Rally for Peace
Interstate Max Art
Thousands march in Martin
Luther King Jr.-inspired protest
First sculpture graces new
light rail system
See Metro section, inside
See Page B3
(Elje
‘City of Roses’
Volume X X X III
L in ™
Established
1970
•
Committed to Cultural Diversity
N u m b er 4
T,Weekin
ThcReview
Nudists: Fly naked
Those who like to bare it all on I
the beach can get a head start by j
stripping in the air. A travel
agency that specializes in cloth­
ing-optional vacations has char- J
tered a tem perature regulated,
I 72-seat Boeing 727 fo ra flight |
from Miami to Cancún in May.
Once the plane reaches its cruis­
ing altitude, passengers will be
invited to disrobe. Castaw ays
Travel o f Spring, Texas, is tout­
ing the trip as the w orld's first |
flight for nude passengers.
www.portlandobserver.com
W ednesday •
January 22, 2003
Keeping All Eyes on the Prize
Underachieving
school tries to right
course, reverse exits
BY J aymee R . C l ’TI
T he P ortland O bserver
Hundred o f students from local
high schools walked out o f class last
month to march downtown in protest
o f budget cuts that have shortened
theirschool year and threatened their
sport's programs.
A cross the river in north Portland,
students at Jefferson High School
stayed in class during the Dec. 19
walkout, not because they didn 't care,
but because they say they have suf­
fered enough negative publicity since
the start o f the school year, and can’t
afford to be caught off-task.
E n ro llm en t at Jefferso n H igh
School, composed o f mostly minority
students, has consistently dropped
since desegregation efforts in the
1970s.
Today, it is one o f the hardest hit by
the president’s No Child Left Behind
Act. Underthenew federal law,schools
are required to foot the transportation
bill for parents who wish to transfer
their children out o f failing schools.
Jefferson fit the profileo fa ehroni-
cally low-achieving school. Last year
less than one-tenth o f its students
performed at state benchmarks in
reading and math.
"W e’re affected by it. We lost 70
som e-odd students and $ 10,000 dol­
lars because o f it," said Larry Dashiell,
Jefferson’s fifth principal in seven
years.
But Lew Frederick, the district’s
director o f public information, ex­
plained that as a part o f desegrega­
tion efforts, students in the Jefferson
High School zone have always had
the option to transfer with transpor-
conrinued y ^ on page A7
photo by
D avid P i ectil /T iie P ortland O bserver
Jefferson High School principal Larry Dashiell talks with
senior Leslie Newton in the hallway during lunch. Enroll­
ment at the north Portland High School has consistently
dropped since desegregation efforts in the 1970s.
Birds: Don’t fly drunk
Thousands o f drunks are sm ash­
ing into w indows at Karlstad
University in Stockholm, Swe­
den, but it isn't students blow ­
ing o ff steam. Instead, birds
feasting on fermented berries are
g e ttin g d ru n k an d p la y in g
chicken with the glass. Thou­
sands o f waxwings began gath­
ering in the trees outside the
university late last week to feast
on ripening rowanberries. The
birds h av en 't learned to say
when. So far, at least 50 have lost
their lives.
Advocate
Faces Eviction
Mama Peoples has done a
lot to save the community -
now we need to save her home.
- Community Care Association Volunteer Eddie Hillman
Bush's bad words
Several o f the mangled w ords
and phrases that US President
George W Bush has become re­
nowned for making up have found
their way intoa list o f prom inent
parts o f speech. They include
“resignhte”, “foreign-handed",
“ e m b e tte r” and " m is u n d e r­
estim ate", which was used in
11,000 instances on the w eb at
large.
Party names misspelled
Spelling isn't a high priority for
several candidates in city elec­
tions inCharleston, W. Va. A hai«l-
ful o f candidates misspelled their
party affiliation on theofFtcial fil­
ing forms in the cityclerk’soffice.
Four D em ocrats erroneously
spelled their party name either as
"Dcmocart” or"Dem ocrate."
