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King School Gun Scare
A loaded .32-caliber revolver
fell from the backpack o f a 10-
year-old boy A pril 27 at King
Elem entary in northeast Port
land.
Fellow students told authori
ties they noticed the gun but
d id n 't say anything initially for
fear o f a threat given by the boy
that if they told, th e y 'd get shot.
The student was taken into
protective custody and given a
mental evaluation. It was deter
mined the child did not have an
anger problem, but had brought
the firearm to school only to show
it off.
He was described as a student
with satisfactory grades and a quiet
demeanor.
An investigation also deter
mined the gun had gone missing
from his home after being inher
ited from a family member.
Advertise with diversity in
il!‘ IJ o v t la tth (Obs enter
May 4. 2005
U.S. Military Weaker
Slower victories seen in future
(AP) — The U.S. military may
not be able to win any new wars as
quickly as planned because the wars
in Iraq and A fghanistan have
strained its m anpow er and re
sources, the nation’s top military
officer told Congress in a classified
report.
Gen. Richard M yers, chairman
o f the Joint C hiefs o f Staff, d e
scribed the U.S. m ilitary as in a
period o f increased risk, accord
ing to a senior defense official,
who described the report T ues
day on the condition o f anonym
ity.
Myers predicted the risk would
go down in a year or two, the official
said. Myers provided the report to
Congress Monday.
Still, the report says the U.S.
military is able to win any conflict it
becomes involved in, said Penta
gon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
Among the m ost likely co n
flicts the Pentagon foresees in
the near term are w ith North Ko
rea and Iran, the tw o rem aining
m em bers o f P resident B u sh ’s
“axis o f evil.” The Bush adm inis
tration accuses both o f having
am bitions to becom e a nuclear
pow er; North K orea has already
claim ed it has nuclear weapons.
The U.S. military has timelines in
place for defeating its potential
adversaries, given enough soldiers,
tanks, aircraft and warships to do
the job. But with so much o f those
resources tied up fighting insur
gencies in Iraq and Afghanistan,
those timelines could slip, Myers
said, according to the defense offi
cial.
About 138,000 American troops
are in Iraq, according to U.S. Cen
tral Command. Another 18,000 are
in Afghanistan.
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Prisoner Abuse Sentence Considered
Pfc. England
pleads guilty
(A P) - Jury selection started
T uesday for the panel that will
recom m end a sentence for Army
Reserve Pfc. Lynndie England,
who pleaded guilty to m istreat
ing prisoners at the Abu G hraib
prison cam p in Iraq.
England accepted responsibil
ity for the sm iling, thum bs-up
poses she struck for photographs
taken at Abu G hraib that made
her the face of the prisoner abuse
scandal.
England, 22, pleaded guilty
M onday to seven counts o f m is
treating prisoners, saying she let
her com rades talk her into going
along with the abuse.
The charges carry up to 11
Oregon Air National Guard
$ 2 0 , 0 0 0 In student loan repayments
$ 5 0 0 0 Cash Bonus
O v er $ 8 O O /M o n th Educational Benefits
Travel Opportunities
Paid Technical Training
said to be the father o f E ngland’s
infant son, is expected to testify
on E ngland’s behalf, perhaps as
early as Tuesday.
G raner was convicted in Janu
ary on a range o f abuse charges
and is serving a 10-year sentence
in the m ilitary prison at Fort
Leavenw orth, Kan.
E ngland becam e a central fig
ure in the Abu G hraib scandal
after photos em erged last year
show ing her and others sexually
hum iliating Iraqi prisoners.
E n g lan d , from Fort A shby,
W .V a., said she knew all along
th a t she c o u ld have re fu se d
Army Pfc. Lynndie R. England arrives with members o f her
to
take p art in the abuse. “I had
defense team for her court martial at Fort Hood, Texas.
a c h o ic e , b u t 1 c h o se to do
years in prison, but prosecutors began T uesday m orning.
w hat my frien d s w anted me to ,”
and the d e fe n s e re a c h e d an
At M onday’s hearing, England she said.
agreem ent that caps the sentence softly told the ju d g e she initially
E ngland entered guilty pleas
at a lesser punishm ent, the length resisted taking part in the abuse to tw o counts o f conspiracy to
o f w hich was not released. She at the Baghdad prison, but caved m altreat prisoners, four counts
will get the lesser o f the m ilitary in to peer pressure.
o f m altreating prisoners and ohe
j ury ’ s sentence or the term agreed
“ I could have said, ‘N o ,’” she count o f com m itting an indecent
on in the plea bargain.
told Col. Jam es Pohl, the judge. “I act. Prosecutors agreed to drop
Selection o f a sentencing jury knew it was w rong.”
another count o f com m itting an
made up o f officers and senior
Pvt. Charles G raner Jr., labeled indecent act and one count o f
enlisted soldiers from Fort Hood the abuse ringleader and the man dereliction o f duty.
