50/
Stunning Elegance
Love Interest
Ebony Fashion Fair weaves
culture, beauty and charity
Actress-comic Aisha Tyler
lands a spot on 'Friends '
See Metro section, inside
w
City of Roses'
See Focus, page BJ
bser
Established In 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXIII • Number 17
-r-Weekin
TheReview
Electric pow er w as restored for
parts o f B aghdad on T uesday
and neighbors ran up and dow n
the block outside their houses
to cheer and fire w eapons in the
air to celebrate the end o f a dev­
astating 3-w eek-old pow er o u t­
age. Still.m ore than 80 percent o f
the city rem ained in darkness
and doctors reported the first
suspected cases o f cholera and
typhoid, w ith no clean running
w ater yet.
Knott Street
Boxers
remembered
bv W ynde D yek
T he P ortland O bserver
Scientists close to
SARS cure
In their days o f glory, m em bers o f the K nott
Street B oxing C lub w ore the colors o f b u r­
gundy and gold with pride, racked in presti­
gious titles that put P ortland on the national
athletic map.
B ut as the fam e faded, m any o f the form er
boxers, w ho made their nam es in the 1960s and
1970s, fell into hard tim es, ultim ately to die
destitute and forgotten.
W h en th e
fam ily o f one
o f these boxers
could not af­
ford to b u ry
h im , fo r m e r
K n o tt S tre e t
b o x e r H alim l e g a c y o f
S cientists in search o f a SARS
cure have narrow ed their focus
• to several dozen drugs that ap ­
p ear to have the best chance o f
stopping the deadly respiratory
virus, but they have abandoned
p lan s to test one o f them in
p eople. T he u rg en t h u n t for
som ething that w orks - prefer­
ably a m edicine already on the
m arket or close to it - w as helped
by the breakthrough a w eek ago
in decoding the v iru s’s genetic
m akeup, w hich gives scientists
Some logical targets.
Knott Street
Boxing is an
important
R a h sa a n be-
gan to think a
fo rm a l c o m ­
memoration for
his
w a s team
lo n g m o ates
y^r
France wants to
suspend Iraq sanctions
In a surprise m ove, France on
T uesday proposed im m ediately
suspending U .N. sanctions tar­
geting Iraqi civilians, an im por­
tant step tow ard the U.S. goal o f
ending trade em barg o es that
hav e c rip p le d the c o u n try ’s
econom y President Bush called
last w eek for sanctions to be
lifted quickly, so Iraq 's oil rev­
enue can be used to finance re­
construction.
duy,
O ne o f Saddam H ussein’s most-
feared lieutenants w as in U.S.
hands Tuesday, w hile hundreds
o f thousands o f Shiite M uslim s
crow ded tw o holy cities in a fer­
vent pilgrim age that w as banned
for decades. T he U.S. also says
it has found m ore than $600 m il­
lion in stashed U.S. dollars and
800-plus explosive suicide vests.
Professor-student
datlngban considered
U n iv e rs ity o f C a lifo rn ia p ro ­
fe sso rs are c o n te m p la tin g a
new q u estio n th is spring: D oes
d a tin g y o u r stu d e n t flunk the
e th ic s test? F a cu lty are sc h e d ­
u led to v ote on new ru les this
s p rin g . S h o u ld it p ass, the
p o lic y w ould m ak e U C th e la t­
est sc h o o l to ban the c la s s­
ro o m c o u rtsh ip s, jo in in g such
sc h o o ls as th e U n iv ersity o f j
M ic h ig a n , the U n iv e rsity o f
Iow a an d Y ale.
Portland
history that not
p e o p le
know about.
’ It w as like
a bell w ent o f f “ Former Knott S tre e t
in
m e ,’’ b o u r Ha!lm
Saddam’s ‘ShiiteThug’
is captured
The m aker o f a m om ing-afterpill
appl ied for governm ent perm is­
sion M onday to begin selling
the em erg en cy co n tracep tiv e
w ithout the d o c to r’s prescrip­
tion now required. The m aker o f
Plan B pills hopes to w in Food
and D rug A dm inistration ap ­
proval for over-the-counter sales
by next year.
Wednesday • April 23, 2003
‘Fallen Warriors
Some lights on In Baghdad
Morning-after pill
maker seeks approval
www.portlandobserver.cum
P hoto bv W vnde D yer / the P ortland observer
Halim Rahsaan holds a photograph o f Sam Johnson, the first to die o f 12 Knott Street Boxers who will be
commemorated at a free public dinner at 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Dishman Center, 77 N.E. Knott St.
