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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 2002)
Kwanzaa Lives 50¿ Dancing to the Top Jefferson Dancers hit stage fo r weekend shows Traditions inspire powerful art show See story, Page A6 See story, Metro section, inside ‘City of Roses’ Volume X X X II TJnrtlanh (©bserlier • Established In 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity N u m b er 4 9 TlWeekin TheReview Loose Screws Scores of cars and trucks got flat tires Monday along a 15-mile stretch of highway outside of Lebanon Junction, Ky„ after an estimated 50,000 screws spilled onto the pavement. Police said no accidents or injuries were re ported. www www.portlandobserver.cpm n n rtla n d n h s e r Wednesday • December II, 2002 I just couldn't die with this story inside o f me. It was burning in my heart trying to get out. ' -M onique Douglass-Andrews, Portland-raised author o f‘From Ghetto to Glory’ A STO RY TO TELL Money to Burn Talk about dropping some change between the couch cushions. North Shore firefighters found $ 10,000 stashed in a piece of fur niture they picked up from a curbside and used for a training exercise, authorities said. Fire Chief David Berousek said the fire during the exercise consumed the fabric on the furniture, but the money was discovered un damaged. He said he had no ex planation for how the cash sur vived the flames. Hostage Holding Bees The bees showed up suddenly at the front door of Sam’s Mini Mar ket in the northern Los Angeles suburb of Chatsworth at about 11 a.m. on Thursday as customers were making last-minute holiday purchases, said store ow ner Kawaljit Singh. The bees, which had built a hive under the liquor store sign, trapped Singh, two customers and an employee in side the store for about two hours as firefighters repeatedly doused the insects with firefighting foam. Protesting Peep W orkers at the nation’s only unionized peep show in San Fransisco, Ca., walked the picket line, arguing that a contract offer by management at the Lusty Lady is too skimpy. Wearing pink T-shirts that read “Bad girls like good contracts,” dancers banged on pots Monday and chanted, “Two, four, six, eight, pay me more to gyrate!” Homewrecking Cat Many couples divorce because the wife refuses to share her husband with another woman. For one Taiwanese couple, the home wrecker was a cat. A judge said on Monday that he allowed a woman divorce her husband because she refused to share the couple’s bed with the man’s cat. Talking Head Marketed as the perfect Christ mas stocking stuffer for the un repentant political junkie, a talk ing George W Bush doll has been selling by the thousands, accord ing to its creator. John Warnock, who created the doll with his father-in-law, described the Bush doll as a “political action figure” suitable either as a collectable for adults or a toy for children. Ousting Bad English Fed up with restaurants offering “fried pawns” and “bean eurd," Beijing tourism officials are launching a campaign to stamp out mangled English on menus and public signs, a state news paper reported Friday. Some ex amples: “Collecting Money Toi let” for a public restroom, and “To take notice of safe, the slip pery are very crafty” < warning that roads are aij u. n Monique Douglass-Andrews, incest abuse survivor and w fh o r o f ‘From Gfietto to Glory' stands in front o f her childhood home in northeast Portland, The traumatic experiences o f her youth opened the doofslorrr multiple personalities, which she believed to be spirits o f girls who had died in the home. PHOTO BY WYNDE DYER/THE PORTLAND OBSERVER Memoir on struggles with childhood abuse hits home with fresh narrative during Sookie ’ s painful experience with a father who T he P ortland O bserver It took 10 years to come to terms leaves her, a brother who molests with the abuse and another year to her, multiple personalities that tor ment her and a loving mother who write it all down. Now that ‘From Ghetto to Glory’ never knew about any o f it. She toys with juvenile lesbian is hot off the presses, Monique Douglass-Andrews is glad to have tendencies, pushes away her fam ily, numbs the pain of abuse with it off her back. “I just couldn’ t die with this story promiscuity, has a daughter she inside of me,” she said. “It was burn almost kills, joins a cult and is se ing