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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 5, 2002)
CAREERS 2002 Local employment agency stands out for rapid remployment. See story in Careers, M etro pages B2, B3 TSurtíanh (©bse • Volume XXXII Number 22 "The City Of Roses" REVIEW W A S H IN G TO N — U.S. intelligence overheard al-Qaeda operatives dis cussing a m ajor pending terrorist at tack in the weeks before Sept. 11 and had agents inside the terror group, but the intercepts and field reports lacked detail about where or when a blow would fall, according to U.S. officials. Pakistan Says Nukes May Ba Used, Agrees to Summit A L M A T Y , Kazakhstan — Pakistani President Gen. Pervez M usharraf said that possessing nuclear weapons im plies there are circumstances under w hich they w ill be used, but said it is irresponsible fo r a leader to discuss such things. He also said he was w illin g to meet w ith Indian Prime M inister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to defuse the crisis between the tw o nations. Catholics Want Priests Removed Weeks o f efforts by Roman Catholic leaders to show they’re responding to the church’ s sexual abuse crisis have had no impact on Catholic opinion: M ost U.S. Catholics say leaders are doing “a bad jo b ,” and nearly 80% demand no tolerance fo r abusive priests. Lawsuits Accuse Airlines of Profiling W A S H IN G T O N — Five men who say they were barred from airline flights because they appeared to be Arabs w ill sue four airlines, their lawyers said. The lawsuits accuse the airlines o f discrim i nation unrelated to security, the Am eri can C iv il Liberties Union says. Final Goodbye at Ground Zero N E W Y O R K — Hundreds o f relatives o f people lost on Sept. 11 joined hands at the site o f the W orld Trade Center as those h it hardest by terrorism sought solace at an interfaith memorial cer emony marking the end o f the recovery effort. WMto H o u m Han Would Create Palestinian State W A S H IN G T O N — The United States is w orking on a M iddle East peace proposal that would include creating an independent Palestinian state, se nior administration officials said. Such apian would go a step ftirther than the previous U.S. position, which was merely to endorse the idea. Nuclear Fear* Spur Evacuation Plan Wednesday Committed to Cultural Diversity Established in 1970 www.portlandobserver.com U.8. Had Agents Inside Al-Qaeda 4 June 05,2002 Janitors Plead for Jobs School Board’s June 10 vote will decide custodians’ fate by D avid P lechl T he P ortland O bserver The first thing you notice when you walk into head custodian Dan Strong’s boiler room at Astor Middle School in north Portland are the floors. They are immaculately painted and buffed with obvious pride to a glossy blue finish. Most everything in the room has re ceived this kind o f attention to detail. Cans o f WD40 are lined up like soldiers awaiting orders. Everything is in its place and there’s a place for everything. “I’ve invested a lot o f my own money in this boiler room,” Strong says, “not because I had to, I just wanted everything to be perfect.” Strong is one o f 330 Local 140 union- represented custodians that would lose their j obs if a plan to use contract labor for janitorial services is approved June 10 by the Portland School Board. The district expects the move will shave $4.5 million from a projected $36 million shortfall for the upcoming school year. A union counter proposal to keep the workforce that slices nearly $2 million in job compensation and benefits, has been rejected by the board. Ken Cropper, the political organizer for Local 140, accuses the board o f acting irresponsibly, believing it does not fully understand the varied responsibilities o f the janitors. “It would be a huge mistake to let this resource go,” Cropper said. “These guys are far beyond just cleaners." The janitors also work closely with food service workers who are employed under the same union. O f the food service employees, Strong says, “We make their operation function.” The janitors are even called to work alongside the Portland Fire Marshall and Portland Police. Strong recalls a recent incident where a bank robbery took place ju st blocks from Astor. He was called to lock the school down and wait for word Dan Strong, head custodian at Astor Middle School in north Portland, argues that the safety of students would suffer if the school district decides to use a private company to replace the district's custodian workforce. range from approximately $24,000 to from police to open the school back up. $40,000 a year, with minority representa During extreme cold weather, janitors tion at a steady 25 percent. may be required to keep the school warm Cropper contends the proposed cuts 24 hours a day to keep pipes from freezing. are part o f a much broader issue dealing “You have to be there to spot a prob with the state try lem ,” Strong says. ing to do aw ay "We play many roles. with many o f its S o m etim es w e ’re m id d le -in c o m e c o u n se lo rs, o th e