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Rose City Showcase Friday
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‘City of Roses’
Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXVI. Number 24
Wednesday • June 14. 2006
TLWeek in
The Review
Pleas
Bush Sneaks Into Iraq
Support
President Bush assured Iraqis in
a surprise visit to Baghdad on
Tuesday that the United States
stands with them and their new
government. “It’s in our interest
that Iraq succeed," he said. After
a talk to the U.S. troops in the
heavily fortified Green Zone, Bush
flew by helicopter back to Air
Force One under the cover of
darkness.
After School
Program
Trio on county
panel propose cuts
Congress Antes Up for Wars
The House passed a $94.5 billion
bill Tuesday to pay for continu
ing U.S. military operations, hur
ricane relief, bird flu preparations
and border security at home. The
bill contains $66 billion for the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
bringing the cost of the three-
year-old war in Iraq to about $320
billion.
Cleveland's Grace Crowned
Grace Neal of
Cleveland High
S chool w as
crowned Rose
Festival Queen
at M em o rial
Coliseum Sat
urday morning,
just before the start of the Grand
Floral Parade. The 18-year-old stu
dent athlete is on her way to a
career in journalism. Her hobbies
include writing and running.
<3*
Rove Won’t Get Charged
by M ichael L eighton
T he P ortland O bserv er
III I
photo bv
The Rose Garden Arena, the house that billionaire and Portland Trail Blazer owner Paul Allen built and then lost in bank
ruptcy, is up for sale as part o f a plan to sell the NBA franchise.
Would You Buy
This Franchise?
Blazer, arena for sale with buyers beware
by S arah B lount
T he P ortland O bserver
Top White House aide Karl Rove
has been told by prosecutors he
won’t be charged with any crimes
in the investigation into the leak
o f a CIA officer’s identity, his
lawyer said Tuesday. The attor
ney said that special prosecutor
Patrick Fitzgerald informed him of
the decision on Monday. Rove is
still expected to testify as a wit
ness in the criminal indictment
again st Vice President Dick
Cheney’s former chief of staff, I.
Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
Coffee Counteracts Alcohol
Coffee may counteract alcohol's
poisonous effects on the liver and
help prevent cirrhosis, research
ers say. In a study of more than
125,000 people, one cup of coffee
per day cut the risk of alcoholic
cirrhosis by 20 percent. Four cups
per day reduced the risk by 80
percent.
Beer Fights Prostate Cancer
Researchers from Oregon State
University found that an ingredi
ent in beer seems to help prevent
prostate cancer, at least in lab ex
periments. The trouble is you’d
theoretically have todrink about 17
beers a day for any potential ben-
• efit. And no one’s advising that.
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M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
The Portland Trail Blazers and Rose
Garden Arena are officially for sale - but
with falling revenues, a dw indling fan
base and players who continue to exer
cise poor off-the-court behavior, buyer
beware.
Call it a multi-mil lion dollar two-for-one
- ow ner Paul Allen officially put the Na
tional Basketball A ssociation team on the
market last week, along with the mammoth
Rose Garden with its attractive luxury
suites and club seating.
Allen has lost money with the Blazers
and their home court since he declared the
Rose Garden bankrupt in 2004, handing it
over to bondholders. Last February, he
initiated a series of discussions with city,
county and state officials, vaguely refer
encing a possible public and private part
nership to save the franchise.
The “W e’d love to help but
we can ’t” response came as
no surprise. After years of lack
luster performance, the Blaz
ers wrapped up the 2005-2006
season with a 21-61 record,
one o f the worst in the NBA.
The losing streak, paired
with players’ rap sheets, has
caused these once loved sons
o f Portland to free-fall even
further from the public’s fa
vor. Since their future has
fallen into tumult, scores of
basketball
fans have reacted
Zach Randolph, one o f the blazer's biggest stars
to
the
shakeup
by rolling their
and most recent player to hurt his reputation for
eyes
in
exasperation,
rather
off-the-court behavior.
than holding their breath in
Bu, the city w asn’t am biguous in their anticipation.
response: The billionaire, who estim ates
The big questions now: Who will buy
a $100 million loss over the next three
continued
on page A6
seasons, w on't get any public assistance.
Hundreds o f people served by an
after school program for low income
and minority children have rallied be
fore the Multnomah County C om m is
sion and sent em ails to individual
com m issioners after a proposed 50
percent cut to the Schools Uniting
N eighborhoods program.
SUN schools provide critical pre
ventive services to thousands o f low-
income people in our com m unity and
has trem endous support from schools,
parents and community members, said
Tony Hobson Sr., a local African-
American leader and founder o f Self
Enhancem ent, Inc.
“These reductions, if passed would
have a very serious impact on SE1 ser
vices,” Hobson said.
SE1 is a high-achieving academic in
stitute of learning and social progress for
mostly minority children in north and
northeast Portland.
But Hopson said 1,000 low-incom e
children could be affected by the cuts
across the county. He said the re
duced services could include outreach
se rv ic e s from north P o rtla n d to
Gresham and cuts at Gresham High
School, Ockley Green and Tubman
Middle schools in north and northeast
Portland.
The proposed cuts are not part of a
public budget process being led by Com
mission Chair Diane Linn, bu, were made
public las, week in a press release by the
three commissioners who have collec
tively and repeatedly opposed Linn on
other issues.
C om m issioners Lisa Naito, Maria
Rojode Steffey and Serena Cruz Walsh
called the cuts adm inistrative to create
a “leaner and m eaner” SUN program
that would put emphasis on after school
“com ponents that are proven to meet
the needs o f children."
The trio, which has the m ajority on
continued
on page A3
Listening Sessions Acknowledge Profiling
Police, activists and residents share testimonials
by S arah B lount
T he P ortland O bserv er
A listening session on racial profiling
didn’t end with a stalemate, but rather in a
rare state: Local residents and police offic
ers didn't engage in heated debate, and both
groups got a honest explanation of why
people do the things they do.
The emotional two-hour meeting June 8,
par, of a five part-series organized by the
advocacy group Oregon Action and led by
Open Meadows Middle School students,
managed to break through the surface of
accusations, frustration and denial. A group
of about 50 gathered a, the north Portland
school to share their personal experiences.
Collectively, the various accounts showed
that for many people of color, police en
counters are often unjust and unnecessary.
Conversely, the session allowed police of
ficers to explain how policy, administration
and instinct influence their actions.
O ne sp eak er, M ichael C huol o f
Vancouver, said that while walking near his
school in downtown Portland one day, po
lice stopped him because he fit the descrip
tion of another man. The officers confis
cated all of his U.S. identification expect his
Green Card.
photo by I saiah
B o , ie / T he P ortland O bserver
Police officers and residents share their own often battling perceptions of racial profiling, during a community listening
session held June 8 at Open Meadows Middle School.
To this day he doesn't have the ID, he
said.
Acting Police Rosie Sizer acknowledged
that police do make mistakes, including her.
Sizertold her own story of racial profiling:
a man fit a certain description, but after
detaining and interrogating him and finding
a clean record, he was released. Afterward,
Sizer, who said she was surprised he’d never
been arrested, thought to herself ‘you can’t
judge a b<M»k by its cover'.
Jo Ann Bowman, Oregon Action’s Asso-
ciate Director, said the listening sessions,
which began last month, have been very
successful, driven by last month’s data re
leased by the police bureau, indicating racial
continued
on page A J