in my heart trying to get out.” duced by her trusted employer. A self-described ‘imaginative The memoir, released to all major creative-type,’ Douglass-Andrews bookstores in October, is a deeply said she started writing when she private journey through the child was eight. She would write stories hood and young adult years of Sookie, the character Douglass- and try to drop hints about the abuse by leaving journals around Andrews based on herself. In just short o f 160 pages, Dou continued on page A7 glas-Andrews guides readers along BOOK REVIEW: From Ghetto to Glory by W ynde D yer by W ynde D yer T he P ortland O bserver Monique Douglass-Andrews memoir, ‘From Ghetto to Glory,' can be found in the self help and revcovery sections at all major bookstores as well as Reflections Bookstore, 446 NE Killingsworth. Told on the streets o f northeast Portland, Sookie ’ s story begins with her picturesque family - a mother, father, and three brothers she calls her ‘daddys’. They spent their days eating cookies under the Reading Tree in Irving Park and nights watching Bruce Lee flicks at the Alberta Street Theater. Mama cooked up chitlins and greens in a pink-flamingo colored kitchen and Daddy took the boys on weekend fishing trips. But soon the life they knew falls apart when Sookie’s father leaves the home into the arms of another woman. Daddy Tee, the eldest brother, starts pimping and rolling around in Cadillacs. Daddy Chaz, the continued Police, Leaders Beg for Information Silence after three deadly shootings leave investigators in the dark by W ynde D yer T he P ortland O bserver Police, community leaders and victims advocacy groups gathered for a news con ference at the King Facility last Friday to address public concerns about the recent shootings and homicides in north and north east Portland. Portland Mayor Vera Katz, Police Chief Mark Kroeker, community leaders, gang outreach workers and representatives of the Portland Police Bureau o f Tactical Opera tions and Detective Divisions offered an update on the investigations and recent trends in violence. ey begged the community to come ird with any information that may help hree ongoing homicide investigations îe shooting deaths of Deaustin Vondale ett, 20, on Nov. 15, Domingo Lee alez,25,onNov. 17, and Asia Rene Bell, l Nov. 20. /e know there are people out there who information and we cannot emphasize gh the need for them to step forward,” ¡eargent Ed Brumfield of the Homicide ickett was found on Nov. 15 when e responded to a ‘check welfare’ call. :0-year-old was slumped over in a plum- Rev. Rob Richardson and Pastor Roy Tate urge area residents to step forward with information about the recent killings of Deaustin Duckett, Domingo Gonzalez and Asia Bell. “If you can't talk to the police - talk to the pastors," Tate said. photo by W ynde D yer /T he P ortland O bserver colored Honda Accord LX in the parking lot of an apartment complex at 508 N.E. Graham. Police believe the gunshot victim had been in his car for at least 24 hours. Gonzales, a victim of multiple gunshot wounds, was found dead in the early mom- ing o f Nov. 17 outside a home used as an after hours club near the intersection of Northeast 22nd A venue and Lombard. Police believe between 30 and 50 people were at the continued on page A2 on page A7 School Board Walks Out All but one member of the Portland School District’s Board of Directors walked out of its Monday night meeting after a crowd of angry teachers jeered, booed and yelled as board president Karla Wenzel read a proposal to cut teacher salaries and benefits. African American board member Derry Jackson called the walkout “very inconsiderate,” and was the only direc tor to stay behind to let teachers air their complaints. The board's contract proposal would reduce teacher benefits and places caps on insurance and wages. In addition, the district is looking at finding another $4 million in cuts from this year’s budget. The school board is looking at the possibility of cutting funding for high school spring sports, a cut that would erase $400,000 worth of funding for golf, baseball, softball, tennis, and track and field. S uperintendent Jim S cherzinger warned that it may get worse in next year’s budget. He said the board will consider cutting more school days, closing additional schools and making mass layoffs.
