50/
Boycott Sidelined
Blazer president makes
diversity commitment
See story in Sports, Page B6
Celebrating
Bishop Hardy honored
with family and friends
See story in Religion, Page B4
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www.portlandobserver.com
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Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXIII • Number 31
T,Weekin
TheReview
Death a Suicide,
not Lynching
R elatives o f a black m an, w hose
hanging divided the rural co m
m unity o f Bella G lade, Fla.,
learned at an inquest that the
n o o s e w a s p r o b a b ly h is
g ran d m o th er’s bed sheet and
agreed that his death w as likely
a suicide and not a lynching.
Gay High School
Opens In NY
N ew Y ork C ity is creating the
n atio n 's first public high school
f o r g a y s , b is e x u a ls a n d
tr a n s g e n d e r s tu d e n ts . T h e
H arvey M ilk High School will
enroll about 100 students and
open in a new ly renovated build
ing in the fall. It is nam ed after
San F rancisco’s First openly gay
city supervisor, w ho w as assas
sinated in 1978.
iaaaaaj
Wednesday • |uly 30, 2003
Utilities Battle Public Power Advocates
Power struggle
could hit northeast
Portland residents
in pocketbook
BY JAYMEE R. Cl'TI
T he P ortland O bserver
C onfusion grow s for an increasingly hot
topic, public pow er for M ultnom ah County,
as voters are bom barded w ith m ixed m es
sages and opposing view points.
A m easure to form a M ultnom ah C ounty
P eople’s U tility District on the Nov. 4 ballot
is a special concern for residents and b usi
nesses in north and northeast Portland.
Pacific Power, a Portland-based company,
supplies pow er to 68,000 custom ers from I-
5 on the w est, 1-84 on the south. N ortheast
122ml A venue on the east and the C olum bia
R iver on the north.
Body Identified
As Patrick Dennehy
Investigators w ould not co m
m ent on any new evidence in the
c aseo fB ay lo rb ask etb all player
Patrick Dennehy, w hose decom
posed body w as found in a field
in W aco, T exas, after he had
been m issing for m ore than six
weeks.
Nudists Try to
Reclaim Beach
O n the typical sum m er weekend,
as m any as a couple hundred
nude sunbathers g ath er in the
“clothing-optional” section o f
P ortland’s R ooster Rock State
Park. B ut despite the continued
popularity o f R ooster R ock’s
nude beach, problem s during the
years w ith voyeurs and sexual
deviants lurking in overgrow n
brush along trails have changed
the area’scom plexion anddriven
aw ay fam ilies, park officials say.
V olunteers are w orking to clean
up the problem s and reclaim the
beach.
Clinton Website
has Spanish Version
N ew Y ork Sen. H illary Rodham
C linton, a star fund-raiser for the
D em ocratic Party, is shifting her
attention to raising m oney for
her 2006 re-election bid. Friends
o f H illary launched its W eb site
M onday, com plete w ith a Span
ish version, voter registration
form s and interview s w ith the
senator and her m other, D or
othy Rodham .
Liberian City
Withstands Second Attack
A second rebel group launched
an all-out assault on President
C h a rle s T a y lo r’s e m b a ttle d
forces in the southeastern port
city o f B uchanan, opening a new
front. D eliberations on a peace
m ission for the bloodied W est
A frican nation show ed no sign
o f progress.
gg s
Sheila
Holden,
regional
manager for
Pacific Power
C om pany spokespeople say they are in
jeo p ard y o f being driven out o f the com m u
nity if the m easure passes, despite a reputa
tion o f having the low est rates in the region,
a history o f reliability and com m itm ent to
im proving the com m unity.
“ T h ere’s been a consistent com m itm ent
from Pacific Pow er to em pow er the com m u
nities w e serve, for businesses and (indi
viduals) in north and northeast P ortland,”
said Sheila H olden, regional m anager for
Pacific P ow er and social service advocate.
“A lot o f o u r effort is spent on being
prom oters and supporters o f redevelop
m ent and continuous com m itm ent to qual
ity o f life in north and northeast Portland,”
2
¡75
« Oi
C O'
2J
P ow er out o f Portland.
“ W e intend to have a vigorous opposi
tion cam paign against a PU D and have a
good dialogue w ith o u r custom ers over the
next several m onths to educate them about
the bottom line risks to their pocketbook,”
said Jon C oney, spokesman for Paci fie Power.
T he U tility R eform Project, sponsors o f
the PUD measure, say their target is PGE, and
they have no intention o f squelching Paci fie
P o w er's business.
