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Lecture by Dick Gregory
For Black History Month, famous co
median, actor, nutritionist and civil
rights activist Dick Gregory will be
speaking on several controversial top
ics. The premiere event will be at
Marantha Church, 4222 NE. 12th on
Saturday, Feb. 16. Tickets are on a first
come first serve basis and must be
purchased in advance. Call 288-5331
or 288-2118 or 289-3490 or email to
MiUeonium2QQQGroup@ yahoo.com-
Area Skiers Lured by Adventure
The Ebony Rose Ski Club recruits new members with open house
History of the Columbia Slough
Interested in learning about the C o
lumbia Slough? An overview that cov
ers the watershed history, hydrology,
land use, fish and more will be given at
the Pacific Power Metro Operations
Center, 7544 NE. 33rd Drive on Satur
day, March 2, from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Call
281 -1132 to pre-register.
Portland Home
and Garden Show
The GMC Portland Home & Garden
Show is one of the largest shows in the
country and the top show in the North
west. Featuring the number one state
flower show in the nation, 22 Show
case Gardens, hundreds of home and
garden booths and a new feature Deco
rating with Antiques. The show will be
at the Portland Expo Center, from Feb.
20 -2 4 . For more information, call 246-
8291
or
go
o n lin e
to
www.oloughlintradeshows.CQm.
Noon Time Bicycle Rides
The Multnomah Bar Association will
be offering noon time bicycle rides
that are short, fast rides over hills.
Interested participants must meet at
the SW. com er of Pioneer Courthouse
Square, between noon and 12:10p.m.,
Mondays and Thursdays. Call Ray
Thomas at 228-5222.
Learn About Juvenile Rights
A training w ill be held for parents
and guardians o f school-age ch il
dren by an attorney w ith the Juve
nile R ights Project. This talk is to
educate people about their own and
their ch ild re n ’s rights in Suspen
sion and Expulsion procedures and
in Special Education issues on T ues
day, Feb. 19, from 7 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.
at the W oodstock L ibrary, 6008 SE.
49"’. C all988-5399.
Members o f Portland's Ebony Rose Ski Club enjoy a day on the slopes.
by M ichael L eighton
T he P ortland O bserver
Has the Salt Lake Winter Games put you into a
thrill seeking mood?
A local ski club has just the right event to put
your dreams into reality.
Portland’s Ebony Rose Ski Club is planning an
open house for anyone who has always wanted to
try skiing or snowboarding, but never knew how or
where to get started.
The event will be held Thursday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m.
at Billy Reed’s Restaurant at 2808 N.E. Martin
Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Ebony Rose is a member of the Brotherhood of
Skiers, a national organization whose members are
predominately African-American, but membership
is open to all.
“If you’re a good natured, fun and adventure
seeking individual, you’ll want to attend this event
and see what you’ve been missing,” organizers
said.
Club representatives will have the latest infor
mation about winter clothing fabrics that have
almost eliminated being cold while skiing. The
open house will also present information about
tension sensing boot bindings that have lead to a
dramatic reduction in ski injuries.
The Ebony Rose Club also sponsors fun,
non-ski activities for fam ilies as w ell as single
adults.
For information about the open house or other
questions, call 503-335-8723.
Graduates Bring Diversity To Contracting
The first class to
graduate from a
new program
aimed at bringing
diversity to the
awarding of
contracts for
goods and
services In the
city celebrate with
Mayor Vera Katz
(center). The
Sheltered Market
Program is for
minority, women
and emerging
small
businesses.
Portland city leaders and represen
tatives o f sm all and m inority-ow ned
com panies are celebrating am ilesto n e
in the aw arding o f goods and services
c o n tracts to m in o rity , w om en and
em erging sm all businesses.
A Feb. 4 graduation cerem ony at
City Hall honored the first class o f 27
graduates from the Sheltered M arket
Program.
The program was developed to ad
dress the lack o f diversity in govern
ment contracts. Participants are p ro
vided prim e bidding opportunities u n
der $200,000 and project-specific tech
nical assistance.
“Some o f our citizens still suffer eco
I
nomic exclusion based on gender race,
ethnic background and sexual orienta
tio n ,” said M ayor Katz. “We have im
portant w ork to do and the Sheltered
M arket Program is an im portant tool in
addressing this issue.”
Erick M cK inney, president o f P lati
num C onstruction, said the technical
assistance he obtained provided an
“environm ent to grow as a business.”
C ollectively, the 27 graduates were
aw arded 254 contracts, valued at over
$ 14 million dollars from the city of Port
land.
“ I have been able to expand my
k n o w ledge o f g e n e ra l c o n tra c tin g
th ro u g h the p rogram and I have been
*
4 ’
afforded the opp o rtu n ity to grow and
expand my b u sin e ss," said Jam es
C ason, p re sid e n t and ow ner o f JEC
M echanical.
“We found this program to be very
helpful, because it d id n 't just provide
us w ith the opportunity to bid on work,
but it also provided us with technical
assistance. A nyone that is a sm aller
contractor should consider entering this
w onderful p ro g ra m ," said M anuel
C astenada, ow ner o f Pro Landscape
Co.
For more inform ation about the pro
gram and contracting opportunities with
the city, call T eresa Bliven at 503-823-
5701.
Bridget Brooks,
Debra Carter, Ed
Joseph and Barnie
Mack take in the
beauty and tranquility
o f a snow covered
terrain with the use
o f snowmobiles.
Racial Profiling Views Shared
( AP) - Most Oregonians believe po
lice sometimes make traffic stops based
on a motorist’s race, a new state study
said.
In the telephone poll o f 800 adults,
17 percent said they believe Oregon
police often or alw ays make traffic
stops on the basis o f a m otorist’s
race, and another 39 percent said that
police som etim es do.
The survey, also suggests that some
Oregonians find that racial profiling is
OK, at least sometimes.
Tw enty-one percent o f those asked
said they felt that, follow ing the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks, it was more ap
propriate for police to use race as a
reason to stop people suspected of
breaking the law.
The survey’s release coincided with
the first meeting of a new 11 -member
state panel responsible for helping law
enforcement agencies evaluate racial-
profiling data collected during traffic
stops.
The panel is led by University of
Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer,
who was O regon's attorney general for
11 years.
Gov. John Kitzhaber, who appointed
the committee, said police agencies in
Oregon have taken a national lead in
adopting policies and training officers
to avoid racial profiling.
"Law enforcement can't protect the
public if the public doesn't believe law
enforcement is treating everyone fairly,”
he told the committee last week in Salem.
The panel was created by legislation
approved last year that urges police
departments to voluntarily collect ra
cial-profiling data. The law, Senate Bill
415, was passed in response to a 1997
state law that expanded police officers’
authority to stop and question m otor
ists.
Portland and six other law enforce
ment agencies across the state have
begun voluntarily collecting pieces of
information during traffic stops to help
gauge whether officers commit racial
profiling.
M ost police agencies in O regon
have publicly stated that they d o n 't
engage in racial profiling, but the p er
ception persists, as the new survey
makes clear.
Among Oregon agencies, Hillsboro
city police have collected the most data,
based on 23,532 traffic stops between
May 2, 2000, and last Thursday.
The data show that 26 percent o f all
stops have involved H ispanics, w ho
make up 19 percent o f H illsb o ro 's
population. Searches were conducted
in 7 percent o f stops involving H is
panics, com pared to 4 percent o f stops
involving whites. H ow ever, officers
found contraband in only 7 percent o f
searches involving H ispanics co m
pared with 10 percent o f searches in
volving whites.