50¿
Looking for Big Brothers
Baby'sGarden Blooms
Shortage of Positive adult role
models
A space fo r children ages 3
and younger to play at the
Portland Children s
Museum.
See inside page A2
Ÿ
‘City of Roses’
y
See inside, page A3
U H R ! ëM
Lio rikuin (Jybsrrver
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Established in
in I 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
L cl oh I i c
Volume XXXVIV. Number 10
u n in a www.portlandobserver.com
, rxrxrt lo n r lr ih c A » r \/i> r m m
Wednesday • March II, 2009
TlWeek ¡n
The Review
Obama Backs
Merit Pay for Teachers
P re s id e n t O b a m a a n ­
nounced his backing for
m erit p ay fo r te a c h e rs,
which links their pay to stu­
dent performance. Obama
will almost certainly run into
opposition from teachers’
unions, an influential con­
stituency in the president’s
party, which have strongly
opposed such proposals in
the past.
Madoff Appears to
Plead Guilty
Disgraced financier Bernard
M adoff is expected to plead
guilty on Thursday to charges
that he swindled investors out
of millions of dollars in an
elaborate ponzi scheme that
has been called one of the
biggest acts of investor fraud
ever committed.
Brown Charged
with Felonies
S inger C hris B row n has
been charged with two felo­
nies: assault and m aking
c rim in a l th re a ts . T he
charges stem from a fight
last month between Brown
and his girlfriend, singer
R ihanna, which occurred
shortly before the Grammy
Awards. Brown allegedly
attem pted to push Rihanna
out of a car after she con­
fronted him with a text m es­
sage on his phone from an­
other woman. See inside,
page A6.
Major League
Soccer Deal Struck
The Oregonian reports that
M ayor Sam A dam s and
C o m m is s io n e r
R an d y
Leonard have hammered out
a tentative deal with Tim ­
bers and B eavers ow ner
Merritt Paulson. Under the
deal M erritt could take out
more than $60 million in
city-backed loans to reno­
vate PGE Park for a new
M ajor League Soccer team.
The deal still needs to get
the green light from the rest
o f city council, where it will
certainly meet skepticism.
Metro Begins Spending
Stimulus Money
Metro Council began spend­
ing $102 million o f federal
stimulus money. The cash
w ill go to a v arie ty o f
projects in the three county
region including road and
sidewalk improvement, bike
lanes, and m ass tran sit,
among others.
EPA Drops Investigation
The U.S. EPA has dropped
an eight-year investigation
into Portland’s plans to re­
duce sewage spills into the
W illamette River, the Port­
land Tribune reported. The
a g e n c y had p re v io u s ly
claim ed that the city’s work
in reducing spills was inad­
equate and potentially in
violation of federal law.
GIRLSTRENGTH
Girls participating in Girlstrength, a pilot program sponsored by the Portland Police Bureau that teaches self defense
to girls 10 to 14, huddle in a gym at West Hills Christian School with program coordinator Carolyne Haycraft. The
program Is currently funded by a private donor and is available to any school in the Portland area.
Supreme Court Nixes Minority Legislative District
Ruling could
have implications
for results of
2010 census
(AP) - The Supreme Court ruled
M onday that a part o f the Voting
Rights Act aimed at helping m inori­
ties elect their preferred candidates
only applies in electoral districts
w here m inorities m ake up m ore
than half the population.
The decision could make it harder
for some minority candidates to win
election and for southern D em o­
crats, in particular, to draw friendly
electoral boundaries after the 2010
Census.
The 5-4 decision, with the court's
conservatives in the majority, came
in the case of a North Carolina plan
that sought to preserve the influence
o f A frican-A m erican voters even
though they made up just 39 per­
cent of the population in a state leg­
islative district.
Although not a majority, the black
voters were numerous enough to ef­
fectively determ ine the outcome of
elections, the state argued in urg­
ing the court to extend the civil
rights law's provision to the district.
But Justice A nthony Kennedy,
announcing the court's judgm ent,
said the court would not extend the
law to those so-called crossover dis­
tricts. The 50 percent "rule draws
clear lines for courts and legisla­
tures alike," Kennedy said in strik­
ing down a North Carolina legisla­
tive district.
In 2007, the North Carolina Su­
preme Court struck down the dis­
trict, saying that the Voting Rights
Act applies only to districts with a
numerical majority of minority vot­
ers. The district also violated a pro­
vision of the state constitution keep-
ing district boundaries from cross­
ing county lines, the court said.
Kennedy said that, absent prohi­
bitions like North Carolina's rule
a g a in s t c ro s sin g c o u n ty lin e s,
"states that wish to draw crossover
districts are free to do so." But they
are not required, he said.
C hief Justice John Roberts and
Justice Samuel Alito signed onto
K e n n e d y 's o p in io n . J u s tic e s
Antonin Scalia and Clarence Tho­
mas agreed with the outcome of the
case.
The fo u r lib eral ju s tic e s d is-
co n tin u ed
on p a g e A 3
Youth Golf Coach Finds His Calling
Difficult
game builds
life skills
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
W hen Q u in c y H eard
turned 21 he wanted to try
something h e’d never done
before: golf. Shortly after­
w ards, he adopted a new
goal: retire by 35 so he could
play golf for the rest of his
life.
At 39, H e a rd h a s n ’t
reached his ultim ate goal,
but he has
WUnM
found his
f l calling bv
w°rking as
e x e c u tiv e
Jg g »
'
d ire c to r ol
i the f’ ° ri
land Youth
Quincy Heard
Asso­
Quincy Heard mentors a group o f young people in the gam e o f golf by incorporating life skills such as character
development, family values and personal growth.
ciation.
The organization runs the helping them develop life
First Tee enrolls kids who
First Tee o f Portland golf skills by playing a game that w ouldn't normally have ac-
pro g ram fo r local youth. is as frustrating as it is fun. cess to the game. That in-
eludes young people from
north and n ortheast Port-
land, but also k id s from
co n tin u e d
on p a g e 45