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.