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Volume XXXVII. Number 24
_. Week in
Thc Review
Smoking Ban Passes
A bill to snuff out smoking in all of
O regon’s bars, taverns, bingo
halls and bowling alleys is headed
for Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s desk
after winning final legislative ap­
proval Monday in the Oregon
Senate. The governor says he will
sign the measure, making all of
those establishments smoke-free
beginning in January 2009.
Jazz Great Collapses
77-year-old saxo-
phonist
O rnette
( olein.in.
.» a .
ered a pioneer of
"free ja z z ." col-
lapsed Sunday dur­
ing h is p e rfo rm a n c e at the
Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
in Manchester, Tenn. Coleman
was taken to a local hospital and
released later that night. He won
the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for music for
“Sound Grammar,” his first live
album decades.
Duke Case D.A. Lied
A judge suspended District At­
torney Mike Nifong on Tuesday
after the prosecutor was disbarred
for mishandling the Duke case, in
which three lacrosse players were
falsely accused of rape last year.
The North Carolina State Barcon-
cluded Nifong had lied to the court
about the indicted players and
their teammates, and withheldcriti-
cal DNA evidence.
___
Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • lune 20. 2007
Immigration Raid Breeds Fear
Churches, schools
scram ble to help
unintended victims
by R aymond R endleman
T he P ortland O bserver
A raid on undocumented produce workers in north
Portland has rippled fear and uncertainty beyond the
Hispanic community.
Schools and churches across Portland are working over­
time to help classmates and fellow parishioners affected by
the crackdown.
In the many neighborhoods interwoven with immigrant
families, the panic possibly hit hardest at Clarendon El­
ementary, a north Portland school where everyone knows
some of the children with parents arrested at last week’s
Fresh Del Monte Produce raid.
As Clarendon students and teachers piled boxes for its
move next fall to Portsmouth Middle School, the school’s
efforts for a smooth transition were cut short when it
became clear that more than a dozen parents and caretakers
wouldn’t be able to pick up their children.
“It breaks your heart when you find all these kids that
were crying, so we tried to support them in any way that we
could,” says Antonio Lopez, Clarendon’s principal.
Lopez had to find relatives for the students who had
parents and guardians under federal detention. He sent
some students home with teachers who volunteered to look
after the students until parents were freed from lock-up.
Students wait to go home from Clarendon Elementary in north Portland the day after an immigration raid that
impacted many o f their classmates. Some children became stranded when parents or caretakers were
arrested by immigration officials and had no one to pick them up.
The next day, more than 50 students were absent be­
cause other Clarendon families feared separation.
Lopez tried to assure the safety of undocumented fami­
lies at Clarendon, and churches tried to unite under the
protection of sanctuary.
Nine Firefighters Die
Development puts focus on livability
by S arah B lount
The agency meets regularly with
T he P ortland O bserver
a community advisory' group made
Historic North Interstate Avenue up of business and homeowners,
is many things to many people.
developers, TriMet and others with
For new residents, the corridor is a stake in the community, as well as
a convenient series of neighbor­ a technical advisory group discuss­
hoods with storefronts and light ing public safety and infrastruc­
rail transit. For businesses and de­ ture. The groups will ultimately
velopers it's an opportunity to tap bring about zoning changes that
into an area exploding with growth. will further shape the avenue.
Mosque Bomb Kills 75
The PDC is good at trying to
force things...but it doesn't mean
it's right fo r the community.
Local Deaths Reach 100
Bear Kills Camper
on page A6
Along Interstate
A Shiite imam says “sick souls”
bombed his mosque in central
Baghdad Tuesday. Authorities
say at least 75 people were killed
and more than 200hurt. The imam
says a truck bomb exploded as
worshippers were leaving after­
noon prayers.
An 11-year-old boy was dragged
screaming from his family’s tent
and killed by a black bear Sunday
night during a Father’s Day out­
ing in the Utah wilderness. W ild­
life officers led by hound dogs
killed the bear Monday.
continued
Mixed Bag
Nine firefighters died after a fire
swept through a furniture ware­
h o u se M onday e v e n in g in
Charleston, S.C., collapsing its roof
and throwing debris over about
two-dozen rescue workers. Two
employees in the building were
rescued from the fire.
35-year-old Sgt. 1 st Class Christo­
pher Dale Henderson o f Hil Isboro
died Sunday, becoming the I 00th
member of the U.S. military with
ties to Oregon or southwest Wash­
ington to perish in the Iraq and
Afghanistan wars. The Defense
Department reported at least 3,862
U.S. military deaths in Iraq, Af­
ghanistan, Kuwait and Pakistan
since late 2001.
Local religious leaders defended families that were di­
rectly affected and potentially vulnerable. Their churches
fielded hundreds of calls from people who wanted to help
— Willie Brown, interim executive director of
the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods
But for many long-time home-own­
ers, low-income residents and mi­
norities, this large segment of north
Portland may no longer be an
affordable place to call home.
The Portland Development Com­
mission is looking at zoning and
development plans along the corri­
dor. It wants to encourage and fa­
photo by S arah B i oi nt /T iie P ortland O bserver cilitate private and public invest­
Kevin Cronin o f the Portland Development Commission stands in front o f the Palms Motor Hotel, a ment, all while protecting the liv­
throwback to the days before 1-5 when North Interstate Avenue was a four-lane highway frequented ability of the many neighborhoods
by travelers. The PDC said the owners o f the Palms aren't interested in selling.. .yet, but the
that fall in and around Interstate
agency will encourage any new developers to keep the colorful sign.
Avenue.
Good in the Neighborhood
Stage set for multicultural music and food festival
by L ee P eri . man
T he P ortland O bserver
Once a promotion and show­
case for the inner north and north-
cast community. Good in the Neigh-
borhiMxl keeps growing as a Rose
Festival sanctioned event.
The celebration opens, as it has
for the past three years, with a kick­
off party Thursday, June 21 from 6
to 10 p.m . at M c M e n a m in ’s
Kennedy School, 5736 N.E. 33rd
Ave. There will be food dancing
continued
"yf
on page A3
Norman Sylvester
\
Patrick Lamb
N-Touch
“It's a balancing act,” said Kevin
Cronin, senior project coordinator
for thc Interstate Corridor Urban
Renewal Area. “We have to have
all sorts of voices involved."
But not everybody agrees with
what’s happening on Interstate.
Willie Brown, interim executive
director of the Northeast Coalition
of Neighborhoods, said he doesn’t
like that the PDC makes decisions
without listening to Portland's Af-
continued
on page A6