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Rude, Crude
and Hilarious
Portland braces fo r
racially charged comic
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See M etro, inside
Sum m er com es a bit early this
year as tem ps inch tow ard 90
W ednesday, and the rest o f the
w eek looks just as warm with no
clouds. T he w eather is then ex
pected to cool back into the low
80s as the w eekend approaches.
Anti-War Mom Quits Role
C in d y
Sheehan,
the soldier’s
m other who
g a lv a n iz e d
an anti-w ar
m ovem ent
w ith
her
m onth long
protest o u t
sid e P re s i
dent B ush’s
ranch, says sh e’s done with the
movement after an exhausting two
years. Sheehan becam e a national
voice against the Iraq W ar after
her son, Casey, was ki I led in com
bat in 2004.
Pressure on Sudan
Drug Regulator Sentenced
Z heng X iaoyu, C h in a 's fo rm e r
to p drug reg u la to r, w as se n
ten ced to d eath T uesd ay in an
u n u su a lly h arsh p u n ish m e n t
fo r taking bribes to approve
su b standard m edicines, in c lu d
ing an an tib io tic b lam ed fo r at
le a st 10 d e a th s. A d d re ssin g
food co n c ern s, the g o v ern m en t
has also an n o u n ced p lans for
its first recall system for u nsafe
p ro d u c ts.
Antibodies Fight Bird Hu
A n tib o d ies from hum an su rv i
vors o f the avian flu ap p e ar to
o ffe r m ice p ro tec tio n w hen im
m unized before being ex p o sed
to the virus, and som e o f the
a n tib o d ie s o ffe re d c o m p le te
p ro tectio n from d eath , a c c o rd
ing to do cto rs from S w itzerland
and the U .S. R e search ers are
o p tim istic the an tib o d ies co u ld
also provide a clin ic al b enefit
to hum ans.
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The Portland Rose Festival kicks o ff its
100th year on Thursday, May 31, when
visitors pour downtown to the Waterfront
Village for carnival rides and games of
chance. The festival continues at nightfall
the next evening with a fireworks display
over the Waterfront Village, followed by a
week o f parades and events and ending
with the Queen's Coronation and Grand
Floral Parade on Saturday, June 9. For a
schedule o f events visit
www.rosefestival.org.
Meals on Wheels Keeps Rolling
by S arah B lount
T he P ortland O bserver
M eals on W heels coordinator
M onique H edm ann m akes one last
go around the M artin Luther King
Jr. Loaves and Fishes C enter in
northeast Portland, preparing her
m orning delivery route and making
sure volunteers are ready, too.
This particular Friday is busier
than usual because the three-day
M em orial Day w eekend, but as
H edm ann loads the m eals for her
fam iliar route she faces her biggest
challenge o f the day: fitting two
large coolers and several sm aller
bags into her father’s sporty, purple
hatchback instead o f the truck she
usually drives.
From that point on her day goes
fairly smoothly, with m any rew ard
ing m om ents that com e from ensur
ing people are well fed and get to
see a friendly face. H edm ann’s few
m inutes spent with each senior can
save them the often im possible task
o f preparing their ow n lunch. But
just as im portantly, when she drops
by she is often the only person
they’ll see that day.
H edm ann first jo in ed the senior
center a few m onths ago as a volun
teer driver. Having already nurtured
an interest in senior health. M eals
on W heels further exposed her to
thedaily struggle im m obile seniors
must face when managing various
ailments.
Soon she was offered the volun-
teercoordinator position, where.she
~
photo by S arah
£
S
£
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B lount ZT he P ortland O bserver
Meals on Wheels
the hot meal prog
tor Monique Hedmann visits John Houpt at his home in northeast Portland. Houpt. 84. found out about
2? s past year. Meals on Wheels allows him to eat a greater variety o f foods, he said.
h elp s e n s u re th a
hom ebound senior
northeast Portland
weekday (another
viduals who eat thi
center).
