Student Authors at Sabin
Northeast school kids finish book trilogy
See story in Metro, inside
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‘City of Roses’
Established in 1970
Volume XXXIII • N um ber 10
T,Weekin
TheReview
Obesity Creeping Pass
Smoking As Top Killer
More Americans will die o f obe
sity than from smoking if current
trends persist, which would make
being fat the nation’s top cause of
preventable death.
w w w .p o rtla n d o b s e rv e r.c o m
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • March 17.2004
OU> TOW c
Fresno Man Accused of
Mass Murder, Incest
A m ak esh ift
m em o rial o f
stu ffe d a n i
mals, balloons
and flo w ers
grew on the
sid e w a lk in
front of a home where a man is
accused of killing nine of his fam
ily members, some that police said
may have been the product of
incest with his own daughters.
See story on page A5.
NCER
China Fights
Against ‘Social Evils’
China's government pledged to
intensify the fight against what it
considers social evils - street crime
and terrorism, Falun Gong and the
corrupt officials that are under
mining leaders’ claims of putting
people first.
T i'X
i ‘
- - ___ J
o
i
Gasoline Climbing
to Record Prices
The Energy Department reported
that nationwide retail gasoline
prices averaged $ 1.72 per gallon
last week. Meanwhile, the price of
oil surged to $37.44 per barrel on
futures markets, the highest level
in more than a year.
‘Passion’ Approaching
$350 Million
“The Passion of the Christ” was
the top film for a third straight
weekend, taking in $31.7 million
and pushing its total beyond a
quarter of a billion dollars.
Millions Protest in Spain;
Suspects Identified
Police identified five Moroccan
suspects in the Madrid train bomb
ings and the death tol 1 rose to 201.
More than a million demonstra
tors jammed the streets of Madrid
on Friday night to protest terror
attacks. See story, page A7.
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
TURNAROUND
Alleged Ecoterrorist
Arrested in Canada
A
fu g itiv e
rad ical e n v i
ro n m e n ta lis t
from Portland
has
been
a rre ste d on
c h a rg e s
of
setting fire to logging and cement
trucks in 2001. Michael Scarpitti
was arrested Saturday while try
ing to shoplift some bolt cutters in
Victoria, British Columbia. Cana
dian police realized he was a fugi
tive when his fingerprints were
run through a database. See story,
page A5.
photo by
.
Laurie Palmer overcame her own troubled past to help others who face drug and alcohol problems in her work at the Old Town Clinic.
Laurie Palmer
helps others after
helping herself
and a lc o h -i "tervention specialist, was one o f
same struggles she has trium phed over.
25 women nationwide recently honored for
Today, her life is rich with family, volunteerism
m aking a positive difference in the lives of
and stable em ploym ent. She has fully trans
wom en living in poverty.
formed from a chi Idhood and young adulthood
Palm er received a W oman o f Trium ph award
marred in chaos.
at the 25th Anniversary Gala for W omen Work!
Palm er ran away from home, prostituted,
People d o n ’t often get credit for turning their
at the National M useum o f W omen in the Arts
lives around. Getting clean and sober, reuniting
com m itted crim es and found herself in abusive
in W ashington D.C. W om en Work! is an orga
relationships.
with family and becoming a respectable mem-
nization dedicated to the econom ic security of
b e ro f society is som etimes reward enough, but
women and families through policies, programs
and partnerships.
a national aw ards gala never hurts deserving
honorees.
By overcom ing her own past. Palmer is now
Laurie Palmer, the Old Town C linic’s drug
changing the lives o f others who are facing the
She received her wake up call when she was
incarcerated in 1991 and her children became
wards o f the state.
continued
Advocates Rally
for Housing
Affordable
homes out of
reach for many
Area residents are asking the
Portland City Council to support
funding for affordable housing.
A rally to encourage the allo
cation o f $30 m illion to the c ity ’s
Housing Investm ent Fund drew
200 people to the steps o f City
Hall last week.
Form er State Rep. Deborah
K afoury, who recently served
north and northeast Portland in
the State L egislature, was the
ch ief spokesm an for the event
organized by the group A fford
able Housing Now!
Kafoury said that stable, af
fordable housing rem ains out of
re a c h fo r fa r to o m any
Portlanders.
“Housing is as important as
schools, healthcare, jobs and the
hungerproblem,"she said. “In fact,
without affordable housing, re
sources that we use to address
these other issues are not effec
tive.”
O ther speakers emphasized the
relationship betw een affordable
housing and schools, hunger,
h ealth care, ho m elessness, the
econom y, and com m unity liv
ability.
Tony Jones, o f the Housing
D evelopm ent Center, discussed
how affordable housing creates
family wage jobs.
“Data shows that for every new
unit we build, there isone full time
construction job for a calendar
year,” said Jones. “Investing in
affordable housing is also invest
ing in well paying jobs.”
Perhaps the most powerful pre
sentation on the rally was made by
schools bus driver Diane Kahl.To
i llustrate the magnitude of the hous
ing crisis in the metro region, she
asked the crowd to consider that
3,5OOchildren were homeless this
past year.
The housing advocates want
the Portland City Council to re
new its com m itm ent to the Hous
ing Investm ent Fund.
In 1996, Portland dedicated
$30 m illion to a Housing Invest
ment Fund to help meet the need
for affordable housing. The fund
was instrum ental in the devel
opment o f 3,604 units of afford
able housing, including the pres
e rv a tio n o f r e n t-s u b s id iz e d
photo BV M ark W ashim ; ton /T he P ortland O bserver
units, creation units for large
A f 80. Ernie Yazzolino dribbles two basketballs at the same
families, and financing for inno
time, showing he still has what it takes to play basketball with
vative and successful housing
area
youth. Yazzolino is a Drug Free Basketball volunteer at the
programs.
Mt. Scott Community Center.
on page AS
Passion
for the
Game
80-year-old
stays in shape to
play ball, fight
drugs, alcohol
by J aymee R. C uti
T he P ortland O bserver
Ernie Y azzol i no has always loved
sports and children.
Being 80-years-old hasn’t kept
him from his passion for the game
and commitment to kids.
Yazzolino is involved with Drug
Free Basketball, where he is a staff
supervisor for Sellwood Middle
School for Saturday games with
boys and girls, grades four through
eight.
But Y azzolino d o e sn ’t ju st
preach the rules of the game. He
practices them. At any given prac
tice, Yazzolino can be seen at the
Mt . Scot, Community Center, drib
bling two balls at once or running
up and down the court.
“I also bowl twice a week,"
Yazzolino said.
continued
on page AS