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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 2002)
(Elje ^ortlanò (ßhseruer September 04, 2002 Page A5 Vancouver Trucker Shuts Down, 15,500 lose jobs ( A P) — C o n s o lid a te d Freight ways o f V ancou ver, one of the nation’s largest trucking com panies, decided to shut down its U.S. operations after 73 years, lay ing off about 15,500 workers on Labor Day. Hundreds showed up for work on the holiday only to find the offices locked, according to a union spokesman, who called it “a slap in the face.” The company said it would stop U.S. operations immediately. In a recorded telephone mes sage, ChiefExecutive John Brincko told workers at the trucking com pany not to show up Tuesday. “Thank you for dialing in on this holiday weekend. I hope you and your family are enjoying the time together,” said Brincko, who was nam ed c h ie f ex ecu tiv e three months ago. “1 have some extremely urgent and sad news to share with you today.. Your employment ends immediately.” The Vancouver, Wash.-based company lost $36.5 million on $463 million in revenue in the first quar ter of this year. It lost $ 104.3 million last year and $7.6 million in 2000. agement positions will be phased out quickly. The company said it planned to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy pro tection on Tuesday. About 15,500employees would be affected, the company said, with more than 80 percent receiving ter mination notices immediately. The remaining supervisory and man S e n itT ISeytiml Expvt lut ion YOU TALKED ABOUT FUNERAL A N D CREMATION PLANNING. WE LISTENED. Introducing Dignity Memorial™ Funeral and Cremation Plans, designed with the help of families like yours. These plans offer ease of decision-making, simplicity and value. We invite you to compare Each Dignity Memorial Provider offers: • A 100% Service Guarantee • National Transferability of Prearranged Services • Access to our Grief Management Library Each Dignity Memorial Plan includes: • Child/Grandchild Protection • Personal Planning Guide • 24-Hour Compassion Helpline5”''1 And depending on the plan selected, these added Family Support Benefits: • Aftercare® Planner • Everlasting Memorial® (Internet Memorial) • Legal Services Membership Lionel Hampton's six decade career ranked him with the greatest names in jazz history. These exclusive Dignity Memorial benefits are available from: Jazz Great Lionel Hampton Dead at 94 (AP) — L ionel H am pton, the vibraphone virtuoso and standout show m an w hose six-decade c a reer ranked him with the greatest nam es in jazz history, died S atu r day at a M anhattan hospital. He was 94. Hampton, whose health was fail ing in recent years, died at M ount Sinai M edical Center at about 6:15 a.m., said his manager, Phil Leshin. “He was a great man, a sw eet, nice, gentlem an, and one o f the greatest m usicians this country has ever produced,” Leshin said. “ H e’s influenced thousands o f m usicians around the w orld.” H am pton w orked with a w h o ’s who o f jazz greats, from Benny G oodm an to C harlie P ark er to Q uincy Jones. Hampton and pianist Teddy W il son were the black half o f the fabled quartet w ith G oodm an and drum mer G ene Krupa that in 1936 broke the racial barriers that had largely kept black musicians from perform ing w ith w hites in public. W ils o n h a d re c o r d e d w ith G oodm an and Krupa previously, and w hite soloists “jam m ed” infor mally with black groups, but a color line was draw n when a w hite band was on stage. Later, H am pton’s bands trav*- eled the globe as musical am bassa dors from America. They also were hothouses or show cases for such greats as Jones, Parker, C harlie M ingus, Illinois Jacquet, D exter G ordon, Earl Bostic, Fats Novarro, Joe W illiam s and D inah W ashing ton. H am pton’s m usic was melodic and sw inging, but audiences also responded to his electric personal ity — the big sm ile, energy and bounce that contributed to his skill ful showm anship. W hen not sw ing ing on the vibes, he drum m ed, sang and played his own peculiar style o f piano, using tw o fingers as if they were vibraphone m allets. “W hen I was a kid, 1 always w anted to put on a show ,” he once said. “I alw ays liked to be taking b o w s.” Killingsworth Little Chapel of the Chimes 430 N. Killingsworth St. Portland, OR 97217 503-283-1976 www.dignitymemorial.com 0 Yes, 1 would like to know more about the benefits of prearranging and receive a FREE planning guide Name ___________________________________________________________________ A d d re s s . Phone _ Mail to: Killingsworth Little Chapel of the Chimes 430 N. Killingsworth