50< Tourney Upset Bound for France Jefferson falls in 4A opener Local dancers go international See story in Sports, page B6 ‘City of Roses See story, Metro section, inside Established In 1970 Volume X X X III • Number II www.portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity Wednesday • March 12. 2003 lh'Sew' M eek School C losure Stings Man chokes for attention Same northeast neighborhood loses yet another school A short, dumpy man has been going around Punta Gorda, Fla. faking choking episodes, appar ently to get atten tio n from w om en. He flails his arm s, coughs and sputters. A fter a woman rushes over to help, he showers her with gratitude, hugs and kisses. The sh e riffs office | by M ichael L eighton T he P ortland O bserver has gotten about a half-dozen calls about the Choking Man, as the Charlotte Sun Herald dubbed him. So far he has not committed any crime, though a woman on M onday went to the hospital with an anxiety attack after an encounter. photo by Brothel to serve dog’s life D avid P lechi TT he P ortland O bserver Meek Elementary sudent Aujha Robertson peeks out o f the window below a sign that reads ‘ Save Our School. ’ A G erm an artist has applied for a license to open a brothel in B erlin for sexually frustrated dogs. K arl-F rie d ric h L enze says his brothel will be the first o f its kind anyw here. T he 54- y e a r-o ld sa y s he p la n s to ch a rg e dog ow ners about $45 per h a lf hour o f happiness. Lenze says if dogs cannot get | w h a t th e y w a n t, th e y g et cranky, just like people. He says his establishm ent w ould offer J N ortheast Portland residents were left devastated and angry Monday after the Portland School Board decided to close Meek El em entary School at 4039 N.E. Alberta Ct. School district officials said the closure, along with closing Brook lyn Elementary at 3830 S.E. 14th, was because o f declining enroll ments and the effort to reduce dis trict expenses. African American board mem bers Derry Jackson and Lolenzo Poe were the only board members voting against closing Meek. Poe was the only board member to vote against closing Brooklyn. Meek parents, who packed into the school district’s boardroom for discussion on the closure issue, said they felt they were being dis criminated against based on the school neighborhood’s socioeco nomic status. Meek serves a low income to working class neighbor hood. Plans to close two other schools serving more affluent families were recently pulled from board consid eration, including Reike Elementary in southwest Portland. Poe said his issue was one o f equity. “It’s ingenuous and we are mak A Virginia court jury awarded $800,000 to a woman who said she was bitten on the breast by an | b y W ynde D yer T he P ortland O bserver employee o f a Dairy Queen res taurant. Brenda K. Chappelcar I testified that she went into the restaurant in Ashland about 3:30 p.m.onDec.3l,2001,andaskedto j A Southern California man who becam e notorious in the 1980s for forcing women to hand over th eir underw ear at gunpoint could be sentenced to life in p ris o n u n d e r C a lif o r n ia ’s “three strikes” law follow ing I his conviction for com m ercial burglary and possessing sto len p ro p e rty . B ru ce A lle n , Lyons, 48, w as convicted o f | breaking into a ch iro p racto r’s office on O ct. 4 to obtain the | phone num ber o f a w om an who did not w ant to date him. Fisher hooks cannabis A Hong Kong angler made an unexpected catch when his fish ing rod hooked onto a large bag packed with cannabis. The 20- year-old man was fishing o ff a pier in Kowloon when he reeled in a bag loaded with 15 ki lograms o f the drug on Thursday night. The drugs had been packed into 16 plastic bags and were soaked. When dried out, the drugs would have fetched an estimated $ 1.35 million in Hong Kong. t Attheageof35 Vanessa Gaston, the new President and C hief Ex- I e c u tiv e I - , . photos by W ynde D yer /T he P ortland O bserver fem ale impersonator Kevin Cook is seen reflected in a m irror as he pats dry his mascara before taking to the stage at D a rc e lle XV S h o w p la ce fo r h is P o iso n W aters p e rfo rm a n c e . “ Fake e ye la s h e s are a trip , “ Cook sa id . ' • The way I see it, you 're not going to please everyone, so you might as well just be yourself , - female