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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 2002)
■■■■■■■■■■■■Hi E bony R ose Skiers Lured by A dventure African American ski club hits the slopes ___________________________________________________________________ See story, Metro BI 33urtíanfr ©lise "The City Of Roses" Volume XXXII Number 7 www.portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity Established in 1970 Wednesday February 13, 2002 TUT WEEK Arrest Paul Gets Ready For a Big Move injulEN T Elusive in Teen’s Death REW Paul Bunyan is fitted with a construction v e st and h a t in preparation fora big m o v e in the Kenton neighborhood o f north Portland. The 43-year-old sta tu e will b e m o v e d 5 0 fe e t on M onday m orning a t 8 :3 0 a.m . to m a k e room for the In terstate Max Light rail project. Jerrry B uxbaum o f Studio 2 3 Productions m ade P aul's sa fe ty gear. The com pany sp ecia lizes in visual c o n c e p ts for print, video a n d special events. Chief Suspect Detained In Reporter's Abduction KARACHI, Pakistan— The chief sus pect in the abduction o f W all Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was ar rested, and an official close to the in vestigation said the suspect told po lice Pearl was alive. Bush Aligns Supports for Showdown with Iraq W ASHINGTON — President Bush is preparing for military action against Iraq and lining up support from allies in the Middle East, U.S. officials and dip lomats from the region say. Bush has said Iraq belongs to an “axis of evil” that is trying to develop nuclear, chemi cal and biological weapons. M elissa Bittler U.S. Doesn’t Expect to Deploy Troops to Yemen SAN’A, Yemen— TheheadoftheU .S. m ilitary’s Central Command said that the United States doesn’t expect to deploy combat troops in Yemen to search for suspected al-Qaeda terror ists. The U.S. will provide the govern ment training and assistance in creat ing a coast guard. Study: Lots of Death Penalties ■ Lots of Mistakes W ASHINGTON — Death sentences imposed in cases that are not among the “worst of the worst” are more likely to be overturned, a new study finds. Overall, states and counties where the death penalty is imposed most often also tend to have the most cases over turned because of mistakes at trial. Irradiated Mall Causing Health Problems W A SH IN G TO N — At least 87 subur ban postal workers who handled irradi ated mail have reported health prob lems including nausea, headaches and breathing problems, union leaders say. Postal officials are using irradiation to protect against anthrax contamination. Ecstasy Use Among Teens Grows WASHINGTON— The number of teen agers using the club drug Ecstasy could double in five years and is rising at such an alarming rate that leading anti drug advocates will launch a campaign against it. Arafat Names Possible Successors RAMALLAH. W est Bank — Yasser Arafat named two confidants to even tually succeed him in the two key posts he holds— Palestinian Authority presi dent and head of the PLO. Arafat has long avoided naming a successor, ap parently for fear an heir-designate might try to oust him. Amtrak Going Private? W ASHINGTON - A congressionaliy appointed panel says financially ailing Amtrak should be broken up in favor of letting the free market try to improve the nation’s passenger train system. Meantime, Amtrak chairman Michael Dukakis calls for the recommendation to be “rejected out of hand." PHOTO BY M ark W ashington / T he P ortland O bserver Police h o p e s o m e o n e an identify this m an, a s u s p e c t in th e D ec e m b e r m urder o f a n o rth e a st Portland teenager. The s k e tc h was drawn a fte r a 1 9 9 7 a s s a u lt with sim ilar circum stances. Portland police are continuing to fol low leads in the murder and sexual assault of a northeast Portland teenager, but so far no arrests have been made. The family and employer o f the victim sponsored an advertisement in the Port land Observer last week asking the public for information about the case with a possible connection to a 1997 assault. The information is repeated as a public service inside this w eek’s issue on page A2. Melissa Bittler, 14, was found dead Dec. 14 in the backyard home of a neigh bor in the W ilshire neighborhood. Authorities believe she was abducted off the street on her way to school in the same manner as a 1997 sexual assault near Jefferson High School. In that case, the victim was pulled between two houses and then sexually assaulted, but survived. A four-year-old drawing shows the suspect in the earlier assault. Police be lieve the man may be the same person who murdered Bittler. Detectives are urging anyone with in formation in this investigation to call 503- 8234731. Education A ctivists Fight H IV/AIDS Portland a ctivists Richard Brown (left) and D uane Lewis u s e African Am erican HIV/AIDS A w a ren ess Day to prom ote HIV prevention program s by th e African Am erican Health Coalition an d the M ultnom ah County Health D epartm ent. AIDS is th e n u m ber o n e c a u se o f d e a th for African A m ericans b e tw e e n th e a g e s o f 2 5 a n d 44. ‘This is a preventable d ise a se , * sa id Corliss M cK eever o f th e health coalition. The e v e n t w as held Thursday at the M iracles Club on N o rtheast M ason an d Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. photo by M ark W ashington / T he P ortland O bserver PCC Expansion Goes to Public Hearings Black churches in path of land grab are unhappy with process by L ee P erlman T he P ortland O bserver The proposed expansion of Portland Community C ollege’s Cascade Campus in north Portland is moving into the public hearing stage with some property owners already reaching agreements to sell. H ow ever, tw o A frican A m erican churches, in the path o f the several-block land grab, are unhappy about what the college is doing and how it is doing it. PCC spokesperson Susan Hereford told the Portland Observer that the col lege has acquired “about h a lf' of the property it wants. While it has yet to exercise the power of eminent domain against unwilling sellers, the college may be forced to do so in the future, she says. The city will hold a public hearing on the expansion plans at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 1900 S W. Fourth Ave. B ishop S a m u e l Irving sa ys his church w a s n ’t tre a te d fairly. Last week, the Portland Design Com mission reviewed portions of the plans. The most critical testimony came from representatives of the Salvation and De liverance Church of God in Christ at 5736 N. Albina Ave., and the Albina Christian Life Center, 5522 N. Albina Ave. Bishop Samuel Irving, pastor of the Christian Life Center, told the design com mission the church has sold its property to the college and is in the process of moving to a new location at 2149 N. Willamette Blvd. But Irving had harsh words for the process. "W e haven’t been treated fair,” he said. Although condemnation by eminent dom ain was not utilized in his case, the church was “forced to accept less than we wanted," Irving said. The Salvation and Deliverance Church, represented by church deacon Herman Greene, attorney Ty Wyman and consult ant Peter Fry, charged that the college has failed to talk to them, with phone calls to college officials going unretumed. Wyman noted that the college plans for five blocks of surface parking lots. “If this was a private development, it would be laughed out of the building,” he said. College officials say there are no imme diate plans to acquire the Salvation and Deliverance property, although the parcel is included in a 20-year expansion plan. Right now the college is taking action to build five new structures: an “advanced technical" complex on Killingsworth, east of the existing library; a new physical education building and community cen- continued y f on page B6
