500
A minority-owned
business grows
with transit
2008
special edition
‘City
ity ot Roses
See story, page A 13
U nrtlanb ©hseruer
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXVIII. Number 32
.Week ¡n
The Review
Russia Orders Halt to War
Russia ordered a halt to its war
on Georgia Tuesday, after five
days of air and land attacks that
sent Georgia's army into head
long retreat and left towns, mili
tary bases and homes smolder­
ing. But Georgia insisted that
Russian forces were still bomb
ing and shelling
Tre Arrow Gets Prison Term
Tre Arrow
the radical
e n v iro n
m e n ta lis t
fo rm e rly
know n as
Michael J. Scarpitti, 34, was sen
tenced Tuesday to 6 Vi years in
prison for his part in setting ar­
son fires to cement-mixing and
logging trucks to protest a log­
ging sale in 2001. The court also
ordered Arrow and his co-de
fendants to pay restitution of
$154357.
Fred Meyer Meat Recall
Local Fred Meyer stores have
joined the list of grocery stores
pulling ground beef from the
shelves and offering refunds.
The recall involves family packs
of beef with 20 percent fat that
may have come in contact with
contaminated meat from Ne­
braska beef. The sell-by dates
are between June 6 and Aug. 11.
Sisters Win at Olympics
Even by the lofty standards of
the Will­
iams sis­
ters, three
v icto ries
at
the
Olympics
is a good
d a y 'i
work. Ve
nus and
S e re n a
won in singles and doubles Tues­
day and could meet in Saturday’s
singles final.
Hispanic Station #1
KR YP-FM, a radio station known
as “El Ray” is drawing 6.4 per­
cent of the Portland listening
audience, making it the number
one rated station in the Portland
area market and the first Spanish
language station to ever hold
the #1 post.
Oregon Jobless Grows
A new report show s Oregon
lost another 3,600 jobs on a
seasonally adjusted basis in
July and saw its unem ploy­
ment rate jum p a h alf percent­
age point to 6 percent.
Sheehan Makes
Election Ballot
C in d y
Sheehan,
an icon of
A m e ric a ’s
a n ti-w a r
movement,
has q u ali­
fied tochal-
lenge House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi for her seat in Congress.
Sheehan, 51, says Pelosi failed
to persuade her party to end
funding for the Iraq war.
Katrina Victims Win Suit
State Farm Insurance will reopen
some claims and agree to pay
more than $74 million to other
Hurricane Katrina damage vic­
tims in Mississippi, state attor­
ney general Jim H ood a n ­
nounced in a lawsuit settlement.
www.Dortlandobserver.corr
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • August 13. 2008
Health Walk’s Big Loser
Reality TV star
shed the pounds
by M ichael L eighton
T he P ortland O bserver
com e a certified health fitness
trainer, working at the Cascade
Athletic Club in Gresham.
He inspires, m otivates and
challenges others to set their
own life goals and change their
lives for better.
“Keep on keeping on,” is one
of his life style change mottos.
The com m unity is invited to
join Coleman and State Rep.
Chip Shields as honored guests
at the sixth annual A frican
A m erican H ealth C o a litio n
Health Walk, starting at 9 a.m.
on Saturday at Dawson Park,
located at N orth V ancouver
Avenue and Stanton Street.
The event will include a 1.5
mile loop and 5K walk, along
with music, food and fun to fol­
low at Dawson Park. A $20 reg­
istration fee includes an official
AAHC Health W alk T-shirt.
G roup discounts are also avail­
able. Contact the AAHC at 503-
4 1 3 -1 8 5 0 o r v is it a a h e -
portland.org
An all-star achiever for bet­
ter health will serve as inspira­
tion for this Saturday’s annual
Health W alk by the local A fri­
can American Health Coalition.
Ken Colem an was put on a
jou rn ey o f losing som e 200
pounds when he answ ered a
casting call to become a contes­
tant on the NBC reality show,
“The Biggest Loser.”
At over 410 pounds, Coleman
was in seriously poor physical
condition. Once a fit m em ber of
the m ilitary who served in the
Persian G ulf W ar, he had suf­
fered m ajor setbacks due to in­
juries, including his back, shoul­
der and knee.
He becam e more and more
disabled to the point where at
one time he was bound to a
wheelchair.
A fter his father died o f heart
disease at age 58, the worry
about his own m ortality and
quality o f life exploded. He
wanted to be alive to watch his
children grow up, marry and
begin their own lives.
Colem an seized the opportu­
nity of a lifetim e by auditioning
for the w eight loss reality show
and becam e a cast m em ber in
the show ’s season three in 2006.
He lost more than 60 pounds
over about six weeks of broad­
casts, but has continued to take
the w eight o ff since then, los­
ing about 190 pounds in total.
