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Hurricane Drives Up Oil Prices
Hurricane Katrina drove energy
prices to new highs Tuesday, with
crude futures topping $70 a barrel
and w holesale gasoline costs
surging to levels that could lead to
$3 a gallon at the pump in some
markets. Hurricane Katrina is ex
pected to have caused enough
damage to pipelines, storage tanks
and refineries that it could take
weeks, and in some cases months,
before operations return to nor
mal
Disaster Brings Looting
With much of the New Orleans
flooded by Hurricane Katrina, loot
ers floated garbage cans filled with
clothing and jewelry down the
street in a dash to grab what they
could. In some cases, looting on
Tuesday took place in full view of
police and National Guard troops.
Rapper Shot, Survives
was shot in the leg early Sunday
during a party hosted by Grammy
winning hip hop artist Kanye
West, police said. Knight, 40, was
hospitalized in good condition.
He was shot during a celebrity-
studded party at the Shore Club,
one of the many celebrations in
Miami Beach ahead of the MTV
Video Music Awards. See story,
page B6
Poverty Rate Rises Again
The nation’s poverty rate rose to
12.7 percent o f the population last
year, the fourth consecutive an
nual increase, the Census Bureau
said Tuesday. The percentage of
people without health insurance
did not change. Overall, there were
37 million people living in poverty,
up 1.1 million people from 2003.
Iraq Sees More Dead
Heavy fighting broke out in w est
ern Iraq between pro and anti-
government tribes Tuesday, leav
ing at least 35 people dead from
both sides, hospital officials said.
The outcome could affect the ease
with which foreign extremists move
in and out of the border area.
in
F ocus ,
page
B2
Established In 1970
w ww.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • August 31. 2005
Gulf Coast Misery
New Orleans devastated
(AP) — Rescuers along the hurricane-
ravaged G ulf Coast pushed aside the dead
to reach the living Tuesday in a race against
time and rising floodwaters, while New O r
leans sank deeper intocrisis, with Louisiana’s
governor ordering storm refugees out of
this drowning city.
Two levees broke and sent water cours
ing into the streets of the Big Easy a full day
after New Orleans appeared to have es
caped widespread destruction from Hurri
cane Katrina. An estimated 80 percent of the
below-sea-level city was under water, up to
20 feet deep in places, with miles and miles
of homes swamped.
“The situation is u n tenable,” G ov.
Kathleen Blanco said. “It’s just heartbreak
ing.”
The number of dead was still unclear, a
day after Katrina slammed the G ulf Coast
with 145-mph winds. But one Mississippi
county alone was believed to have lost as
many as 80 people _ 30 of them from a
beachfront apartment house that collapsed
under a 25-foot wall of water. And Louisiana
said many were feared dead there, too, mak
ing Katrina one of the most punishing storms
to hit the United States in decades.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said hun
dreds, if not thousands, of people may still
be stuck on roofs and in attics, and so rescue
boats were bypassing the dead.
“W e're not even dealing with dead bod
ies,” Nagin said. “T hey're just pushing them
on the side.”
The flooding in New Orleans grew worse
by the minute, prompting the evacuation of
hotels and hospitals and an audacious plan
to drop huge sandbags from helicopters to
continued
A young man wades away from a grocery store in New Orleans Tuesday. Flooding
is up to 20 feet deep in some areas o f the city. (AP photo)
Diane Linn
on page A
Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina
cover parts o f downtown New Orleans.
pushes back
do it to talk to people about to live and work, we lose the heart
what w e're here to do and and soul o f our city if it' s not a place
how w e’re doing it.”
where middle class families can
This is an important part flourish,” Linn said. "T here's a pre
of the job, to say the least, as vailing attitude that business is bad.
Linn is in charge of more than We need to be more proactive in
Portland O bserver.
4,500em ployees,a$l billion attracting family wage jobs.”
