Actor Lends Hand
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Guild’s Lake Reunion
Lou Gossett Jr. is coming
to Portland to promote
the United Way
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Defense housing was home
to African Americans
See story, Metro section
See story, Metro section
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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
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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
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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