“A PU D may be our last chance to prevent
Enron from using federal bankruptcy to split
up PGE ’ s assets and sel 1 them out from under
O regon regulation,” said Dan M eeks, a vol
unteer attorney for the project.
continued
on page A 5
Fighting for public
education has been
his life’s work
has strived to keep the federal governm ent
financially responsible for the early child
hood education program . H is current battle,
suing the federal g overnm ent on b eh alf o f
national H ead Start, has taken H em don to
W ashington, D.C. m onthly to testify before
C ongress.
BY J a YMF-E R .C lIT l
T he P ortland O bserver
H em don cam e to Portland to study history
W hen bum ping
at Reed College.
into Ron H erndon \
W h ile v o lu n
Every administration since Carter
at the A lbina Head has tried to make changes in Head
te e r in g f o r th e
Start in n ortheast
V IS T A ( V o lu n
Start that would have been harmful.
Portland or hearing
teers in Service to
This one is the worst, absolutely the
h im d is c u s s h is
America) program,
s tru g g le to sa v e most anti-Head Start administration.
he worked on qual-
H ead Start on the - Portland education activist and Head Start
ity -o f-life issues
local radio, he does administrator Ron Hemdon
such as police pro
w ell to hide his in
tection and afford
able housing in East H arlem and an all-black
ner scrapper.
H em don, a Portland resident o f m ore than 30
tow n in N ew Jersey.
years, has spent his life fighting the uphill
B efore b ecom ing the local Head Start di-
Ron Herndon, president ofnational Head Start, fights to keep the program
battle o f public education.
continued
on page A3
alive through a heap of resistance from the federal government.
As president ofnational Head Start, Hemdon
(A P ) — T h e n e w p re s id e n t o f th e
N a tio n a l U rb a n L e a g u e s a id th a t th e
n u m b e r o f b la c k s w ith b a c h e lo r ’s d e
g re e s is at an a ll- tim e h ig h , b u t w a rn e d
th a t s u c c e s s in th e c la s s ro o m is m a rre d
by ris in g in c a r c e ra tio n ra te s a n d c o v e rt
racism .
C ensus figures show that in 2002, 17
percent o f blacks ages 25 and older had a
b ach elo r's degree, a record high. But M arc
M orial said that achievem ent is overshad-
§ )£ >
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□
H olden said. “ I d o n ’t think y o u ’ll have that
level o f com m itm ent in a PU D (P eo p le’s
U tility D istrict) because th e y 're going to
have their hands full trying to rur. a public
utility with no confirm ed resources that they
can depend u p o n .”
Pacific Pow er and E n ro n 's P ortland G en
eral Electric are united against the form ation
o f a PUD, w hich they say w ould kick Pacific
Focus on Ron Herndon
Inequalities tied to
covert institutional
structures, processes
>
c
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Urban League Warns Against Hidden Racism
<0
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■
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J
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photo by
Troy Mallos, a Pacific Power lineman (left) and Dylan Shulda, an apprentice lineman, maintain power in north and northeast
Portland. Officials with the local utility say a proposal to take over Portland General Electric also threatens Pacific Power.
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We must
not be afraid
to say to
ourselves
that we have
much work
to do.
- National Urban League President Marc
Mortal
ow ed by the num ber o f blacks in jail.
T here are 875,000 blacks incarcerated in
the U nited States, M orial said, o r one out o f
every seven black m ales ages 25 to 29.
“ W e m ust not be afraid to say to our
selves that we have m uch w ork to d o ,” he
said.
M orial, chosen tw o m onths ago to lead
the venerable civil rights group, m ade his
firs t n a tio n a l a d d r e s s d u r in g th e
organization’s annual conference Sunday.
W hile discussing racism , he cited a pas
sage from an essay by Robert Hill that was
included in the U rban L eague’s annual re
port. The essay said racism rem ains, but has
taken a new form.
“T here has been a strong shift from Jim
C row - the overt m anifestation o f racial h a
tred by individuals in w hite society - to
Jam es C row , E squire - the m aintenance o f
racial inequality through covert processes
o f structure and institutions."
M uch o f the talk am ong those attending
the second day o f the convention concerned
the differences betw een H ugh Price, w ho
stepped dow n as president in M ay, and
Morial.
Price w as considered a tireless and c ere
bral organizer. M orial, a brash and so m e
tim es controversial form er m ayor o f N ew
O rleans, has vow ed to raise the g ro u p ’s
profile.
I