Explaining her stance on
Linn has helped make rightful
budget and the well being of
both gay marriage and those
em ploym ent more accessible to
the county’s residents.
who oppose it, Linn said,
She said quitting now women and m inorities through a
“Everybody should be hon
would do a great disservice Diversity Initiative that charts the
ored in the community re
to those she wants to stand county on a course o f cultural
gardless of who they are.”
up for, w h e th e r som e com petence via m ultilingual pro
She drew a parallel be
grams.
naysayers like it or not.
tween gay rights and the
A Portland native, Linn knows
“I’m worried about my
c o n tro v e rs y th a t s u r
h o m e to w n ,” L inn said. community involvement is key. She
rounded interracial m ar
“W e’re disinvesting in our started the Office of School and
riage in the 1950s, citing the
education. W e’re making it Community Partnerships to focus
popular 1967 movie, “Guess
harder to buy homes and on brid g in g the gap betw een
W ho’ sComing to Dinner?”
making it harder forthe middle schools and the programs that sur
“The compelling part of
class.”
round them, supporting the phi
the experiences was hav PHO TO BY K a THKRINI- B i .AI K M O R F /T i I I P (> R n .A M > O R S I-.R V fR
She said she would be losophy that education is the back
ing my kids be so support Diane Linn, Chair o f the Multnomah County
very upset when it’s time to bone of society.
ive,” Linn said.
Board o f Commissioners, remains stead
be a grandmother, if her four
"The schools are the focal point
That kind o f support and fast in her political position, with plans to
children-tw o of her own and of a neighborhood. I’m on the com
the positive results of her run for reelection this spring.
tw o o f her partner, John munity school front," she said. “Ev
work for the county are what
Rakowitz o f the Portland ery public school should provide a
k eep her g o in g . D e sp ite the
“I'm really excited about it even Business Alliance, could not af great education.”
squabbles, Linn said she’ll be run though w e’ve had a tough couple ford to live in Portland.
continued
on page A 6
ning for reelection next spring.
“If our kids can’t come back here
o f years,” Linn said. “All I want to
Multnomah County Chair
overcomes opposition
by K atherine B lackmore
T he P ortland O bserver
Diane Linn has had a lot on her
mind lately.
As the Chair of the Multnomah
County Board of Commissioners,
she’s been in a hot seat o f praise
and criticism and her stance on
issues like gay marriage equality, a
temporary tax to help schools and
social services or her relationship
with other county officials.
It would seem as though the
public either loves her or hates her,
depending on which side of the
political fence one falls on. But she
doesn’t let the negativity get her
down. Instead, she fights back.
“ I’d rather ge, in big trouble
than to sit around and not do
anything. I know that if I’ve made
a really controversial decision,
I’ve made progress,” Linn said in
a recent conversation with The
Grads Earn High Math Scores
The high school class of 2005
earned the highest-ever marks on
the math portion o f the SAT, a
modest change that continues the
steady 25-year trend of improve
ment on the country's most popu
lar standardized college entrance
exam. Scores i mproved for all eth
nic groups, though significant
gaps remain
Consolidation Closes Killingsworth Chapel
Era ends for
local landmark
by E rika -L eigh G oodwin
T he P ortland O bserver
There has been a recent buzz in
Portland's African American com
munity with the reported closing of
a landmark funeral home serving
north and northeast Portland.
The Killingsworth Little Chapel
of the Chimes has provided funeral
services for its community since
19.33, becoming an iconic structure
known for putting loved ones at
rest and helping their families cope
in times of grief.
The Killingsworth chapel was
closed on Aug. 15. However, David
Hinton, general manager made itclear
that the local funeral home was not
closing its doors to the community,
it is opening new doors and offering
more services at a new location.
“I want to make this very clear,
we are not c lo sin g , w e have
merged," Hinton said.
I I
photo by
M ark W a . shington /T he P ortland O bserver
The Killingsworth Little Chapel o f the Chimes at 430 N. Killingsworth St. has closed and the
building will be sold with its employees and services being transferred to the larger Ross Holly
wood Chapel at 4733 N.E. Thompson St.
I
Hinton said families will be able
to receive the same quality of ser
vice from the same employees at
R o s s Holly wixxlChapel. 4733 N.E.
Thompson St., and the Lombard
Little Chapel of The Chimes, which
is now called Killingsworth St.
Johns Lombard Little Chapel of the
Chimes at 3018 N. Lombard.
The Hollywood chapel is less
th an fo u r m iles from the
Killingsworth site.
“People drive farther than that to
go to church,” Hinton said. "I am
not, I repeat, I am not abandoning
my community,” Hinton said. “I
have listened to my families and
th ey have said the c h ap el
(Killingsworth t was too small, too
dark or too out of date.”
The Ross chapel seats double
the capacity of the Killingsworth
building and it has a room for recep
tions as well as additional staff and
directors.
“ I’d like to invite people to
com e by and see the new facil-
continued
"yf on page A 6