<E!fc {lortlanò (Obseruer celebrates Black I lisiory Month
Page A 8
February os. 2003
City Contracts Wanted
continued
from Front
reach to small and emerging busi
nesses; and women and minority-
owned businesses.
“We need to make sure people
know how to do business with the
city,” Klobertanz said.
Roy Jay, president o f the Afri
can American Chamber o f Com
merce, applauds the city’s efforts
but doesn’t think the proposal goes
far enough.
He said insurance and registra
tion requirements for small busi
nesses make it harder for minority
firms to compete with the bigger
These harriers prevent you
from submitting a bid.
ft
-Roy Jay, African American Chamber of Commerce President
outfits.
“It doesn’t make sense for a
potential contractor to be required
to purchase a $1,000 liabi lity policy
on a $5,000 job," he said. "T h at’s
sort o f defeating the purpose."
Jay said the insurance require
ments are sometimes waived in
much larger contracts, like those o f
the downtown parking garages, but
are often enforced for smaller con
tracts.
“ You have to jum p through so
many hoops, they put in all these
barriers that prevent you from
submitting a bid," Jay said.
The city has proposed adding
two-and-a-half full-time positions
to the Bureau o f Purchases O f
fices to better connect with mi
nority firms and follow a new eight
point plan o f improvement.
Portland police standby as school closes Tuesday at Whitaker-Lakeside Middle School in north
east Portland. The Columbia Boulevard site was reactivated as a school last year when Whitaker
on Northeast 39th Avenue, the former John Adams High School, closed for good because o f the
dilapidated condition o f the building.
Racial & Ethnic Approaches to Community Health
A program o l the African American Health Coalition. Inc
Sponsored by the CDC (Centeis for Disease Control and Prevention)
Wellness Within REACH: Mind, Body, and Soul
Activity Calendar
M on
T u es
W ed
T hurs
Fri
Old School
Matt Duhman
77 NE Knott
Sat
Alncan Dance
Dance
10:00-11:00am
6JX)-7:OOpm
Addo
Ktudrxk
Salvation Army
5325 N Wilfams,
Water Aerobics
Waler Aerobics
2:00 - 3:00pm
U - .
!
2:00 3:00pm
•
9 3 0 -10:30am
N k kelson
piiotos
Wallong Crup
Aerobics
Aerobics
6:00-7:00 pm
7:30-8:30pm
9.00- 10:00am
NiekffMO
Keller
Kdler
(Meet inside the
Lloyd Center in
Walking Group
front of Sears)
1230 pm
rNKNcrSOW
Malory Avenue
Christian Church
Aerobics
6307:30pm
Nickersot
(G jb )
.
Parent Outreach Organizer Nell Simien
came to chaperone students back and
forth from classrooms and bathrooms
on Thursday in response to threatening
graffiti at the school.
Body fondibomng
DKonrke
Peninsula Park.
700 N Portland
Ike didn’t take it as seriously
as the media made it out to be.
Hampton
7:30-0:30 pm
3535 NE I5tb.
Concern Low, Security High
— Nell Simien, Parent Outreach Organizer
Vug.
Nattre'i
Whitaker:
Aerobics
Aerobics
6 3 0 7:30pm
630-7:30pm
Nickerson
Nickerson
126 NE Alberta
"M ust be 21 or ----- — r------ vi.vvn oosisi -vai
UGIUIC Ol IUVVII up IU U IO III b
503-413-1850 Please receive approval from your doctor before beginning exercise class.
All classes are free of charge!
■ AF ■
■
Ij'WliHálMi'
A frican A m e r ic a n H ea lth C o a litio n , Inc.
2800 N. Vancouver A v e , Suite 100 • Portland. OR 97227 • Phone:503-413-1850
E-mail: kdempsey@aahc-portland.org • Web: www aahc-portland.org
F re e H IV
m D ave P i echi ./T iif P ortland O bserver
Northeast middle
school locks
down in I response
to death threats
B y W ynde D ver
T he P ortland O bserver
Death threats found in graffiti on
a bathroom wall at a local middle
school were probably a cry for at
tention rather than a serious act o f
anger, W hitaker M iddle School
officials said.
But the threats, which said 20
students and a teacher would die
on Jan. 30, did not keep the school
from going into lockdown by bring
ing in uniformed police, security
guards and parent chaperones.
“Just because this was not o f a
T e s t in g
in N E P o r t la n d
Tuesday and Thursday Evenings
5 :0 0 -8 :0 0 p.m,
(last check in a t 7 :3 0 p.m .)
NE H ealth Center
MLK J r . Blvd. And NE Killingsworth
high level ofconeem docs not mean
we are not going to implement a
high level o f s e c u r ity ,” said
W hitaker Principal Tom Pickett.
The threats were investigated
by both school staff and teams o f
police investigators, but no leads
have turned up on who wrote the
graffiti in an eighth grade g irl’s
restroom. Pickett said he has talked
to many o f his students and no one
seems to know who would have a
motive to make the threat.
“The k ids are your eyes and your
ears in a situation like this,” he said.
"The student body knows al I thi ngs
that go on with all people and they
are telling us they honestly don’t
know.”
This fact leads Pickett to believe
the culprit is a single girl with a low
level ofangerand a high desire to get
attention. He said there is very little
anger between his students and not
much gang activity on campus.
W hitaker Middle School has a
student body o f about 450 stu
dents in grades sixth through
eighth. Because o f media hype sur
rounding the threats, Pickett said
attendance on Thursday was be
tween 60 and 65 percent.
“ Parents got concerned," he said.
"People thought we had a danger
ous situation because the media
almost predicted that a huge crime
was about to happen. All the news
stations made the incident seem
considerably larger than it is.”
But Parent Outreach Organizer
Nell Simien, who came with other
parent volunteers to chaperone
students around on Thursday, said
most parents she knew did not take
it very seriously.
“We came not because we were
scared, but because we care,”
Simien said.
If the school does catch the per
son responsible for the threatening
writings, Pickett said they would be
dealt with as school rules dictate.
“The good thing about school
discipline is that punishment al
ways comes with a set o f helps,”
Pickett said. “The student will have
to deal with the consequences o f
her actions, but we will do our best
to help make her into a more pro
ductive student. This is obviously
a very bright kid - the graffiti was
done in very good handwriting."
Pickett said T hursday w ent
smoothly and that tension was low.
Hall monitors were eating pizza
w hen the good new s cam e -
Whitaker moved up from last year’s
low rating on the State Schools
Report Card to a satisfactory rat
ing. Also, 84 percent o f W hitaker
teachers have committed to a three-
year school reform program that
will allow the school to receive
supplemental funding.
“I’d prefer to focus on the posi
tive things,” Pickett said.
(Enter in rear door near Emerson, go to 2nd flo o r)
Se habla espanol los M artes
For more information on H IV qnd testing
Call the Oregon A ID S Hotline 1 -8 0 0 -7 7 7 -A ID S
A
Whitaker Middle
School students
plastered the walls
with positive signs
to counter any
hateful words or
thoughts.
Multnomah County Health Department
Portland's Forecast: (old and flu likely.
According to Surveillance Data Inc., your city has just been p u fo n alert for respiratory illness - which means the worst
o f cold and flu season * about to hit Be prepared. Stock up now. A n d visit w v y w vtcks.com for weekly cold and flu updates ’
Excellent chance of relief.
I