A Future Depends on It
Parents unite to volunteer at local
schools and help kids succeed
See story, Metro seetion inside
(¡Observer
‘City of Roses’
Established in 1970
Volume XXXV, Number 38
Committed to Cultural Diversity
w w w .portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • September 14, 2005
rlWeekin
TheReview
Hurricane Victims Welcomed
Bush Admits Mistakes
Church
provides
housing
President Bush
tim e to o k re ­
s p o n s ib ility
T u e s d a y fo r
federal govern­
m ent m istakes
in dealing with
H urricane K atrina and suggested
the calam ity raised broader q ues­
tio n s ab o u t the g o v e rn m e n t’s
ability to handle both natural d i­
sasters and terror attacks. “To the
extent that the federal governm ent
d id n ’t fully do its jo b right, 1 take
responsibility,” he said.
Death Toll More Than 400
H urricane K atrina’s death toll in
L ouisiana clim bed to 423 T ues­
day, up from 279 a day before. The
ju m p cam e as recovery w orkers
turned m ore and m ore o f their at­
tention to gathering up and count­
ing the corpses in a city all but
em ptied out o f the living. See story,
page A2.
Nursing Home Charged
The ow ners o f a N ew O rleans
nursing hom e w here 34 people
were found dead after H urricane
Katrina have been arrested and
charged with 34 counts o f negli­
gent hom icide for not evacuating
their patients, even after buses
were offered by governm ent offi­
c ia ls , th e L o u isia n a a tto rn e y
g eneral’s office said Tuesday.
Ophelia Threatens East Coast
V ulnerable islands o ff the Caroli-
nas w ere evacuated and m ainland
schools w ere closed Tuesday as
erratic T ropical Storm O phelia
wobbled c loser to land wi th a threat
o f flooding rain. A hurricane w arn­
ing was in effect from Georgetown,
S.C., to North C aro lin a's Cape
Lookout.
by K atherine B lackmore
T he P ortland O bserver
Since Saturday, the Pow erhouse
T em ple Church o f G od in Christ
serving north and northeast P ort­
land has received a slew o f d o n a­
tions for H urricane Katrina survi­
vors brought to Portland by the
congregation.
Church Pastor M ary O verstreet
sold her vacation hom e in A rizona
and cashed in tw o certificates o f
deposit to help 22 people with hous­
ing and utilities. She has offered to
pay rent for 20 apartm ents in P ort­
land, but the hom es need basic
necessities like furniture, bedding,
tow els and other item s to m ake them
livable.
T he church ’s pew s are already
full o f bags and boxes, but the co m ­
m unity is encouraged to continue
w ith support, as it’ 11 take aw hile for
victim s to get back on their feet.
“W e w ant to thank the people
photo by M ark VV ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
and all th ey ’ve done,” said A nna
Local volunteers stand among the pews filled with donations for Hurricane Katrina victims at the Powerhouse Temple Church o f God.
Forbes, H urricane Katrina displace­
Pictured (from left) are Perlia Bell and her 3-year-old grandson Ty Juan James, Christina Forbes, Kimberly Cox and Grace Forbes.
m ent coordinator for the church.
R ather than ju st give people a cot to sleep
are also vital to continue to pay for housing
ees to Portland, m ore than 245 survivors o f
A W elcom e O regon C om m ittee has been
on, she said, they hope to give a fam ilies a
“Love one another,” Forbes said. “E x ­ the storm have arrived through the help o f
organized by com m unity groups and faith-
key to an ap artm en t instead. A lthough
tend a helping hand and extend kindness.”
fam ily, friends and local churches. H un­
b ased o rg an izatio n s to m ake h u rrican e
clothes and household item s for the victim s
A lthough the Federal Em ergency M an­ dreds more A m ericans displaced from the
continued
on page A 6
are m uch appreciated, m onetary donations
agem ent A gency has not send any ev acu ­ G ulf Coast could arrive in the next few weeks.
Neighborhood
Torn by Evacuee
Court Nominee Under Fire
Concerns
Suprem e C ourt
n om in ee John
R oberts jo u s t­
ed w ith D em o­
cratic senators
T uesday at his
c o n firm a tio n
h ea rin g to be
ch ief justice, dodging their at­
tem pts to pin dow n his opinions
on abortion, voting rights and
other legal issues. Sen. Edw ard M.
