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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 13, 2002)
School Custodians, Minorities Fight for Jobs Workers rally to keep district from eliminating janitor workforce _________________________________________________________________________________________ j See ___ Story, Page A3 33nrtlanh (Oh sej Al Volume XXXII Number 10 " The T h n f City i t i r Ctf Of www.portlandobserver.com Roses' " D ~ a c o c Committed to Cultural Diversity Established in 1970 Wednesday March 13,2002 Ministers Argue Shooting was Unjust Calls for Slavery Reparations Grow Serving Notice On Iraq Not On Cheney Agenda L O N D O N — V ice President C heney said that he w o n ’t use his M iddle East tour to notify w orld leaders o f an im m i nent U.S. plan to attack Iraq. But he and British Prime M inisterTony B lair m ade it clear that S addam H ussein is in their sights for “phase tw o ” o f the w ar on terrorism. Portland will be represented next week at convention to demand compensation Boston Diocese Settles B O S T O N — T he A rchdiocese o f Bos ton has reached a financial settlem ent w ith dozens o f people w ho say they w e re se x u a lly m o lested b y now - defrocked priest John G eoghan, the p laintiffs’ law yer says. T he law yer w ould not give a figure, but it has been reported to be $ 15 million to $30 million. Goal: Finish Pentagon Exterior by Anniversary A R L IN G T O N , Va. — C rew s w orking on the P entagon are racing to m eet a self-im posed deadline to restore the b u ild in g ’se x te rio rb y Sept. 11. A c o n - struction official says som e construc tion w orkers lost fam ily m em bers on Sept. 11, and “they have trem endous m otivation” to get the jo b done quickly. Members o f the Albina Ministerial Alliance hold a news conference to allege bias in last week's grand jury decision supporting police in the fatal shooting of a black man. P hoto hv M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver Ridge Prepares Terror Alert System B yro n H a m m ic k Jr. w a s k ille d b y P o rtla n d p o lic e w hile th e su sp e c t (w h o h ad no w eap o n ) w as ly in g at the Feb. 2 2 a t th e M o te l 6 on S o u th e a s t P o w e ll B o u le v a rd d o o r on the flo o r w ith th e ch ild ; o r u sed less lethal w hen h e d id n 't o b e y c o m m a n d s to sto p a s s a u ltin g a am m u n itio n (b ean bags). child. The fo llo w in g sta te m e n t is fr o m th e A lb in a M in W A SH IN G T O N — H om eland Secu rity c h ie f T om R idge said that he is preparing a five-stage, m ulticolored alert system to w arn the public about terrorism dangers. The system is m eant as a response to criticism that alerts since Sept. 11 have been too broad. T he o ffic e rs d e m o n stra te d cu ltu ra l in se n sitiv ity in is te ria l A llia n c e re g a rd in g a g r a n d ju r y 's d ecisio n th a t th eir in teractio n w ith the su sp ect th at co n trib u te d to the th e 2 6 -y e a r -o ld b la c k m a n 's d ea th w as ju s tifie d : su s p e c t’s death . T he A lb in a M in isterial A llian ce, th e o ld e st activ e F in ally , a lth o u g h B yron H am m ick Jr. had a crim in al ecu m e n ical b o d y o f ch u rc h e s in the n o rth and n o rth east reco rd , his life w as sacred and v alu ab le in the ey es o f co m m u n itie s o f P o rtlan d , is called o u t o f o u r p ro p h etic faith trad itio n to sp eak to th e in ju stic e in th e k ill Greenspan: Recovery ‘Well Underway’ ing o f B y ro n C lay H am m ick Jr. W A SH IN G T O N — Federal R eserve C hairm an A lan G reenspan, citing e n couraging signs in recent days, painted a rosier econo m ic p ictu re than ju s t a w eek ago and said that the U.S. expan sion w as “w ell u n d er w ay .” tifiab le h o m icid e b y the M ultnom ah W e b eliev e th a t th e ru lin g o f ju s C o u n ty G ran d Ju ry w as bias in su p p o rtin g th e p o sitio n o f th e p o lice o ffic e r at th e e x p en se o f th e d e ceased B yron H am m ick and the co m Missile Nearly Hits Arafat, EU Envoy m unity. R A M A L L A H , W est B ank — Israel fired m issiles at Y asser A ra fa t's head quarters as he m et there w ith the E uro pean U nion’sM ideastenvoy.narrow ly m issing the tw o. Separately, a Pales tinian suicide b o m b er killed H a m m ic k ’s case, w e m ak e th e fo l G od, his fam ily and the co m m unity. X The ruling o f justifiable homicide by the Multnomah County Grand Jury was bias in supporting the position o f the police officer at the expense o f the deceased Byron Hammick and the community. -Albina Ministerial Alliance. A fter critical a n a ly siso fth e Byron lo w in g co n clu sio n s: Mandela, Carter, Gates Team Up to Fight AIDS rested and the ch ild secu red from harm ? B ut, the q u estio n is w h eth er B yron H am m ick Jr. co u ld have been arre ste d and the ch ild secu red w ith out th e use o f d e ad ly force? T he A lb in a M in isterial A llian ce, a fte r a sse ssin g the facts o f th e case, b e liev es th a t the d eath o f B yron H am m ick Jr. w as u n n ecessary . In o rd e r to p re v e n t th e fu tu re d eath s in h o stag e situ atio n s like B yron H am m ick Jr. and T he o ffic e rs failed to tre a t th e d is tu rb