Race for the Cure 50£ Lents Turnaround Thousands to join fight against breast cancer Perceptions change with housing investment S ' W rflanh (©bsvnier P i t v of n f Roses’ ‘City D acac o7n Established In i 1970 ’ tvww.portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity Volume XXXVII, Number 36 Wednesday • September 19, 2007 .W eek ¡n Thc Review Holy H ip H op Mayor Race Roadblocks Leading potential candidates for Portland mayor have hit road­ blocks in quick succession. Com­ missioner Sam Adams Tuesday said he is fighting “a nasty smear by a would-be political opponent,” and businessman and community advocate Roy Jay called off his campaign just days after beginning to assemble an exploratory commit­ tee because he lives outside the city limits. See story, page A3 Rap voices build ministry Blazer Injury Dejavu T he se a so n ­ ending injury to Greg Oden dredged up a bad memory for Portland Trail Blazers fans — that fateful draft day in 1984 when the team used the second overall pick to choose Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan. Bowie proved injury-prone and Jordan proved to be, well, Jordan. See story, page B6 photo by J ason F loyd AT he P ortland O bserver by J ason F loyd T he P ortland O bserver All of the props, the sea of fans, lights, head-snapping bass lines and drum beats give it the look and sound of another hip-hop concert, but there’s a distinct difference. The venue is Maranatha Church in northeast Portland and the crowd is spattered with different age groups, most of them adults and teenagers, but some so young that they are still in kindergarten. Yes, this is most definitely a hip- hop show, but this ain’t your uncle and aunties’ hip hop. The performers are on the label of Cross Movement Records fame Hip-hop performer ‘Iz’Real’ (left) o f the Philadelphia-based group Everyday Process performs rap with religious undertones at Maranatha Church in northeast Portland. continued y^ on page A6 1.8 Million Evacuated A typhoon expected to be among the most powerful storms to hit China in years churned toward the densely populated coast on Tues­ day with 165 mph wind gusts, and the government evacuated 1.8 million people. Beach Clean Up Success Mother Nature smiled down at nearly 4,000 volunteers doing their part to improve Oregon as part of the 24th annual SOLV Great O r­ egon Fall Beach Cleanup Satur­ day. Volunteers cleaned up more than 30 tons of trash and debris from along the entire coastline. Neighborhood C ompiled by R aymond R endleman and J ason F loyd T he P ortland O bserver Greg Oden ’v year-long injury and the impact on the Trail Blazers have people talking It’s kind of sad, because everyone was counting on him. It’s kind of a bummer, because he was supposed to be the next big thing. Alexandria Brown, Student Cody Taylor, Housecleaner He’s very young, so I think he’ll get over it, and the Blazers can concentrate on the long term. Kandy Edwards, Barber Stocks Soar after Rate Cut Jubilant Wall Street barreled higher Tuesday after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by a larger-than-expected half per­ centage point. Oldest Man Turns 112 The world's oldest man celebrated his 112th birthday Tuesday with a healthy Japanese breakfast of rice, miso soup and seaweed, saying he wanted to live forever. Japan's Tomoji Tanabe lives with his son and family, keeps adiary and reads the newspaper every day. Hopefully it’s not the Michael Jordan thing again. We passed Jordan up for Sam Bowie in ’84. and all we got from Bowie was knee problems. Now the Blazers are going to lose, because Greg Oden was their best player and only chance. We can’t judge him. Things happen. Pedro Eerrusea, Day laborer Chandely Bonami, Student Michael Powell, Cook No celebrity breaks this time for Simpson years * com m unity service 9 § O ih C » !Z! o £ h U sii exj