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nF P n c o e ’
‘City of
Roses
‘P i t v
P c Established
F o k iic h rsrl in
in IQ 7D
1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXVII, Number
.Week in
The Review
War Kills 3,000 Troops
As 2006 cam e
to an end, the
to ll o f U .S .
troops in Iraq
hit 3,000 dead,
an unw elcom e
m ilesto n e for
President G eorge W. Bush. S ee
sto ry, p a g e A 2.
M/iA/iA/
n n rtIa n rln h ^ p rv p
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • January 3, 2 00 7
Farewell to a President
A military honor
guard carries the
casket o f former
President Gerald R.
Fordin Washington,
D.C. (AP photo)
Police Charged in Deaths
T
Seven New O rleans policem en
charged in a deadly bridge shoot
ing in the chaotic afterm ath of
H urricane Katrina turned them
selves in T uesday on charges o f
m urder or attem pted murder. T wo
people died and four people were
w ounded in the Sept. 4, 2005,
shootings. S ee story, p a g e A 2
, 1
i
L
1
1
Sliding into the Gulf
A new report by scientists study
ing L o uisiana's sinking coast
says the land is not ju st sinking,
it's sliding ever so slow ly into the
G ulf o f Mexico. The findings may
add a kink to plans to build bigger
and better levees to protect New
O rleans and Cajun bayou cu l
ture.
James Brown Goodbye
T housands of
peo p le danced
and sang in the
streets outside
the A pollo T he
ater in a raucous celebration
T hursday o f Jam es B row n’s life. I
The G randfather o f Soul s body
was displayed on the N ew York
stage w here he m ade his 1956
debut, one o f three funeral cel
ebrations after h is death at age
73. S ee F ocu s, p a g e B 2
Miracles Club Support
Facing money w oes and eviction
from th eir spot on N ortheast
Martin LutherK ing Jr. Boulevard,
the M iracles C lub has won a
$495,000 grant from the city to
keep their doors open to those
recovering from drugs and alco
hol. However, they likely will not
rem ain in their current location.
S ee sto ry, p a g e A 3
Denver Player Killed
D enver co rner-
back Darrent Wil
liam s w as killed
by a single gun
shot w ound to the
neck, according
to a medical exam iner. Police had
no m otive and no indication why
W illiams was targeted in thedrive-
by shooting, w hich occurred af
ter a party on New Y ear's Eve.
Demos’ Goals Favored
capital's portion o f the state funeral
for the 38th president, before Ford's
interm ent W ednesday in G rand
"In President Ford, the world Rapids, Mich.
The elder President Bush, open
saw the b est o f A m eric a and
ing
the eulogies, called Ford a
Am erica found a man w hose char
acter and leadership w ould bring "Norman Rockwell painting com e
calm and healing to one o f the most to life" and pierced the solemnity o f
divisive m om ents in our nation's the occasion by cracking gentle
history." President Bush said in his jokes about Ford's reputation as an
errant golfer. He said Ford knew his
eulogy.
T he elab o rate service at the g olf gam e w as getting belter when
W ashington N ational C athedral he began hitting few er spectators.
Form er President Clinton and
w as the final assem b ly in the
Ford’s character praised
(A P ) — T he nation h o n o red
G erald R. Ford on T uesday in a
high-pow ered fanfare for the co m
mon man w ho was sum m oned to
the presidency in the W atergate
crisis. He was rem em bered for what
he didn't have — pretensions, a
schem ing agenda, a great gol f gam e
— as much as for the sm all-tow n
authenticity he brought to high
office.
form er playing to the gallery,"
K issinger said. "Gerald Ford had
the virtues o f small town America."
A nother eulogist, N BC new s
m an T o m B ro k aw , sa id F ord
brought to office "no dem ons, no
hidden agenda, no hit list or acts o f
vengeance," an oblique reference
to the air of subterfuge that sur
rounded Nixon in his final days.
In his homily, Episcopalian m in
ister Robert G. Certain touched on
c o n tin u e d
on p a g e A 2
Taunting Saddam Fuels Mideast Anger
Probe ordered after
execution video surfaces
(A P) - Iraq’s prim e m inister on Tuesday ordered an
investigation into the conduct o f Saddam Hussein's
execution in a bid to learn w ho am ong the w itnesses
taunted the form er Iraqi leader in the last m inutes of his
life, then leaked a cell phone video.
The video contained audio o f some w itnesses taunt
ing Saddam with chants o f "M uqtada" and o f the form er
leader responding that his torm entors were being un
manly. It surfaced on A l-Jazeera television and the
Internet late Saturday, the day Saddam was hanged.