Court upholdsfornication
A court in the state o f Georgia
has overturned a controversial
19th century law that made it a
crime for unmarried people to
have sex. The court threw out the
conviction o f a teenager who
was fined and ordered to write an
essay explaining why he should
not have had sex, after he was
found with his girlfriend at her
home two years ago. Under simi­
lar laws, eight states in the US
continue to make it a crime for an
unmarried couple to engage in
consensual intercourse in private.
Robbed of luck
First he left a telling trail o f $ 100 I
bil Is as he tried to stuffthe money
in his pockets and, when this
bank robber reached his getaway
car, he found the keys had been
locked inside. It did n 't get any
better for the masked man who
entered the Union Bank & Trust
north o f Richmond. Va. Police-
said the suspect, 6 1-year-old
Edward Butler Blaine, fled on
foot. Bystanders then began to
chase him. and when they caught
hiniB laintriedtoshootthe '
instead shot him self in tl
photoby W ynde D yer /T h e P ortland O bserver
Clara Peoples holds a copy o f the December 1971 Ebony magazine that featured her tireless work at feeding and clothing Portland's needy. Now
Peoples is in poor health and financially disadvantaged, facing a Feb. 2 8 eviction from her home.
Friends and family rally
to save home of beloved
community volunteer
by W ynde D yer
T he P ortland O bserver
A w o m a n w h o h a s h e lp e d
P o rtlan d 's m ost needy for decades is
now h e rse lf in need o f som e help.
C lara Peoples is facing foreclo­
sure o f her longtim e hom e on Feb. 28
if she cannot raise alm ost $35,000.
P eo p les is w ell know n as the
founder o f the C om m unity C are A s­
sociation. a n o n -profit that feeds and
clo th es low -incom e fam ilies, and
P ortland'sannual Juneteenth celebra­
tion to honor the day when slaves
heard the news o f President L incoln’s
Em ancipation Proclam ation
For north and northeast Portland
k n
residents w ho know Peoples through
her charity w ork, the thought o f her
lo o sin g h er hom e at 1406 N .E.
A insw orth strikes a chord o f p articu ­
lar injustice.
“ M am a Peoples has done a lot to
save the com m unity now w e need
to save her hom e," said friend and
C om m unity C are A ssociation volun­
teer Eddie H illm an. "It m akes me re ­
ally sad. I tell her each day. ’Just
■ »
îeping King’s Dream Alive
its at King Elementary School listen attentively as their elder classmates recite
ng the famous words o f Dr. Martin Luther King at a special assembly Friday
oon to honor the slain civil rights leader.
photo by D avid
P le < h i /T he P o r ii and O bserver
d o n ’t give up, G od will make a w a y .'”
H illm an 's m essage is the sam e
voice o f hope P eoples has tried to
instill in P ortland's im poverished and
disadvantaged since she started her
charity w ork from the back door o f
her hom e in the early 50s.
P eople's said C om m unity Care As­
sociation becam e the first food bank
continued y ^ on page AS
KING’S WIDOW PLEADS FOR PEACE
War called ‘a poor
chisel for carving out
a peaceful tomorrow’
(A P) — The Rev. M artin Luther
K ing J r .’s w idow urged w orld leaders
on the M artin L uther King Jr. national
holiday M onday to settle their d iffer­
ences peacefully and avoid a painful
war.
C oretta Scott K ing urged a packed
crowd o f about I ,(X)0 at Ebenezer Bap­
tist C hurch to honor the m em ory o f
King, w ho w ould have turned 74 last
W ednesday.
“We com m em orate M artin Luther
King Jr. as a great cham pion o f peace
w ho w arned us that w ar w as a poor
chisel for carving out a peaceful to ­
m orrow ," King said. "W e m ust purs
peaceful ends through peaceful mea
M artin said, ‘True peace is not ju s t t
absence o f tension, it is the preser
o fju s tic c .’"
Her com m ents came as the Unil
States is considering m ilitary aeti
against Iraq.
The daylong celebration o f Kin]
birthday was
marked with Portland peace
m e m o ria ls, rally honors Kin,
church ser- Sec story and photos,
vices and re- M etrosectlon inside
flection. The
cerem ony at Ebenezer Baptist C hur
opened with songs and hymns, inclc
ing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “L
Every Voice and Sing."
continued y f on page AS