Rights Activist Dies at 90
Fought for better education system
(AP) - Kenneth B. Clark, an edu
cator and psychologist who spent
his life working for racial integra
tion and improvement in the educa
tion o f black children, has died. He
was 90.
Clark’s daughter, said that her
father died Sunday at his home in
Hastings-on-Hudson. The cause
o f death was not im m ediately
known.
C lark’s pioneering study on the
effects of racial discrimination was
cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in
Contact your local
Air National Guard
Recruiter to
determine eligibility.
Fuel Your Future
503.338.4040
1.800.392.1801
H r National Guard
Home Compost Bin Sale
Jö .
guished professor emeritus at City
College. He also taught at Harvard,
Columbia and the University of
California.
Clark never abandoned his be
lief in the importance of education
in overcoming racism. “I think that
white and blacks should be taught
to respect their fellow human be
ings as an integral part o f being
educated,” he said.
“A racist system inevitably de
stroys and dam ages human be
ings; it brutalizes and dehum an
izes them, blacks and whites alike,”
he wrote.
Kenneth B. Clark
His books included “Prejudice
its historic 1954 ruling in Brown v. and YourChild" and “Dark Ghetto."
Board of Education, which declared He was a past president of the
segregation in public schools un American Psychological Associa
constitutional.
tion. Among his honors were the
He was the first black professor N A A C P’s prestigious Spingarn
to gain tenure at the City University Medal in 1961 and the Four Free
o f New York and was a distin doms award in 1985.
Africa worst for
mothers, children
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday, May 14
Portland Community College
Cascade Campus
Parking lot 4
705 N. Killingsworth, Portland
Gresham City Hall
1333 NW Eastman Parkway,
Gresham
Cleveland High School
3400 SE 26th Ave , Portland
Clackamas County offices auxiliary
parking lot (behind Clackamas
Promenade)
9101 Sunnybrook Blvd,
Clackamas
Home Depot
4401 SW 110th Ave., Beaverton
Tualatin High School
22300 SW Boones Ferry Rd.,
Tualatin
Davis Tool parking lot (formerly
Epson Portland, Inc.)
3825 NW Aloclek Place, Hillsboro
(located behind the post office
on Evergreen Parkway)
Many kids fortunate just to survive
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday, May 15
Portland Community College
Sylvania Campus
Parking lot P 9
12000 SW 49th Ave., Portland
Sponsored by Metro and
your local governments.
4 to 8 p.m.
Wednesday May 18
Metro Latex Paint Sales
4825 N Basin Ave., Portland
(located on Swan Island)
Sunset Presbyterian Church
14986 NW Cornell Rd , Portland
(off Highway 26 at exit 65
- Cornell Road)
)
Questions?
Call Metro Recycling Information
at (503) 234-3000 or visit
www.metro-region.org
Keep nature
in neighborhoods
M ETRO
(AP) Africa is the worst conti
nent to be a mother or child, and
Mali is one o f the worst countries,
where one in eight children will die
before seeing a first birthday, ac
cording to a study published Tues
day.
The State of the W orld's Moth
ers 2(M)5, a report by Sa ve The Chil
dren USA, studied 110 countries
and details health and educational
opportunities for mothers and their
children.
“C onditions for children and
mothers in the bottom-ranked coun
tries are devastating,” said Charles
MacCormack. president of Save the
Children. "Many children are fortu
nate just to survive the first five
years of life and have achance to go
to school.”
In Burkina Faso, fewer than one
in 10 women can read and write. In
Ethiopia just 25 percent of the popu
lation has access to clean water.
Scandinavian countries sweep
the top rankings for the best
places to be a mother, while coun
tries in sub-Saharan A frica dom i
nate the bottom tier, the report
said. O ut o f the 10 worst coun
tries to b e a m o th e ro rc h ild , seven
are in Africa.
In Sw eden, which tops the list,
nearly all women are literate. In
E th io p ia, only 34 p ercent o f
women are literate. A m other in
Ethiopia is 37 times more likely to
see her child die in the first year
o f life than a m other in Sweden.
The United States ranked 11th.
Save the C hildren argues that
education, fam ily planning and
trained birth attendants are key
in boosting child survival and
w ell-being. Effective contracep
tion use can save thousands o f
lives, it concluded.