St. Portland, OR 97217 GEN-SU Rainbow Coalition Promotes Issues The Rainbow Coalition is w el com ing area residents to an ice cream social on T uesday, Sept. 1 0 a t5 :3 0 p .m . at the St. A ndrew C om m unity C enter, 806 N.E. Alberta. The event is free and open to the public as part o f the political organization’s bi-m onthly m em bership m eeting. The agenda includes testimoni als by long-time activists, entitled “Fighting the good fight - why we got involved,” and “Keeping hope alive - why we stay involved.” Topics of the group’s business Worldcom Executives Charged with Fraud (A P) — The form er ch ief fi nancial officer for telecom m uni cations giant W orldCom Inc. was indicted last W ednesday on se curities fraud and other charges as p ro se c u to rs sig n a le d th a t other form er executives w ere cooperating with their in vesti gation. The indictm ent accuses Scott Sullivan, 40, o f overseeing a schem e to conceal billion o f d o l lars in com pany expenses. It was unsealed in federal court in New Y ork’s borough o f M anhattan Scott Sullivan after an apparent breakdow n in p le a n e g o tia tio n s b e tw e e n Sullivan and prosecutors. M USIC meeting will cover the proposed creation of a Public Utility District to replace PGE-Enron, raising the minimum wage, health care for all Oregonians and the election of progressives. For more information, call 503- 288-8666. The indictm ent also names Buford Yates Jr., W orldCom ’s former director of general account ing, as a defendant. WorldCom, which owns MCI, the nation's second-largest long distance company, filed for Chap ter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 21 after disclosing the account ing abuses. It was the biggest such filing in U.S. history. The new court papers also name two other accounting executives, Betty Vinson and Troy Normand, as unindicted co-conspirators. té « food ni CHARLESTON PLACE STRICT MIR “ A HOME OWNERSHIP SHOW & TELL 12:00-5:00 PM 8300 block of N. Bliss Street FU N Enter Charleston Place from Columbia Blvd. at N. Upland (near Pier Park) (1-5 North Columbia Blvd (Exit 306A). Head west approx. 3 miles take left at light on N Upland) HOST H o m e O w n e r s h ip a Street at a Time Transportation Workers Seek $5 Million Lawsuit claims whistle blowing on racist remarks led to retaliation (AP) — The Oregon Depart ment of Transportation faces a $5 million lawsuit from two electri cians who accuse a former man ager of retaliating against them for reporting a worker’s racist remarks. Dave Benthin and Kelly Dohn file d s e p a ra te la w su its in Multnomah County Circuit Court that name the state and several transportation departm ent o ffi cials. Both Benthin and Dohn worked in the departm ent’s Clackamas County electrical shop. Dave Thompson, a department spokesman, said he had not seen the lawsuits and could not com ment on specifics of the case. Thompson said the department has policies prohibiting the type of behavior described in the com plaint and that it provided employ ees with a procedure to report vio lations. “We ’ ery one of these things seriously,” he said. “Em ployees have a number of options if they feel something needs to be reported.” Benthin claimed he was on light duty in 2000 aftera shoulder injury when he was assigned to work with a co-worker who used racist and homophobic terms. Benthin. whose son is engaged to a black woman, told the co-worker that the remarks offended him. Soon after, Benthin’s manager began investigating an accusation that he had repeatedly visited a Web site on fly-fishing in violation of rules for using state computers, the complaint said. The investigation concluded that Benthin had violated the policy, but he filed a grievance, which led to the charges being dismissed as baseless. In late 2000, Benthin’s manager told him there was no more light duty and laid him off, according to the complaint. Dohn said in his com plaint that the same m anager had asked him about alleg ed ra c ist and ho mophobic rem arks made in front o f B enthin. Dohn co n firm ed them. Two days later, the manager assigned Dohn to work with a co worker known for behaving ag gressively on the job. Dohn claims in the lawsuit that he was nearly electrocuted when the man turned on a 480-volt line Dohn was work ing on. When Dohn confronted him, the co-worker threatened to throw him into freeway traffic, the lawsuit says. Dohn later told co-workers what had happened and later found his journeyman electrician's license under investigation. Dohn is on administrative leave and said he has been given notice that he will be terminated. 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