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.
We offer training in:
HEALTHCARE
• Medical Assisting
• Medical Office Administration
• Medical Insurance Billing & Coding
BUSINESS
H eald
JKF t C O L L E G E
H e a lth c a re • Business • Technology
• Accounting
• Business Administration
• Criminal Justice
TECHNOLOGY
• Network Systems Adm inistration
• Cisco” Systems
• Microsoft Windows 2003
Program availabi it» m ay vary by g u a n *
CALL
NOW'- fhutecciitl ititi for those who qweey
1.888.434.39
P o rtla n d Campus: 6 2 5 S W B ro a d w a y , S u ite 200, P o rtla n d , OR 9 7 205
w w w .chooseheald.com
<
“I fve le a rn e d th a t p e o p le w ill f o r g e t w h at yo u
sa id , p e o p le w ill fo r g e t w hat yo u d id , hat
p e o p le w ill n e v e r forget h ow you m a d e them
' Jeel."
- Maya Angelou
Neil Kelly
Since 1947
HANDYMAN HOME REPAIR TEAM
HOME PERFORMANCE
DESIGN/ BUILD REMODELING
CUSTOM HOMES
5 0 3 .2 8 8 .7 4 6 1
w w w .n e ilk e lly .c o m
OR CCB»001663 tLAl# NEILKCI 18702
1
I