K en n ed y , D -M ass., d escrib ed
som e o f his w ritings as a “narrow,
cram ped and m ean-spirited view ”
that failed to show a full apprecia­
tion o f discrim ination. See related
Many want to help,
others raise issues
story, page A2.
U.S. Launches Iraq Strikes
U.S. forces w idened their opera­
tions against insurgents in north­
ern Iraq on Tuesday, launching an
attack on the E uphrates R iver
stronghold o f H aditha only days
after evicting m ilitants from Tai
A far. R esid en ts also rep o rted
A m erican air strikes in the sam e
J-egion nearQ aim .
1 1
Ë3
2
photo by
M ark W ashington ZT he P ortland O bserver
Jim Gruetzke, manager o f safety and security for the Red Cross, talks outside the former Washington High School in
southeast Portland with volunteers Debbie Ellis (left) and Linda Johnson. The school is being used to provide 24-hour
assistance to Katrina Hurricane survivors,
Resource Shelter Assists Arrivals
Former school open
24-hours for help
by
K atherine B lackmore
T he P ortland O bserver
I
C ross officials m ade a decision to staff the
form er shelter site 24 hours a day to provide
resources to survivors com ing to Portland
on their ow n to stay with fam ily or friends.
"S om e o f (the victim s) look com pletely
exhausted and traum atized, but they just
want to get their lives back together," M iller
said.
By T uesday, 245 people had
been helped by the Red Cross,
with each fam ily or individual
being assig n ed a M u ltn o m ah
County casew orker to keep re­
covering lives on track.
A lthough the high school isn 't
being used as a shelter, various
local agencies are using the site
from 9a.m . to 5 p.m. tooffer vouch­
ers fo r h o u sin g , b u s p asses,
— Mary Miller, Red Cross communications director
m eals and clothing, as w ell as
em ergency health care and m en­
M ary Miller, com m unications directorfor tal health services. Red C ross volunteers are
the Red C ross O regon Trail Chapter, said
also available at al 1 tim es to provide i mmedi -
that fam ilies are continuing to visit the site
continued
on page A6
for help from a variety o f local organizations.
The story is about helping
about people in need, but
there's also the story about
how we all came together as
a community.
P o r tla n d ’s o n c e a b a n ­
d o n e d W a s h in g to n H ig h
School has becom e a bustle
o f com m unity resources over
the last week, anxiously aw ait­
ing the arrival o f H urricane
K atrina victims. A lthough it
w as announced last Friday
that a large cluster o f people
w ould no longer be airlifted
to Portland through the Fed­
eral Em ergency M anagem ent A gency, that
h asn 't stopped others that have been d is­
placed from com ing to Portland.
On Sunday, M ayor Tom Potter and Red
by L ee P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
People helping survivors displaced
by H urricane K atrina ran into concerns
o v er the backgrounds o f possible ev acu ­
ees and charges o f racism at a co m m u ­
nity m eeting in southeast Portland.
T he issues w ere raised last w eek when
B uckm an neighborhood residents spoke
to plans to use the form er W ashington
High School as an em ergency sh elter for
up to 1,000 G u lf C oast residents. T he
federal governm ent has since said the
shelter will not be needed, but the Red
C ross still plans to use the school as a
resource center and training facility to
help displaced G u lf C oast residents.
Buckm an N eighborhixxl A ssociation
C h air Susan Lindsay said her initial c o n ­
cern was packing so m any people into
one building, w arehousing people, ro b ­
bing them o f theirdignity and subjecting
them to the sort o f abuse they ex p e ri­
enced in the New O rleans S uperdom e
and H ouston A strodom e.
W hile about h alf o f a meeti ng dra wi ng
about 75 people w anted to know how
they could help, about h alf had concerns
about possible “crim inal elem ents" or
other im pacts on the com m unity.
“W hat w as supposed to be an infor­
m ational m eeting unfortunately becam e
tainted by m isunderstandings, frustra­
tion and m edia hype," said Anne Hughes,
another Buckm an N eighborhood o ffi­
cial. She also found press coverage o f
the event “som ew hat inciteful."
Kathryn Jackson, an A frican-A m eri­
can w om an living in E astm oreland, said
it w as “sad and sham eful that w e have to
hum anize a situation w here w e have fel­
low hum an beings in need.”
H er rem a rk s p ro d u c e d sh o u ts o f
p ro test from o th e rs w h o in sisted th e ir
continued
on page A6