Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 31, 2003)
5°^ Drive Safely! Enjoy the holiday, but please d o n ’t drink and drive. Happy New Year’ Snow for 2004! New Year s forecast calls fo r cold and more snow on Friday. lív rtía n b O b se rv e r t c to K I In 1 0 7 0 Established In 1970 ‘Citv of Roses’ w w w .portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity Volume XXXIII • Number 53 -J/Veekin TheRev¡ew ta n a n a i r x n r l Wednesday • December 31, 2003 Markets Quell Mad Cow Concerns Safety rules improved U.S. Orders Armed Officers on Jets Amid a heightened state of alert for terrorists, the U.S. govern ment said Monday it will require international air carriers in cer tain cases to place armed law enforcement officers on flights over the United States. France Finds No Proof of Hijack Plot Air France said flights between Paris and Los Angeles resumed Friday after investigators found no evidence of a Christmas Day terrorist plot to use an aircraft to attack American targets. Chinese Describe Escape From Toxic Gas Villagers were preparing forsleep when the gas well burst with a bang in Chongqing, China. Fami lies dashed out o f their homes in terror, struggling to breathe in the searing cloud o f choking fumes. Survivors gave harrow ing accounts Friday o f the disas ter that killed at least 191 people in C hina's southw est, forced 41,000to flee and left a 10-square- mile “death zone” strewn with bodies lying in fields, road sides and in homes. Report: Saddam Says He Siphoned Billions Saddam Hussein has acknow l edged depositing billions of dollars abroad before his ouster and has given interrogators the nam es o f people w ho know w here the money is, a member o f the Iraqi G overning Council said. Mars Lander Missing Scientists trying to find Europe’s Beagle 2 Mars probe ruled out weather problems and a faulty onboard clock for its five-day silence, but considered a new possibility Monday - a crater that may be blocking its signal. photo by M ark W ashington ZT he P ortland O bserver Meat cutter Zan Tuck (from left) discusses the safety o f New Seasons Market's meat supply with butcher Adrian Hacker and Thabiti Waters, a meat counter service clerk. in organics and wellness-related than the rest of the meat industry." products are getting their message New Seasonsquickly generated a out to the pub letter from Rohter lic— we know and posted signs My confidence level at its m eat where our meat \ comes from, and is 100 percent because counters, inciud- it's sate. we’re a local business ,n8 thcConcordia “ My c o n fi store on North dence level is buying from local by J aymee R. Cun east 33m d A v T he P ortland O bserver 100 percent be ranchers, not these enue, assuring Local merchants are addressing cause w e’re a consum ers that consumer worries after the discov local business industrialized the beef they’ve ery of a Washington cow infected buying from lo distributors. purchased is safe with mad cow disease, a brain wast cal ranchers, not - Brian Rohter, president of and answ ering ing illness. these industrial New Seasons Market questions about While the federal Department of ized d is trib u ------------ — the b eef’s pas Agriculture is recalling some 10,000 tors,” said Brian sage from slaugh pounds of suspect beef, merchants Rohter, president of New Seasons terhouse to display case. at local grocery stores specializing Market. “It’s completely different At New Seasons and some other Organic and natural markets confident about beef supplies local natural markets, beef is bought from a rancher’s cooperati vein East ern Oregon, where animals are never fed animal byproducts, the believed path of mad cow infection. Many other markets, including Safeway and Fred Meyer, are re sponding to the mad cow scare with a recall, asking customers to return meat products with sell dates between Dec. 22 and Dec. 30. Meat from the stricken cow was distributed primarily in Oregon and Washington and in seven other states. However, the risk of tainted parts entering the food supply was extremely low, authorities said. Four Iranian Quake Survivors Found continued on page AS (AP) — Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman on Tuesday an nounced a list of new restrictions to further enhance the safety of the American beef supply, includ ing a meatpacking ban on the use of sick "downer" cattle like the one discovered last week with mad cow disease. She also an n o u n ced bans against the use of small intestines and head and spinal tissue from older cattle in the U.S. food chain, as well as changes in slaughter house techniques with the aim o f preventing accidental contamina tion of meat with cow nerve tis sue. Mad cow disease is spread through such brain and spinal cord tissue. Under the new regulations, the sick cow slaughtered in Wash ington on Dec. 9 would not have been allowed to enter the U.S. food chain. The meat from that cow was allowed to be sold for human con sumption after its brain and spinal column were removed and a fed eral inspector saw no indication of neurological disease. From now on no downed cow can be used for meat. The Agriculture Depart- mentestimates that 130,(XX)down cattle are sent to meatpacking plants each year. The other new measures in clude: -Any animal tested for bovine sp o n g ifo rm en c e p h a lo p a th y ( BSE) will not be allowed into the food supply until test results are confirmed. The Washington cow was sent to meatpacking plants continued on page AN Waterfront Job Goals Unmet Rescuers found a 12-year-old Ira nian girl alive in the rubble of the devastated city of Bam, Mon day, followed by three men be lieved dead who stirred in their burial shrouds. More than 25,000 bodies have been retrieved since Friday’s 6.6-magnitude earth quake shook the city and sur rounding region in southeast Iran, according to a government spokesman. Minorities seek involvement in new neighborhood by L ee P eri . man T he P ortland O bserver Four months ago local workers and contractors challenged the Portland City Council to set goals for minority and women involvement in the South Waterfront project, a gigantic plan to build a new neighborhood of medical research facilities, housing AIDS Infection Rises In Native Americans The remoteness o f many Ameri can Indian reservations largely protected tribes from the full force of HIV and AIDS for years, but that has begun to change. Indian infection rates are 1.5 times that o f white Americans. and other businesses along the Willamette River south of the Marquam Bridge. The Portland Development Commission recently reported that the development, backed by Oregon Health and Sciences Univer sity and developer Homer Williams, represented “a unique oppor tunity - 31 square blocks of development, worth well over $1 billion. "The end result should be “not just to count noses at work sites, but to shift to a growth in people ready, willing and able to participate in this work force on an ongoing basis," PDC represen tative Chip Lazenby said. But Andre Baugh o f the Community Coalition, a group that includes the African-American Chamber of Commerce and other YEAR IN R E V IE W Portland Observer Looks Back May 14, 2003 — LaPryce Cheney is in tears as she stops by a memorial to remember her friend Kendra James, the African-American motorist killed by police on May 5 while trying to flee a traffic stop on the North Skidmore 1-5 overpass. A sampling of some of the top stories and pictures in 2003 from the Portland Observer are inside on pages A2, A3 and A5. continued on page A2 I minorities and women, are disappointed with the lack of a specific plan for minority contracts. The coalition wants 35 percent women and minority participa tion in the Waterfront workforce at the end o f seven years. “It is important to have ambitious numeric goals to get a high level o f achievem ent," said Connie Ashbrook o f Oregon Tradewomen and a partner in the minority coalition. At the same time, Ashbrook said she doesn't want to get hung up on the minority and women exact participation rates. “I'm not so concerned with numbers as I am with seeing the city make sincere, sustained, consistent effort, because it’s the right thing to do. Women who pay taxes deserve a chance to get these high wage jobs," she said.