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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 9, 2008)
50£ ¿Lite ‘Citv J of Roses' 50 Years of Glamour May 20 Primary Classic Ebony Fashion Fair coming to Portland Last Day to Register: April 29 See page A6, inside www.oregonvotes.org 1 -8 66 -O R E -V O T E S VOTE 3 J art (¿tub © b srttirr F^tahlkhed in 1970 Established n r .p tla o n rtla d n h n < d ¿ o p b r s v e p rv e r.c o m w w n w Committed to Cultural Diversity Volume XXXVIII, N um ber 15 Wednesday • April 9, 2008 ‘I’m a Fighter’ Oregon in spotlight as vote nears photo by R aymond R endi . eman /T he P ortland O bserv er Multnomah County Elections receptionist Sharon Johnson (left) helps keep up with demand, distributing a packet of 100 voter-registration cards to Marissa Johnson, a student-body officer at Portland Community College's Cascade Campus in north Portland. Clinton-Obama Vote for Democrats Only Registrations surge as deadline looms by R aymond R endleman T he P ortland O bserver A ra re o p p o rtu n ity to sw ay the pick fo r p re sid e n t m ay v an ish so o n e r than you th in k . W ith the co n v e n ie n ce o f O re g o n ’s v o te -b y -m a il sy ste m , you m ay be tem pted to ju s t to w ait for the u p co m ing M ay 20 Prim ary ballot. But unless y o u 're reg istered as a D em ocrat by A pril 29, you w o n ’t have the ch an ce to vote in the h isto rically co m p etitiv e prim ary race b etw een Sen. H illary C linton and Sen. B arack O bam a. con tin u ed on p age A J (A P ) — In h er first visit to O regon as a presid en tial c a n d i d ate, N ew Y ork S en. H illary C lin to n prom ised that the sta te ’s voters w ould get th eir ch an ce to w eigh in on the hotly co n tested D em ocratic race in M ay. “ I am a fighter,” Clinton told a crowd o f about 2,600 at Liberty High School in Hillsboro, as thou sands more w atched her speech in an overflow room. “ I happened to believe this country is worth fight ing for. And I also believe that you d o n 't make difficult, consequential change in Am erica merely by w ish ing for it and hoping for it.” Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack O bam a are both vying for their party's nom ination, in a contest that's lasted far longer than pre dicted. O regon's May 20 prim ary is one o f the last in the nation. B o th c a m p a ig n s h a v e d e scended on the state. Clinton stayed overnight in Port land Friday and spoke in Hillsboro Saturday morning before an after noon town hall o f about 2,500 peo p le at South E ugene H igh School. She promised she’d be re turning to Oregon and opened a campaign office in downtown Port land on M onday. O bam a has opened five cam paign offices so far and headlined Sen. Hillary Clinton signs autographs in Hillsboro on Saturday during her first visit to Oregon as a candidate for president. a series o f rallies in the W illam ette Valley last month, following by a cam paign swing last fall. On Saturday, Clinton m ade a point of nodding to O regon-centric issues, dedicat ing a portion o f her speech to her opposition to citing floating term inals for storage and ... You don't make difficult, consequent ial change in America merely by wishing for it and hoping for it. delivery of natural gas on or near the Oregon Coast. She drew on O regon’s reputation as an environm entally aware state, saying it was a role model for several o f her priorities, via its growing wind-power industry and its reputation forenergy-efficient building. She promised investments in "green m anufac turing," and said such new programs would be partially paid for by rem oving tax subsi dies for big oil companies. But som e o f the au d ien c e's biggest cheers were reserved for national issues, like her prom ise to crack down on loan com panies that charge sky-high interest rates to students, and her statement that if elected, she’d hope to begin withdrawing -H illary Clinton continued on page A J Changes May Shake Up Rose Festival Court Jefferson High School would be chosen to represent the Rose Fes tival Court in any capacity. C lass m ates ended up not only voting her princess, she went on to be named Queen o f Rosaria and graduate from G eorge W ashington U niversity's by R aymond R endleman School o f M edicine. T he P ortland