50£
W
&
n
Ö «t
* cor,
ommunity service
‘City of Roses’
Celebrating Women’s
History Month
May 20 Primary
Special Edition coverage inside
www.oregonvotes.org
1-866-O R E- V O T E S
îSnrtlnnh
A4
F
s ta h
Established
In 1970
War Anniversary Protested
Grant and
Jefferson
sweep state
Obama: End Racial Stalemate
bv R aymond R endlkman
Economy Near Tanking
An ignominious end for one of
Wall Street's most storied invest
ment banks this week brought a
b a rg a in -b a se m en t deal fast-
tracked by the federal government
to avoid a bankruptcy. Investors
had it rough as well, only slightly
mollified by a three-quarter point
interest-rate cut on Tuesday.
Police Shooting Outrage
A white police officer accused of
fatally shooting a black woman as
she held her year-old son during a
drug raid in Lima, Ohio, was
charged with two misdemeanors
Monday with a maximum of eight
m 10718
NAACP
activists and relatives o f the
woman who said he should face
tougher penalties.
Paterson Sworn in
D avid Paterson
w as o ffic ia lly
sworn in as New
Y ork’s governor
on M onday, be
coming the state’s
first black chief executive and
vowing to move past the prostitu
tion scandal that has rocked the
state Capitol.
Hip-hop mogul Sean
“Diddy" Combs has
denied a report by the
Los Angeles Times
that his associates
were responsible for the 1994
shooting of Tupac Shakur at a
New York recording studio, and
that he knew in advance about the
attack that triggered the feud be- i
tween East and West Coast rap
pers. See story, page B3
The thickest, oldest and toughest
sea ice around the North Pole is
melting, a bad sign for the future of
the Arctic ice cap, NASA satellite
data showed on Tuesday, adding
tothe litany of disturbingprogress
in global warming.
Wednesday • March 19. 2008
| T he P ortland O bserver
The city got several reasons to
j
celebrate following state triumphs
; of two boys' basketball teams from
. the P o rtla n d In te rsc h o la stic
League. Grant won the 6A division
and Jefferson the 5A division dur
ing the state tournament in Eugene.
At Grant, a celebration of the
team’s 63-56 victory over Oregon
City, took place Monday during an
assembly that also saw the com
memoration of a new basketball
cou rt donated by the Portland Trai I
Blazers.
At Jefferson, the team’s 55-52
victory over Corvallis doubled up
on the school winning the girls 5A
basketball tournament just a week
( earlier. The championship also fol
| lows a winning season in football
where the Democrats made it to the
photos by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
5A quarterfinals.
Grant High School players and coaching staff celebrate their 6A tournament triumph in an assembly Monday.
“All we heard every day for a
while was ‘the girls have won, so
now you have to w in ,” ’ says
Jefferson shooting guard Henry
Williams.
On the court, several players
agreed
that Williams served as the
j
“sparkplug” to the “glue” of point
guard Kalonji Paschal. While pre
p arin g for a v icto ry to u r in
Jefferson’s hallway on Tuesday,
Paschal gripped a game net that
Coach Marshall Haskins had given
him while declaring he deserved to
be the MVP of the tournament.
“It all started with the football
season," Paschal says. “Ever since
the barbeques out on the field, the
alumni have been coming to our
games and everything has changed
for the positive.”
Assistant coach Paul Kelly has
helped with all of Jefferson’s bas
ketball teams since the Demos won
continued
on page AS
Who Killed Tupac?
Disturbing Climate Trend
w w w .p o rtla n d o b s e rv e r.c o m
Duo Championships
Thousands of marchers carrying
signs and beating drums, indud-
ing challengers to Republican U.S.
Sen. Gordon Smith, lawyer Steve
Novick and Oregon House Speaker
Jeff Merkley, paraded through
downtown Portland in late winter
rain on Saturday to protest the |
fifth year of the Iraq War.
Americans must
move past a “ra-
cial stalemate” to
solve long-term
p ro b le m s ,
D e m o c ra tic
p re s id e n tia l
candidate Barack Obama said
Tuesday, using the lingering con-
troversy over comments made by
his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright,
to illustrate what he considered a
central struggle nationally. See
story, page A3.
VOTE
bserlier
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXVIII. N um ber 12
.Week ¡n
Thc Review
Last Day to Register:
A p ril 29
Jefferson High School players and assistant coach Paul Kelly gather for a team photo Tuesday in front of their north Portland school
after winning the 5A boys basketball tournament Saturday in Eugene.
Police Issues Draw Fire in Debate
Mayoral
candidate spar
over positions
L ee P eri . man
T hi P or i land O bserver
by
The Portland Police Bureau's
interaction with peopleof color and
other issues important to the Afri
can American community caught
fire in the first debate between can
didates for Portland Mayor.
The session, at Portland Com
munity Col lege’s Cascade Campus
in north Portland last Friday night,
was spon so red by the Urban
League of Portland. NAACP, Afri
can American Alliance and African
American Chamberof Commerce.
M o d erato r Ken B oddie,
news anchor for KOI N TV, asked
the mayoral candidates appear
ing for the forum, Sam Adams.
Sho Dozono. Craig Gier. Beryl
McNair and Chris Rich, to re
spond to five issues: housing
and home ownership, educa
tion. economic development,
health care, and the manage
ment of the Portland Police Bu
reau. Questions submitted in
writing by some of the KXIpeople
who attended the session were also
presented.
A hot button issue centered over
would not be “passing the buck" to
assign the bureau to them.
Gier and McNair were sharply
critical of the police bureau.
Gier charged that the bureau has
"alack of accountability. How many
people need to be tazed. to be shot ?"
he said. “There are a lot of good
cops, but a lot of bad ones too, and
they need to be rooted out.”
Gier said he would set up a vol
unteer commission to oversee the
police, he said.
McNair, a patient services assis
tant, said the police are “not ac
countable for what they do," and
should be monitored by the Metro
politan Human RightsCommission.
She also proposed having city
PHOTOS BY M \R K W A SH IN G TON/T h E PORTI.ANI) OBSERVER
health insurance policies cover
Mayoral candidates Sam Adams (left) and Sho Dozono argued over the management of the police counseling and drug testing for
bureau during a debate sponsored by leaders in Portland's African American community.
police officers.
Rich said the police have been
oversee the police bureau if he guilty of “despotism and flat-out
murder." He said a Police Account
were elected mayor.
Dozono accused him of "pass ability Board should have binding
ing the buck." He added that authority and officers should be
Oregon has the highest rate of subject to mandatory drug testing.
“ You need to pass a drug test
per capita incarceration, yet
ranks 49th in funding for drug to flip a ham burger, but if you’re
addiction treatment. "We should given a badge and a gun and
turn those figures around," he control of som eone's life ’ There
are individual rights, hut also
said.
Chris Rich
Beryl McNair
Craig Gier
Adan^s replied that there are society's rights." He called for a
City Council oversight of the Port "significant progress" under Chief women and African Americans run "fair" grand jury system and “ get-
Rosie Sizer and indicated he may ning for twoCity Council seats this
land Police Bureau.
continued
on pane A J
Adams said the bureau has made allow anothercity commissioner to year, and if they were elected it