50?
H IN I Flu Outbreak
All-Star Classic
Public health system works to
slow spread o f virus
Portland Observer Joyce Washington
All-Star Classic features city's best
high school basketball players
See Health Matters, page A ll
See special insert, Section B
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Established in 1970
Volume XXXVIV, Number 18
.Week ¡n
The Review
Medical Pot Law Survives
An effort to reform Oregon's
Medical Marijuana Act has
been defeated in the Legisla­
ture. Law enforcement insisted
the law allows for abuse, while
patients fretted about not hav­
ing access to the drug. But in
the end, lawmakers couldn't
come to a compromise. See
story, page A3.
Cleanup from Fierce Storm
Portland residents were still
cleaning up tree limbs and de­
bris Tuesday after a fierce thun­
derstorm raced through the
Portland Metro area Saturday.
One man was killed when part
of a tree fell on his car along
Southwest Barbur Boulevard.
Obama to Pick Next Justice
President Barack Obama said
Friday he will
replace retiring
Supreme Court
Justice David;
S o u ter w ith!
someone who
sh ares
the
president’s respect for “con­
stitutional values” and hopes
to have “him” or “her” seated
on the nation’s highest court
by the start of the next term in
October. See story, page A2.
w
Enrollment Swells at PCC
The bad economy has pushed
Portland Community College to
historic enrollment increases,
with the biggest gains at the
north Portland Cascade Cam­
pus. See story page A2.
James Named League MVP
Unstoppable at both ends of
the floor this season, LeBron
Jamesclaimed
the
leag u e
MVP on Mon­
d ay.
The
C le v e la n d
Cavaliers star
received 109of
a possible 121 first-place votes
to easily outdistance Kobe
Bryant of the Los Angeles
Lakers.
Comedian Dorn
DeLulse Dies
Dom DeLuise, the portly actor-
comedian whose
a ffa b le natu re
made him a popu­
lar character ac­
tor for decades
with movie and
TV audiences as well as direc­
tors and fellow actors, died
Monday after a long illness.
He was 75.
Stamps Go Up to 44 Cents
The price of stamps goes up on
Monday, May 11 from42-cents
to 44-cents for first-class mail.
However, customers can con­
tinue to mail letters at today's
prices by purchasing the For­
ever Stamps which are honored
whenever they are used.
Precinct Mergers Approved
The Portland City Council has
approved a plan to shrink the
c ity ’s police precincts from
five into three. The plan will
cut $7 m illion from the bud­
get, but keep neighborhood
police patrols and staffing at
current levels.
www
nortlandohserver com
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • May 6. 2009
Can Adams Survive?
Embattled mayor in political pressure cooker
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bsers f . r
Take a look at some of Sam
Adams' old mayoral campaign
videos; it's like they're from an­
other city.
They feature a brainy, for­
w ard-looking, and inclusive
politician who seemed to per­
sonify Portland with a diverse
group of citizens back­
mently denied a sexual
relationship with an
ing him.
But Adams’ rising star
underage intern.
started to flicker fast.
R ushing back to
Portland from Presi­
Just three weeks after
dent Obama’s inaugu­
being sworn into the job,
Adams admitted that he
ra tio n on Jan. 20,
Adams apologized for
was not honest during Adams
his 2005 liaison with
the course o f the may-
oral campaign when he vehe- Beau Breedlove, calling it inap-
propriate, bu, legal because torney General has an investi­
Breedlove had turned 18.
gation open to see if Breedlove
The revelations opened a was in fact 18 when the affair
floodgate of calls for his resig­ occurred, and Adams has alien­
ated some of his natural allies
nation.
Since then, Adams has been in his frenzied effort to show
snubbed by U.S. senators. He's h e ’s not p o litic a lly h a n d i­
routinely blasted during the capped.
public comment period at City
continued ' y f on page A3
Hall meetings. The Oregon At­
Blues
Diva
Clears
the Air
Linda
Hornbuckle
promotes
wellnesss
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
Linda Hornbuckle used to
spend nearly seven nights a
week signing in jazz clubs, and
spending even more time try­
ing to get the stench of ciga­
rette smoke out of her clothes.
She remembers sending her
clothes to the dry cleaner and
even then they stillcame back
reeking like an ashtray.
“You were dead meat. You
were going to smell like smoke
w herever you w ent,” said
Hornbuckle.