O bserver Now the program director o f an A decade ago A lisha M oreland- a d d ic tio n - r e c o v e r y c e n te r in Capuia becam e the pride o f the city. G resham . M oreland-Capuia can be N oone thought that the unpopu counted am ong those who worry lar kid from north P o rtla n d ’s about changes afoot. She sees a magical capacity in the Rose Festi val program to give inspiration and scholarship funds to underserved young women, but hopes that in clusion o f suburban schools will not hinder the city 's passion for Rosaria rituals. “ It (the Court program) has a self-esteem and com m unity build ing focus, and I think you take away from that when you expand it," she says. A nother possible concern in volves the em erging set o f partici pation requirem ents that threatened Alisha Moreland-Capuia to strip high schools like Benson and Roosevelt o f their spots in the program if they continued not to produce five princess candidates yearly. M oreland-Capuia perceives a top-down message to com m uni ties in struggling parts of the city. "It suggests that the students from north and northeast Portland a re n 't good enough," she says. “ It's unfair lor students because so much is dependent on the high school adm inistrations' level o f m otivation and resources." Program designers assert that the recent rulem aking sessio n 's goal was to encourage involvement. “ It w asn 't about a m essage; it was ju st about dw indling participa tion," says M arilyn Clint, associate executive director o f the Rose Fes tival. who herself aspired to be R oosevelt's princess in 1974. Clint also points to how the non profit has increased its assistance to the schools in boosting interest. Among the sets o f recom m enda tions for the largest event in the Schools must boost princess participation T, Week in Thc Review Fantastic Finish! Kansas wins the NCAA tourney at the buzzer and in overtim e giving the Jayhaw ks their first national cham pionship in 20 years. See story, page A2. King Anniversary Forty years after the assassination PHOTO BA R AYMONI) REND I.EM A N /TH E PORTLAND OBSERVER Decades o f Rose Festival changes are overseen by Marilyn Clint, a director of the nonprofit program. of Mart i n I .uther K i ng J r. on Apri 14. TV Legend Dies 1968, vigils involved thousands of Jim Bosley,nick mourners across the nation, includ named “The Boz ing a group in Portland who gath a longtime icon at ered Friday in front o f thc King Portland's KATU statue in front of the Oregon C on Channel 2. where vention C en ter and carried his he anchored the memory across the river to Tom w eather d ep a rt McCall W aterfront Park. ment for over 30 years, died Sun NewEraatOSU day at the age o f 73. Craig Robinson, who coached the Protesters Scale Bridge past two seasons People protesting C h in a's hum an- at Brown and has rig h ts record and the im pending gained added at a rriv a l o f the O ly m p ic to rch tention as Barack clim bed up the G olden Gate Bridge O b am a's brother-in-law , was se M onday and tied pro test b an lected M onday as the m en's coach ners to its cables. C hina insisted at O re g o n S ta te . See story, that the international relay w ould proceed unchanged d esp ite w iki page A2 I ) continued on p age A3 street p ro tests in E urope on S unday and M onday. 14 and 15 w ere being forced into m arriages w ith m uch o ld er men. $4 a Gallon Expected Sneaker Assembly Resumes Retail gas prices co u ld clim b as high as $4 a gallon this sum m er, the E nergy D ep artm en t said T uesday, p red ictin g that prices at such lofty levels will m ake m any A m ericans think tw ice about hitting the road this su m m er a n d . Most of the 2 1 .(MX) workers returned to a V ietnam ese factory on M on day Io make Nike sneakers, one week alte ra strike closed the plant. Polygamist Bust O fficials in E ldorado, T exas re m oved 534 w om en and children from a p o ly g a m ist co m p o u n d M onday. T he raid w as sparked by a 16-year-old g irl's call to au th o r itie s thitl she w as b ein g ab u sed and that girls as young as No Troop Withdrawals G en eral D avid P etraeus told law m akers T uesday that p ro g ress in Iraq is too “ frag ile and re v e rs ible"' to allow LI.S. troop levels to full below about 14 0 ,(MM) ea rlier than Septem ber.