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Established in 1970
Volume XXXVI. Number 23
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • lune 07. 2006
TLWeek in
The Review
W alk
for Life
Foxworth Probe Done
T he c ity o f
Portland has
completed its
investigation
into the sexual
m is c o n d u c t
a lle g a tio n s
against Police
Chief Derrick
Foxworth with
a report going to Mayor Tom Pot­
ter on Thursday. Potter promises
to extensively review the probe
before he decides if Foxworth vio­
lated any policies.
The first annual Eddie Barnett Jr.
Foundation Walk for Life at Jefferson
High School Saturday, with Barnett's
mom Christeen Johnson speaking to
nearly 100 participants. Barnett died
from a form o f heart disease during
a basketball game at Madison High
School last year. See story and
additional photos on page A5.
Beheading in Terror Plot
At least one member of a group of
terror suspects plotted to storm
Canada’s parliament and behead
officials, including the prime min­
ister, if Muslim prisoners in Canada
and Afghanistan were not released,
according to charges made public
Tuesday. Prosecutors say 17 per­
sons have been charged with more
arrests expected.
Soldiers Die in Afghanistan
A roadside bomb killed two U.S.
coalition soldiers and wounded
two others in eastern A fghani­
stan on Tuesday, according to
A fghan o ffic ia ls. A T alib an
spokesm an claim ed responsibil­
ity for the attack.
Iraq Prisoners Eye Release
Iraqi Prime M inister Nouri al-
Maliki said Tuesday that 2,500
Iraqi prisoners will be freed from
U.S. and Iraqi-run detention cen­
ters as part of reconciliation e f­
forts in the country.
photo by M ark W ashington /
T he P ortland observer
Remembering Columbia Villa
Exhibit to tell
story of diverse
community
by S arah B lount
T he P ortland O bserver
The far-north Portland neighborhood
o f C olum bia Villa was som ew hat discon­
nected from the network o f other neigh­
borhoods weaving through the city. Per­
Billy Preston Dead at 59
haps that’s why many people unfam iliar
Billy Preston,
with the location didn’t see beyond the
the exuberant
n o n -d e sc rip t h o u sin g , the w arn in g s
k e y b o a rd is t
against gang activity and assum ptive
w ho lan d ed
media perspectives.
.*-1#
dream gigs with
But many form er residents o f the Villa,
the Beatles and
a close-knit group w ho lived in one of
the
R o llin g
Portland’s most culturally diverse pock­
Stones and en­
ets, had different views. The legacy of
joyed his own series of hit singles
including “O utta Space” and those experiences and lives will come
“Nothing From Nothing,” died into focus for the entire city with the New
Tuesday a, 59. His longtime man­ Colum bia History Exhibit, com piled by
ager said he had been in a coma Sue A rbuthnot and Richard W ilhelm.
In 2002, as the couple was involved in
since November and suffered from
an oral history project about Interstate
kidney failure
Avenue, the Housing Authority o f Port­
Les Schwab Tires Sued
land was busy preparing a com plete tran­
A law suit fired by the U.S. Equal
sition o f the neighborhood into New
Em ploym ent O pportunity C om ­
Colum bia, with mixed income homes,
mission accuses the Les Schwab
apartm ents, stores, schools and co n ­
Tire Centers chain of failing to
necting streets.
hire, train and prom ote women
In May o f 2(X)3 the housing authority
into management jobs. See sto ry ,
hosted
a history fair about Vanport, which
page B2.
the couple attended, where they learned
Teen Beats Venus at Open
more about C olum bia Villa. They fol­
Teen sensation Nicole Vaidisova lowed the suggestion o f a housing au­
pulled off her second successive thority representative, and began filming
upset Tuesday at the French Open, historical clips o f the Villa from its pre-
beating Venus W illiams6-7 (5), 6- W orld W ar II beginnings to the rebirth in
1,6-3 to earn her first Grand Slam
2004. As they discovered more about the
semifinal berth. The score was re­
neighborhood's past, they knew it would
markably similartothe 17-year-old
be a sham e if its legacy lingered only in a
Vaidisova’s previous match, when
she stunned top-ranked Amelie
Mauresmo.
I y
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Sue Arbuthnot steps onto Main Street in New Columbia with its new apartments and storefronts. Arbuthnot and her hus­
band Richard Wilhelm are creating a history exhibit o f the former Columbia Villa neighborhood.
handful o f minds.
Later that summer, they arrived nearly
every day with a cam era for about seven
weeks, docum enting the dem olition and
relocation. As the Housing A uthority was
sw am ped with the reconstruction, the
pair continued to collect memorabilia,
house signs, street num bers and other
relics.
“W e w ere impressed with the sense of
com m unity,” W ilhelm said. “Even among
17 languages spoken, people found ways
to com m unicate, like through food.”
“ I t's not fairly c h a ra c teriz e d ,” he
added, "and we wanted people to tell their
The entrance to Columbia Villa in 1942 shortly after its completion.
continued
on page A3
Blitz Builds 4
Homes in 7 Days
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Portland Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Steve Messinetti joins Tonya Griffin and daughter
Tajane on Sunday, in front o f Griffin's new home-in progress at New Columbia in north Portland.
>
H abitat for H um anity
launched a Home Builders
Blitz in the New Columbia
neighborhtxwJ of North Port­
land on Saturday with expert
volunteer construction ex­
perts building four houses-
start to finish - in just seven
days.
Habitat affiliates through­
out the United States are join­
ing Portland to create more
than 4(X) homes from coast to
coast this week, making it the
largest volunteer building
event in the nation’s history.
The Griffin family, made
up of Tony a, daughter Tajane
and son Trevion, is one of the
local families who will move
into one of the new homes.
As part of the non-profit
Habitat for Humanity pro­
gram. the family puts in their
own sweet equity toward the
construction of future Habi­
tat homes for low-income resi­
dents.