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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 25, 2002)
Merry Christmas Happy Kwanzaa Designs Honored 50/ Students from Humboldt Elementary design Max safety campaign See page A3, inside www.portlandobserver.com www.DOftlandobser Pctahlich^ri in 1970 1970 Established In Volume X X X II • Committed to Cultural Diversity N u m b er 51 Wednesday • December 25. 2002 New Year Moves Good in the Hood Jail Time for Monkey Business In the United States a man has been sentenced to 57 days in jail for wildlife smuggling after cus toms officers found a pair o f pygmy monkeys hidden down his trou sers. W hen o fficers stopped Robert Cusack at Los Angeles airport they found four rare birds and 50 orchids in his suitcase. Asked by agents if he had anything else to tell them, Cusack responded: “Yes, I’ve got monkeys in my pants.” Neighborhood group takes sponsorship of multicultural party' by L ee P erlman T he P ortland O bserv er Gymnast Banned for Adult Movie Romania has banned three former Olympic medallists from referee ing and coaching in official events for five years after ap pearing in an adult movie in Ja pan, officials say. The Romanian Gymnastics Federation decision came the day after Romania’s team escaped a Japanese G ym nastics Association ban from a contest in Yokohama next year as the trio was found to be no longer affiliated to the national association. Federation head Nicolae Vieru says the athletes could use their own images but had no right to use the emblems o f the national federation. photo by Holiday Generosity Water Park Has No Water A pub with no beer is one thing but Goondiwindi, in southern Queensland, has a new water park with no water. The $5 million “recreational waterpark” will re main empty until there is rain and a decent flow in the Macintyre River, on the Queensland/New South Wales border. An appli cation for 470 million litres of water from a local dam to fill the water park has been rejected. Guinea Pigs Destroy House Hundreds o f guinea pigs did so much damage to a house that authorities called in a demolition crew to raze it. The owner had given more than 440 guinea pigs free run ofhis house in a prosper ous subdivision o f brick ranch houses near Detroit. A demoli tion crew leveled the three-bed- room house and hauled away the rubble. The rodents were craw l ing through every room as well as in the walls, ductwork and furnace, said city building de partm ent spokesm an R obert Hudson. M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver Leandra Alanis (left) and Amy Robben o f the North Portland Nurse Practitioner Community Health Clinic at 5311 N. Vancouver Ave. help distribute turkeys to needy families for the holidays. Area schools collected 2 6 0 turkey donations on behalf o f the clinic, serving hundreds o f low-income women and children from north and northeast Portland. B la ck B u rials African American funeral home meets diversity needs with sensitivity Cox and Cox Funeral Chapel is the last African American-owned funeral business in Oregon and one o f ju s t a handful o f independent mortuaries in the state. Man Bites Bat Burger W hat w ould you like on your burger? L ettuce? M ayo? Pick les? Perhaps som e bat? A L ex ington, Ky. teenager faces up to six years behind bars for placing a dead bat on a bun as a jo k e and giving it to a man who took a bite, thinking it was a burger, police said. The girl, w hose identity is being w ith held because she is a ju v en ile, will be charged with violating a new law that prohibits tam per ing w ith so m eone’s food and giving it as a gift, according to L exington Police Investigator D onna H etherington. PHOTO BY W yndf . D yer / T he P ortland O bserver W yndf . D yer T he P ortland O bserver by It’s a dying business — that o f the independently owned funeral home. In the Portland metropol itan area less than 10 funeral homes are privately owned and in the entire state o f Oregon, only ono is African-American owned. ten Anne Galisky’s 86-year-old ibor, Clydie Mae Towner, asked o arrange her funeral services, c ;ky had a luxury many relatives ec g 1 - time to shop around. What she ■O q 2J d startled her. ’- J g started noticing all o f these similar >. orate logos on the brochures,” •g sky said. “The homes had different q es but thcirpricing packages where j same.” Her neighbor, who Galisky calls “Granny” even though they are not re lated, had a small insurance policy. Galisky wanted to get the most for her money and finally narrowed it down to two providers. Then something made her decision easier. “The man at one home asked me point blank, ‘Well, when do you think she’s going to die?’ and I thought, ‘He’s going to have to find a better way to ask that question,’” Galisky said. So she chose Cox and Cox, a third generation African-American owned and operated funeral home located at 2736 N.E. Rodney. Galisky said owners Jerome Cox-Tanner and Shawna Tan ner went above and beyond her expec 2P c I 1 tations o f service. She said they re mained conscious o f her budget but offered flexibi lity with the arrangements that she felt could not have been matched by the corporate homes. “One ofG ranny’s grandchildren was in jail and they arranged to have a sheriff s escort bring him to the ser vice,” Galisky said. “After she passed away, Shawna even went downtown to pick up a relative who wanted to see her before the preparation. They really made it easy for me.” Most importantly, Galisky said Cox and Cox showed extreme sensitivity and kindness. “They didn’t treat her like she was continued on page AS The popular Good in the H ood cel ebration will be back for an 11th year this sum m er but w ith new sponsors, a new location and a new name. The m ulticultural com m unity party has parted w ays w ith Holy Redeem er School and in 2003 will be sponsored by the N ortheast Coalition o f N eighbor hoods. The new sponsors are insisting that the event change its name to “Good in the N eighborhood.” It will m ove from the north Portland Catholic school to King School Park, ju st o ff Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The dates for this year’s celebration are tentatively sched uled for June 28 and June 29. W ashing ton Mutual Bank will continue to be a m ajor backer. The annual festival show cases inner north and northeast Portland through perform ances by top jazz and pop m u sicians, ethnic dance and music, a vari ety o f local foods, booths and inform a tion from organizations, public and pri vate agencies, and goods for sale by local artisans. It’s long been a show case for the positive side o f north and northeast Portland, a flip side to news about gangs and drugs. The celebration attracted thousands o f people each year, w hich in turn led to a problem for the form er sponsors be cause they could no longer afford the risks involved. “The archdiocese o f Portland, and the Catholic C hurch throughout the na tion, is going through a transition,” festival board chair Cheryl Roberts told the Portland O bserver. “T hey’ve really starting scrutinizing local parish activi ties and budgets. Also, insurance costs w ere escalating at a rate that w as just ridiculous.” The school and organizers cam e to a “ mutual decision” to part ways, Roberts says. Fortunately, the N ortheast Coalition board voted last m onth to take over responsibility for the festival. “W e were still going to hold the event at Holy Redeemer, but the folks at the N ortheast Coalition w ere so enthusias tic that we said, ‘W hy not hold it at King School?” ’ Roberts says. It will mean a new route for the pre festival parade. C h ief organizer Paul Knauls says this will be “no problem . We can alter the route. The only dow n side is that we w o n ’t go by Safew ay, but I'm sure they'll understand.” N ortheast C oalition Executive D irec tor John C anda sees his o rganization's participation as a w onderful opportu nity to m ake new neighborhood ties. T h e o n ly re a l is s u e w a s th e celebration’s name. The use o f the w ord “ h o o d ,” to Canda and som e o f h is board w as con sidered offensive. “ It devalues the work o f people in the neighborhoods. Take out ‘neighbor,’ and you have people acting out w ith a ghetto m entality, and 1 d o n 't think Port land has a ghetto. It has a lot o f w orking together to create a true neighborhood,” Canda said.
