500 ‘Hello 9 Summer camp makes learning fun. See Metro, Section B, inside. ‘City of Roses’ j.in h (©bserlier -W Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity Volume XXXIV • Number 28 TiWeek¡n TheReview California Clears Fire Area Dry, windy weather hampered efforts to contain a wildfire in northern Los Angeles County that has forced thousands of people to flee their homes, one of several fires that crews were bat tling in the state. Nearly 1,600 homes in Santa Clarita had been evacuated since the fire began Saturday, but there were no im mediate reports o f injuries or structural damage. www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • July 21, 2004 Health OutKast’s Andre 3000 ‘World's Sexist Vegetarian’ hip hop? Maybe it's the veggies. Andre 3000o f O utK ast has been voted the “W orld’s Sexiest Veg etarian” in PETA’s annual online poll. He shares the honor with actress Alicia Silverstone. Withdraw Frees Hostage A Filipino truck driver held hos tage in Iraq for nearly two weeks w as freed T uesday, a day after his nation w ithdrew its final peacekeepers from Iraq - a move that m et the kid n ap p ers’ d e m ands but angered U.S. and Iraqi officials. CBS Fights Super Bowl Fines CBS will fight any fines leveled against its television stations over Janet Jackson’s startling Super Bowl performance, a top executive with parent company Viacom Inc. said. CBS faces a Federal Com munications Com mission fine of $550.(XX)ora maxi mum penalty o f $27,500 for each of 20 CBS-owned stations. Kobe Awaits Word With jury selection less than six weeks away in his sexual assault case, Kobe Bryant is waiting for the ju d g e's decision on an issue that could greatly affect trial strat egy and witness lists: Whether the alleged victim 's sex life can be used against her. FOX’S Slogan Challenged Fox News’ use of the slogan “Fair and Balanced” constitutes de ceptive advertising, two political advocacy groups claim ed M on day in a petition filed with the Federal T rade Commission. Lib eral MoveOn.org and historically nonpartisan Common Cause as sert that Fox N ew s' reports are d eliberately and consistently distorted and twisted to promote the Republican Party and an ex treme right-wing viewpoint. c o >r¡ zb O Cl O T rc o O *T r- & o 2 5 a; > O '2 « 3 g 1 & 5 5 ~ 5 P hoto bv D avid P lechi TT he P ortland O bserver Smooth Carter, with her stack o f Oregon Health Plan premiums, worries for the future o f her state provided medical insurance, saying the program is being stripped down to its “bare essentials. “ Oregon Health Plan Shrivels B y J aymee R. C u n Titii P ortland O bserver Oregonians without health care are feel ing the impact o f the failure o f Measure 30, a $350 million tax package, which was voted down by voters last February. Although the Oregon Health Plan sur vives in a scaled down form, covering preg nant women, the disabled and children living in poverty, it no longer accepts applications for Oregon’s working poor. On June 30, the Oregon Health Plan closed its enrollment to new applicants, and will reduce its clientele from 120,000 to a mere 24,000 by next January. “T h ey ’re still sick. N ow th e y 'll have to go to the em ergency room , w hich will drive up prem ium s for the rest o f us and they still w o n ’t get preventative ca re,” said M aribeth H ealey, d irecto r o f O reg o nians for H ealth Security, com m enting on the drastic num ber o f people w ithout m edical insurance. Over the last two years, 968,000 O rego nians have been uninsured, representing one out o f three non-elderly Oregonians, according to a new report by Families USA, a national nonprofit health care advocacy organization. This creates a unique situation for 76 percent o f the state's uninsured population who are working, without health coverage from their employers. Sm ooth C arter, for exam ple, says she has been jo b hunting, but fears she will lose her health care once she has a reli able incom e. “I'm really worried that I'll be dropped from O H P,” Carter said. “I’ve just inter view ed for a jo b , but it doesn’t have healthcare coverage. If I get the job. I'll be dropped from OHP because I’ll make too much to qualify, but not enough to pay for private insurance. So my reward for finding a job will be to lose my healthcare coverage. T hat’s ju st crazy." Carter, i poet and activist, volunteers for Sisters o f the Road Café and Crossroads, working with homeless people and those suffering from mental illness. She has spoken at City Hall about issues affecting the unin sured. The Oregon Health Plan, once a national model for health care coverage, has suffered drastic cuts over the last two years. Since March 2003, nearly 50,(XX) Oregonians have been dropped from OHP-Standard plan. For m o re in fo rm a tio n , v isit w w w .oregoniansforhealthsecurity.org or www.oregonaction.org. Loving Care Goes a Long Way Finding respect and responsibility through teamwork Bv J ohanna S. K in «; T he P ortland O bserver W hat do you expect to see when you w alk into a restaurant and th e re’s a strag gling troop o f 50 little ones doing what kids do best, having fun? T he thought o f row dy, loud and obnox ious young people may be overw helm ing, but try to visualize them as civilized, w ell- behaved team players. T his is exactly w hat you get from the young people involved in T L C TnT. This program for students and their fam ilies prom otes self-esteem and is designed to offer everyone a chance to experience fun, love and accom plishm ent. H eaded by Faye Palm erton and Roy Pittm an for the past 18 years, these quality com m unity volunteers believe that all ch il dren, teens and parents need a little tender loving care and support to try and think, hence the nam e TLC TnT. T he main trust o f the program includes six, one-w eek sum m er day cam ps. Each w eek more than 100 youth betw een the ages o f five and tw elve participate in self esteem and team building activities, as w ell as field trips. V isits to local restaurants like Burger King and D om inos Pizza, Lloyd C enter M all, O regon 7,oo, the North and N orth east Police Precincts, and regular rides on T riM et, help kids learn the right way to act M ark W ashin «; ton / T HE PORTLAND OBSERVER photos bv Kids at north Portland's Domino's Pizza say, “I helped," after learning how to make pizza and behave in a public restaurant. in public. T he activities are geared tow ard building aw areness o f ed u ca tion, literacy, responsibility and team work. For a young person w ho has never been to a library, visited acom m unity center or been given caring, con stru c tive direction about how to behave prop erly in a public setting, these activities help kids feel im portant w hile still having fun. “We give them our expectations and help them to he successful,” said program co o r d in ato r Roy Pittm an. “T oo m any tim es young people are poorly labeled as disre- I Little ones learn to cook and cooperate at Domino's Pizza, with the help o f a high school mentor. spectful troublem akers, we believe d iffe r ently about our kids because they are d iffe r ent. T hey show respect and they get re sp e c t.” H elping staff the cam ps are high school continued on page A 6