Page A2
December 8. 2004
Black
Cops File
Lawsuit
Baltimore
officers claim
hostile workplace
(AP) — Tw enty-one black cur
rent and form er Baltim ore city
police officers filed a discrim ina
tion law suit against the city, a l
leging that nooses were hung in
their lockers, dog feces was placed
on their desks and zebra stripes
were painted on pictures o f their
m ixed-race children.
The federal class-action law
suit filed M onday accuses the d e
partm ent o f condoning a hostile
w orkplace, blocking black o ffic
ers from prom otion, levying un
even d isc ip lin e and retaliatin g
against o fficers who spoke out
against discrim ination.
It also alleges that racism led to
the firing last month o f form er
police C om m issio n er K evin P.
Clark.
M ayor M artin O ’M alley said
dom estic abuse allegations against
the com m issioner, though unsub
stantiated, had eroded his leader-
sh ip ab ility .
T he g ro u p o f o fficers seeks
financial dam ages, the appoint
ment o f an independent m onitor
and the reinstatem ent o f fired o f
ficers, am ong other restitution.
Aging Rosa Parks to Live Rent Free
Civil rights
pioneer had
faced eviction
(AP) — Rosa Parks’ landlord has
offered to let her stay in her Detroit
apartment rent-free, two years after
threatening to evict her when the
owners said her caretakers missed
rental payments.
Parks’ doctors say the 91-year-old
civil rights pioneer has dementia and is
in poor health. Hartford Memorial
Baptist Church in Detroit had been
paying Parks’ rent, which had been as
high as $ 1,800 a month, since August
2003, the Rev. Charles Adams said.
“We did not want her set out in the
street,” Adams said. “We didn’t want
to make a big noise out of it.... It was
a simple act of kindness.”
In an October letter. Riverfront As
sociates, which owns the apartment
where Parks has lived since 1994, said
she could stay for free for the rest of
her life.
“I thought it was the right thing to
d o ,” m anaging p artn er Peter
Cummings told the Detroit Free Press
Rosa Parks
for Monday’s editions. "This woman
is an icon. She deserves an enormous
amount of respect. In a way, I think
it’s an honor to be able to accord her
that respect.”
Parks was 42 when she refused to
give up her seat on a city bus in
Montgomery, Ala., in 1955. Her ar
rest triggered a 381 -day boycott of the
bus system organized by a then little-
known Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Elaine Steele, who manages the
nonprofit Rosa and Raymond Parks
Institute, told the newspaper that Parks
gets proper care and eviction notices
were sent in error in 2002.
lU H W M M H M H M W M K IM g H N B M H M W M M m n M a H i
More Deadly Attacks in Iraq
(AP) — U.S. troops fought a gunbaltle
with insurgents along a busy street in
Baghdad on Monday, sending passers-by
scurrying for cover, witnesses said, while
five U.S. troops were reported killed in
separate clashes in a volatile western prov
ince as insurgents stepped up attacks ahead
of next month’s elections.
The violence came a day after gunmen
ambushed a bus carrying unarmed Iraqis to
work at a U.S. ammunitions dump near
Tikrit, killing 17 and raising the death toll
from three days of intensified insurgent
attacks to at least 70 Iraqis.
The attacks, focused in Baghdad and
several cities to the north, appeared to be
aimed at scaring off those who cooperate
with the American military - whether police,
national guardsmen, or ordinary people
just looking for a paycheck.
They also have targeted Kurdish militia
men and Shiite worshippers in a possible bid
to foment sectarian and ethnic unrest.
The latest fighting in Baghdad broke out
after armed rebels appeared on the busy
Haifa Street, saying they were hunting for
Iraqis collaborating with U.S.-led forces.
Witnesses said they shot and killed a man
they claimed was working for the Americans.
The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force also
said three soldiers attached to the Marines
died in two incidents Sunday in the western
province, which includes the battleground
cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. Earlier, the
military said two Marines had been killed in
action in Anbar on Friday.
The brought to at least 1,276 the number
of U.S. troops to have died since the war
began in March 2003, according to an Asso
ciated Press count.