an ce call as a N athan T hom as (a child in ad v erten tly killed by p o lice 10 h o stag e situ atio n and act a p p ro p riately ; the o fficers y ears ago), w e a d v o cate the fo llo w in g c h a n g e s in the je o p a rd iz e d the life o f th e ch ild by firin g w eap o n s w hile P o rtlan d P o lice D ep artm en t policies: th e ch ild w as in th e h an d s o f th e su sp e c t; and the The design an d im p lem en tatio n o f p o lic ie s to g uide o ffic e rs failed to use o th e r p o ssib le op tio n s than d ead ly o fficers in h ostage situ atio n s; and the im p lem en tatio n o f stro n g er m an d ato ry c u ltu ral se n sitiv ity tra in in g and force. JO H A N N E S B U R G , South A frica — Form er South African PresidentNelson Mandela joined form er President Carter an d B ill G a te s S r., th e fath e r o f M icrosoft’s Bill G ates, in the battle against A frica’s A ID S epidem ic. They called for treatm ent and an end to stig matization. w The q uestion is not w hether B yron H am m ick Jr. sh o u ld hav e been a r F or ex am p le, th e th ree o fficers resp o n d in g to the m o tel ro o m co u ld h av e used b ato n s and p h y sical force retrain in g fo r both re c ru its and v eteran s, p e rio d ic a lly , th ro u g h o u t the c a re e r o f p o lice o fficers. Employment Picture Gets Worse Joe King is on a job search, consulting with Curtis Mays, a longtime supervisor at the Oregon Employment Division office on North Webster. He’s one of many local residents in the job market as Oregon suffers from one of the highest unemployment rate in the nation. Last week, the state economist predicted the Oregon unemployment rate will get worse, peaking sometime this summer. Budget Surplus Projected W A S H IN G T O N — C ongress’ top fis cal analyst is projecting m o d est sur pluses o f $5 billion this year and $6 billion in 2003 as the starting point for this y e a r’s budget fight, a sm all but politically significant turnabout from the deficits envisioned in January. photo by M ark W ashington / T he P ortland O bserver 4 t « by J oy R amos T he P ortland O bserver M om entum is gaining nationw ide as black civil rights leaders organize, dem anding repa rations for descendants o f enslaved A fricans in America. Representatives from the Portland area plan to attend a national reparations convention and m arch next w eek at D ePaul U niversity in Chicago. The convention will call on the governm ent to financially com pensate blacks for their eco nomic exploitation since slavery began in 1610, and the vestiges o f their enslavem ent and colonization. A larger gathering w ill follow later in the year with a “M illions for R eparation” m arch on W ashington Aug. 17. D em anding com pensation forslavery, from both the private industry and the federal gov ernm ent, is considered the next phase o f the civi 1 rights m ovem ent. D eterm ining the am ount o f m oney ow ed has yet to be determ ined. B ut the estim ate given by the N ational C oalition o f B lacks for Reparations in A m erica is $8 trillion. The figure is based on the extent o f dam age to black com m unities and the num bers o f people im pacted. A dding support for the national repara tions m ovem ent is a proposed law by U.S. Rep. John C onyers, D -M ich. that calls for a study on the im pact o f slavery and proposals for rem edies. However, C ongress has not allow ed any hearings on the proposal since the b ill’s introduction in 1989. Early this year, a R eparations C oordinating C om m ittee consisting o f “heavyw eight” at torneys and professors began laying the legal groundw ork to sue dozens o f corporations w ho profited from slavery before 1865. The com panies range from banks to textile makers. M aking the task m ore difficult is the fact that no com pany accused ofprofiting from slavery broke the law because slavery w as legal. Ultimately, the reparations com m ittee wants C ongress to issue a national apology and m ake m assive reparation payouts to A frican Americans. In the N orthw est, the reparations issue w as discussed Feb. 23 at a m eeting in Seattle. Dorothy Tillm an, national chairperson for continued on page B2 Many Witness Downtown Murder (A P) — A m an w as shot several tim es in the center o f the busy dow ntow n shopping district during lunch hour M onday. Richard Jam es Ballantine, 42, died about two hours after the shooting. A w arrant issued T ues day charged Robert E. H einz, 34, o f Beaverton with the m urder. W itnesses said the gunm an shot B allantine a couple oftim es, reloaded his handgun, fired again and then casually w alked away. Susi Wallace, an off-duty param edic, was about to board the M AX train w ith her husband when they heard shots. They spotted a man lying on the street w ho w as “in shock and shaking," she said. “ He said ‘I ’ve been shot, I know the shooter,’” W allace said. She said the m an told her his assailant had dem anded that he give him X anax, a tranquilizer used for anxiety disorders. C hristina Law rence, 17, a student, said she saw the shooting from the other side o f B roadw ay. She said the gunm an put the gun in his pocket after the shooting and began w alking aw ay until a crow d o f people started to chase him 4 »
