5Qé
Park Upgrade Celebrated
Sisters Rally Against
Displacement
Adidas opens public campus at
form er Kaiser Hospital
Protest tackles neighborhood
'revitalization'
See story, Metro section, inside
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‘City of Roses’
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www.portlandobserver.com
Established In 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXIII • Number 27
Wednesday • July 02. 2003
Review Shooting Forum Fills Mt. Olivet Church
Urban Surveillance System
The Pentagon is developing an
urban surveillance system that
w ould use com puters and thou
sands o f cam eras to track, record
and analyze the m ovem ent o f
every vehicle in a foreign city.
D ubbed “C om bat Z ones T hat
S ee," the project is designed to
help the m ilitary protect troops
and fight in cities overseas. But
experts say the unclassi fied tech
nology could easily be adapted
to sp y on A m e ric a n s. T h e
p r o j e c t ’s
c e n te r p ie c e
is
groundbreaking com puter soft
w are that is capable o f identify
ing vehicles by size, color, shape
and license tag, or drivers and
' passengers by face.
States Without Budgets
• The fiscal year began Tuesday
with O regon lawmakers approv
ing a short-term spending plans
allowing governm ent to operate
w hile a budgetary debate contin
ues. For the third consecutive
time, C alifornia began the fiscal
year beginning in July w ithout a
state budget after lawmakers were
unable to break a partisan im
passe over spending and taxes.
Five other states also took their
budget deliberations to the June
30 deadline w ithout reaching a
final agreement. California faces a
record $38.2 billion budget short
fall and is operating for the first
tim e com pletely on borrow ed
money.
Rlcln Stockpile Could Kill
A com putertechnician from Spo
kane, Wash., accused o f making
a biological weapon, had enough
pow dered ricin in his w ork cu
bicle to kil 1 as many as 7,500 people.
Prosecutors said Kenneth Olsen,
49, spent m ore than a year re
searching undetectable poisons
on the Internet, and hinted that he
researched ways tokill his w ifeo f
28 years so he could continue an
extram arital affair. Investigators
found about 3 gram s o f ricin pow
der in tw o test tubes and a ja r in
O ls e n ’s locked file cab in e t,
enough to kill 75 to as m any as
7,500 people, depending on how
it was delivered, Assistant U.S.
A ttorney S tephanie W hitaker
said.
African Americans demand justice, change in police policies
by J aymee R. C irri
dents.
T he P ortland O bserver
“W e’ve got to be able to live
A fric a n A m e ric a n s and
together feeling w e ’re safe,”
other residents packed into a
said Pat Lenzen, a w hite retired
north Portland church T ues
nurse living in P ortland for 39
day to attend a forum on the
years. “ W e d id n ’t w ork it out
p o lice sh o o tin g o f K endra
50 years ago, w e d id n ’ t w orked
Jam es, an unarm ed, A frican-
it out 25 years ago, w e have to
A m erican w om an w ho w as
w ork it out now .”
killed M ay 5 during a traffic
Silenced behind a shroud o f
stop.
im p e n d in g in v e s tig a tio n s ,
B lack leaders called for the
union m eetings and a c iv il law
session w ith police and pros
suit from the Jam es fam ily, very
ecutors after a secret grand
few w hite leaders and city offi
ju ry acquitted N orth Precinct
cials have stepped forw ard to
O fficer Scott M cC ollister o f
pu b licly su p p o rt the Jam es
any w rongdoing in the death.
fam ily and dem and changes in
T hey also see the results o f a
the police departm ent.
police b u reau ’s internal inves
M ayor V era K atz w as on
tigation into the shooting as
vacation w hen the police bu
another in a long list o f m iscar
reau announced the com ple
riages o f justices.
tion o f the internal investiga
Last week, Police ChiefM ark
tion and did not issue a state
K roeker recom m ended su s
ment.
pension for M cC ollister, w ho
Friday, the m ay o r’s liaison
shot the 2 1 -year-old as she
for the pol ice departm ent, El ise
tried to drive aw ay and escape
M arshall, spoke for K atz in her
arrest.
absence. She said, “T he m ayor
“ W e ’ve seen cases w here
agrees w ith the proposed d is
p eo p le have had w eap o n s,
ciplinary action.”
guns, knives, and have been
N e ith e r K ro e k e r n o r
apprehended w ith no pro b
M arshall elaborated on how
lems. The question rem ains
long a “lengthily suspension
w hether this w ould have hap
is” or w hat is m eant by “seri
pened i f K endra Jam es w as not
ous discipline.”
black,” said Rev. R oy Tate,
City Comm issioner Erik Sten
A lbina M inisterial A lliance
declined to com m ent on the
Derrick
Foxworth
and
Scott
Anderson,
both
assistant
chiefs
for
the
Portland
Police
Bureau,
confer
with
president, w ho attended the
discipline to rem ain neutral in
Mayor Vera Katz during a public forum on the police shooting death o f Kendra James at Mt. Olivet Baptist
forum.
the event that the issue com es
Church in north Portland Tuesday.