US troops inspect the site where they detonated an abandoned car packed
with explosives in Baghdad, Iraq on Monday. (AP photo)
N H M M M M M H i
Bush Dumps Civil Rights Chairwoman
(AP) — President Bush on Monday
moved to replace Mary Frances Berry, the
outspoken chairwoman of the U.S. Civil
Rights Commission who has argued with
every president since Jimmy Carter ap
pointed her to the panel a quarter century
ago.
But Berry balked at leaving now, argu
ing through a spokesman that she and
vice chairman Cruz. Reynoso, who also is
being replaced, have terms that run until
midnight Jan. 2 1. The White House main
tained that their six-year terms expired
Sunday and that Berry and Reynoso had
been replaced.
The eight-member panel investigates
Mary Frances Berry
civil rights complaints and publicizes its
findings. It has no enforcement power.
Four years ago. Berry and the commission
were heavily critical of Florida Gov. Jeb
Bush for his administration’s handling of
the disputed presidential election won by
his brother.
The newly named commissioners are
Gerald A. Reynolds, former assistant sec
retary for the office of civil rights in the
Education Department, and attorney
Ashley L. Taylor of Richmond, Va. Bush
intends to designate Reynolds the com
mission chairman, succeeding Berry, and
to name Abigail Themstroin, already a
commission member, as vice chairperson.
CaCckwett’s
CofoniaC CfiapeC
20N.E. 14"’Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97232
(503) 232-4111
The Pre-arrangement Concept
D e n y se O. P eterso n
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Militants Storm US Consulate
(AP) — Militants lobbing ex
plosives forced their way into the
heavily guarded U.S. consulate in
Jiddah, Saudia Arabia on Monday
before Saudi se cu rity fo rces
stormed the compound and fought
a gunbattle to end a four-hour
standoff. Eight people, none Ameri
can, were killed.
The bold assault, the worst in
the kingdom since May, demon
strated that Saudi Arabia’s crack
down on al-Qaida is still far from
successful in the native land of
terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.
There was no immediate claim of
responsibility, but Saudi officials
blam ed a “deviant” group - the
government’s way of identifying al-
Qaida extremists it holds respon
sible for a string of terror strikes
over the past two years.
President Bush said the attack
showed “terrorists are still on the
move,” trying to intimidate Ameri
cans and force the United States to
withdraw from Saudi Arabia and
Iraq.
Grow Your Small Business
with the City of Portland
Are you a small business owner? Are you
interested in doing business with the City o f
Portland? The City o f Portland is expanding
contracting opportunities fo r small businesses
in the Professional, Technical, and Expert
Services Fields. These include areas such as
architecture and engineering, information
technology, training and meeting facilitation,
marketing, outreach and graphic design,
finance and insurance. Minority, women and
emerging small business owners are encour
aged to contact us, as well as to certify their
businesses with the State o f Oregon.
To learn ab o u t sm a ll b u siness
co n tra c tin g opportunities, contact:
Gregory J. Wolley, Program Coordinator
Professional Services
Marketing and Outreach
S L M L , City of Portland
iS r '
Bureau of Purchases
(503)823-6860
gwolley@ci.portland.or.us
Il!r Jln rtlan b ODbserner
USPS 9 5 0 6 8 0
E s ta b lis h e d 1 9 7 0
_________________________________________
4 7 4 7 NE M a rtin L u th e r King, Jr. Blvd., P o rtla n d. OR 9 7 2 1 1
Charles H. Washington
Leighton
R i p o r t e r : Jaymee R. Cuti
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C reative D irector : Paul Neufeldt
O ffice M anager : Kathy Linder
E ditor - in -C hief , P ublisher :
E d ito r : M ichael
New Iraqi
Prisoner
Photos Found
(AP) — The U.S. military has
launched a criminal investigation
into photographs that appear to
show Navy SEALs in Iraq sitting
on hooded and handcuffed detain
ees, and photos of what appear to
be bloodied prisoners, one with a
gun to his head.
Some of the photos have date
stamps suggesting they were taken
in May 2003, which could make
them the earliest evidence of pos
sible abuse of prisoners in Iraq. The
far more brutal practices photo
graphed in Abu Ghraib prison oc
curred months later.
An Associated Press reporter
found more than 40 of the pictures
among hundreds in an album posted
on a commercial photo-sharing
Web site by a woman who said her
husband brought them from Iraq
after his tour of duty. It is unclear
who took the pictures, which the
Navy said it was investigating after
the AP furnished copies to get com
ment.
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