5 B fi "
MMT
____
M
New Vision for Killingsworth Corridor
City hears ideas fo r upgrading street from Interstate to Williams.
See Metro section, inside
ÎÎnrtlanù (©bse
"The City Of Roses"
Volume XXXII
Number 24
REW
Jerusalem Bus
Bomber Kills 19
JE R U SA L E M — A Palestinian man
detonated nail-studded explosives on
a Jerusalem bus crow ded with high
school students and office w orkers,
killing him selfand 19 passengers in the
c ity 's deadliest suicide attack in six
years.
Economy Shows
Signs of Life
W A SH IN G T O N — In statistics that
s u rp rise d a n a ly sts, h o u sin g sta rts
, ’surged 11.6% in M ay, the biggest gain
in alm ost seven years, the governm ent
Lsaid. M eantim e, consum er prices w ere
flat last m onth in the best show ing in
five m onths.
Judge Tosses
Dog-Maul Conviction
SAN F R A N C IS C O — C iting a lack o f
ev id en ce, a ju d g e to ssed out M arjorie
K n o lle r's m u rd er co n v ictio n in last
y e a r ’s d o g m a u lin g d eath o f a n eig h
bor. H e also sentenced K n o lle r’s h u s
b an d to th e m ax im u m four y ears in
p riso n .
June 19,2002
Adams High Awaits Wrecking Ball
Plans advance to
build smaller middle
school and sell lots
for housing
by L ee P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
The Portland School District has pro
claim ed that there will be a new W hitaker
Middle School to replace the em pty and
former Adams High School at 5700 N.E.
39th Ave. O f course the new building will
look very di fferent and wi 11 bring new hous
ing with it— som ething that makes nearby
existing neighbors a little nervous.
The building w as built as A dam s High
School, Portland’s new est high school,
opening in the fall o f 1969.
O ver tim e it suffered water dam age and
m old, due to a leaking roof. It w as closed
last sum m er, and the district later decided
that attem pting to preserve the existing
structure w as “not cost-effective.”
Instead, they have determ ined to bui Id
a new school and other “ incom e-generat
ing” developm ents on the 12.5-acre site.
T hey have also hired the consultant firm,
Param etrix, to create a developm ent plan
acceptable to area residents.
P aram etrix rep rese n tativ e S u m n er
Sharpe said current plans call for building
a m iddle school and perhaps som e other
uses on a scaled dow n, four acre site. The
district has already agreed to sell the
school track, com prising tw o acres on the
north end o f the property, to the Portland
Parks Bureau to be incorporated into the
adjacent Fem hill Park.
The rem aining six acres w ould be sold
Man Shoots 3 in NYC,
Witnesses Say
A look o f desertion blankets the abandoned former Adams High School in northeast Portland. The building, most
recently used as Whitaker Middle School, will be torn down and replaced with a smaller middle school if the Portland
School District is successful with redevelopment plans.
photo by M ark W ashington /T he P or i land O bserver
for single family and row house develop
m ent, a venture that could create an y
w here from 83 to 102 housing units under
current zoning.
Several neighbors at a recent m eeting
w ere concerned about the disposal o f
property “on a w ing an d a prayer," as
neighbor Harold Hickok put it. As a result,
consultants have adopted the principle
that no property should be sold until all
financing is in place.
A nother neighbor and a project advi
sory committee member, Nell Simian, said,
“ My initial reaction w as not to sell o ff any
land, but the alternative w as no school at
al 1. W e have no money, nothing. W e ca n ’ t
w ait until the next levy.”
C yndi W alther said that traffic on
N ortheast Sim pson Street is already a
problem.
T w o groups o f residents have pro
posed tw o different locations for a new
school. O ne proposed that it be built
adjacent to the southern edge o f Fem hill
Park to let students have the full advan
tage o f the open space, and keep the area
to the south fully residential. A nother
group proposed putting it along N orth
east 39th A venue to rem ove it from the
continued
on page AS
Keeping a Close Eye On Crime
N E W Y O R K — A black m an shot three
people and tried to set patrons at a
M anhattan bar on fire before being
w ounded by officers and arrested, ac
cording to eyew itnesses. Police said it
w as a racially m otivated attack.
«
Wednesday
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
THEÏB
‘
Bruce Prunk returns home to head Northeast Precinct
Bush Widens
Anti-Saddam Effort
W A S H IN G T O N — Prom inent D em o
crats in C ongress called for rem oving
Saddam Hussein from pow er, endors
ing a classified Bush adm inistration
plan that gives the C IA broader pow er
to take action against the Iraqi leader.
Worker Charged
in Colorado Fire
L A K E G E O R G E , C o lo .— A 38-year-
o ld fo re stry te ch n ic ia n w as charged
w ith sta rtin g th e fire that sco rch ed
m o re th an 100,000 acres in th e Pike
N a tio n a l F o re st. A u th o ritie s said
T erry B arton in itially said she d is
co v ered an illegal cam pfire; an inves
tig a tio n ca st d o u b t on h er story.
