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Committed to Cultuml Diversity
Volume XXXVI. N um ber 4 0
LWeek in
The Review
Wednesday • October II. 2006
Z oo W orkers A p ologize
Nuclear ¡¿last Condemned
Chin;-, agreed Tuesday that North
Korea must be punished fortest­
ing a nuclear device, but sought
to soften a U.S. and Japanese
sanctions plan that it said would
be too crushing for its impover­
ished ally.
Fire Explodes on U.S. Base
Fire broke out at an ammunition
dump at a U.S. base in southern
Baghdad on Tuesday night, caus­
ing a series of explosions that
rocked the capital, the U.S. mili­
tary said.
The Oregon
Zoo train car­
ries passengers
between the
animal park
and Washington
Park.
Baseball Legend Dead at 94
F rien d s and
s tra n g e rs
g a th e re d at
th e
N egro
Leagues Base­
ball Museum
in
K ansas
City, Mo. to
m ourn
the
loss and cel­
ebrate the life of John Jordan
“Buck” O ’Neil, adapper, gregari­
ous man who came toembody the
story o f the N egro Leagues.
O 'N eil died on Friday at age 94.
See story, page A5.
photo itv S ean
O’C onnor /
Tut P ortland O bserv ek
MLK Papers Find Home
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s
78th birthday in January will fea­
ture a gift to the city of Atlanta;
the first public viewing of more
than 10,000 of his documents,
notes and other personal items.
Pieces of the King Collection were
put on the market after King’s
widow, Coretta Scott King, died
in February.
Recalled Lettuce Tested
C alifornia lettuce recalled over
E. coli fears tested negative for
a som etim es deadly strain of
the bacteria, company officials
said Tuesday. The Nunes com ­
pany ordered the voluntary re­
call after irrigation w ater tested
positive for E. coli. But follow ­
up testing determ ined it wasn't
the pathogenic strain o f the
bacteria.
Diamond Worth $12 Million
T he b ig ­
g est d ia ­
mond to be
found in 13
years, the
6 0 3 -c a ra t
“ L e s o th o
P r o m is e ”
was sold on Monday at auction
for more than $12 million and is
expected to fetch in excess of $20
million when it is cut into a large
heart-shaped diamonds and sev­
eral smaller stones.
Democrats Gain in Polls
Polls out four weeks be lore Elec­
tion Day showed Democrats
wielding a solid lead in the race
to control Congress, sending
Republicans who now control
the legislature scrambling.
Director assures that zoo
is welcoming for all
S arah B lcmjnt
T he P ortland O bserver
by
A nim als m ay not discrim inate, but tw o recent
actions at the O regon Z oo have put em ployees on
notice for actions considered racially offensive.
T he m ost recent incident was exposed last m onth
w hen the z o o ’s train engineer Ken L auderback
issued a public apology to all zoo staff after he and
a co -w o rk er staged a photograph that m ade the zoo
train look like it was part o f the old C ivil W ar South.
T he photo o f the tw o m en, w hich included Rebel
flags and the train holding the nam e G eneral Lee on
the side, caused sparks, even though it was d is­
played in a m aintenance building not designated for
the public.
“ B ecause another staff m em ber is originally from
the S outh, we thought it w ould be a nice keepsake
to recreate a view o f a locom otive from the C o n fed ­
erate side o f the co n flict," L auderback w rote in the
em ail apology on Sept. 29. "It was never our intent
to m ake any sort o f personal or political statem ent
by the use o f the C onfederate flag.”
Rebel flags have a history o f incensing m any
A m ericans, w ho believe it to be a relic o f the
n a tio n 's racist past no m atter w hat the context.
A ccording to the story first published in the
W illam ette W eek, L auderback w as given perm is-
continued
Vote Could Send Lawmakers Packing
The impact of
Measure 45 on state
minorities debated
by S arah B lount
T he P ortland O bserver
gan to fill open seats and create a m ore
diverse legislature.
