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Volume XXXVII, Number 12
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The Review
PGE Worker Wins Lottery
A Portland General Electric worker
stepped forward Monday toclaim
the $182.7 million Powerball jack­
pot. Oregon Lottery officials said
Daniel Gannon. 60, of Milwaukie
matched all five numbers (7-17-44-
47-54) and the Powerball number
of 3 in Saturday's multi-state lot­
tery game. Gannon and his wife
Candy bought $5 worth of lottery
tickets at a local Safeway store.
Disney’s Black Princess
The Frog Prin­
cess w ill be
Disney's first film
featuring an Af­
rican-A m erican
p rin c e ss. T he
animated movie
will focus on Maddy, a young
New O rleans princess. Randy
Newman is currently writing the
score for the film. Newman wrote
songs for Disney’s “Toy Story,”
"A Bugs Life,” “Toy Story 2,”
“Monsters Inc.” and “Cars."
Infant Death Investigated
Portland police are investigating
the death of an 18-month- old in­
fant whose body was discovered
Sunday morning in the 39(X)block
of Northeast 12th Avenue. An
autopsy failed to determine if the
little boy’s death was homicide or
SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syn­
drome) also known as crib death.
The b o y ’s great-u n cle, Mike
Richardson said the boy was his
usual happy self before being put
to bed Saturday night.
Officers Charged in Bell Case
Three New York City Police who
fired shots at Sean Bell's car out­
side of a nightclub turned them­
selves in ahead of their arraign­
ment on manslaughter charges
Monday. One officerallegedly fired
3 1 shots and other fired seven. Bell,
23, was shot at his bachelor party
Nov. 25 outside of a strip club in
Queens. See story on Page A2.
Pet Deaths from Food
One dog and nine cats died from
kidney failure after eating contami­
nated pet food, but the toll is ex­
pected to rise. Food and Drug
Administration officials suspect
contamination from wheat gluten
in pet foods sold by Menu Foods,
which announced a recall Friday
of its wet "cuts and gravy" dog
and cat food, including such
brands as Eukanuba, lams and
Science Diet.
B.I.G Richer after Death
Just three days
before the 10-
year anniversary
of the death of
Notorious B.I.G,
Bad Boy Enter­
tainment released greatest hitsCD.
Ihe compilation of songs recorded
before the death of Brooklyn bred
B.I.G., aka Christopher Wallace
premiered at number one on Bill­
boards Pop charts.
___ j In in-70
Established
1970
.......
...... __________
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • March 21, 2007
G r o w in g D is c o n te n t
On fourth
anniversary
of invasion
A aron C lark
M arking the fourth anniver­
sary o f the invasion o f Iraq, an
estim ated 15,000 dem onstrators
crow ded into a grassy stretch of
d o w ntow n and then m arched
through the city on Sunday to
call for an end to the war.
At the end of the hourlong march
a small group broke off for a series
of scuffles with police and a stand­
off that lasted into the evening. At
least 15 protesters were arrested.
Fami lies,' students and older citi­
zens participated in the earlier dem­
onstration, with scores of officers
on bicycles and on foot keeping
watch.
Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi and hu­
man rights activist, told the crowd
that only a few Iraqis collaborate
with U.S. forces, so the war is
now between the occupiers and
alm ost everyone else in the coun­
try.
The w ar "is happening be­
cause o f the occupation, not in
spite o f it," said Jarrar, who left
Iraq after Saddam Hussein was
toppled and now lives in the
United States.
"There are Iraqis who can re­
build their country." he said. "They
don't need someone to come from
thousands of miles away to tell
them how to treat their neighbor.
They are the only ones who can
end this violence."
Steve Weiss of Salem accompa­
nied a group o f people with chil­
dren whoare in the military and said
by
photo Bt
N ia D iyg /T he P orhand O bserver
A peace march estimated at 15,000 fills downtown Portland streets on Sunday marking the fourth anniversary of the Iraq War.
*
his 18-year-old son will leave for
Iraq April 11.
"Kids go in for all sorts of rea­
sons," he said. "I think physically
he's really well trained, but men­
tally, I think he has no idea what he
is getting into."
Susan Hay, a high school teacher
from Portland, marched with her'
two children and husband.
"This is a war to establish U.S.
hegemdfiy." said Hay. "This is a
war to be able to consume every­
one else's resources."
