500
36
years
CAREERS &
EDUCATION
Portland
Unwired
of
Special E dition
Mentors ease the
transition to college
See Metro inside
•/community service
ií
a#
e
K ZlAl
'
(f)h se rn e r
‘City of Roses'
Established in 1970
T1Week ¡n
The Review
Boxing Great Remembered
w eig h t who
won the title at ¡1
age 21 and I
never stopped |
taking on the <
giants o f his I
tim e, is being rem em bered.
Patterson died Thursday at his
home in New Paltz, N.Y., at the
age o f 71. See story, page B6
Virus at Vancouver School
A norovirus outbreak is believed
to be the reason for a wave of
illness at a Vancouver-area grade
school. About 120 students and
15 staff members at Ellsworth El
ementary School stayed home
Monday because of illness.
‘Survivor’ Gets 4 Years
R ic h a rd
H atch, who
won $1 mil
lion in the de
but season of
“ S u rv iv o r,”
has been sen
ten ced
to
m ore than
four years in prison for failing to
pay taxes on his reality TV prize
and other income. The judge said
he believed Hatch had repeat
edly committed perjury on the
witness stand.
Third Duke Player Charged
A Duke University lacrosse team
captain became the third player
indicted in the rape scandal Mon
day and the first to speak out,
blasting the charges against him
as “fantastic lies.”
HUD Secretary Apologies
Housing and
Urban Devel
opment Secre
tary Alphonso
Jack so n has
apologized for
telling a Dal
las, Texas busi
ness group that he had rejected a
HUD contract because the con
tractor had criticized President
Bush. Jackson, seeking to avoid
a political firestorm, said he made
up the story.
Driving Rains Ease Up
Driving rains that caused the
worst flooding in New England
since the 1930s finally eased up
Tuesday, but washed-out roads
and the danger of dam breaks
prevented many people from re
turning to their homes.
Fighter Jet Sale Possible
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXVI. N um ber 20
Floyd Pater- |l
son, the under- ,
sized heavy- *
See Story, page A3
Wednesday • May 17. 2006
.......’•’•nvix.nvrnn
Discrimination Law
k fsSchmkVs
nmination lawsuit
Juanita Wynne (center) of
Berkley, Calif, is one of
the plaintiffs in a class
action lawsuit against the
Portland-based restaurant
chain McCormick &
Schmick s. Also pictured,
her attorneys Diana Tate,
head of the African-
American Agenda at the
Lawyers Committee for
Civil Rights and Bill Lann
Lee, a partner at Lieff
Cabraser and a former
Assistant Attorney
General for Civil Rights in
the Clinton Justice
Department.
Restaurant
Empire
Defends Hiring
Accused of
corporate policy
favoring whites
by M ichael L eighton
T he P ortland O bserver
Portland’s upscale restaurant
chain of McCormick & Schmick's
has been named in a lawsuit alleg
ing the national corporation pre
fers white employees in hiring and
relegates workers of color to lower
paid out-of-view jobs.
The operator of about 60 up
scale seafood restaurants nation
wide, including Jake’s Famous
Crawfish and Harborside Restau
rant and Pilsner Room in Portland,
was accused of discrimination in a
federal court suit in San Francisco
Thursday.
A black waitress employed at
the company and a black bartender,
both from Berkley, Ca., accuse the
company of passing over blacks
for promotions or employment.
A central allegation lawsuit is
that McCormick & Schmick’s has a
nationwide corporate policy and
practice of preferring white employ
ees over African American employ
ees for “front-of-the-house” posi
tions. These are the prominent,
better-paying jobs, including serv
ers, hostesses, hosts, and bartend
ers.
The suit said black workers were
given lo w er-paying jo b s and
shorter or less-desirable shifts than
white counterparts.
T he law suit c h a rg e s that
McCormick & Schmick managers
throw away applications from Afri
can American job seekers without
seriously considering them.
In addition, the complaint alleges
that managers have been instructed
by corporate headquarters to “clean
up the restaurant," meaning to hire
fewer African Americans, to keep
the African American employees
away from front-of-the-house po-
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
McCormick and Schmick's manager Geoff Helzer takes inventory o f the sidewalk area outside the
upscale seafood restaurant at 235 S. W. First Ave. A lawsuit accuses the national chain of racial
discrimination. The Portland restaurant is not named in the legal action.
sitions, and to subject African
American employees to harsher
discipline.
A spokesman for the restaurant
chain said the company does not
discriminate.
“We believe these allegations to
be completely unfounded," spokes
man John Flanagan said.
The founder of McCormick and
Schmidt's is a powerful force for
Republican Party politics. William
P. McCormick was co-finance chair
for President Bush's 2004 cam
paign, served as finance chair for
the election of U.S. Sen. Gordon
continued
on page A3
Annual Alberta Art Hop to Fill Street
Venezuela is considering selling
its fleet of U.S.-made F -16 fighter
jets to another country, perhaps
Iran, in response to a U.S. ban on
arms sales to President Hugo
Chavez’s government, a military
official said Tuesday.
Weekend of ‘surprises’ coming
photo by S arah
B loijnt /T he P ortland O bserver
Northeast Alberta Street businesses are expecting large crowds this Saturday and Sunday for the
annual Alberta Street Art Hop. Four stages will provide entertainment and two street parades are
scheduled for Saturday
!
Entering its seventh year, the
Alberta Street Art Hop celebrates
the soul of the Alberta Arts District
with street vendors, musicians, and
dancers, and patrons hungry for art
and international fixxl from local
businesses stretching more than a
mile from Martin Luther King Bou
levard to Northeast 3 1'1 Avenue.
More than 10.000 people filed
along Alberta during the Art Hop
last year, and the 2(X)6 version is
spread over Saturday and Sunday,
May 20 and 21. with a new, souped
up schedule showing that the street
is all grown up with serious artistic
credibility.
The non-profit organization Art
on Alberta has hired their first fes
tival coordinator, packing in the
traditional impromptu street per
formance, fire dancers, tall bikes
and vendors with a first-time part
nership with the city of Portland
and sister festival, the ( fregon Coun
try Fair.
This year's theme is “The Art of
Surprise and The Surprise of Art,"
with a competition displayed at "Art
Hop Central" and judged by Ju n to
lijitna and Deb Stoner, artists and
educators, and Arthur DeBow, di
rector of the Hoffman Gallery at
Oregon College of Art & Craft
Four stages this year give art
hoppers the choice between di verse
and arty acts on the main stage at
Northeast 20“' and Alberta, “glo
bal-loco” international and local
flavor at the Backyard Voodoo
Lounge, kid stuff at Northeast 14"’
and Albcrtaand singer-songwriters
on the Song Art stage a, Northeast
21M and Alberta.
A street parade led by March
Fourth begins a, 3 p.m. Saturday,
followed by other marching groups
and whoever else jumps in. A new
nighttime parade will be led by the
Dream Time Marching Band, be
ginning at 7:30p.m. at the Backyard
Voodoo Lounge stage betw eel
continued
»
on page A3