50/
Area All Stars Appeal
Riverside Little League disqualification called unjust
See story in Sports, Page B6
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Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXIII • Number 29
Wednesday • July 16. 2003
TlWeekin
TheReview
Global Hotspots
on Agenda
President Bush, mulling whether
to send U.S. troops to enforce a
fragile cease-fire in Liberia, met
Monday with the world leader
who has pushed most aggres
sively for American intervention
in the strife-tom West African
nation. Bush and U.N. Secre
tary-General Kofi Annan sat
down to an agenda jammed with
global hotspots and seemingly
intractable problems. Like Bush,
who returned late Saturday from
a tour of five sub-Saharan na
tions, Annan is just back from
Africa, where he attended the
’ A frican U nion sum m it in
Mozambique.
Students study
math and
engineering to
prepare for
their freshman
year at
Jefferson High
School.
Bastille Day Gets Political
French leaders used their tra
ditional Bastille Day interviews
to press for the return o f U.N.
weapons inspectors to Iraq,
saying such a move could help
settle the doubts over Saddam
Hussein’s weapons o f mass
murder. After watching French
and European troops march
side-by-side in a show o f unity
down the Cham ps-Elysees,
President Jacques Chirac criti
cized the United States and
Britain for refusing to allow
U.N. inspectors to complete
their job in Iraq before going
to war.
New York Times
Editor Replaced
The New York Times on Mon
day named Bill Keller as execu
tive editor, more than a month
after the newspaper’s top edi
tors resigned following a plagia
rism scandal. Kel ler, 54, a former
Times managing editor and
Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign
correspondent, was chosen as
the permanent replacement for
Howell Raines.
Ringleader Files for Senate
Jerry Springer, the talk show
host whose nationally syndi
cated program often sp o t
lig h te d
strip p e rs
and
skinheads, officially filed pa
pers on Monday to run for the
U.S. Senate from Ohio.
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Passing over Maurice
Lucus as general
manager sparks protest
B y J aymee R. C uti
T he P ortland O bserver
Candidates Ditch
NAACP Convention
NAACP President K w eisi
Mfume criticized Democratic
presidential candidates Dick
Gephardt, Joe Lieberman and
Dennis Kucinich for skipping
the group’s presidential forum,
saying the three have become
“persona non grata” among
black voters. Mfume lashed out
at the three during a speech to
the thousands gathered for the
NAACP’sconvention. Each time
Mfume mentioned their name an
organ masterplayedadeath knell
chord.
Blazers
Warned of
Boycott
P hoto by M ark
W ashington /
T he P ortland
O bserver
Freshman Ready
Incoming students prepare for
success in math and science
BY JAYM EE
R.
C t 'T I
T he P ortland O bserver
The first day o f high school can
conjure many anxieties, from getting
lost to feeling alone in a much larger
school, with much older kids. New
students may also be nervous about
study skills dulled by a summer of
intense sprinkler sprinting and video
gaming.
High school can be particularly
challenging for kids who never
grasped basic math and science con
cepts, such as fractions and multipli
cation.
MESA, the Mathematics Engineer
ing Science Achievement Program has
designed a summer camp for incoming
freshman at Jefferson High School, to
quell some worries about their upcoming
year.
The Jefferson Summer Scholars Pro
gram, which wrapped up last month,
was designed to help minority kids get
exposure to math and science fields,
where minorities are still under-repre
sented.
Kids also learned their way around
the campus and met students from other
middle schools. Jefferson High School
upperclassmen assisted the program as
student mentors.
“What students love the most is
they get to meet kids coming from
other schools so when they walk the
halls, it’s not all new, and they have
older faces to look up to from meet
ing our five mentors,” said Phoebe
Tyeskey, Jefferson’s MESA advi
sor.
Camp projects were hands-on. Stu
dents had group projects, field trips
and even constructed towers using
straws, toothpicks and marshmal
lows.
The purpose o f that project, ac
cording to Tyeskey, was to build the
highest free-standing towers while
spending the least amount o f mate
rial, keeping “building costs” low.
The group took a trip to an engi
neering firm to learn how their fresh
man year will affect their futures in
college and beyond.
If the Portland Trail Blazers don’t
hire some African-American decision
makers in the Oregon Arena’s front
office, a former professional athlete and
29,000 o f his friends have vowed to
boycott the team.
Portland resident R.C. Burke, a
former football pro, started a petition
two weeks ago, recommending former
Blazer great Maurice Lucas, as general
manager o f the team. He said they have
29,000 signatures to date.
W hile the petition soared through
the h an d s o f p ro m in en t A frican
Am erican leaders and former NBA
and NFL stars, the Blazers were re
ported to have offered John Nash the
position on Monday.
W ednesday, the team is expected
to announce Nash as the new general
m anager o f the team, a position that
has been vacant for three months,
since Bob W hitsitt resigned. Nash
com es to Portland as a former general
m anager in Philadelphia, W ashington
and New Jersey.
According to Burke, both W hitsitt
and team owner Paul Allen knew that
Lucas was interested in the GM post.
He said Lucas’ interest in the posi
tion came during a conversation about
‘relationships that the current Blazers
do not have with the black com m u
nity.”
“It’s appalling that there are no black
employees in the Oregon Arena front
office,” Burke said. W e’re going to
boycott the Blazers and ask African
Americans to impose economic sanc
tions against any away game that they
play until they are more inclusionary to
minorities.”
The spokesperson for the Trail Blaz
ers did not reply to repeated requests for
comment on the complaints.
Tosign the petition or reach Burke, e-mail
MaurioeLucasFoiBlazEreGMarhutmail.oom
Aiming High at Summer Camp
Program director
Lavon Van poses with
his campers in north
east Portland from
Successful Choices.
The nonprofit hosts
free summer camps,
with activities includ
ing Bible study,
basketball and field
trips. The organiza
tion also sponsors
after-school pro
grams. For registra
tion information and
other questions, call
503-735-3156.
photo by M ark
W ashington /
T he P ortland O bserver
O'
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