R ahsaan said.
"K nott Street B oxing is an im portant legacy o f
Portland history that not m any people know
about. I realized that it’s a poor frog w ho
d o e sn 't croak about his ow n pond.”
So, R ahsaan m ade up his m ind to pay hom ­
age to his fallen team m ates.
O n S aturday, April 26 at 5 p.m. a m em orial
cerem ony and free public dinner will be held at
the Dishman C om m unity Center, 77 N.E. Knott,
to honor Pete G onzales, John Howard, Joel ‘JD ’
Stroud, Joe W est, Sam Johnson, T ony Jacobs,
Clyde W illiams, Herb Le Suer, M arcellus Allen,
Joe H opkins. Joe B anksand Pete Vastine White.
The fam iliesofthe late boxers will be presented
with plaques shaped like the state o f O regon.
“People think it w as the Trail Blazers beating
the L akers that gave Portland its nam e in
sports," R ahsaan said. “ No, w e w ere beating
big team s in N ew Y ork, C hicago and Los An-
continued
on page A3
Fire Bureau Still D om inated by W hite M ales
Consultants find
tolerance for sexist
and racist attitudes
( A P ) — A w h ite m ale “g o o d o ld b o y ”
cu ltu re d o m in a te s c ity fire statio n s w h ere
sex ist an d ra c ist jo k e s are to le ra te d , a c ­
co rd in g to a re cen t fire fig h te r survey.
O n ly a b o u t a th ird o f th e firefig h ters
and su p p o rt s ta ff at th e P o rtlan d F ire
B u reau , o r 2 3 7 p e o p le , resp o n d ed to the
poll by T h e M etro p o litan G ro u p , a P o rt­
land co n su ltin g firm .
A b o u t a fo u rth o f th o se w ho responded
said sex ist an d ra c ist jo k e s are '(d erated .
T he c o n su lta n ts w ere hired last su m ­
m er after the city settled a civil i ights claim
filed b y R ick F izer, a b lack firefig h ter
F iz e r’s co m p lain ts ab o u t racist co m m en ts
and p o rn o g ra p h ic p ran k s a t the fire s ta ­
tion on N orth G o in g n e a r In te rsta te led to
the d is c ip lin e o f five fire fig h te rs in 2001.
T he c o n su lta n ts said the su rv ey re ­
v eale d p ro b le m s in a p ro fe ssio n that h is­
to ric a lly has been d o m in a te d by w hite
m en and p re se n ts u n u su al stre ss e s for
e m p lo y ees w h o live and w o rk to g eth er.
“ T h ey are h ero es and h e ro in e s, but
th ey are also h u m a n .” the re p o rt said.
S o m e fire fig h te rs did not th in k th eir
su p e rv is o rs a re a d e q u a te ly tra in e d to
handle con d iets am ong co w o rk ers. O th er
fire fig h te rs said that m in o ritie s hav e an
u n fa ir h ir in g a d v a n ta g e th r o u g h th e
F irefighterT raince Program , begun in 1995
to a ttra c t m ore m in o rities. A th ird o f the
continued
on page A3
Quick Action Saves History
Seats only salvage
□m old theater
.EE P erlman
P ortland O bserver
erb Jenkins is looking for a perm anent
ie for 382 historic, but good as new,
ter seats stored in his basem ent,
he seats are all that is left o f the former
inial Theater, a landmark that stood in the
ofthe ex pansionofthePortlandC'ommunity
ege Cascade Campus in north Portland.
enkins, a security guard for the Falcon
irtments, a h alfb lo ck aw ay, noticed con-
ction equipm ent assem bling near the
building. Told that no effort w ould be made
to salvage any part o fth e building, he hastily
assem bled a group o f friends ani It ruck s and
rem oved the seats to the Falco basement.
A ccording to M att H ayes ot the Preser­
vation L eague o f O regon, the building was
constructed in 1925 as H udso s Colonial
Theater. It w as converted to . church in
1973, serving the A lbina Christian I ife C en­
ter, an A frican A m erican ministr that moved
last year to N orth W illam ette Hi Jevard
Hayes fears other buildings in the college's
path might suffer the same fate, this tin ,c without
someone like Jenkins to do last-minute salvage.
Jenkins is looking fo ra future use for the
seats and can be reached at 5 0 3 -5 15-4037.
photo bv
R on W ashington /T he P ortland O bserv eh
Herb Jenkins and some o f the 382 theater seats he rescued from the old
Colonial Theater, a 1925 building that stood in the way o f the expansion of the
Portland Community College Cascade Campus in north Portland.