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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 31, 2002)
Local Standout Eyes Harvard Dyan Watson promotes teaching fo r people o f color See story, Metro section inside 3Snrtlanh ©bsertie "T U i* « , The P City Of Roses za www.portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity Established in 1970 Volume XXXII Number 30 Wednesday July 31, 2002 Self Enhancement, Inc. Turns 20 Mentoring program reaches thousands of kids each year ‘L.A. Times' Building Evacuated After Bomb Threat LOS A N G E L E S — T he Los Angeles Times building w as evacuated and surrounding streets w ere shut dow n for m ore than four hours before police captured a man they said had th reat ened to blow up the new spaper office. Whales Stuck on Another Cape Cod Beach E A ST H A M , M ass. — A bout 40 pilot w hales becam e stranded on a C ape C od beach, ju st one day after volunteers pushed them back out to sea from an o th e r b e a c h . T h e d e v e lo p m e n t is “pretty bad new s” and m ay be a sign the w hales are dying, an expert said. Bush Ruts More Bite Into Corporate Accountability W A SH IN G T O N — H oping to restore investor confidence in A m erican cor porations and solidity voter confidence in Republican econom ic stew ardship, President Bush signed corporate ac countability legislation in a splashy W hite H ouse cerem ony. Amtrak Train Brails Near D.C KENSINGTON, Md.— A n Amtrak train carrying about 200 people derailed near W ashington, injuring dozens. T here w ere no im m ediate reports o f fatal ities. T he train w as the C apitol Lim ited en route from C hicago to W ashington. Rescued Miners Prepared for Death SO M E R SE T , Pa. — N ine coal m iners w ere in good shape after spending 77 hours in a flooded m ine shaft that they thought w ould becom e their tom b. T he miners, w ho w atched as floodw ater rose to their chins, tied them selves together so all o f their bodies w ould be found if they drow ned. by D avid P lechl T he P ortland O bserver T w o decades ago Tony H opson had an idea that has brought big results. He w anted to reach out to overlooked inner city kids in danger o f heading dow n the w rong path — a path that often leads to gangs, drugs and se lf destruction. His idea for a weeklong basketbal 1 cam p turned out to be m uch m ore than a lesson in “ju m p ers.” T hough the kids cam e to play hoops, H opson had his ow n agenda. “W e brought them there to talk about other issues,” he said. “To show them how to transfer skills they learn in ath let ics to other areas o f their lives. If you can handle the pressure at the foul line you can handle the pressure o f a m ath test.” The organization H opson now leads, S e lf E nhancem ent Inc., is the heir to that very first cam p. S piritually speaking. H opson has al w ays know n w hat he w anted to do. W hen he w as only 13 years old, he w as busy helping Portland youth through different after school program s. “T his is w hat I’ve know n throughout m y life,” he said. H opson pursued degrees in p sy ch o l ogy and sociology, got his teaching ce r tificate and alw ays kept his goal in m ind to give back to the com m unity. H o p so n 's public outreach soon ex panded to north and northeast Portland schools. It w as a turning point that put SEI in contact w ith a broader cross sec tion o f at-risk kids. H opson says SEI tries to develop as m any potential options for kids as p o s sible. “All kids have the potential to be su c cessful in som ething. T he question is, w hat can I put before them to give them the courage to go after (that success). T he kids rise to w hatever levels o f ex p ec tations you set, as long as you are co n sis tent w ith those levels,” H opson said. Genia Adair tutors students in the well-stocked library at northeast Portland's Self Enhancement, Inc. “Mygoal is fcr the kids to enjoy reading, ’ Adair said. photo by D avid P lechl /T he P ortland O bserver A lthough SEI w as doing well reaching kids through the public schools, H opson still felt som ething w as missing. A bout 10 years ago he had a conver sation w ith a m iddle school boy w ho w as becom ing involved with gangs. H opson set him dow n and addressed him squarely, “W e’re here foryou. W ha, is ityou need?” The boy told him flatly, “Y eah, y o u ’re there, but y o u ’re only there during the day. W here are you after school?” H opson then realized the im portance o f a center that the children could alw ays Bush: Welfare Reform Is Working; Let's Do More Stocks Surge Three Former Adelphla Execs Arrested N E W Y O R K — T hree form er execu tives o f bankrupt cable T V provider A delphia C om m unications have been arrested on charges alleging they stole from their com pany. C om pany founder and form er chairm an and C E O John R igas w as arrested along w ith his sons T im othy and M ichael. — □ jj con tin u ed on p a g e A 3 Badi Cross (from left with child) joins Diane Taefy, Zhalih Taefy- Cross and Nekicia Luckett at the Race Unity Festival Saturday. The celebration at the north Portland campus o f Portland Community College was sponsored by the Baha ’i faith to honor the city’s diverse races and cultures. See additional photo on Page B6. N E W Y O R K — G alvanized by hopes that the m ark et’s w orst days are over, investors bought stocks enthusiasti cally, extending a rebound and sending the D ow industrials up m ore than 270 in afternoon trading. W A SH IN G TO N — Multimillion-dollar loans to Enron by big investm ent banks helped the now -collapsed com pany con ceal its true financial condition, and the banks w ere aw are in som e cases that Enron w as using questionable account ing, a Senate investigator testified. capital cam paign com m ittee to help raise the additional $9 m illion it w ould take to build the 62,000 square foot facility. “That w as the beginning o f som e m a jo r grow th,” says H opson. T he SEI center at U nthank Park in northeast Portland is now com pletely paid for. A five-year financial cam paign raised al 1 the money. Sixty percent o f the funding for S E I’s program s now com es from gov ernm ent grants. The rest o f the balance com es from fundraisipg and private do- Diversity on Parade CH A RLESTO N , S.C.— President Bush urged the S enate to pass legislation to stiffen w ork requirem ents for w elfare recipients and “free people from the clutches o f our governm ent.” B ush asked senators not to drag out renew al o f the 1996 w elfare overhaul and criti cized S enate proposals. Banks May Have Helped Enron com e to, a refuge kids could seek out not ju st during school, but all day long. “W e started envisioning our own facil ity,” Hopson says, “where we had the key.” T he idea cam e along at a tim e w hen U S Bank w as looking to m ake few er yet sub stantially larger donations to local non p ro fits. B ank re p re s e n ta tiv e s lik ed H o p so n 's idea for the center. “O ur timing was perfect,” Hopson said. U S Bank put up the first m i 11 ion dol lars. Bank President Ed Jensen liked the idea so m uch he even decided to chair the photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver Parents Rally to Keep Kids at Jefferson C iting statistics that show steady im p ro v e m e n t an d fa v o ra b le tre n d s at Jefferson High School, the Jefferson Par ent-T eachers A ssociation held a rally last w eek to encourage fellow parents to re je ct student transfers. Portland school district officials re cently notified Jefferson parents, along w ith parents at R oosevelt and M arshall High Schools, that they have the legal right to transfer their kids to higher-achiev ing schools in Portland w ith tran sp o rta tion paid. H ow ever, the Jefferson PTA asked parents and students to stay put. thereby supporting the north Portland school and helping Jefferson continue on its path o f improvement. “Jefferson has been on a steady course o f im provem ent since 1999 - show ing, ju st in the past year the second-highest gains in reading and math in the district,” said PTA P resident Barb Lescher. R eferring to Jefferson’s recent “unac cep tab le” rating on student behavior, L escher said, “the rating was based on attendance and dropout rate s...n o t on gang violence or drug dealing. co n tin u ed on p age B3 A group o f Jefferson High parents are encouraging other parents to embrace the school's steady course o f improvement and reject student transfers. photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
