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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 30, 2003)
50¿ Grand Marshals Back From France Coach Clive Charles and his NCAA championship team honored Local audiences await The Jefferson Dancers See story, page A8. See story, Metro section, inside / 0 P n rtía n h (Obsmu'r .itv n ncpc’ ‘City of fR Roses Volume X X X III i . . .. Established in 1970 • N um ber 18 www.portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity Wednesday • April 30. 2003 -j-.Weekin TheReview Iraqi Lynch helper given asylum y - M oham m ed al-Rehaief, an Iraqi law yer w ho helped U.S com m an dos locate and rescue prisoner o f w ar Jessica L ynch has been granted asylum in the U nited States along with his family, Home land Security Secretary T om Ridge said Tuesday. “Mr. al- R ehaief should know Americans are grateful forhis bravery and for his com passion,” Ridge said. Magic Man ’ Ohio residents oppose Army’s disposal plans People w ho live in a suburban D ay to n , O h io n eig h b o rh o o d w here the A rm y wants to dum p hazardous w aste say their home should have never been picked because o f w ho lives there. A third o f the residents are black an d a third are poor - a racial and economic makeup the community hopes wi 11 hal t the mi I itary’s plan. J Local magician sets sights on Las Vegas stardom Wireless 911 Service W ireless industry officials said they w ill m eet federal deadlines for providing enhanced 911 ser vice that lets em ergency o p era tors locate cell phone users w ho call forhelp. W hen someone dials 911 on a traditional phone, em er gency operators can trace the call to a street address. But cre ating a system for locating cell phone users w ho call 911 has been a challenge for wireless com panies, regulators and w orkers at the nation’s more than 7,000emer gency dispatch centers < >• 13 Iraqis killedin protesterflreflght U.S. paratroopers fired on anti- A m erican protesters during a n ig h ttim e d e m o n s tr a tio n F allujah, Iraq, and a hospital re ported T uesday that 13 Iraqis w ere killed and 75w ounded, in cluding three young boys. S o l diers said arm ed m en had m ixed into the crow d and fired at them from nearby buildings. Man accused in sex slave case competent for trial T he retired handym an accused o fh o ld in g at least five w om en as sex slaves in an underground bunker in Syracuse, N.Y. has been found com petent to stand trial, a defense attorney said. John Jam elske, 67, is being held in ja il w ithout bail on charges o f I kidnapping, rape, sodom y and sexual abuse. He w as arrested A pril 7 after a 16-year-old girl told authorities he had held her hostage for nearly seven m onths in a concrete dungeon he built under his back yard. . , . . „ x F hotos by W ynde D yer and G unther J ose F rank /T he P ortland O bserver Local magician Antwan Towner dazzles his audience at Billy Reed's. Towner produces a deck o f cards from his mouth while Milt Ross (left) puzzles over the foam balls Towner has previously made multiply and disappear. by W yn de D yf . r T he P ortland O bserver A ntw an T ow ner started turning m agic tricks on the streets o f Portland even before he could do algebra. W hat started as a hobby at age eight has becom e 20- year-old T ow ner’s main obsession and his main source ofincom e. T he Portland native, w ho spent part o f his childhood in area foster hom es, now perform s roam ing m agic acts for B illy R eed 's custom ers on Sunday and M onday nights. But catch him w hile you still can, T ow ner might disappear to the Las V egas m agic spotlight, that is. “ I w ill be one o f the top m agicians in the w orld one day,” he said. “ If I stay on the ball, in 10 years I’ll have m y ow n show in V egas.” Au V if R on W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver \P tenants pay only 30 percent of their incomes i 2 ' ynde D yer P ortland O bseryer i the m an in charge o f the largest pro o f affordable housing options in O r- , H ousing A uthority o f Portland Ex- ve D irector Steve R udm an has a per- attachm ent to the slogan ‘Portland - t Ci Í on page AS PCRI offers rental housing well below market rate photo by 9 continued Housing Agents Fight Displacement Quakes hit Pacific Northwest A n earthquake w ith a p relim i nary m agnitude o f 4.8 hit deep beneath the O lym pic M ountains early last Friday, jo ltin g m uch o f w estern W ashington. N o m ajor injuries or dam age were reported, but the quake w as felt across the O lym pic Peninsula and in Se attle, 43 miles to the east. Friday’s quake w as three tim es as deep and 30 tim es m ore pow erful than a 3.9 m agnitude quake near Port land on Thursday. T ow ner’s fascination w ith m agic started around about the age o f five. He w as living in a foster hom e w ith a w om an he fondly rem em bers as ‘ M iss Elsie. ’ She let him w atch the magic acts o f w orld fam ous D avid C opperfield, David Blaine and Lance Burton on television and T ow ner w as hooked. The City T hat W orks.’ W ith a background in urban policy plan ning, R udm an said he knew Portland was the place he w anted to be w hen he moved to the Rose City from Pennsylvania in 1978 to take continued y f ,,n page .46 by W yn de D yer T he P ortland O bserver The gentrification o f north and n o rth e a st P o rtlan d is som ething o f a double-edged sw ord fo r P C R I D irecto r Maxine Fitzpatrick, who never anticipated the role she w ould play in pushing low -incom e residents out o f inner city a r eas as a result o f her efforts to help them. Fitzpatrick m oved to P ort land in 1993 to takeover PCRI, a non-profit com m unity d e velopm ent corporation that had recently purchased 272 PCRI Director Maxine Fitzpatrick played a major role rental properties in north and in the revitalization of north and northeast Portland. photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver northeast Portland w ith the plans o f turning the derelict properties into affordable housing units. influx o f new residents to the area. The goal w as one w ith good intentions “ W e helped a few people out, but not and som e positive outcom es, but Fitzpatrick nearly as m any as w ere forced to relocate," said P C R I’s renovation o f the units caused Fitzpatrick said. “Som egentrification is good, many longtim e inner north and northeast continued on page .47 Portland residents to be forced out by an