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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 15, 2005)
Committed to Cultural Diversity www.portlandobserver.com lune 15. 2005 The Portland Observer joins the many families honoring dad on Sunday M etro ^ a r t l a n b (©bseruer Oj community service SECTION C o in in u n i t y ¿ t i e n d ¿i r Black Gay Pride Festival From W ed n esd ay , June 15, through Sunday, June 19, Brother to Brother will be hosting various events for the gay black commu nity, including fund-raisers, HIV testing, a BBQ and a Black Out Party at Moon Star Bar and Grill. For more information, call 503- 471-7991 or visit w w w .broto bropdx.org. Adoption Information Prospective parents looking into adoption can attend a meeting on Wednesday, June 15 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Belmont Public Library at 1038 S.E. 39,h St. The session will acquaint clients with the philosophy and services of Open Adoption and Family Ser vices. For more information, call 503-226-4870 or visit www.open adopt.org. B Encouraging Kids to Love Books Summer reading encouraged by K atherine B lackmore T he P ortland O bserver By the last day of school for the year, children are already daydreaming about their plans of playing outside until the sun sets or watching as much television as humanly possible. For most, the last thing on their minds is curling up with a good book, espe cially after doing homework for nine months. But SM ART (Start Making a Reader To day) encourages families to keep their young children reading over the summer, and with good reason. Jefferson High Reunion Reading not only keeps their budding Help is needed to plan a 10-year minds sharp, but helps keep families to reunion in late August for the gether. Jefferson High School Class of “It is so important not only for the bond 1995. Wenedell Raiford is encour between the parents and the children, but so aging his old classmates to con that they can make progress academically tact him about attending and and feel confident about reading, which will making plans for the event. For trickle into other subjects,” said Linda m o re in fo rm a tio n c o n ta c t Riedman, marketing manager for SMART. jenelley77 @yahoo.com. “School can be a lot o f pressure for kids Friends of the Trees because they know they’ll be corrected or Come to the Friends of Trees for have tests. This will be a time to have fun Neighborhood CoordinatorTrain- with reading.” ing on Saturday, June 11 starting SMART has been in fruition for 13 years at 9 a.m. in an effort to organize in Oregon, serving over90,000children since tree plantings. To register, call 1992. The non-profit’s main vision is to 503-282-8846 extension 25. For enhance reading skills and attitudes among m o re in fo rm a tio n , v isit students in kindergarten through third grade. www.friendsoftrees.org. Each volunteer is assigned to read with two children for one hour a week, each child Black Museum of Oregon having two different volunteers. The chil Leaders o f the Black M useum dren are given two books a month to take o f O regon will hold a m em ber home, keep and continue to read. More than ship and com m ittee m eeting at 1.2 million books have been given out over Reflections C offee H ouse, 446 the years. N.E. Killingsworth, on Saturday, “W e’ve seen their excitement. W e’re June 11 at 3 p.m . to discuss the hoping they have these books in their home future o f the m useum . For more and can read to their brothers and sisters or inform ation contact Mr. King J. with their parents and family,” Riedman said. 503-284-0617. A local child gets precious one-on-one attention from a SMART (Start Making a Reader Today) volunteer. “It's all about getting children to love books." And getting children to love books means more reading overthe summer, which means better reading ability when they go back to school in the fall. “W e've seen that third grade is a turning point where children stop learning to read and they start reading to learn. By third grade, it’s important that they know how to read to learn about all kinds of different subjects. They comprehend at adeeper level,” Riedman said. “When they don’t know how to read at that level, they fall behind. A lot of kindergartners are coming to school unprepared, with no exposure to books or the general alphabet. It's a pretty critical time.” Having educated children not only helps continued on page 11.1 SMART summer reading list recommendations • “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” by Judith Viorst • “Giraffes C an’t Dance” by Giles Andreae • “Im ogene’s Antlers” by David Small • “L illy’s Purple Plastic Purse” by Kevin Henkes • “My Mama Had a Dancing Heart” by Libba Moore Gray • “No Jumping on the Bed!” by Todd Arnold • “Sam Gets Lost” by Mary Labatt • “Snowmen at Night” by Carolyn Buehner • “Stellaluna" by Janell Cannon Some SM ART tips for encouraging your child to read include: allowing your child to choose an appropriate book that they’re interested in; talking about the book you share together; rereading a favorite book; creating a comfortable, caring environment for your child to figure out new words; and overlooking mistakes if it doesn’t interrupt the flow o f the story to keep frustration levels low. African Drums and Dance The North Star Ballroom hosts ongoing classes on Tuesday and W ednesday’s. Tuition is either $ 15 drop in fee or $75 for6 weeks. Ghanaian rhythms will be pre sented through beginning and advanced drumming and you can also work up a sweat at their A f rican Aerobics class. North Star Ballroom is located at 635 N Killingsworth Ct. For more infor mation, call 503-283-2080. Bradley-Angle House The Bradley-Angle