Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, July 02, 2008, Page 2, Image 2

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    $Iortlanb © b s e ru e r__________________________
PageA2
“ L if e ’ s m o s t u r g e n t q u e s t io n is :
W h a t a r e y o u d o in g f o r o t h e r s ?”
Martin Luther King ¡r.
B e c o m e A P o r t l a n d F ir e f ig h t e r !
A p p lic a t io n s
w il l be av a ila b le
J u ly 7 - 1 8 , 2 0 0 8
FO R T H E P O S IT IO N S O F:
F ir e f ig h t e r E M T
F ir e f ig h t e r T r a in e e
Applications will be available online at www.ci.portland.or.us/jobs
or at the following locations:
Portland Fire & Rescue
Training & Safety Division
4800 NE 122nd Avenue
Portland, OR 97230
8:00 am - 4:30 pm
Portland Pire & Rescue-Administrative Office
Temporary Location
111 SW Columbia Street, Suite 650
Portland, OR 97201
8:00 am - 4:30 pm
Portland Bureau of Human Resources
Application Center
Portland Building
1120 SW 5,b Avenue
Portland, OR 97204
8:00 am - 4:30 pm
Applications must be submitted to
Portland Bureau of Human Resources
1120 SW 5th Avenue, Room #404
by 4:30 pm on Friday, July 18th, 2008.
For additional information, please visit our website at www.portlandonline.eom/fire.
NOW ENROLLING
3 Year-olds through Grade 8
' “ ‘-y2’ 2008
Obama’s Asian Sister
on Campaign Trail
Brings another aspect to his multicultural identity
(A P) - The throng o f Asian-
A merican donors drew closer to
hear Barack O bam a's sister describe
the w ide arc o f his life: beyond
politics and C hicago, in to h isch ild -
hood in Indonesia and Hawaii.
To many in this San Francisco
crow d. O bam a’s A sian-A m erican
half-sister, M aya S oetoro-N g, rep­
re se n ts y et a n o th e r a s p e c t o f
O bam a's identity that m akes him
unique as a presidential candidate,
although it has been underplayed
am id the excitem ent surrounding
his shot at becom ing the first black
president.
" It would be the first time that the
first fam ily is com prised in part o f
A sian-A m ericans — as well as
African-Americans, of course," said
Keith K am isugi.aeoordinator with
A sian-A m ericans for Obam a.
Soetoro-N g and O bam a have
d ifferen t fath ers an d the sam e
mother. Her father is Indonesian,
his is Kenyan. Her husband is C h i­
nese-Canadian.
Initially, as thecam paign focused
on fighting out the prim aries, state
by state, "the idea was to dow nplay
to som e degree race and ethnicity,"
said Soetoro-Ng.
N ine years younger than her
brother, she considers him "the
voter registration drive, she said.
T hetw orem ainelose: She was there
w hen O bam a's oldest daughter,
M alia, 9, was bom , and plans to
help celebrate her I Oth birthday on
the 4th o f July, on the cam paign
trail.
Soetoro-N g’s appearances give
voters a chance to get to know
O bam a as a person. H er stories
illustrate the developm ent o f his
character, from his days as a teen­
ag er w ho loved basketball and
bodysurfing and didn't alw ays get
the strongest grades, to his grow ­
M aya S o eto ro -N g
ing sense o f civic duty in the sum ­
mers she spent with him in Chicago.
"W e are ready for a m ore co m ­
plex construction o f identity as a
country," she said, dism issing the
possibility som e voters m ight find
it h a rd to r e la te to O b a m a 's
m ultiethnic background and for­
eign experience.
"M aybe not everybody is as
m ixed or as hybrid as he is. But he
gets K ansas, becau se w e have
Kansas," she said, referring to their
m other’s background. "He gets the
M idw est. He gets the south side o f
B a ra ck O b a m a
Chicago."
A nd he "has a lot o f affection for
strong male force" in her life.
A
sian
cultures, in all o f their vari­
It was with O bam a she attended
ous
form
s,” she said.
her first blues concert and her first
New GI Bill Welcomed
For education
benefits increase
Oregon D epartm ent of Veterans'
Affairs Director Jim W illis and Gov.
T ed K ulongoski w elco m ed the
signing o f an ew G I Bill for veterans
that significantly expands educa­
tion benefits for veterans.
The federal legislation passed in
Congress and was enacted by Presi­
dent Bush on M onday as part of
new funding for the Iraq War.
"In O regon, w e've done a lot to
help our veterans with education
benefits," K ulongoski said. "This
new GI Bill keeps the faith with
those who serve our country and
will m ake an invaluable investment
in our future."