r public sector jobs. times we gotta be the Under the little teacher.” known, “Products Many o f the cus o f Disabled Indi todians have worked v id u a ls L aw ” , for the school district government agen — Ken Cropper, political _ for years. Two thirds cies are obliged to organizer for Local 140. A o f them have 10 years give priority to experience. One fifth contract work by have over 20 years on non-profit organizations that employ sub the job. In some cases, two or three gen stantial amounts o f the disabled. erations have been gainfully employed. So far, Portland H a b ita tio n Center For many, the jobs have also been a appears to have the edge over smaller step into the middle class. Current wages It would be a huge mistake to let this resource go. These guys are fa r beyond just cleaners. There are similarities between the police sketch used to help find a rape and murder suspect and the defendant. M l** Russia Named Mis* Universe SAN JU AN , Puerto Rico — Oxana Fedorova o f Russia won the 2002 Miss Universe crow n, w earing a w hite evening gown and telling a roaring audience that she blushes when she says the wrong thing. J riiswnc low Interest rates on most government- backed student loans w ill fall to 4.06% from 3 .99% on July 1, based on a recent auction o f three-month Treasury bills. The 4.06% rate would be the lowest in the history o f the loan program. continued ' y f on page AS Suspect Charged in Teen’s Murder, Other Rapes As border tensions heighten between nuclear powers Pakistan and India, a U.S. government team is in India to plan the possible evacuation o f 1,100 U.S. troops and up to 63,000 U.S. citizens from both countries. Student Loan Rate* bidders for the custodial work in Portland’s schools. PHC offers low wage jobs to primarily disabled workers. PHC’s knowledge ofthedistrict's boiler operations has been called into question by the union. Cropper doubts a low wage, contracted workforce that’s unfamiliar with the boilers can safely maintain the equipment as the union has done. Each school has a unique boiler. They can be touchy and dangerous under the supervision o f someone who isn’t famil iar with the subtleties o f their operation. Cropper brought up cases in other parts o f the country where explosions have occurred because those in charge were not adequately trained. “Fortunately we haven’t had any acci dents,” he said, “because we have had very capable people.” Ladon Stephens Melissa Bittler ( A P ) - Portland Police have charged a suspect in the rape and m urder o f 14- year-old M elissa Bittler, a northeast Portland girl who was found dead in the backyard o f a neighbor’s home last December. Ladon Andre Stephens, 33, o f north east Portland, was arrested April 29 after a woman in her early 20s identified him as the man who raped her, said police chief Mark Kroeker. Subsequent DNA analysis, which was returned from the Oregon Crime Lab las, Wednesday, linked Stephens to Bittler’s murder on Dec. 13. Stephens will also be charged with four other rapes, three o f which hap pened in 1997 and involved teenage girls walking to or from schools in north and northeast neighborhoods, K roekef said. “ I want to appeal to anyone who may have been affected by him to now come forward,” Kroeker said at a press confer ence with Bittler's parents, Mary and Tom, at his side. Melissa Bittler had been headed to school on Dec. 13 from her home in the Wilshire neighborhood, bu, never made it to the bus. “It’s been a very tough five months,” Tom Bittler said. “This doesn’t bring her back, but it keeps an ugly person off the streets.” In 1990, Stephens served the first o f three consecutive six-year prison terms after trying to abduc, three young girls a, gunpoint. He was sentenced before state- mandated guidelines took effect and was released in 1996. Northwest Conference on Slavery Reparations Saturday Representatives from Portland and ther northw est cities will meet in entralia, Wash. Saturday, June 8, to dis usa reparations for black slavery. The National Reparations Convention ommittee, Northwest Region, will host ie conference. Emphasis w ill be placed on the in- I volvement o f the clergy and elected offi cials in the reparations movement. Organizers are calling on black church leaders and public officials to play impor tant roles and assume clear responsibilities as the reparations agenda continues to unfold on national and global fom 'onts Other items o f interest before t’ ■m'1 will be proposals related to reparations in the state Legislatures o f Oregon and Washington. A national rally on the is sue, scheduled for Aug. 17 in W ashing ton, D.C., will also be discussed. Organizations participating will include The National Reparations Convention, the National Black United Front and the National Coalition o f Blacks for Repara tions in America. Saturday‘s Northwest Task Force Lead ership Conference on Reparations will take place at the The Inn a, Centralia, 702 Harrison Ave. from 10a.m. to 4 p.m. For additional information, call 503-679-5410 or206-723-0865. I