T ate w as not satisfied w ith
before the C ity Council.
K ro ek er’s disciplinary decision
Som e arrived at the forum seeking social
“ I think the disciplinary action is very
“ The event certainly underscores the fact
“ Scott M cC ollister m ade poor judgm ents
change and justice.
light and I w ant to see that som ething wi 11 be
that w e have a long w ay to go to truly
by putting h im self and the other officers in
“ I expect that peo p le w ill stand up in
d one,” said Lee T hom as, an A frican A m eri im plem ent com m unity policing,” Sten said.
h arm ’s way. W e think he should have been
Portland and everyw here w here police are
can T riM et bus driver.
"1 certainly share the c h ie f sco n clu sio n that
term inated,” Tate said.
taking advantage o f th eir jo b s," said D or
Lucifer A rnold, a black Portland resident
i t shou Id have never com e to the place w here
The stage at Mt. O livet Baptist C hurch was
othy Stone, a local A frican A m erican resi o f 33 years, said unem ploym ent is pushing
deadly force w as necessary.”
di vided in halfby three rows ofnearly all white
dent. “W e ’re told that if w e com m it a crim e
black com m unities out o f their hom es and
C om m issioner Jim Francesconi w ho has
representatives from the city, county and
w e pay for that crim e. W hen they com m it a
h e ’s getting tired o fencountering racial pro also been absent from pubic events sur-
police bureau on one side and mostly African
crim e, it’s a coverup.”
filing on the street.
continued
on page A 6
A m erican leaders on the other.
O thers cam e seeking closure.
U nity w as another focus o f area resi-
J u ly
F o u r th
B la s t!
Endangered Fish Saved
Biologists and volunteers used
buckets, nets and an electric-
shock device this week to rem ove
a rare species o f fish endangered
by ash and other debris from an
Arizona w ildfire that destroyed
hundreds o f m ountaintop homes.
More than 600G ila chubs, a m in
now-like fish proposed for pro
tection under the Endangered
Species Act, w ere taken from the
Sabino Creek and put aboard
pickup trucks to be taken to the
safety o f a hatchery and research
centers.
£3
sS
Joy Johnston (left) and lidiko Plesko help
customer Taricia Hampton decide on the
perfect fireworks for her Fourth o f July
celebration at the Interstate Fred Meyer store
parking lot in north Portland. The forecast
calls for temperatures in the low 80s for
Friday's national holiday.
photo by M ark W ashington /
T he P ortland O bserver
B
s
Blues to Rattle Downtown Waterfront
2
Waterfront celebration is
one of the biggest
Four days o f top draw er entertainm ent will delight
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A dm ission is a daily donation per person o f $5 plus tw o
Portland hosts the 16* annual Safew ay W aterfront Blues
cans o f nonperishable food or $ 15 for a four-day pass.
T his y e a r’s festival also celebrates the Y ear o f the
The Y ear o f the Blues and W om en in Blues are them es
Blues by offering more musical w orkshops, b luescruiscs
for the second-largest blues festival in the nation, held
on the Portland Spirit, films and special program m ing. The
T hursday. July 3 through Sunday, July 6 at Tom M cCall
ev e n t’s signature fireworks display is scheduled the
W aterfront Park, dow ntow n.
evening o f July 4.
The stellar lineup includes roots-m usic icon Taj Mahal,
The festival kicks o ff Thursday with a high-w attage
young b lues-belter Susan T edeschi, legendary R&B
lineup that includes Taj Mahal and the Hula B lues Band,
diva Etta Jam es and b lues-rocker Steve M i Her, perform
ing as a special guest w ith slide-guitar m aster Roy
)
" W e 'v e been told that this is the best line up o f any blues
concert across the country.”
The festival is a fundraiser for the O regon Food Bank.
crow ds during the Fourth o f July holiday w eekend when
Festival.
o s
R ogers and harm onica ace N orton Buffalo. “ W e’re very
jazz ed ,” said festival spokesperson Jean-K em pe W are.
»
continued
on page A6
I
Oregon Food Bank promoters expect jam-packed fun once
again this Fourth o f July weekend as the Safeway Water
front Blues Festival takes o ff from the downtown Portland
waterfront. The 16"' annual event starts Thursday and
continues through Sunday, photo by Valarie K. Davis
Photography