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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 2008)
Page A3 Fcbruaiy 27. 2008 Concordia EXPANDS continued from Front Jefferson High School gradu ate, to be dedicated at the li brary groundbreaking April 10. Community participation not only benefits public relations and the hundreds of neighbors that work with the school, ac cording toCharles Schlimpert, C oncordia’s president for 25 years. Over the period that has made him the longest-sit ting college president in O r egon, Schlimpert has refined the school's mission to recog nize that local engagement is required to instill in students the ability, mindset and cul ture they need to transform the comm unities they love. “ It really isn ’t just change for change sake,” Schlimpert told the Portland Observer. “It’s part of a strategy, a vi sion that says w e’re going to be part o f creating a great community, and the rest is his tory. as they say,because man, all of a sudden, it just took off.” The university had its share of financial difficulties that forced staff layoffs less than a decade ago. Now the school is riding a golden wave that has seen the addition o f sev eral new programs, including a nursing graduate program a couple years ago to be housed by the new library building. Schlim pert maintains that hard-won progress is achieved through negotiation, and it’s easier and safer in the end to break down any walls, con struct buildings to face the neighborhood and welcome advice every step of the way. “The first thing you have to do is listen,” he says. “We could easily become an ivory tow er...but that doesn’t build community.” The school takes pride in having increased minority rep resentation in its student body exceeding 1,600 to 20 percent and plans to increase that per centage as the enrollm ent reaches a final goal of 2,000. Calling northeast Portland “the one quadrant in the city th at's still fairly ripe for eco nom ic and social develop m ent,” Schlimpert sees expan sion as much more than just going across the street and buying a bunch of homes, al te r n a tiv e ly h o p in g the com m unity’s ability to use the library and its built-in coffee shop will create m ore vi brancy. piioin m K v iv io m i K i m h ixns/Tiii P o k ii Concordia University holds a plaza displaying the cornerstone of one o f its first educational facilities built in 1907. The view to the north will change in the spring with the construction of a library and sports field. The addition of lights and synthetic surface to the new sports field could have cre ated conflict in planning meet ings, but the selling point was the potential forexpandingthe hours the facility can be used for all types of activities. The developments have won o v e r in flu e n tia l A fric a n - American community mem bers like Ron Williams of the Black Parent Initiative and former state Sen. Bob Boyer, who served on the college’s Meat Safety Concerns Raised Oregon Parks and Recreation Department staff removed a pair of historic cannons Feb. 19 from the beach near Arch Cape, just south of Cannon Beach. The cannons were discovered a few days earlier, revealed by extreme low tides and the natural loss of beach sand due to w inter storms. Each of the 800- to I .(M)O-pound cannons were trucked to a nearby park office, and with guidance from historic cannon restoration experts from Texas A&M University, staff sub merged the artifacts in tanks of fresh water and covered them with layers of wet burlap. The fresh water bath, refreshed weekly, will draw salt from the objects and protect them from further corrosion. The cannon are fragile out of their protective env ironm ent. Two historic canons were found last week on the sands near Arch Cape, ju st south of Cannon Beach. GET M O R E ...w ith an education from Heald! from Front Wyden said. fie summed up a short speech that outlined his Healthy Ameri cans Act. a proposal that would eliminate the traditional em ployer-based. health-insurance system and replace it with pri vate but government-adminis tered insurance. He addressed worries that emerging plans wouldn't con tain provisions for other basic needs, like prescription cover age. costly insurance premiums, f<Mxl stamps and assistance for high heating bills. "This isn't rocket science, folks," he said. “No, just is it the morally right thing lodo, to help oHer day ant' \\e evening classes'. W hen you choose Heald... you’re choosing success! Train now for a new career in as little as 18 months! Ground beef is displayed for sale at a supermarket. “They’re not covering all their bases. There’s a possibility that something could go through be cause you don’t have the man power to check everything," said Lester Friedländer, a former USDA veterinary inspector at a plant in Wyalusing, Pa. Amanda Eamich, a spokes woman for the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, acknowledged that the depart ment has been struggling to fill vacancies but denied the food supply is at risk. “Every single animal must past antemortem inspection before it's presented for slaughter, so only healthy animalsaregoingtopass." she said. “We do have continu ous inspection at slaughter facili ties.” Simi larly. Janet Riley, a spokes woman for the American Meat Institute, defended the meatpacking industry's safety record. "It is interesting to keep in mind how heavily regulated we are,” she said. “Nobody has this level of inspection." The current and former in spectors and other industry crit ics charged that the staff short ages are also resulting in the mistreatment of animals on the way to slaughter, and may have contributed to the recall an nounced last week. Priority H ighfor Healthcare Overhaul continued board of regents. “As Concordia expands, it's really become a university in the heart of the com m unity,” Boyer says. Historic Cannons Found In wake of largest beef recall (AP) — Sometimes, govern ment inspectors responsible for examining slaughterhouse cattle for mad cow disease and other ills are so short-staffed that they find themselves peering down from catwalks at hun dreds of animals at once, look ing for such telltale signs as droopy ears, stumbling gait and facial paralysis. The ranks of inspectors are so thin that slaughterhouse workers often figure out when “surprise” visits are about to take place, and make sure they are on their best behavior. These allegations were raised by former and current U S . De partment of Agriculture inspec tors in the wake of the biggest beef recall in history — 143 million pounds from a Califor nia m eatpacker accused of sending lame "downer" cows to slaughter. The inspectors told The As sociated Press that they fear chronic staff shortages in their ranks are allowing sick cows to get into the nation's food supply, endangering the pub lic. According to USDA's own figures, the inspector ranks nationwide had vacancy rates of 10 percent or more in 2006- 07. im i O hm k hk with the heat and the food stam ps... but even if you've got a heart of concrete and you don't care about the morality, you should do it for financial reasons because the cost of those services in the community is just a small fraction of what happens when people get sick." The high-profile attention to the health of African-American citizens received a warm wel come. Wyden, one of Oregon’s two senators, was repeatedly re ferred to as “our senator” dur ing the even,, including by M arcus M undy, the Urban League of Portland's president and chief executive officer. “Without seniors and the Gray Panthers, he w ouldn’t have made it his first time into Con gress," Mundy asserted in his introduction of Wyden, who started in politics with work for the Gray Panthers. W yden's position on health committees in Washington. D.C. gave hope to many in the group that change would come with attention to racially specific is sues. “African Americans are al ways concerned with health, and hopefully our senator will un derstand that we have many health disparities that we must continue to deal with." says Trudy Rice, a registered nurse attending the event to represent the AARP. 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