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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 2008)
il!l ^Jnrtlattb © bseruer August 6. 2008 PagcA9 L aw & J ustice Few Black Military Officers in Ranks CRIME STOPPERS (5 0 3 ) 823-HELP 111 S.W. 2nd Avenue, Portland, Oregon Protect Your Vehicle Police offer prevention tips I f you own o r drive a 1995 Honda C iv ic , a 1991 Honda A c cord, a 1997 Ford F-150 o r a 1989 Toyota C aniry, you may he sur prised to know that, despite their age, these cars are among the m ost p o p u la r cars stolen by thieves across the country. No matter what make o r model o f car you own there are a number o f things you can do to improve the security o f your vehicle. The Portland Police Bureau recom mends the fo llo w in g a basic pre vention policy to help ensure your vehicle is not an easy target fo r thieves on the prow l: Never leave your car running w ith the keys in the ig nition when you ’ re away from it, even fo r "just a m inute.” A lw a ys ro ll up the w indow s and lock the car, even i f it's in front o f your home. Never leave valuables in the car. I f you must, never leave them in plain view . Park in busy, w ell-lighted areas. C arry the registration and in surance card w ith you when you leave your vehicle. When paying to park in a lot or garage, leave just the ignition key w ith the attendant. Make sure no personal inform ation is attached. Do the same when you take your car fo r repairs. For added auto theft protec tion you can also etch the V e hicle Id e n tific a tio n N um ber (V IN ) on (he windows, doors, fenders and trunk lid. This helps to d isco u ra g e p ro fe s s io n a l thieves who have to either re move o r replace etched parts before selling the car. Install a mechanical locking device - com m only referred to as clubs, collars o r j-bars - that locks to the steering wheel, c o l umn o r brake to prevent the wheel from being turned more than a few degrees. Consider installing a secu rity system i f you live in a high theft area or drive a vehicle that is popular among thieves. For more in fo rm a tio n on keeping your vehicle secure visit portlandpolice.com to ac cess A Guide to Home and V e hicle Security. 60 Years after desegregation G l - 111 J ( A P ) - Sixty years after Presi dent Truman desegregated the m ilita ry , senior black officers are s till rare, particularly among the highest ranks. Blacks make up about 17 per cent o f the total force, yet ju st 9 percent o f all officers. That frac tion falls to less than 6 percent fo r general officers w ith one to four stars. The rarity o f blacks in the top ranks is apparent in one startling statistic: O n ly one o f the 38 four- star generals o r admirals serving 11 II H b «W Wr j K • z f a s o f M ay was black. A nd ju st 10 black men have ever gained four- star rank— fiv e in the A rm y, four in the A ir Force and one in the Navy, according to the Penta gon. The dearth o f blacks in high- ranking positions gives younger A frican-A m erican soldiers few African American airmen train at Tuskegee Airfield in Alabama In 1943. mentors o f their own race. A nd as the overall percentage o f blacks stars is retired Gen. C olin Powell, cation. sky's the lim it when they look up in the service falls, particularly in who later became the country's As a young recruit, he found and don't see anyone" who looks combat careers that lead to top first black secretary o f state, un that the older, black noncom m is like them. posts, the situation seems un der President Bush. A nother is sioned o ffice rs were eager to The A rm y has led the way w ith lik e ly to change. retired Gen. Johnnie E. W ilson, guide him . and they urged him to black officers, w ith nearly double S till, o fficia l s can point to some who in 1961, at age 17, spied an try fo r O ffic e r Candidate School. the percentage at times over the historic gains by blacks in the "Uncle Sam Wants Y ou" poster O ver the next 38 years, he rose past three decades as the other services as the Pentagon com and joined the A rm y. through the ranks to become a services. Blacks represented 11 memorates Trum an’s signing o f The second o f 12 children, four-star general. percent to 12 percent o f all A rm y an executive order on July 26, W ilson grew up in a housing W hy haven't more done the officers during that tim e, com 1948, mandating the end o f segre project outside Cleveland. E nlist same? pared w ith 4 percent to 8 percent gation in the m ilita ry. ing in the A rm y, he said, was the For one thing, W ilson said, in the Navy, A ir Force and M a Best known among the four- only way he'd get a college edu "it's hard to tell young people the rines. Army Scientist Tied to Anthrax Terror, Takes Own Life (A P ) -- A nthrax-laced letters that k ille d five people and se verely rattled the post-9/11 na confounded the FBI for nearly seven years. Las, month, the Justice De partment cleared I v ins' col league, Steven H a tfill, who had been w rongly suspected in the case, and paid him $5.8 m illio n . tion may have been part o f an A rm y scientist's warped plan to test his cure fo r the deadly toxin, o fficia ls said. The b rillia n t but troubled sci e n tist c o m m itte d suicide last week, know ing prosecutors were closing in. The sudden naming o f scientist Bruce E, Ivins as the top — and perhaps only — suspect in the anthrax attacks marks the latest bizarre tw ist in a case that has House Apologies for Slavery ( A P) — The U.S. House o f Rep resentatives issued an unprec edented apology to black A m e ri cans las, week fo r the wrongs com m itted against them and their ancestors w ho suffered under slavery and Jim C row segrega tion laws. The re s o lu tio n , passed by voice vote, was the w ork o f Ten nessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white lawmaker to repre sent a m a jo rity black district. Congress has issued apolo gies before — to Japanese-Ameri- cans fo r their internment during W orld W ar II and to native Ha- waiians fo r the overthrow o f the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893. In 2005, the Senate apologized for fa ilin g to pass anti-lynching laws. Five states have issued apolo gies fo r slavery, but past propos als in Congress have stalled, partly over concerns that an apol ogy w ould lead to demands for reparations — payment fo r dam ages. The Cohen resolution does not mention reparations. It does com m it the House to rectifying "the lingering consequences o f the misdeeds com m itted against African-Am ericans under slavery and Jim C row ." Classified Ads Contact: Kathy Linder Phone: 5 0 3 2 8 8 0 0 3 3 Fax: 5 0 3 2 8 8 0 0 1 5 cording to papers filed last week in local court by a social worker. The letters contained anthrax powder were sent on the heels o f Ivins worked at the A rm y's biological warfare labs at Fort Detrick. Md., fo r 18 years until his death on July 29. He was one o f the government's leading scientists researching vaccines and cures fo r anthrax exposure. But he also had a long history o f hom icidal threats, ac- Bruce E. Ivins the terror attacks o f Sept. 11,2001, and turned up at congressional offices, newsrooms andelsewhere, leaving a deadly trail through post offices on the way. The powder killed five and sent numerous vic tims to hospitals and caused near panic in many locations. It’s not your standard funeral home... it’s the new standard in funeral homes. RRY FAMILY UNERAL H O M Lay Witness Night o f the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Pacific North West Conference The Lay Organization Invites you, your fam ily & friends from the Portland, Tacoma & Seattle Areas To Celebrate with us! You see, when we went into business we aspired to be so far and away the best that a new level of excellence was to be created. We w ould like you to know that we've achieved our goal. In a business where things seemingly stay the same, a change has taken place. A change that may raise the bar on the level of service a family can experience from a funeral home. 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