50/
Black History
Month
World Class
Celebrated dance troupe
returns to Portland
See feature stories, inside
See story, Metro section inside
City of Roses
Established In 1970
Volume XXXIII • Number 9
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • February 26. 2003
Lincoln Dream Team
IRS bills homeless
man $6 million
I fSalem, Ore. resident John Ranier
had made enough money to owe
the federal tax agency $6 million,
he probably wouldn’t be home
less. The Internal Revenue Ser
vice mistakenly handed him a big
bill, claiming he needed to pay
nearly $6 million. To owe that
much. Ramer, who travels the Sa
lem city streets on a mountain
bike, would have to have earned
about $ 15 million in one year,
Coach
Berry
inspires
excellence
Budget cuts call for
drastic measures
A school administrator in Dollar
Bay, Mich, has proposed a job cut
- his'own - to help the district fight
a growing budget deficit. Super
intendent Robert Barrette said he
plans to recommend eliminating
his position. “I cost money," Bar
rette said. “I’ve looked at every-
Jhing else but there’s just not a lot
Jo cut in our budget.”
B y W ynde D yer
T he P ortland O bserver
The southwest hills o f Portland are a far
cry from the small town o f Galesburg, III.
where Troy Berry grew up or even the inner
eastside o f Portland where he played ball for
Benson High School. But as the head boys
varsity basketball coach at Lincoln High,
Berry knows how to put him self in his ele
ment.
“I'm a black coach up here in a school
without a lot o f black students - but I’ve got
a job to do and I take my job very seriously,”
Berry said. “I want to teach these kids the
direct relationship between life and basket
ball I want to prepare them to be successful
young men on and o ff the court.”
Lincoln athletes might learn from Berry's
example.
He grew up playing various sports in
Galesburg - a town o f about 35,000 where
sports were so ingrained in the fabric o f life
that residents had to buy season tickets a
year in advance order to get a seat at a high
school basketball game.
“It was a great time,” Berry said. “The
whole community got involved in sports -
and not just high school sports. They came
out for little league, junior high school bas
ketball, you name it.”
After his family moved to northeast Port
land, it w asn’t long before Berry led the
Benson varsity basketball team to the state
title in 1981 They won the game on his
birthday. Berry remembers.
If things keep heading in the same direc
tion as they are for Lincoln, a team that was
I -17 in league and 2 -2 1 overall when Berry
‘Freedom fries’
replace French fries
Y ou can get fries with your I
burger, but don’t ask for French i
fries. Neal Rowland, theow nerof
C ubbie’s in Beaufort, N.C. only J
Lincoln High Basketball Coach Troy Berry (left) gives Sophomore Latravis Turner some pointers on good shooting form.
Turner said Berry has been a good role model for him in a school where he rarely sees other black faces.
sells his fried potato strips as
“freedom fries” - a decision that
com es as A m ericans w atch |
Coach Harris Leads By Example
PHOTO BY W ynde
French officials back away from
by D avid P lechl
support for possible war in Iraq.
T he P ortland O bserver
“Because o f C ubbie’s support I
When Velaida Harris arrived at Lincoln
for our troops, we no longer serve
High School to coach girls varsity basket
French fries. We now serve free
ball she was sure the mo ve wou Id be tempo
dom fries,” says a sign in the
rary.
restaurant’s window.
“ I’m only going to be here one year,” she
told the staff.
Frozen Cat Carcasses
Harris had her mind set on the same
More than 100 cats and the fro
position
at Jefferson High School.
zen carcasses o f 82 others were
“But M i It never retired,” she said o f long
removed from the home o f a |
time Jefferson coach Milt Adams. “And
Mesilla Park, N.M. woman living
after I was there a year I thought, maybe I
alone in a four-bedroom house,
should be here.”
authorities said. Police went to
Harris felt I ike she could assume a unique
the home Tuesday after receiv
role
in the lives o f the girls she coached at
ing reports o f foul odors Animal
this
mostly
white high school in southwest
Control officers helped to re
Portland.
move about 70 cats T uesday and
“How many ofthese kids have an African
returned the next day for the re
maining 30cats. Inside a kitchen
freezer, officers found 82 frozen
cats - each inside a one-gallon I
freezer bag bearing a brief de
scription and date.
A 24-year-old man fleeing police
apparently wasn’t satisfied with
ju st one stolen car. Police in
H annibal, Mo. said Mark D.
O ’Brien broke into a half-dozen
cars and crashed or abandoned
them before finally being taken
into custody Friday. He was
charged with violating his proba
tion from a previous auto-theft
offense.
(AP) — This could be the year that
Oregon’s state commissions on the rights o f
women and minorities finally fall prey to the
budget ax.
