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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2007)
Oscar Recognition Black actors break records fo r nominees See Inside, page B6 ‘City of Roses’ ^ìnrt lattò © b u rn e r Established in 1970 Volume XXXVII, Number 4 www.portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity Wednesday • Januaty 24, 2007 Week ¡n rhe Review Black Coaches Reach Top U.S. S e n . Hillary Clinton For the first time in Super Bowl history two African American head coaches will be on one of the sporting world’s biggest stages. Leading the Chicago Bears will be Lovie Smith, who became the first black head coach to reach the title game Sunday. A few hours later, Tony Dungy coached Indianapo lis to the Super Bowl. See story, Clinton: ‘In it to Win’ Hillary, Obama early frontrunners page A2. Iraq Bombings Deadly Twin bombings Monday tore through a busy Baghdad market catering to Shiite Muslims during a religious festival. A market also was attacked north o f the capital, and police said as many as 100 people died in the renewed cam paign blamed on Sunni Muslim insurgents. photo by M ark W ashington AT hf . P ortland O bserver S/r Millage, the 1 5 year-old ta se re d by Portland police la st m onth, a tte n d s a prayer vigil to bring an e n d to police violence. Millage s au tism m a d e it hard for him to co m m unicate with the officers involved in his beating. Portland Soldier Killed AU.S. Army sol dier from Port land was killed S a tu rd a y in combat in Iraq. Sgt. Sean Patrick F e n n e rty w as struck by a roadside bomb in Al Anbar Province. He graduated from Jesuit High School in 1999. See story, page A2. Insurgents Claim Hit An al-Qaida-linked coalition of Iraqi Sunni insurgents claimed Monday that its fighters shot down an American military heli copterinacrash that killed 12U.S. soldiers. The U.S. mi litary has said the cause of the crash has not been determined. Bush Approval Hits Bottom President Bush was preparing to deliver his S ta te o f the Union address Tuesday night to a nation that's strongly op posed to his plan for increasing troops in Iraq and deeply unhappy with his performance as president. According to a CBS News poll, Bush’s approval rating has fallen to just 28 percent, a new low. Chavez Scolds U.S. V e n e z u e la President Hugo Chavez told U.S. officials to "Go to h e ll, g rin gos!" and called C o n d o le e z z a Rice "missy" on his weekly radio and TV show Sunday, lashing out at Washington for what he called unacceptable meddling in Ven ezuelan affairs. I ; S Os Police violence vigil Justice rally is call to action A prayer vigil brought ministers, activ ists and families with children to Union Station in downtown Portland on Satur day seeking justice for recent victims of police brutality. The Albina Ministerial Alliance, the group of African American clergy, orga nized the gathering at Northwest Hoyt and B roadw ay. T he lo catio n was prompted by two incidents which called into question the protocol followed by Portland police officers. On Dec. 5, Portland police beat and tasered no less than 13 times Sir Millage, a 15-year-old boy who has autism. Offic- The location was prompted by two incidents which called into question the protocol followed by Portland police officers. ers said Millage was uncooperative and they feared he had a weapon. In September Portland officers beat James Chasse Jr., an unarmed white man suffering from schizophrenia who got into a quarrel with police while being ques tioned. Chasse died from injuries in police custody shortly after. Vigil speakers focused on the City Council resolution passed in 2004, which continued on page A3 (AP) - Starting her first full week as a presidential contender, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed confidence she can win the 2(X)8 Democratic nomination. Clinton said she decided to run after doing a "thorough review" of the challenges facing the country. She said she is the best candidate for the job and is eager to begin campaigning. "It'll be a great contest with a lot of talented people and I'm very confident. I’m in. I'm in it to win and that's what I intend to do," she said. The former first lady was vying to be the first woman and first presi dential spouse to win the White House. Polls show her leading a crowded field of Democratic candi dates that includes Illinois Sen. Barack Obama to become the first black president. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Clinton is the favorite o f 41 percent of Demo crats, more than double the sup port of any of her rivals. D espite abundant strengths, Clinton remains a polarizing figure to many voters and faces ques tions about her ability to win a general election. Her position on the Iraq war — she voted to autho- continued on page A 6 Breaking Barriers in the Trades Apprenticeship opened doors by L ee P eri . mas T he P ortland O bserver Six y e a rs ago, as M arcy Wickman was glancing through the Portland Observer, she noticed an announcement that applications were being accepted for women apprentices in the building trades industry. “It completely changed my life,” Wickman told the Portland Devel opment Commission at a recent meeting. Until then she had worked for 13 years as office m anager for a physician at Emanuel H ospital’s pediatric neurology clinic. “He had paid me a very fair wage, but he was getting older and I knew he was considering retirem ent,” she re c a lls. "B ein g a sin g le mother, that made me nervous.” She decided to follow up on the o pportunity. W ickman originally though, that she would try for a position with the International Brother hood o f Electrical W orkers but, on the advice o f her father, a w elder, she instead becam e a steam fitter, concerned with the installation o f non-plumbing pip ing. She lucked out, joining an apprenticeship program that is open only once every tw o years. photo by M atthew G inn /T he P ortland O bserver In her work a s a stea m fitter, Marcy W ickman u s e s m ach in es like this Georg Fischer Fusion M achine to con n ect lengths o f plastic tubing u s e d in industrial locations like Intel's Ronler Acres a n d Aloha site s. It w asn't always easy. “The sheer lack o f women is a barrier," she says, although she adds that she was “very well accepted and treated" by the male workers she encountered. "There was the cul- ture shock of going from an office nothing. I had spent so many with just a handful of people ,o a years behind a desk where my job site with 2,(MM) workers. I wen, only exercise was walking to my from being an office manager, with car at the end of the day. I was a job I knew like the back o f my working overtime, going toschool hand, to ajo b where a, first I knew a, night, and still trying to be a I good mom. There were days when I didn’t think I could make it.” Somehow she managed, and she is happy with her new life. H a v in g re c e iv e d her journeym an’s papers in 2005, she now makes more than $34 an hour in take home pay. “I'm a morning person," W ickm an says. “ We start early, and for me that’ s great. Wc end by 3 p.m., and I feel as if I have a whole day to m yself.” She finds it a relief not to have as much public contact as her previ ous jo b dem anded. “ I take pride in my work, and I like the chal lenge o f doing som ething new, som ething you d id n 't think you could d o .” She is co n stan tly moving from one jo b site to an other, hut finds she likes the "va riety and change. I loved the six people I worked with for years and years, but I really love the brothers and sisters I've me, on the job; th ey ’re like an extended f a m ily ." S he w as fo rtu n a te enough to have gotten steady work that allowed her to complete her apprenticeship quickly. She was one of the older appren tices in her class, but not the oldest. “We had one woman over 40,” Wickman says. "If you’re physi cally able to do the work, age isn't a barrier, and it doesn't require great strength." continued on page A 6 I