“The m ission ol
tion is no senior v
hunger o r social
~
200
-c~ and
eacb
indi
~ = it the
niza-
ence
she
said.
land State University. However,
Hedmann says she becam e pas she'll be leaving Loaves and Fishes
sionate about senior health as a and Portland soon to attend g radu
child, growing up around many older ate sehool at Colum bia University
family members. Now, having just in New York, w here this fall she’ll
turned 24, she describes herself as pursue a M asters in Public Health
an old soul. Most recently in Los with a concentration in aging.
A ngeles, H edm ann moved north
H edm ann will learn to address
and began taking classes at Port- some o f the central challenges faced
by to d ay 's elderly population. But
her education isn 't only about the
seniors o f today; baby boom ers are
approaching retirem ent age. and
Hedm ann wants to address that
transition as well.
“T he num ber o f hom ebound
continued
on page A6
Exploring Truths about Homelessness
Voices from
P o rtla n d ’s
Sisters of the Road
by L ee P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
o Q
Wednesday • May 30, 2007
Rose Festival
Kicks off
Thursday
Summer Heat Arrives!
P resident B ush T u esd ay b arred
30 S u d an ese c o m p a n ie s and
on e suspected o f tran sp o rtin g
w eapons to g o v ern m en t forces
in D arfu r from d oing b u sin ess
in the U .S., p ressu rin g S u d a n ’s
g o v e rn m e n t to sto p p o lic ie s
th a t h av e k ille d m o re th an
2 0 0 ,0 0 0 people and disp laced
2.5 million.
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
.Week in
The Review
T en A m erican so ld iers d ied in
ro ad sid e b o m bings and a h e li
co p te r crash on M em orial D ay,
the m ilitary rep o rted T uesd ay ,
m aking M ay the deadliest m onth
o f the y ear fo r U .S. tro o p s in
Iraq . T h e d e a th s ra ise d the
n u m b e ro f U.S. forces killed this
m onth to at least 112, a c c o rd
ing to an A s s o c ia te d P re ss
co u n t.
Local producer
pitches movie about
Meadowlark Lemon
r- . i i
Established in 1970
Volume XXXVII, Number 21
Soldiers’ Deaths
Mark Holiday
Globetrotter
Story
Rawtruths from Portland’shome-
less have turned into a dram atic
profile on life in Am erica in “Voices
from the S treet: T ru th s ab o u t
H om elessness from Sisters o f the
Road."
Jessica P. M orrell, her many as
sistants. and the m anagem ent and
staff o f P ortland's Sisters o f the
Road Cafe com piled and published
the book on why so many people
become homeless, what keeps th er
there, and what the experience o.
hom elessness is like.
Bolstered by som e 600 in-depth
interviews, the project was made
possible by a grant from the Port-
mny Nelson
,u
b ureau o f Housing and C om -
nunity Developm ent at the urging
o f City Commissioner Erik Sten. The
rcsultsare divided into topics: “C ir
c u m s ta n c e s
th a t
le a d
to
h o m e le s sn e ss." "F am ily b a c k
ground and childhood,” “ Interac
tions with the crim inal justice sys
tem ," "H om eless veterans," D an
gers and violence in street life,”
“ Barriers to finding work," “ Recov
ery issues."
As with many poverty issues,
one o f the reasons for the explosion
in hom elessness is the lack o f fund
ing on things that could prevent it.
G enny Nelson, Sisters o f the
Road founder, pointed out at las,
w eek's book singing event, that
since the Reagan adm inistration,
the federal governm ent has steadily
decreased funding for the develop
ment and maintenance o f public
housing. A nother writer and form er
homeless person, Lisa Gray (AKA
“Tiny), added, “Almost sim ulta
neously, there were sim ilar cuts to
mental health services and welfare."
Obtaining public services have
continued
on page A 2
I
photo by
P ortland S tate : U niv ersity V anguard
Various multicultural student groups meet to plan this week's
Roots Festival at Portland State University.
‘Roots Festival’ Finds its Groove
PSU plans
M ulticultural
celebration
bv R aymond R endi eman
T he P ortland O bserver
This tim e, the R ixeis Festival
d id n ’t bother with a $20.(XM) band.
The first ever m ulticultural ce l
ebration at Portland State U niver
sity cam e up short w hen it tried to
G ram m y-w inning Latin, hip hop
continued
on page A 6