The taunts referred to M uqtada al-Sadr. the radical
Shiite cleric w h o isa main backer o f Prime Minister Nouri
al-M aliki, the Shiite leader w ho pushed for a quick
execution o f Saddam.
A l-Jazeera said when it broadcast the video that it
was exclusive to them. The pictures appeared on the
W eb at about the sam e tim e.
Sami al-A skar,aclose al-M aliki political adviser, told
T he A ssociated Press that the Iraqi leader had "ordered
Iraqi executioners put a noose around Saddam
Hussein's neck.
the formaiion o f an investigative com m ittee in the Interior
M inistry t. identify w ho chanted slogans inside the execution
cham ber and who film ed the execution and sent it to the
the disrespectful chanting was clearly audible, but also
because it showed Saddam ’s death as he dropped through
the gallow s floor and then sw ung by his neck, his eyes
open and neck tw isted dram atically to his right.
The clandestine video portrayed a much different
scene than the official tape o f the execution, which was
muted. It did not show Saddam dropping to his death.
M unqith al-Faroon, an Iraqi prosecutor whose job
was to convict Saddam Hussein o f genocide, was one o f
the small group o f w itnesses at the hanging and d e
fended Saddam 's right to die in peace.
He said he knew that "two top officials ... had their
mobile phones with them" at the execution, although
other w itnesses had their phones taken away before
hand.
Saddam ’s execution and the way it was conducted
have provoked anger am ong Sunni M uslims, who have
taken to the streets in recent days in mainly peaceful
dem onstrations in Sunni enclaves across the country.
On M onday, a crow d o f Sunni mourners in Sam arra
m arched to a bom b-dam aged Shiite shrine and were
media."
The video was particularly inflam m atory not only because
c o n tin u e d
on p a g e A 2
KBOO Harassment Case All But Ignored
Volunteer challenges station conduct
People overw helm ingly support J
tw o o f the D em ocrats' top goals
— increasingthe m inim um wage i
and m aking it easier to buy pre
scription drugs from other coun
tries — as the party takes control ’
B y S arah B lount
T hl P ortland O bserver
o f C ongress for the first tim e in a
dozen years.
photo by
M ark W asiiington /T he P ortland O bserver
Tyrone Hines, a former volunteer at KBOO Radio, wonders why his
claim of sexual harassment from a volunteer coordinator went unan
swered and unsettled.
I
Vice President Dick C heney joined
in the laughter.
Henry K issinger, Ford's secre
tary o f state, paid tribute to Ford's
leadership in achieving nuclear
arm s control with the Soviets, in the
first political agreem ent between
Israel and Egypt and in helping to
bring m ajority rule to southern A f
rica, am ong other achievem ents
often overlooked in the m odest
man.
"In his understated way he did
his duty as a leader, not as a per-
Tyrone Hines was interested in recording
the personal history o f Portland's elderly
com m unity m em bers, so he signed up for a
volunteer training program at KBOO Radio
to gain technical experience needed to pro
duce his own program.
Before his training was com plete, how
ever, Hines says his instructor, a female
volunteer, sexually harassed him. Hines said
he only wanted an apology from the woman,
but now plans to file a com plaint after K B(X )
and station m anager A rthur Davis took no
action to resolve the issue.
During his first day o f training in O ctober,
H ines,a58-year-old African A merican man,
said his instructor approached him after the
session and asked him todinner. He said that
during that meal, and another one a tew days
later, she shared details o f her personal life,
com plim ented his “radio voice" and offered
to have sex with him.
Hines said when he denied the proposi
tion her praises imm ediately turned into crit i -
cism and insults. He says he d id n 't recognize
the incident as sexual harassm ent until a few
days later, when he called regarding the next
step in his training.
O ver the phone, the instructor told him
she co u ld n 't hear him and that she would call
back, which Hines says never happened.
A week later Hines explained the incident
to K BO O volunteer coordinator Ani Haines,
w ho told him the station takes sexual harass
ment very seriously, but since they were in
the middle o f a fundraising event she would
contact him later.
Hines called again, in N ovem ber after the
fund drive, and was put into contact with
Davis, who was interim station m anager at
the tim e, w ho supplied H ines with the
station's written policy on sexual harass
ment.
Hines and Davis met. along with K B(X )
board secretary Becky Chiao, w ho is also a
practicing attorney. Davis also met one-on-
one with the volunteer instructor.
During a second meet i ng. Da vis told Hines
the m atter was a personal issue betw een the
tw o parties, and suggested they work it out
on their own.
Davis acknow ledges the m eetings and
his suggestion.
“ I ca n 't go into specifics," Davis said,
"but I will say we interview ed both parties
c o n tin u e d
on p a g e A3