House needs volunteers to help its outreach a g a in s t d o m e stic v io le n c e . Women of color and bilingual women are encouraged to call. For more information, call 503- 282-9940. Women Mentors W omen in Com m unity Service are seeking volunteer m entors for fem ale offenders at Coffee C reek C o rre c tio n a l F acility. M entors provide support and e n c o u r a g e m e n t to w o m en transitioning from prison back into the com m unity. M entors must be fem ale, 24 or older. T raining is provided. Call 503- 570-6614 for more information. Children'sMuseum Activities Portland C h ild ren ’s M useum will hold a variety o f art activi ties for children throughout the m onth, including m edium s u s ing m osaic, A frican arts and culture and garden stepping- stones. For more inform ation, c a ll 5 0 3 -2 2 3 -6 5 0 0 o r v isit www.pnitlandchildieasmuseum.org. Get Fit, Stay Healthy! Sankofaa Health Institute offers a free diabetes support group from 6 to 7:30 p.m. every third Thurs day at Alberta Simmons Plaza, 6707 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. For more information, call 503-285-2484. I Author, Historian to Perform Local Pastor Admits to Sexual Abuse Black Pioneers host event Oregon Northwest Black Pioneers will host a cul tural performance by award winning author Velma M aiaThomason Saturday, June 25 at 7 p.m. at Salem's historic Elsinore Theatre. Thomas will perform selec tions from her book and CD “No Man Can Hinder Me: The Journey from Slavery to Emancipation through Song.” “This is a unique chance to experi ence the traditional music that African A m erican slaves sang to sustain and encourage one an other,” said Willie Richardson, chair person of the O r eg o n N o rth w e st B lack P io n e e rs. “Through the work Velma Maia Thomas of Velma MaiaTho- mas, their enduring spirit lives on, a testament to the ability of the people to overcome anything - at all costs and against all odds.” Thom as is an ordained m inister, historian, gene alogist and the author o f three books on A merican Black history, including “Lest We Forget, ” a c o l lection o f historic papers, m em oirs, personal e f fects, and photographs. The book chronicles the plight o f an estim ated KM) m illion A fricans from their rich pre-slavery culture to their enslavem ent in A m erican South. T hom as is also the creator of the nationally acclaim ed Black H olocaust Exhibit in her hom etow n o f A tlanta, Ga. A gala reception and book signing with Thomas is scheduled before the performance at 6 p.m. The event is the first annual fundraiser of the Oregon Northwest Black Pioneers, an educational dedicated to preserv ing the historical contributions of African-American Oregonians. General admission is $30 for the performance and $60 to include the reception with the author. For tic k e ts c a ll 5 0 3 -3 7 5 -3 5 7 4 o r o n lin e at www.ticketswest.com photo by N icoi . e H( x > per /T he P ortland O bserver Getting a proof o f payment receipt from a downtown parking meter will cost more starting July 1. Parking Rates and Hours to Increase Downtown on-street parking rates and hours o f operation wil 1 change on July 1. The short-term rate will in crease from $ I to $ 1.25 an hour and the long-term rate will increase to match the short-term rate. In addition, the hours o f parking meter operation will beextended from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. The added revenue is mostly dedi cated to pay ing $ 15 million in revenue bonds that serve as the city's share in the design and construction o f the Portland Mall Revitalization Project. The City Council approved the new parking fees last August. Portland's downtown meter rates still remain considerably lowerthan the two nearest major cities on the west coast. Seattle charges $1.50 an hour and San Francisco charges $2 an hour. In fo rm a tio n a l b ro c h u re s and signage have been applied to all the dow ntow n Sm artM eters to inform parkers of the changes. Rev. Roy Tate, 54, an African-American pastor at Christ Memorial Church of God in Christ, testified Monday in M ultnomah County Circuit Court that he had sex with a 16-year-old member of his church 16 years ago. T a te c la im e d he d id n o t know the ag e o f the te e n a g e r and n e v e r b o th e re d to a sk , a ssu m in g she w as a s e n io r in h ig h s c h o o l, a b o u t th e sam e age as h is d a u g h te r at the tim e. The young woman, now 32, is suing the national denom ination. Church o f God in C hrist, Inc, for not punishing Tate for his actions and for failing to warn those in the congregation about him. She claim s that Tate repeatedly raped her w hile she was a sophom ore at Jefferson High School be tween 1989 and 1990. S h e 'sa sk in g fo r$ 1 0 million in damages. Tate adm itted that he was under the authority o f the national denom ination when these events transpired. H e's been the pastor o f the north Killingsworth Street church since it was founded in 1981. The fam ily accusing Tate left Christ Memorial soon after the sexual abuse came to light. But things didn’t stop there. He was accused o f m ishandling church money and inappropriate behavior w ith other women, charges he has denied. The accusations caused the chu rch 's m em bership to drop from 75 to approxim ately a dozen. Eventu ally, eight m em bers o f the church went to B ishop A.R. Hopkins to dem and som e thing be done about Tate. A church tribunal found Tate guilty in 2003 and he was ordered suspended as pastor for three years. He refused to step dow n, claim ing that the m ajority o f the c h u rc h 's m em bership d id n 't agree to put him on tr ia l. He re m a in s as C h rist M em orial’s current pastor. i
