50£ Slam Dunk King Comes Home J' Freddy Jones coaches kids at Nike clinic See Metro Sports Exclusive, inside ‘City of Roses’ Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity Volume XXXIV • Number 29 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • July 28. 2004 -.-.Weekin TheReview Moore Invites Bush toSee*F91V If President Bush isn’t busy at the ranch W ednesday night, he can score a couple of seats at a m o v ie p re m ie re in n earb y C raw ford, Texas. Film m aker Michael Moore, who visited the Democratic National Convention on M onday, said he has invited the president to join him for a screening o f “Fahrenheit 9 /1 1”, his documentary about terrorism and the war in Iraq. Kerry Urges Follow Through from 9/11 Panel Keeping national security at the front o f the presidential cam paign, John Kerry called Tues day for extending the life o f the Sept. 11 com mission to help en sure that its recommendations are enacted as soon as possible. U.S. Indicts Muslim Charity A federal indictment unsealed Tuesday charged a Muslim char ity and seven men with con spiracy and dealing with terror ists. The Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Devel opment was named in the 42- count indictment. Bryant Judge May Release Case Transcripts Under pressure from the U.S. Supreme Court, the judge in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case indicated Tuesday he may re lease edited copies o f transcripts from a closed-door hearing deal ing with the accuser’s sex life that were accidentally e-mailed to reporters. Groups Sue to Stop Bag Searches Tw o civil rights groups in Bos ton filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority from random ly inspecting passen gers’ bags, saying it’s an uncon stitutional violation o f personal privacy. Medicare Cut for Cancer Drugs Proposed The Bush adm inistration pro posed cutting Medicare payment rates for doctors providing can cer treatment in theiroffices, pro jecting savings o f $530 million amid concerns that some spe cialists would reduce their prac tices. M ed icare c h ie f M ark M cClellan said the government is paying far too much for cancer drugs administered in doctors’ offices. Portland Police Chief Derrick Foxworth shows leadership to police force under scrutiny. photo by 1’ U A V V U K I H S e ts th e T o n e by J aymee R. C gti T he P ortland O bserver Ten months ago. Derrick Foxworth inher ited one o f the toughest jobs in the city at a time when the police bureau was under the microscope following the officer-involved shooting o f Kendra James, an unarmed Af rican-American woman at a routine traffic stop in northeast Portland. Stacks o f recommendations to improve the bureau poured in, from independent re view agencies, internal boards, citizens and political groups forming in response to the use o f deadly force. Word on the street was that Foxworth had inherited a bureau of “rookies" or “cow boys” with insufficient training and dubi ous attitudes towards people o f color. Though Foxworth admits that his bureau is young, him self only 45, he believes that with leadership, the best intentions of his officers will earn the public’s trust Echoing the cornerstone attitudes of Portland’s first African-American police chief, Charles M oose, community policing is quick to the lips o f Foxworth. “When I first took the position, there was a lot o f concern about restoring the trust M ichael R ubenstein /T hf . P ortland O bserver Chief shows tenacity f ° r g°od policing between the police and the community and a concern about use o f force and a concern about community policing. That gave me an agenda o f what we need to work on," said Foxworth. Many o f the bureau’s changes since Foxworth was hired center around his com mitment to community policing. The bureau is launching the return of a Citizen’s Police Academy, “to help the com munity understand what we do and why we do it,” Foxworth explains. The debut o f a Use o f Force Board, staffed with citizens and officers with vot ing power, was created in response to the officer-in vol ved shootings afflicting the city in the past year. The bureau is currently recruiting for more minority applicants and is expected to meet in November. Foxworth also plans to expand the Taser program, requiring every officer to be trained in Taser handling and equipment, to avoid use of deadly force. One o f the largest changes com ing up in the bureau is the return o f 40 hours o f officer in-service training, a costly program cut in continued on page A2 Unsolved Murders Reopened Chief enacts Cold Case Squad to restore safety by J ohanna S. K ing T he P ortland O bserver Police Chief Derrick Foxworth is stirring up the dust o f past acts o f deadly violence in hopes of solving future crimes. Experts in criminal justice say if a case isn’t solved within 72 hours after a crime is first reported, with no strong leads identified, it often gets pushed to the back burner. Foxworth announced a plan last week to create a Cold Case Squad to help reverse the increasing pat tern o f crim es being committed and then left unsolved. He will begin launching the first stages o f close exam inations within the next few weeks. “W e’ve heard the persistent recommendations and seen the immediate needs within our community to try and solve w hat’s been left unsolved in the past," said Foxworth. “As a result o f an overwhelming response o f both individual and group interest and many recent technological gains, there's no reason for us not to implement a cold case squad.” Erasing the disgrace o f unsolved crimes will come at no easy cost. The new homicide team will begin with a sergeant and two detectives and is likely to expand its work force after investigations are resurrected and heavily underway. The initial challenge will be to decide which of the 270 m urder cases left unsolved in the past 19 years to reopen first. Foxworth, who is concerned primarily with about 50 fairly recent, gang-related homicides, said he hopes to restore broken community relationships and earn back the public’s trust in the Portland Police Bureau. He said any unsolved crimes can bring fear and intimidation to the city 's neighborhoods. “O ur jo b as police officers includes working for the citizens we represent. Our main objective in every thing we do is to act in the best interest o f the community and uphold the strong values o f our public service organization," he said. “It’s time people begin to see the good w e’re doing and the good we continu ally strive for.” Although Cold Case Squads have earned a posi tive reputation among popular culture with television shows like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation aired on ( BS, the jo b in reality isn’t as fun and adventurous as it appears. Homicide squads depend heavily on new tech nologies, including DNA testing and accessible his tory records. They also revisit old leads and witnesses io iry ano paten missing pieces. W hile the idea of a squad has earned the public’s approval, its effectiveness may be limited by a lack of funds. Foxworth originally hoped to start the squad earlier this year, but budget changes forced him to hold off. My priority here is to get existing m urderers, w ho have yet to be caught and sentenced o ff the street before they can kill again. I t's about reassur ing safety and taking back our co m m unities," he said. “ I’m w illing to do anything it takes to get the jo b d o n e." i st ram Top players Maggie Fomess (from left). Corina Butcher and Kamie Boggan advance Riverside softball team to champion ship. Riverside Plays Pendleton for Championship Winner will advance to region als An exciting state tournament held at Alpenrose left the major girls Riverside softball team set up to play for the regional cham pionship. The Riverside team won week end games against Districts 5 ,6 and 8. 1 victory over District 8. S a tu rd a y , R iv e rsid e beat Roseberg, 13 to 3. Riverside took Crook County on Sunday and beat them 2 to I. Monday, Riverside beat C as cade 4 to 3 in a nine inning game, advancing them to the cham pi onship game against Pendleton. The winner will go to regionals in Vancouver, Wash. Riverside holds the district title for three consecutive years.