreneurs Y outh Store has geared
up for the holidays with unique prod­
ucts from m inority-ow ned businesses
in Oregon.
N ate M oreland, O A M E youth pro­
gram m anager, said the retail outlet at
4134 N. V ancouver “is rapidly becom ­
ing the show case for products not avail­
able in other retail stores.”
A lre a d y th is se a so n , the Y outh
S tore is featu rin g G o d w are, a c lo th ­
ing line by a local d esig n er; C a rte r's
W ater, a 62-o u n ce. re filla b le , daily
supply o f pure w ater; along w ith the
reg u lar O A M E line o f m ugs, t-sh irts,
pins, and buttons.
“W e’re geared up for the holidays,"
M oreland said.
The Y outh Store is m anaged and
operated by young entrepreneurs from
north and northeast Portland.
M oreland provides training supervi­
sion with support and m entorship from
top com panies in corporate Oregon.
“The O A M E Youth Store promotes
business education and develops young
e n tr e p r e n e u r s fo r O r e g o n ," sa id
M oreland, a business adm inistration
graduate from the U niversity o f O r­
egon.
The store is open from 11 a.m. to 4
p.m., M onday through Friday. Shop­
p in g is a ls o a v a ila b le o n lin e at
www.oame.org.
Alex Fountaine conducts business at the Oregon Association o f Minority
Entrepreneurs youth store at 4134 N. Vancouver. The retail outlet is managed
and operated by young entrepreneurs from north and northeast Portland. Nate
Moreland (right) is the OAME youth program manager.
photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
O A M E was established in 1987 to
support developm ent o f m inority busi­
nesses in O regon
U n d e r th e le a d e r s h ip o f S am
B rooks, fo u n d er, c h a irm a n o f the
board and presid en t. O A M E ’s scope
has ex p anded to include reso u rces
from local, state, and federal g o v e rn ­
m ent, ed u catio n al, fin an cial and o f­
fice support sources to a ssist m in o r­
ity w om en and em erg in g sm all b u si­
nesses and en trep ren eu rs becom e suc­
cessful in business.
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