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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
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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.”
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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.
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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.
Join us for games, face painting, prizes, food, and music
FREE and FUN for the whole family!
Tour the Charleston Place neighborhood and view our model homes.
Learn how YOU can own your own home. Meet Charleston Place
homeowners and learn how they purchased their first home. Meet our
preferred lenders who can answer questions about first-time buyer programs.
AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!!!
For more information call 503-331-1752
A PARTY ON T ill M A R TO
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