New school
superintendent
defends school
closures
Goal is
Better
Schools
Williams Reality Show
ABC announces new TV
series featuring Venus and
Serena on and off the court
See story, page az
A2
See storVt Focus section C inside
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‘City of Roses’
Established in 1970
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www.portlandobserver.com
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Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXV, Number 13
,,Week¡n
TheReview
•
Wednesday • April 6. 2005
Money Runs Out for ¥ O
World Reflects on Pope
An outpouring of grief and admi­
ration that was repeated around
the world following Saturday’s
death of Pope John Paul II. World
leaders and people from many
faiths found something in the life
of the pope to praise - his inspi­
ration for the resistance to com­
munism in his Polish homeland,
support for better relations with
Muslims and Jews, or champion­
ing the cause of the poor. See
story on A2.
Terri Schiavo Dies
after Tube Removed
Terri Schiavo, the woman in a
persistent vegetative state who
spent 15 years connected to a
feeding tube, died Thursday, 13
days after the tube was removed.
Her husband and her parents
fought over her in what was eas­
ily the longest, most bitter - and
most heavily litigated - right-to-
die dispute in U.S. history.
Jackson Accuser Testifies
A man who now mentors teens in
an anti-truancy program says
that he was fondled by Michael
Jackson in three separate tick­
ling incidents while they watched
cartoons. With his voice break­
ing frequently, the 24-year-old
witness testified that over a span
o f several years, Jackson twice
touched his clothes in the groin
area at the singer’s Los Angeles-
area condom inium and once
reached under his clothes at
Jackson’s Neverland ranch.
Willamette Week
Wins Pulitzer Prize
Portland publication Willamette
Week won the Pulitzer Prize
M onday, after reporter Nigel
Jaquiss followed up leads docu­
menting a three-year-long sexual
relationship in the 1970s between
Neil Goldschmidt, then mayor of
Portland, and a 14-year-old girl
who baby sat for his children.
A fte r se rv in g as m ay o r,
Goldschmidt went on to become
g o v ern o r, and S ecretary o f
Transportation in the Cabinet of
President Jimmy Carter.
Governor Touts Meth Fight
Citing a reduction in meth lab
seizures. Gov. Ted Kulongoski
urged the Oregon Board o f Phar­
macy to approve permanent rules
to keep certain cold medicines
away from methamphetamine
cooks.
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photo by N icole
H ooper /T hf . P ortland O bserver
John Gardner, a project manager for the Youth Opportunity Center on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Youth Employment
Center Closes Doors
by N icole H ooper
T he P ortland O bserver
Foryears, the Youth Opportunity Center on North­
east Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard has given
young people exactly that - an opportunity.
From employment assistance, G.E.D classes and
guidance from adult case managers, young people
could trust the YO Center to put their best interests
first. But this summer, the program that occupies the
time of many youth in a positive manner will be gone.
The YO Center shuts down for good on June 30.
The U.S Department of Labor Employment and
Training Administration ¡sending its final months as
a “youth demonstration" program, according to John
Gardner, YO Center project manager.
YO Centers are closing nationally. Many o f the
services provided at the M LK site are being
transitioned at alternative agencies, Gardner said.
For Portland, the ability to maintain the YO Center
has been rocky.
In 2003, President Bush visited the local center
with U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., to put a spot­
light on federal employment help for inner city kids.
The visit later proved an embarrassment to the Bush
administration because the center was slated to be
axed in Bush’s budget to Congress.
It survived as a “restart,” Gardner said, and a
period of time where awareness was raised about its
programs. The local community discussed concerns
in a forum in order to restructure YO and collaborate
with eight other agencies.
But in the current budget process, the administra­
tion is going in a different direction.
Girl Scouts Go Beyond
YO Centers are closing
nationally. Many of the
services provided at the
MLK site are being
transitioned at alternative
.
-John Gardner,
agencies.
Yoprojectmanager
In the wake, local Yo Center supporters can
proudly point to the program ’s graduation rates,
which are higher than many high schools.
D elyla Ross, 20, found regular high school to
be too m uch o f a distraction. She w ants to be a
continued
on page A3
ars To Help Inmate Mothers
Program connects
daughters with
their mothers
by K atherine K ovacich
T he P ortland O bserver
Mothers are for brushing tangled
hair, pouring a bowl o f cereal and
getting you to school on time. They’re
for tucking you in at night and for
telling you what it’s like to be a woman
as you grow into one.
Unfortunately, for many young chil­
dren, their moms can’t be there like
they want to if they’re doing time in
prison.
Girl Scouts Beyond Bars is helping
to rebuild the much-needed connec­
tion betw een a daughter and her
mother. The program is designed for
girls whose mothers reside at the C of­
fee Creek Correctional Facility in
Wi Isonville. where twice a month, they
are able to meet with their mothers in a
setting far more relaxed than regular
visitation time — to talk, play games
and give each other much needed hugs.
“For some of these girls, it’s being
able to see their mother in a stable
environment and not being influenced
by alcohol and drugs.” said Anita
Noble, a local African American resi­
dent who is the Beyond Bars coordi­
nator. “It’s the only time these girls
can interact without these other fac­
tors at work.”
Noble said mothers in prison appre-
photos by
K atherine K ovach h /T he P ortland O bserver
An incarcerated mother at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility
shows her daughter and young sister a card magic trick
during prison visit time made possible the Girl Scouts.
d a te the opportunity to have a
dialogue with their daughters
about how they w ant their life to
Hugging her niece, an incarcerated aunt is grateful for the time she
is able to spend with her young relative through the Girl Scouts.
go-
“No matter what, as a parent
you're proud," Noble said. “The
anticipation in the girls is as great
as the m other's.”
The program started in 1997
with seven girls and five mothers
at the Columbia River Correc­
tional Institute in northeast Port­
land Later expansion eventually
allowed the participation of 110
girls (ages 5 to 18) and 75 mothers
in minimum and medium security.
According to Shannon Evers.
Girl Scouts fund development and
marketing, over half of the impris­
oned moms don', have any visi­
tation until they sign up for Be­
yond Bars.
“This has increased visitation
by 76 percent,” Evers said. “The
girls feel totally safe when they
come to the prison as a Girl Scout
continued
I
on page AS