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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 2007)
Actor Lends Hand 50j¿ vy ■ I < Z f| A Guild’s Lake Reunion Lou Gossett Jr. is coming to Portland to promote the United Way 'z ■ * Defense housing was home to African Americans See story, Metro section See story, Metro section I > j.lort land (Ohscnwr ’P i t v n f R n c p c ’ ‘City of Roses r- . » i. . ^^1 Felix Slams Ashore Hurricane Felix slammed into Nicaragua's Miskito Coast as record-setting Category 5 storm Tuesday, whipping metal rooftops through the air like razors and fore ing thousands to flee. Power Grid Strained Parts of Southern California were in for another hot day Tuesday after a week of sweltering in triple digit temperatures that contributed to power outages that left thou sands without air conditioning. Showman Jerry Lewis raised nearly $64m illionon Monday during his annual Labor Day Telethon to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association, topping last year's event by $3 million. Surveillance called despicable, devious photo by R aymond R endleman /T he P ortland O bserver Marcia Taylor brings awareness to the battle against sickle-cell anemia with a portrait other daughter Ramona who died from the disease and a diagram showing the difference between normal blood cells and blood cells affected by the ailment. Awareness for a Silent Killer Mother makes sickle-cell her cause by R aymond R endleman T he P ortland O bserver Oregon’s leading advocate for combating sickle-cell anemia, a dis ease that most disproportionately affects African Americans, is mak ing an extra effort for National Sickle Cell Awareness Month. People can help prevent the life long suffering that sickle-cell dis ease causes by looking into their genetic makeup, said Marcia Tay lor, executive director of Port land’s Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation. The foundation offers free year-round genetic counseling and diagnostic testing to combat the disease that is characterized by abnormally shaped blood cells that cause Calls for labeling go mainstream O OÜ c> <y « f & irt •e O o ' (/i t photo by V ft- £ C. ts <2 their heritage,” Taylor says. "Testing is espe cially important in the child-bearing stage as we decide whether to chance it if both parents are carriers." Having the personal experience of such a tragedy resulting from a child created while lacking genetic knowledge, Taylor decided to lead the sickle-cell foundation with the legacy o f her d au g h te r Ramona in mind. T aylor w ishes she had known of the danger facing her children so that she could have at least provided the ear liest possible treatment, per haps extending her daughter's -M arcia Taylor, sickle-cell anemia volunteer short lifespan a little longer. people who carry genes leading to the disease Citing a 60-year-old woman living with are of African decent. sickle cells in Oakland, she thinks "medical “Everyone should be tested, because no continued y f on page A3 one knows everything there is to know about Demands Intensify for Origins of Food O' O' n c 'X £ z. o. pain, weakness and an early death. But this month, a seminar and telethon will cap off the health-awareness campaign. Given how world populations have mixed, Taylor encourages all people to learn about sickle-cell, even though the vast majority of Everyone should be tested, because no one knows everything there is to know about their heritage. years., o V - Wednesday • September 5. 2007 FBI Spied on King’s Widow •^community service 9 www.portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity (AP) — Federal agents spied on the widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for several years after his assassination in 1968, according to newly released documents that re veal the FBI worried about her fol Goldberg Defends Vick lowing in the footsteps of the slain W hoop civil-rights icon. G o ld b e rg In memos that also reveal Coretta used her first Scott King being closely followed day on the by the government, the FBI noted daytime chat concern that she might attempt “to show “The tie the anti-Vietnam movement to the View” Tues civil-rights movement.' day to defend Four years after Martin Luther football star King Jr.’s death, the FBI closed its Michael Vick in his dogfighting file on Coretta Scott King, saying, case. Goldberg said that “from “No information has come to the where he comes from" in the South attention of Atlanta which indicates dogfighting isn’t that unusual. a propensity for violence or affilia tion of subver Tax Kicker Largest Yet sive elements,” The next kicker refund for Oregon according to a taxpayers will be the largest in m em orandum state history. The refunds to indi dated Nov. 30, vidual taxpayers are expected to 1972. total more than $ 1 billion, or about T he d o c u 19 percent of their taxes. The checks ments were ob are to be mailed in December with tained by Hous a median refund o f $297. Coretta ton television Scott King station KHOU Idaho Senator Resigns in a recent investigation. Coretta U .S. Sen. Scott King died in January 2006 at Larry Craig, R- the age of 78. Idah o . a n The Rev. Joseph Lowery, who nounced his served as president of the Southern r e s ig n a tio n Christian Leadership Conference — Saturday after which King co-founded in 1957 — his arrest for said the documents illustrate the allegedly so lic itin g sex FBI’s pattern of “despicable and devious” civil-rights-era behavior with a man in an airport bathroom, against the organization and those ADHD widespread affiliated with it. Nearly 9 percent o f American “The FBI kept a microphone ev children have attention-deficifi erywhere they could where the SCLC hyperactivity disorder, but only was concerned,” said Lowery, who 32 percent o f them are getting said the agency had a member of the the m edication they need. Re SCLC’s staff on its payroll. searches say the landm ark study “Since we had nothing to hide, it debunks the p ercep tio n that continued on page A2 ADHD is overdiagnosed and overtreated. Jerry Lewis Telethon ~ Established In 1970 Volume XXXVII. Number 35 TUWeek ¡n Thc Review i . R aymond R endieman /T he P orti . and O bserver Northeast Portland resident Anthony Davison examines the produce at People's Food Co-op in southeast Portland, where he has been on the board of directors for two-and-a-half years voting for labeling information detailing products ’ origins. by R aymond R endleman T he P ortland O bserver Walking through the piles of local produce in farmers’ markets this harvest season, you know exactly where everything was grown. You lose that confidence, however, when you return to the supermarkets for daily sustenance. Finding that many grocery stores still only bother to reveal where their seafood originates, the demand for labeling has surged among a vocal segment. As Congress prepares to debate expanded enforcement of labeling laws in the face of mounting questions about the safety of food from China, food-industry lobbyists are trying to portray an extremist right-to-know move ment. Granted, small farmers and local activists who tend to speak out about labeling can seem extreme. But Anthony Davison, an African-American board member at People’s Food Coop in south east Portland, takes the populist tact by arguing that everybody should be concerned about where food comes from. A passionate vegetarian for over two de cades, the 47-year-old Davison has ideas that could be written off as those of a fringe group if recent polls hadn't shown a solid 90 percent of Americans behind country-of-origin label ing. Having "escaped to Portland from the Mis take on the Lake seven years ago,” he also came tohis views in adifferent way from most Ameri cans. I While most polled this summer by Consumer Reports and Zogby International cited safety concerns in their support of labeling, Davison considered his own environmental impact. “I haven’t always been concerned about (food origins), but I started looking at it as a reason for global wanning," he says. “I eat all raw foods, so I’m particularly concerned about my footprint, and importing chickpeas all the way from Turkey creates a lot of global wanning.” Even if Davison is unique in coming to such strong and selfless conclusions, he supports popular policy, as shown by the thousands who have become co-op members during his board- of-directors tenure consistently voting for in creased labeling standards. So far, federal officials have been dragging their heels in response to consumers' wishes. Market forces would correct for any real demand, because supermarkets would have to address customer complaints, according to former U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, the Texas Re publican who headed the committee that pushed through delays on mandatory origin labeling in 2002. Government informational venues, run by Bush appointees, are also working against the tide of public opinion. "D em ands for mandatory country-of-ori gin labeling have sparked considerable co n troversy,” says the USDA website. “ Bu, man datory labels are unlikely to increase food demand and likely will generate more costs continued y ^ on page AT