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.