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