Impersonator “ Polson Waters" Kevin Cook BLACK B e a u ty Kevin Cook as “Poison Waters" performs at Darcelle ’ Show- ;e at 8 7). and 0 p.m. each lay and aturday night. Performer pushes aside negative stereotypes to establish unique identity = s 1» O' — “3 -c on o \ •= .5 i^i — W c o on ~ LU on page AS Young executive brings extensive experience to the table Damages won for ’Dracula’bite ‘Underwear Bandit' faces life term in prison continued Urban League Gets New President patrons a variety o f carefully v e tte d e m p lo y e e s o f bo th sexes, room s for private en counters and even a bar w here custom ers could sn iff out their preferred partners. use the phone book. Employee Ayman Ahmed Hasabal la moved beside her and pulled her sweater down, scratching her chest, and bit her on the breast. “I am like Dracula,” Chappelear said he told her. ing certain allowances for certain parts o f the community," he said. Residents around Meek have seen both public an d p riv ate schools closed in their section o f the city several times in recent years. Just a few blocks away from Meek, W hitaker Middle School was closed two years ago because o f the di lapidated condition o f a bui Id- ing that first housed John Adams High School, which was closed in the 1980s because o f declining en rollment. In 1986, the private St. Charles Elem entary School on northeast 42“’ and Emerson was closed and in 1975, the historic and public Kennedy Elementary School by W ynde D yer T he P ortland O bserver There aren't many African American men who can say they’ve never experienced racism. There aren't many openly homosexual men who can say they’ve never dealt with homophobia. But there is one - and he wears a dress. Kevin Cook is “Poison W aters” in Portland’s drag community and for him, there is no line drawn between black and white, gay and straight or male and female. He thrives on blending those lines and showing others with that people are just people and they’re all beautiful. “I just can’t relate when it comes to discrimina tion, ” Cook said. “I can’t say I ’ ve experienced racism or homophobic stuff. I don’t listen to any negative s tu f f - I don't have the energy to waste on anything that isn’t positive. Either you ’re too black or not black enough or you're too gay or not gay enough. The way I see it, you’re not going to please everyone so you might as well just be yourself.’ C ook’s optimism has made him not only a popular performer on Friday and Saturday nights at Darcelle XV Showplace, downtown at 208 N.W. Third, butalso a role model for gay youth who are trying to accept their sexuality. Through his website, Cook offers Dear Abby-style counseling to members ofthecom m unityonhow todealw ithlife’sobstacles. Through the ‘Ask Poison’ section o f the site. Cook personally answers dozens o f professional and per- continued on page A 6 Kevin Cook puts the final touches of powder on his face before a show. e x p e r t - Vanessa Gaston cn c e in social services than many people twice her age. She also has the desire to help impoverished com munities in her blood. ‘My mom was extremely com mitted to serving the poor,” Gaston said. “She was a social services supervisor for 25 years. We grew up poor, so we understood what it’s like to struggle.” Bom in Rapid City, S.D. to a Native American mother and an African American father, Gaston spent her childhood just outside the Pine Ridge Indian Reserva tion. Her parents encouraged her to get an education and work hard to be successful. After high school, she briefly attended Ohio State University until she lost her residency status and scholarships when her par ents moved to Alaska. With no money to finish her education, she decided to join the Army. “The recruiter cam e around to our dorm s and all he had to say was, ‘ W e do have m oney for co lleg e,’ and I was in ,” G aston said. Three years o f service as a legal specialist for the Arm y took her to G erm any, F rance and Spain and gave her a chance to test out her m anagerial skills before she w as 21. G aston su pervised the Public D efenders O ffice at Fort Lewis before retir ing into the reserves. A fter serving her duty, she took a job in Tacoma, as an executive assistant for the Martin Luther King Center. The non-profit group worked on homeless issues and continued k on page A3