W hen O regon voters last approved a
law establishing term lim its in statew ide
offices in 1992, the participation o f
w om en in the O regon H ouse peaked at
35 percent, Farago said. T he O regon
P ro p o n en ts o f M easure
45 on the N ov. 7 G eneral
E lection ballot w ant voters
to am end the O regon C o n ­
stitution to prevent veteran
law m akers from running for
re-election tim e after tim e,
allo w in g fresh new faces in
the O regon L egislature.
T he m easure could w ipe
out the only three A frican
A m erican representatives in
the 9 0 -m em b er L egislative
A sse m b ly o r c re a te new
o p en in g s for o ther black and
m i nori ty candidates, depend­ Jackie Winters
Margaret Carter
ing on the view o f political
insiders and outsiders.
If M e a su re 45 p a sse s,
state representatives will be
restricted to serve for three
term s, a total o f six years;
and state senators will be
restricted to serve tw o term s,
a total o f eight years. A lav;
m ak er could only serve 14
Suprem e C ourt struck dow n that term
y ears total in both houses.
lim its law in 2002.
Paul F a ra g o o f the national organiza­
"S ince term lim its w ere rem oved,
tion U.S. T erm Lim its, the main backer
participation
has dipped to 28 percent,"
o f the proposal, claim s the m easure will
Farago
said.
increase the likelihood o f m ore w om en
Senate President Pro T em pore M ar­
and m inorities in the state Legislature.
garet
C a rte r o f north and northeast
He argues that frequent and regular
Portland
m ade history as the first A fri­
open -seat elections benefit previously
underrep resen ted groups like younger can A m erican w om an elected to the
adults, w om en and m inorities, w ho be- O reg o n L e g isla tiv e A ssem bly. Sen.
C arter served in the state H ouse in 1984
and w as then elected to the Senate,
w here she has served since 2000. She
faces being forced out w ith ju st tw o
years left on her term.
M easure 45 w ould also affect Sen.
A velG ordly, w hose l()-year, three-term
tenure at the Senate w ould also expire
lim its are the L eague o f W om en V oters
in O regon and the O regon A FL -C IO .
G ordly is against M easure 45 for a
num ber o f reasons. As a 15-year vet­
eran. she says it takes tim e to learn the
legislative process and to build support
before law s can be enacted.
G ordly spent nearly a d e ­
cade to build a co nsensus for
SB 3(M). titled E xpanded O p ­
tions. T he bill, w hich w as
passed in 2005, provides o p ­
portunities for eligible high
school ju n io rs and seniors to
take p o st-secondary classes
at O regon public com m unity
colleges, colleges and un iv er­
sities.
G ordly had planned to m ake
this her last term in the L eg is­
lature regardless o f the term
lim its m easu re, leav in g by
choice to devote m ore tim e to
AvelGordly
her w ork w ithin the D epart­
ment o f Black Studies at P ort­
land Slate U niversity. She said
she ran fo ra th ird term in 2004
to accom plish State Bills 300
and 301, the latter a deadly
force bill she began to draft in
1995.
"T he expanded options bill
- Oregon State Senator Avel Gordly
w ould have been dropped. I'm
in 2008, m aking her ineligible to run for very clear about that," G ordly said.
the S enate again o r for the H ouse, "T hese initiatives require cham pions.
w here she also served three term s.
It's one thing to be a ch eerlead er, but
Sen. Jackie W inters, the o ther A fri­ you need som eone w ho is ag gressive."
can A m erican law m aker, is running for
G ordly agrees that m in o rities are
re-election from the Salem area this underrepresented in state legislature,
N ovem ber. She w ould be ineligible for but it s the D e m ix ra tic and R epublican
another run if she w ins re-election, h a v ­ Party p rix e ss, she says, not term length
ing been elected to the S enate in 2002
that is flaw ed in its failure to recru it and
after serving tw o term s in the H ouse.
c o n tin u e d y f on p a g e .46
Joining the opposition against term
Both parties have failed to aggressively recruit
and promote candidates o f color. Future candidates
will come in other ways, and we'll see candidates
who have ties to their own communities.
I
on page A6
t