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
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0 P n rtía n h (Obsmu'r
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‘City
of fR Roses
Volume X X X III
i
. .
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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