Dance Series
Opens with Jazz
Bill Mays Trio
5()j¿
Pianist kicks off
'Concerts in the Chapel'
o /i-
'community service
Whitebird celebrates 8th year
See stoiy on page B5
w
‘City of Roses’
See story on page C3
w w w .portlandobserver.com
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXV, Number 42
Wednesday • October 12, 2005
■■■■■■■B
.Week ¡n
The Review
Local Leaders Leave Legacies
Death Toll Reaches 35,000
Heavy rain and hail forced the
cancellation of some relief flights
to earthquake-stricken regions of
Pakistan Tuesday. Officials said
the death toll from Pakistan’s
worst quake had surpassed 35,000,
with many bodies still buried be
neath piles o f concrete, steel and
wood. Millions were left homeless
in the region touching Pakistan,
India and Afghanistan. See story,
pageA 2
Police BeatingVictim Baffled
A retired elemen
tary teacher who
w as re p e a te d ly
p u n c h e d in the
head by New O r
leans police in an
incident caught on
videotape said Monday he was
not drunk, put up no resistance
and was baffled by what hap
pened. See story, page A2.
Stevie Wonder: Time to Love
M il
getting back to
work. He was getting back to the
message that has formed the cor
nerstone of his legendary career.
Wonder says his 15 new tracks
touch on love in all its forms and
he hopes they will inspire people
and leaders in government to make
the world better.
L.A. Power Fails Again
A blackout hit downtown govern
ment buildings, Chinatown and
adjacent areas of Los Angeles
Tuesday, bu, backup power kept
key parts o f City Hall and police
headquarters running. It was the
third significant electrical failure
in the city since mid-September.
Oregon’s First
Black Judge
Deiz was mentor, pioneer
Mercedes Frances Deiz, Oregon’s first African-Ameri
can judge, will make an impact for future generations
because of her work as a determined mentor to young
women and minorities.
Deiz, who died Oct. 5 at age 87 in her Portland home,
first started paving the way for other African Americans
in law in 1970 when Gov. Tom McCall appointed her state
district court judge for Multnomah County.
Tw o years later, she was elected Circuit Court Judge,
a position sought by seven men at the time. Deiz stayed
on to serve four con
secutive six-year terms,
focusing primarily on
family law.
“She saw her role in
the right way - not just
being the first, but mak
ing sure there w ere
many more to follow
h e r ,”
said
E llen
Rosenblum, an Oregon
Court of Appeals judge
who worked alongside
D eiz in M ultnom ah
County.
Mercedes Frances Deiz
She w ent on to win
the A w ard o f M erit,
the highest honor by the O regon State Bar A ssocia
tion in 2000, and was given the b a r’s A ffirm ative
A ction aw ard in 1992. T hese w ere ju st a couple o f
m any noted accom plishm ents she made over her
career, also being recognized by such organizations
as O regon W omen Law yers, the A ssociation of B lack
Law yers and the Urban League.
D eiz is rem em bered by her fellow attorneys for the
qualities that made her a good lawyer: com m on sense,
quick wit, decisiveness, concern for the com m unity
at large and above all, passion for and respect of law.
Born on Dec. 13, 1917, in New York C ity, D eiz
m oved to O regon in 1948. She w orked for the Urban
League and N A A CP in Portland, and after graduating
in 1959 as fourth in her class from N orthw estern
continued
on page A3
Flood Waters Almost Gone
The U.S. Army Corps o f Engineers
said Tuesday that it has finished
pumping out the New Orleans met
ropolitan area, which was flooded
by Hurricane Katrina six weeks ago
and then swamped again by Hurri
cane Rita. “O f course there will be a
little puddle here and there, but as
far as accessibility goes everything
is pumped out,” Corps spokes
woman Lauren Solis said.
Community public service fundraising drives in the 1960s were part o f Jimmy ‘Bang Bang’ Walker’s legacy in
Portland. The champion fighter, activist and newspaper editor died Oct. 4 at the age o f 73.
Champion In and Outside Ring
C om m unity
advocate
rem em bered
Jimmy ‘Bang Bang’ Walker, one of
O regon's boxing legends who became
a community activist and newspaper
editor, is being remembered for both
his athletic achievements and his civil
rights advocacy on behalf o f other Afri
can Americans.
W alker died of natural causes on Oct.
4 in his north Portland home at age 73.
During his professional prizefighting
career between the 1950s and 1960s,
W alker took the Northwest lightweight
championship, along with the Junior
Golden Gloves California championship.
He also earned five Bronze Stars and a
Purple Heart award while serving in the
Korean War.
Walkereven acted as Portland's popu
lar black Santa Claus.
Bom in Birmingham, Ala. in 1932,
Walker married Jeanette Adams in 1955.
The couple moved from Klamath Falls to
Portland in the late 1950s with their
children James Jr. and Debra. After hav
ing three more kids, they divorced in
1965.
A round that tim e. W alk er w as re
p o rtin g for the N orthw est C la rio n , a
co m m u n ity n e w sp ap er for A frican
continued
on page A3
MMM
Celebrating Musical Successfor Youth
Iraqis Agree on Constitution
Iraqi negotiators said Tuesday
they have reached a deal on the
draft constitution four days ahead
of a crucial vote and at least one
Sunni Arab party said the change
would allow it to reverse its rejec
tion of the document. The an
nouncement was the first break in
the ranks of Sunni Arab leaders,
who have been campaigning hard
to defeat the constitution at the
polls in Saturday’s vote.
' Celebration Academy
o f the Performance Arts
music teacher Andy Bell
shows seventh grader
Dreydon Wooden how to
play bass guitar during
an after school program
at the North Denver
Avenue location.
PHOT«) BY
K atherine B i . ackmore /
T he P ortland O bserver
After school program gives
students creative outlet
by K atherine B lackmore
T he P ortland O bserver
When seventh grader Casey Leighton has absolutely the
worst day ever, the solution to sooth her nerves is simple:
play the clarinet.
“It gets you going if you're in a bad mixxl,'' Leighton said.
“It helps calm you down.”
It also gives her focus, which not only helps with her
musicianship, but the schoolwork she does as a student at
the Celebration Academy of the Performing Arts in north
Portland.
Leighton is just one young participant in an after schixil
program, hosted by the academy and the Eighty Eight Keys,
that shows students the importance of music in their daily
lives.
It’s director John Tolbert's hope that the program will
soon be able to expand far beyond its 18 students, who take
private, group and after school lessons in drumming, guitar,
wind instruments, piano and more. Beyond youth from
surrounding communities, he’s kxiking for volunteer sup
port - whether it means taking time out to teach, donating
that dusty guitar in the comer, or helping out monetarily.
Picking up the slack from budget cuts to sch«x)l music
programs, Tolbert recognizes the art form as something more
than just a past time to be disregarded.
"There's a lot of hard work and dedication that goes into
it,” he said. “One of the neat things is that sch«x)l bench
scores improve when kids have an outlet. It creates more
creativity within the child. It gives them an opportunity to
develop and have confidence in their craft.”
The program 's lessons range from finding a sense of
rhythm through drums, plucking the fretboard o f a bass
guitar or tickling the ivories of a grand piano. Styles o f jazz,
continued
on page A 6
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