U.S. Bishops
Open Conference
D A L L A S — T he p resid e n t o f the
U .S. C o n fere n ce o fC a th o lic B ishops
o p en e d an e x tra o rd in a ry m e etin g on
c le ric a l sex ab u se T h u rsd ay , callin g
th e c risis ’’p erh a p s the g rav est w e
h av e f a c e d .” S ch ed u led sp eak ers
in c lu d e d th ree p eo p le w ho said they
w ere m o le ste d by p riests.
Karzai Elected
Afghan Head of State
KABUL, A fghanistan— Hamid Karzai,
the U .S .-backed leader o f the interim
A fg h an ad m in istra tio n , w as o v e r
w helm ingly elected head o f state Thurs
day by a grand council, or loya jirga.
A helicopter carries a container of
pesticides in the form of dry granules to
kill mosquito larvae along waterways in
the Portland area.
Spraying Makes
Progress in
Mosquito Fight
by M ichael L eighton
T he P ortland O bserver
Take a sigh o f relief. M ultnom ah County
health officials are reporting success in the
fight to rid your backyard o f m osquitoes.
Aerial applications in recent days have
killed m osquito larvae where they hatch along
Colum bia River waterways.
T hebattle progress is w elcom e relief to the
thousands o f people irritated by biting in
sects, but also reduces a public health threat
from m osquito-bom e disease.
M osquitoes in our area have the potential
to carry the W est N ile virus, a som etim es-
lethal disease that has affected hum ans on the
East Coast and is m oving west. Local m osqui
toes also have the ability to transm it heart-
w orm to canines.
N ineteen species o f m osquitoes have been
identified in the Portland area.
“T hese groups o f m osquitoes include spe
cies that are vicious day and nighttim e biters
and will fly up to 20 m iles in search o f a blood
m eal,” said Lillian Shirley, the d irecto ro fth e
M ultnom ah C ounty health departm ent.
In 1999, the co u n ty ’s vector and nuisance
control office shifted from ground level appli
cations to aerial applications by helicopter to
m ake suppression o f m osquitoes m ore effi
cient and effective.
A pesticide that com es in the form o f a dry
granule is used to specifically target the m os
quitoes in their w ater-bom e larvae stage.
continued
I
on page .45
I
Police Officer Harry Jackson (left) shares a laugh with Bruce Prunk in his first week back as Northeast Precinct
Commander. Prunk originally held the position in 1994.
photo by D avid P i f . chi ./T hf P ortland O bserver
by D avid P lf . c h i .
T he P ortland O bserver
D espite program cuts and budget
shortfalls, returning N ortheast Police
Precinct C om m ander Bruce Prunk is
positive the com m unity he calls hom e
will continue to m ake strides.
The 25-year veteran o f the Portland
Police Bureau was the original com
m ander when the precinct opened its
doors in 1994. After serving seven
years as assistant ch ief dow ntow n,
Prunk is inspired by the progress the
N ortheast precinct and local neigh
borhoods have made.
“ People are using the parks. People
are out walking. That is a big m easure
fo rm e ," h e said.
Still, Prunk intends to keep a w atch
ful eye on trouble spots as crim inal
activity m oves from indoors, onto the
streets during the sum m er months.
He is im pressed with a core group o f
dedicated N ortheast officers like Harry
Jackson, a departm ent veteran who is
happy with Prunk’s return.
“W e need som eone with his experi
ence," Jackson said.
Prunk is hopeful the precinct will
continue to nurture its relationship with
the black com m unity. He credits former
Commander Derrick Foxworth with help
ing bridge the gap.
"I will do everything I can to maintain
that dialogue,” he said.
Prunk says officers are doing their
best to address neighborhood concerns
with few er resources for the dep art
ment W ith budget cuts loom ing, he will
likely see his officers lose m ore tools
than they gain.
“C rim inals get m ore and m ore bold
w hen they realize the sanctions are not
there," he said.
O ne issue frustrating local officers is
the current state o f the drug free zones.
W hen the zones w ere first estab
lished. if som eone w as arrested in the
zone and later show ed back up. officers
could prosecute for trespassing.
But since the zones have been chal
lenged in court, officers no longer have
this privilege, m aking it harder to keep
troublemaking crim inalsout o f problem
areas.
W ith this in m ind, Prunk is realistic
about the shortfalls his agency is fac
ing and is intent on keeping his guys
focused on the issues that bother the
com m unity most: robberies, guns and
gang activity top his list.
“ First and foremost, w e’re concerned
with com m unity livability,” he said.
O ne ofthe tools officers will be count
ing on is the Friday G ang Group, an anti
gang coalition that m eets every other
Friday at the N ortheast Precinct to ad
dress problem s in the com m unity and
discuss possible solutions.
M ayor Katz m ediates the forum
th at’s regularly attended by precinct
com m anders, patrol officers and c o m
m unity advocates.
At last F rid ay 's m eeting. K atz told
the group that her budget for Portland
Police had not yet been finalized, but
promised that “noofficers or firefighters
continued
on page AS
I