The leaders o f the state ’ s Commission for
Women, and the commissions for Asian,
Free Nike’s float to shore
Thousands o f pairs o f N ike bas
ketball shoes are washing up on
beaches from W ashington to |
continued
yf
Girls Varsity Basketball Coach Velaida
Harris directs a winning program at
Lincoln High.
photo by D avid P lechl /
T he P ortland O bserver
on page A 7
continued
y^
on page .47
Budget Ax May Chop Commissions on Women, Minorities
Groups that ensure
laws don’t adversely
affect constituents
could loose funding
One car wasn’t enough
American in their lives?” she said. “Why not
stay here and be an example?”
And that is precisely how Harris leads
and coaches - by example.
“ Ifthey see me working hard to make them
better they’re going to respond to that,” she
said ofher promising team o f young women.
Harris has set the bar pretty high.
The Lincoln girls finished as league
champs in 1999and 2 0 0 1. This year, herteam
ended up third in league and is heading into
the 2nd round o f playoffs Thursday with a
match against Thurston.
Harris herself was a fanatical hoopster in
high school and college and said coaching
is something she has always wanted to do.
“Just trying to impress skills o f the game
D yer / T he P ortland O bserver
Black and Hispanic affairs, say they've been
eyed for elimination many times before.
But this year, the state is reel ing from one
o f its largest revenue shortfalls ever. On top
ofthat, the Hispanic commission is only now
recovering from a series o f financial blun
ders and management problems. And the
Commission for Women was singled out by
an influential business-lobbying group as a
government body that could be trimmed as
one o f “54 ways Oregon can save its own
economic bacon.”
The four commissions actually would
receive a combined 17.7 percent funding
increase under Gov. Ted K ulongoski's pro
posed budget for 2003-05.
Mary Ellen Glynn, K ulogoski's spokes
woman, said the governor approved the
increase because he believes in the com mis
sions’ work. She said the looming shortfall
is so massi vc that the $645,292 al location for
the groups would make only a small differ
ence.
Each group acts as a liaison between the
public, the Legislature and government agen
cies. Common concerns include reducing
gender and race discrimination in housing,
employment and education. They also do
community outreach and lobby to ensure
new laws w on't adversely affect minorities
and women.
Rep. Randy Miller, R-West Linn, said
most o f those efforts cou Id be accompl ished
without state money. He said the work is
valuable, but if the public believes in it they
can provide support through private dona
tions.
“I think an awful lot o f observers think
that if something has to be put on hold that
might be a good place to start.” said Miller,
continued
y^
on page A3
Northeast Displacement Stirs Passion
A laskaaffer spilling from acon-
tainer ship in Northern Califor
nia. There’s just one hitch to |
Town Hall addresses
neighborhoods strained
by housing issues
finding a free pair. “Nike forgot
to tie the laces, so you have to
find m ates,” said Dr. Curtis
Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer
who tracks sneakers, toys and [
B y D avid P lechl
T he P ortland O bserver
other flotsam across the sea.
3D
o
u
T '^vision monitors were glowing
>bby. Preparations were made
ieras were put into position. A
ion on gentrification in north-
rtland was about to begin.
Icome to Northeast Passage,”
.'diator Bruce Broussard, ad-
g the live studio audience at
d Cable Access on Martin
King Jr. Boulevard last Tues-
;ning.
screening o f the film by
ius Swart and the town hall
hat followed was designed to
spur debate on the changing plight o f
local communities in the face o f rede
velopment and rising housing costs.
‘Northeast Passage’ follows the
stories o f local residents by taking a
close look at changing perspectives
on low-income housing and the role t if
individuals in the community.
The opening scenes o f the film
clearly show that change in a montage
o f real estate properties in various
stages o f repair and disrepair.
Over the clips o f footage com m u
nity members discuss their dreams o f
home ownership and self-destiny
Darrell Millner.a black studies pro
fessor for Portland State University,
then introduce viewers to O regon’s
early black exclusion laws and retraces
the history o f the northeast Portland
community.
“Oregon was not a place where
blacks were going to be welcome,”
Millncrsaid.
He added that the Albina district
would eventual ly be determined as the
‘black area o f residence.'
“The only black residential area in
Oregon,” he added.
The influx o f African Americans to
Portland during World War II made
white investors wary at a time when
the effects o f segregation were still
strong.
In the 80s, a gang scare worsened
the trend and blacks found it difficult
to even be considered for home ow n
ership in an era ofwidespread redlining
- the practice o f rental and buyer dis
crimination.
continued
I
y^
on page A J
photo by
D avid P le < h i TT he P ortland O bserv er
Alex Dorsey (center) attends a town hall meeting on
gentrification in north and northeast Portland with her
son (left) and other community members.
I