of Extraordinary Dance
Winter Freeze Possible
Lonzo King's Lines Ballet
coming to Portland State
University's
niversity i Lincoln Hall
See * Focus, page A5
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The National
Service warns that snow or
freezing rain is possible
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Wednesday night and
Thursday
Thursday
it ©bsBrtier
www.portlandobserver.com
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXV. Number 47
Wednesday • November 30. 2005
T1Week ¡n
The Review
Hostages Held in Iraq
A l-Jazeera broadcast video T ues­
day o f four W estern peace activ­
ists held hostage by a previously
unknow n group, part o f a new wave
o f kidnappings police fear is aimed
at disrupting next m onth’s elec­
tions. T he captives- an A m erican, a
Briton and tw o C anadians - were
m em bers of the Chicago-based aid
groupChristian Peacemaker Teams,
which confirm ed they disappeared
Saturday.
Bush: Withdrawal a Mistake
A giant Christmas
tree in Pioneer
Courthouse Square
ushers in the
holiday spirit with
hundreds of lights,
bright enough to
bring a cheer even
with a damp and
gloomy day.
President Bush said Tuesday that
“it w ould be a terrible m istake” to
pull U .S. forces out o f Iraq. The
argum ent was echoed in W ashing­
ton by Defense Secretary D onald
H. Rum sfeld, who said, "Q uitting is
not an exit strategy.”
Hurricane Season Ends
The busiest and costliest hurricane
se aso n on rec o rd fin ally en d s
W ednesday. But as the deadly six-
m onth season closes, tens o f thou­
sands o f Am ericans are still dealing
with the devastation from H urri­
canes W ilm a, Rita and Katrina, the
nation’s w orst natural disaster in
m odem times.
photo by I saiah B o u e /
T he P ortland O bserver
Panda Cub Debuts
Tai Shan, the giant panda cub,
show ed Tuesday that he is a quick
study, prancing about in his den
and otherw ise m ugging for hordes
o f cam era crews for his first public
display for reporters at the N ational
Zoo in W ashington, D.C..
Town Scraps King Statue
A fter tw o years o f w rangling about
w hat a statue o f civil rights leader
M artin Luther King Jr. should look
like, a North C arolina town has de­
cided to scrap the project. The
Rocky M ount City Council will in­
stead spend the $45,000 set aside
for the statue on w inter heating
assistance and other local needs.
Midwest Highways Reopen
C rew s on T uesday gradually re­
opened major highw ays in the M id­
w est that had been closed by the
Plains’ first blizzard o f the season,
stranding post-Thanksgiving trav­
elers. A death toll o f five is blam ed
on slippery roads.
Perez Death
Again Called Justified
Foxworth issues
‘report to the
community’
by M ichael L eighton
T hf . P ortland O bserver
Portland Police C hief Derrick
Foxworth has approved o f the ac­
tions o f two police officers in last
year’s shooting death o f an un­
armed African Am erican motorist
in north Portland.
The conclusion was part o f a
“report to the com m unity” that
Foxw orth released on M onday. It
cam e ju st one w eek before the fam ­
ily o f the m otorist goes to federal
court claim ing P ortland’s police
bureau policy on deadly force is
unconstitutional.
Jam es Jahar Perez was killed
M arch 26, 2004 w hen o fficers
stopped his car in the St. Johns
neighborhood and were unable to
take him into custody for not hav­
ing a driv er’s license.
P o lice said th ey had been fo l­
low ing Perez, 28, because his 1997
M itsubishi w ith tinted w indow s
and ch ro m e w h eels stood o ut as
►
Derrick Foxworth
a luxury sedan in a w o rk in g class
n eig h b o rh o o d .
In a public inquest follow ing the
death, police claim ed they pulled
Perez over after he fai led to signal at
least I (X) feet before m aking a turn.
Form er officer Jason Sery testi­
fied that he shot Perez when he saw
him pull a clenched fist from his from the Perez shooting and other
right pocket, thinking he was pull­ controversial shootings.
Portland police officers are now
ing agun out. A notherofficer, Sean
M acom ber then fired his Taser gun taught to use control holds to get
an uncooperative occupants out of
at Perez.
Foxw orth’s 27-page report gives a vehicle. They are taught to try to
an overview o f the incident, ad­ get the driver to hand over the keys
dresses issues related to the In­ and rem inded never to reach or lean
quest and a G rand Jury investiga­ into a vehicle.
Portland Copwatch, a local peace
tion and describes changes to the
Police B ureau's policies and proce­ and justice group, issued a state­
ment M onday saying they found
dures since the shooting.
He said the report available on nothing new in the com m unity re­
line at w ww.portlandpolice.com re­ port, but w ere pleased to see it
flects the police b ureau’s ongoing noted that the FBI has com pleted
com m itm ent to an open dialogue its civil rights investigation into the
death and is considering w hether
with the com m unity it serves.
The grand jury that review ed the to press charges.
P e re z ’ fam ily arg u es its case
shooting in 2004 urged the bureau
b e f o r e U .S . D i s t r i c t J u d g e
to rethink its training.
In the meantime, Foxworth has M ichael M osm an M onday as part
ordered changes in training, tactics o f a $10 m illion civil rig h ts suit
and police policies that stemmed ag ain st the city.
New Orleans Free Wireless
In an attem pt to boost its stalled
econom y, the hurricane-ravaged
city o f New O rleans is starting the
n ation's first free w ireless Internet
netw ork ow ned and run by a major
city. Similar projects elsewhere have
been stalled by stiff opposition from
telephone and cable television com ­
panies.
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Killingsworth Station Next to Max Put on Hold
A centerpiece of economic
development along the new In­
terstate Max line in north Port­
land has been dumped by the
developer after years of plan­
ning and months after an entire
city block was cleared for the
project.
K illingsw orth Station was
scheduled to bring a mix of
apartments, condos and town
hom es to the c o rn e r o f
Killingsworth Street and Inter­
state Avenue, adjacent to a Max
Yellow Line station for board­
ing and departing light-rail
trains.
Developer Max Kemper re­
cently notified the Portland De­
velopment Commission that he
has no interest in pursuing the
four-story apartment building
and five-story condo project, a
$ 18 million project that was origi-
nally billed as bringing a down-
NO PUBLIC
PARKING
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W W W X D AT OWNERS RISK
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photo bx I saiah
B oi if /T he P ortland O bserver
A swath of land sits vacant at the intersection of North Killingsworth Street and Interstate Avenue,
The site Is part of an entire block awaiting development next to a new light-rail station,
town flavor to the neighborhood.
PDC officials said the public
subsidy to develop the project
was growing more costly every
day with rising construction costs.
The commission owns all the
properties on the block. Five
homes and an upholstery shop
were removed for the develop­
ment.
PDC officials said Tuesday they
were looking at the project’s set­
back as an opportunity to fine tune
community desires with long term
goals for attractive development
next to the Max line.
The agency said a range of
alternatives for the site is being
considered with its comm unity
partners Metro and TriM et, in­
cluding the possibility of opening
bids for a new developer. M eet-
ings with local business andcom -
munity leaders are planned in
the next few weeks.