Ann Huntwork. 75, manned a
stall where peace organizations
gave w orkshops on topics such
as "verbal nonviolent direct ac­
tion" and said she belonged to a
group o f women who have pro­
tested at m ilitary recruiting cen­
ters.
"We're exploiting our age," she
said.
U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an
early critic of the war, addressed
the crowd before the march.
"Missing the chance to build a
more coherent foreign policy is
wrong. W ecan't just be right, we’ve
got to end this w ar," said
Blumenauer.
As the march along 24 blocks
ended, agroup o f young people led
police on bicycles, horses and
motorcycles through downtown.
A few of the protesters wore black
and called themselves anarchists.
A few wore the green of the Univer­
sity of Oregon.
A few scuffles broke out. police
used pepper spray at one point,
continued
on pnge AS
I '
Roosevelt Reflects on Racial Taunts
School not
accustomed to
hateful displays
by S arah B i . oiint
T he P ortland O bserver
The Roosevelt boys basketball
team received three surprises this
year - earning the school’s first
state basketball title since 1949.
seeing their leader Robert Key
named 5 A league coach of the year
in the Portland Interscholastic
League, and weathering an ugly
display of bad sportsmanship -
displayed toward them on and off
the court - at the state playoffs held
two weeks ago in Eugene.
From March 7 -10 Roosevelt stu­
dents, faculty and the basketball
team said they endured threats,
racist taunts and obscene gestures
from four Eugene area high schools.
Eugene School District athletic di­
rector Pat Latimer is conducting an
investigation into 64 allegations
with private investigator Dan Davis.
Latimer said they are about three
weeks away from a conclusion. He
added that there was no violent
activity, rather general perceptions
of inappropriate behavior.
Roosevelt Principal Deborah
Peterson stated that white female
students called black female stu­
dents from her school “whores"
after the March 7 game against
Eugene's Churchill High School.
Peterson also alleged someone
yelled at her "Principal, we're going
to burn your school down.”
latter, on Friday night. March 1(1,
photo by
M \ rk W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Roosevelt Coach Robert Key (from left) with Sophomore Larry Richards and Senior Willie Holloway
reflect on the racial taunts the team endured during the state 5A basketball tournament in Eugene.
Key and his team endured more of never experienced that. I felt totally
the h atred at an O u tback disrespected."
The slurs even surprised Key
Steakhouse restaurant in Spring-
words used by grown men that
field.
Many of the students were not offered him “a reality check."
"There were different terms I
accustomed to some of the names
they were called or the tactics their haven't heard before." he said.
"When you get called ‘porch mon­
peers displayed.
"One kid pulled down his pants key’ and ‘coon’ - that’s hate. That
and started showing his backside." comes from the household."
Many students and parents from
said senior Willie Holloway. “I've
Portland think the playoffs Eugene
location - a far cry from the diver­
sity of their north Portland school
- only aggravated racial tension.
“I'd like to see the state tourna­
ment in a central area, in the inner
city," Key said. “I don’t know why
it happened, but the Coliseum was
the thing back in the day."
Basketball playoffs have been
held at the University of Oregon
since 2004. Portland's Memorial
Coliseum hosted the tournament
for 37 years prior to that, according
to OSAA representative Steve
Walker. He said UO athletic direc­
tor Bill Moose offered them a pack­
age we couldn’t refuse, but 2008
marks the final year of the five-year
contract. There is a possibility play­
offs could move back to Portland,
but “any talks with folks in Portland
area haven't occurred yet." Walker
said.
After such a high profile inci­
dent Key said counselors have met
w ith his team, and a March 15 game
at South Eugene High School ended
more positively, even though they
lost.
Key has moved on from the inci­
dent. jumping right into spring's
baseball season as coach of the
junior varsity boys team.
Mean whi le. Latimer, who was a
principal before becoming athletic
director, said the district takes each
allegation very seriously. He said
he is disappointed in the lack of
sportsmanship, but acknow ledged
there is an clement of curiosity on
behalf of his students.
"The minute you have a groupof
people come in that are physically
different, whether in color or size, it
creates some curiosity." he said.
“It'sa ‘why are you guys here’ kind
of thing."
On March 22 the Eugene district
will meet to discuss a better under­
standing of the outside commu­
nity.
“W e're doing what we need to
do to make sure this doesn't occur
again," he said.