The ne w G IB i 11 has been 1 i kened
to that o f the GI Bill offered to
W orld W ar II veterans in that it
provides for nearly all the costs ot
attending school.
T ed K u lo n g o ski
"One o f the reasons the W orld
W ar II generation is the greatest
generation is because they cam e
home from war, went back to school,
and then began leading our n a­
tion," W illis said. "W ith this bill, we
can make another great generation
o f future leaders."
T he follow ing are the highlights
o f the new G I Bill:
Service m em bers no longer will
have to "buy-in" to the program by
paying $1,200 to sign up. Instead,
eligibility is based on m onths o f
active duty post Sept. 11,2001.
For m ost veterans, the program
pays full cost o f tuition and fees at
any public institution, a living sti­
pend, and a $ 1,(XX) per year book
stipend.
The average value o f the benefit
will rise from $9,900 to $ 18,815.
The tim e lim it for using the New
GI Bill increases from lO yearsto 15
years after discharge.
"I have been supporting this
effort to e x pand the G IB i 11 si nee the
legislation was drafted,"W illis said.
"Ensuring that our veterans can
have the best education our nation
has to offer is the right thing to do,"
he said.
Abortion Protest Too Much for Builder
signed on as the anchor tenant,
W alsh said, he called other build­
ers w ho had deal, with aggressive
anti-abortion activists. He was told
(A P) — A construction co m ­ that protesters had gone as far as
pany set to help build a Planned staking ou, contractors' homes.
"It's disruptive and very threat­
Parenthood clinic in northeast Port­
ening,"
he told T he O regonian. "I
land has dropped the project, citing
just
didn't
w ant to put my fam ily
pressure from anti-abortion activ­
through
that."
ists.
W alsh said his decision was not
But the developer. Beech Street
based
on moral judgm ent.
Partners, has assem bled a new team
Jam
es A dam son, a Beech Street
o f builders and will act as its own
associate,
said protesters have the
general contractor to keep the plans
right
to
voice
their opinion. "And
on track.
we
also
have
fair
protection under
W alsh C onstruction Co. ow ner
the
law,"
he
said.
"It's basically a
Bob W alsh, said he was approached
big
exercise
o
f
free
speech."
tw o years ago to build a medical
B
u
ild
in
g
d
e
s
ig n e r
K ip
clinic. But when Planned Parent­
hood of the C olum bia/W illam ettc R ichardson, o f A nkrom M oisan
Backs out of
MLK clinic
Trinity Lutheran School
,503.288.6403
www. t rinitypo rt land, org
5520 NE Killingsworth
Challenging Academic Standards in all Curriculum Areas
including
Music • Technology • Athletics • Art • Spanish
$200 to $500 Scholarships Available
to new families
who enroll lor the 2008/09 school year.
Call lor additional information.
A rchitects, said he's stayed with
the project despite the protests
because A dam son is a long-term
client w ho's developing an area
w here the city has had trouble at­
tracting investment.
"H e's really trying to do the right
thing and im prove that neighbor­
hood," Richardson said.
C om pletion is set for July 2(X)9.
Planned Parenthood will use the
space for both m edical clinics and
its regional headquarters and will
bring an estim ated 140 jo b s to the
neighborhood.
The nonprofit provides sexual
and reproductive health care to
women, men and teens. According
to its annual report, only about 3
percent o f its clients seek abortions.
Pioneering Black Pilot Dies at 87
(A P) -- Lt. Col. Charles "Chuck" Dryden,
one o f the first o f the pioneering black
W orld W ar 11 pi lots know n as the Tuskegee
A irm en, has died. He w as 87.
Dryden died June 24 in Atlanta o f natu ­
ral causes, said Roger N eal, a spokesm an
for the National M useum o f Patriotism in
Atlanta. Dryden was on the m useum 's
board o f directors.
"H e was not ju st a part of A m erican
history; he helped to m ake it," m useum
founder Nick Snider said Thursday.
Dryden's 2 1 -year mil itary career included
com bat m issions in Korea and assignm ents
in Japan, G erm any and U.S. bases. He
retired from the Air Force in 1962.
About I,(XX) pilots trained as a segre­
gated Arm y Air Corps uni, at the T uskegee
Arm y Flying School in A labam a during
Lt. Col. B en ja m in 0 . D avis Jr. (on wing) ta lk s w ith Lt.
C h a rles W. D ryden in th is 1 9 4 3 p h o to b e fo re D ryden g o e s
o n a m is s io n in a P 4 0 fig h ter p la n e a t th e A rm y air b a s e
W orld W ar II.
in T u sk e g e e . Ala.
I