He says he learned the im ­
portance o f how to regain his
health through nutrition and
exercise as well as how to over­
com e m ental roadblocks.
Today, the 6 foot 3 Coleman
hits the scales at a healthy 210
to 215 pounds and he has be­
“Biggest Loser” reality TV
star Ken Coleman, who
embraced good nutrition and
exercise to lose an incredible
200 pounds, will serve as
honorary guest as this
Saturday's Health Walk at
Dawson Park, sponsored by
the local African American
Health Coalition.
photo by M ark W ashington /
T he P ortland O bserver
■ M H H M R M M K IM M
Rooted in Cultural Understanding
Poet is keeper of Native
American legends, folklore
by L ee P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
Much of the poetry by Ed
Edmo is rooted from his own life
and the ancient legends that
were passed down by his father
and grandfather. Now he has
assumed the honored role of an
elder himself, a keeper of Native
American legends and folklore.
The tales “are our way, our
traditional way, to teach chil­
dren how to act and to give them
lessons in life,” Edmo told the
Portland Observer.
Passed down from genera­
tion to generation, many of the
stories survived despite the in­
doctrination of dogma from mis­
sionaries and a public education
system. They have endured de­
spite rules on some reservations
that punished Native Americans
for speaking their own languages.
A member of the Shoshone-
Bannock tribe, Edmo was bom in
Owyhee, Nev., along the Nevada-
Idaho border and raised in Celilo.
Ore., upstream from The Dalles.
There he experienced the “drown­
ing” of Celilo Falls by The Dalles
Dam in 1957, eliminating one of
the oldest and best
known salmon fishing
spots and disrupting
economic and cultural
traditions.
E d m o ’s
poetry
speaks to these times.
It also speaks to what
followed in his per­
sonal life.
H is
poem s
"B urnside C ow boy”
and “West Coast War­
rior *71” refer to his life
as a skid road tramp,
alcoholic and heroin
addict. One untitled
poem says, “An Indian
in the city ain’t worth
much, you know.”
Ed Edmo
His writings helped him to
turn his life around.
“1 used to write poems on
Radio Cab note pads,” he says.
“There was a lady in Seattle
who would give me a dollar for
every poem I gave her. In 1969,
in New York, Dwayne Knight
gave me $5 for a poem and I
said, ‘That’s great.’”
Edmo's “Through Coyote’s
Eyes” earned him first prize in a
contest for one-act plays put
on by north Portland's Inter­
state Firehouse Cultural Cen­
terin 1984.
The following year, Craig
Leslie included E dm o's work
continued
on page A 17
Remembering Two Giants of Talent
He penned soul clas­
sics like "Hold On I'm
Cornin'" for Sam & Dave,
helped usher in the era of
disco and was agoldmine
for countless hip-hop
and R&B artists who
used his illustrious ar­
(AP) - With its riveting or­
rangements as the focal
chestration, definitive guitar play
point for their songs de­
and signature sensual baritone
cades later.
vocals, Isaac Hayes' theme song
"Isaac Hayes embod­
for the 1971 movie "Shaft" not Isaac Hayes
ies everything that's soul
only became one of pop music's
music," Collin Stanback, an A&R execu­
iconic songs, but also the defining work of
tive at Stax, told The Associated Press on
Hayes’ career.
Sunday. "When you think of soul music
Yet the "Theme from Shaft," which
you think of Isaac Hayes — the expres­
would eam both Grammys and an Oscar,
sion ... the sound and the creativity that
was jus, a snippet of the groundbreaking
goes along with it."
music for which Hayes — who died Sun­
continued
on page A2
day at age 65 — was responsible.
Isaac Hayes
embodied
soul music
)
Bernie Mac connected with comedy
(AP) — Bernie Mac blended style, humorists: Harpo Marx as well as Moms
authority and a touch of self-
Mabley; squeaky-clean Red
aware bluster to make audi­
Skelton, bu, also the raw
ences laugh as well as con­
Redd Foxx.
nect with him. For Mac. who
Mac died Saturday morn­
died Saturday at age 50, it
ing of complications from
wasa winning mix.deliver­
pneumonia in a Chicago-
ing him from a poor child­
area hospital, his publicist,
hood to stard o m as a
Danica Smith, said in a state­
standup comedian, in films
ment from Los Angeles.
including the casino heist
M ac's daughter says her
caper' ‘Ocean ’sEleven"and
family had expected him to
his acclaimed sitcom "The
fully recover from the bou,
Bernie Mac Show."
of pneumonia that put him in
Bernie Mac
Though his comedy drew
C h icag o 's N orthw estern
on tough experiences as a black man, he Memorial Hospital three weeks ago.
had mainstream appeal — befitting in­
continued
on page A2
spiration he found in a wide range of
t