The problem eventually
took on a new dimension, as
the local jazz and blues diva
found herself performing at
benefit shows for fellow mu­
sicians who were strapped
with medical bills from ill­
nesses incurred from spend­
ing so many evenings play­
ing in smoky bars. She can’t
even rem em ber how many
photo by M ark
W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Local blues diva Linda Hornbuckle pauses during a performance at Original Halibut's on Northeast Alberta Street with
her husband and manager, Mark Young.
she’s played.
W hen local blues sin g er
Curtis Salgado fell ill in 2006,
H ornbuckle decided enough
was enough, and embarked on
bars sta rtin g th is year. to Bruce Fife, the president of
H o rnbuckle also won the the local Musicians' Union. He
M ultnom ah C ounty H ealth explained that some musicians
Department’s ninth annual Pub­ worried that a ban would turn­
lic Health Hero award, which off a club’s clientele and cause
them to miss a payday, others
worried about the health effects
of smoke.
“Musicians are pretty much
on their own for healthcare,”
said F ife, w ho said that
Hornbuckle had been on the
forefront of this issue within the
union for years.
H ornbuckle has earned a
reputation as one of Oregon’s
recognizes people working to premiere musicians by spend­
ing decades in jazz clubs belt­
improve the health of others.
The issue of smoking in bars ing out her mixture of jazz,
has long an issue of contro­ b lu es, and go sp el. S h e ’s
versy for musicians, according wracked up numerous awards
I don Y want to condone
[smoking] any more. You
are imposing on other
peOple'S health. -UndaHombuckle
a personal crusade to stop
smoking in the bars.
Her efforts eventually paid
off when the Oregon Legisla­
ture banned smoking inside
and has been featured as a
backup signer in Quarterflash
and fronted Linda Hornbuckle
and the No DeLay Band, in
addition to many others.
She was able to use her
clout in P o rtla n d ’s m usic
scene to get clubs to snuff
smoking in their bars even
before the ban.
One o f those e sta b lish ­
m ents was Jim m y M ak ’s,
downtown, one of the Pacific
N orthw est’s prem iere jazz
clubs.
“People thought it was go­
ing to hurt the crowd,” said
Hornbuckle, which was a con­
cern held by many club own-
continued y ^ on page A 9
Local Executive Shifts Gears
Helps inner-city youth at De La Salle North
De La Salle North Catholic
High School, a college prepa­
ratory high school for inner-
city youth in north Portland,
has announced the appoint­
ment of Ben Root to the role
of vice president o f institu­
tional advancement.
Root will be responsible for
cultivating and m aintaining
excellent relations with do­
nors as well as coordinating
annual fundraising and major
gifts.
M ost recen tly . Root was
em ployed at Friends o f the
Children in Portland, as direc­
tor o f co rp o rate and m ajor
gifts, with previous em ploy­
ment at Friends of the C hil­
dren as national director of
developm ent.
At Friends of the Children,
he was responsible for identi­
fying and cultivating m ajor
gifts while tracking large do­
n o r p o r tf o lio s . He a lso
worked as the liaison devel­
opment officer to Friends of
the Children Foundation.
His previous em ploym ent
was at St. A ndrew N ativity
School in northeast Portland
where Root served as project
coordinator, operations and
development director, raising
and securing major gifts and
donor profiles while supervis­
ing and staffing the school’s
board of finance, investment
com m ittees and general op­
erations.
Root received his Bachelor
o f A rts in E n g lish from
Grinnell College in Iowa and a
Masters of Public Administra­
tion in N on-Profit M anage­
ment from Portland State Uni­
versity.
De La Salle North Catholic
High School prepares young
men and women for college
th ro u g h a rig o ro u s fa ith -
based high school education
with an em phasis on math,
science, and language arts.
The racially, spiritually, and
culturally diverse school ad­
vances more than 95 percent
of its graduating class on to
college each year. De La Salle
North offers a college prepa­
ratory education to students
from families with limited eco­
nomic means and turns away
no one due to an inability to
pay.
Known as the “School that
Works,” students are employed
one day per week in a Corpo­
rate Internship Program to lower
the cost of their education.
Established in 2(X) 1, De La
Salle North is co-founder of
the n a tio n a lly re c o g n iz e d
“Cristo Rey Network" of 23
sc h o o ls p ro v id in g e d u c a ­
tional opportunities in urban
areas including Boston. New Ben Root, a former executive with Friends o f the Children,
York, Los Angeles, and Chi­ has been hired at De La Salle North Catholic High School,
the college preparatory school for inner-city youth.
cago.