R
A
Ju n
2009
I’m Multicultural
50tf
Musician’s Battle
Growing demographic challenges
traditional notions o f race
Johnny Sanders comes home after
a diagnosis o f liver cancer
See story, page AIO
See story, page A9
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‘City of Roses’
UN 2 9 ?
Volume XXXVIV, Number 25
T1_Week ¡n
The Review
»
Fighting for Health Care
P r e s id e n t
Obama said
a
that a gov-
e rn m e n t-
run health
in s u r a n c e
option is needed "to discipline
insurance companies," part of
his rallying cry for comprehen­
sive health care overhaul. Many
private insurers, he said, spend
too much time thinking about
p ro fits instead o f helping
people.
Swine Flu Kills Child
Oregon health officials say a
y o u n g c h ild in M a rio n
County has died from the
swine flu. Dr. Mel Kohn, the
public health director, says
the child had a tw o-day his­
tory o f fever before dying
June 15.
Commuter Trains Collide
Investigators looking into the
deadly crash o f tw o M etro
transit trains focused T ues­
day on why a com puterized
system failed to halt an on­
com ing train, and why the
tra in fa ile d to sto p even
though the em ergency brake
w as p re s s e d . M o n d a y ’ s
crash killed nine people and
injured more than 70.
Voting Rights Upheld
The Voting Rights Act, the
governm ent's chief weapon
against racial discrim ination
at polling places since the
1960s, survived a Supreme
C ourt challenge Monday in a
ru lin g th a t n e v e r th e le s s
warned of serious constitu­
tional questions. See sto ry ,
page A 10.
Attorney Stole Home
P o rtla n d a tto rn e y R andy
Richardson, a form er deputy
district attorney, was con­
victed of one count of aggra­
vated theft by deception by
helping another person steal
an elderly w om an’s home by
signing over her house as she
was dying in a nursing home.
Black Family Targeted
A black Clark County family
discovered KKK references,
sw astikas and racial slurs
spray pained around their
home and in their Vancouver
area neighborhood Saturday.
The fam ily believes the hate
was done in retaliation to
com plaining about racist lan­
guage from another student
at their daughter's school.
Mayor did not
break the law,
A.G. finds
(AP) — O regon Attorney General
John Kroger said Monday there's no
credible evidence that Portland Mayor
Sam Adams broke the law in his 2005
relationship with a teenager.
Adams has admitted he lied while
campaigning for mayor about his rela­
tionship with Beau Breedlove. But
Adams denies that the two were in­
volved in a sexual relationship before
Breedlove was 18.
Kroger issued a report on his inves­
tigation into whether Adams had sexual
co n tact w ith B reedlove before he
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • lune 24. 2009
turned 18, which would have been a
misdemeanor. Kroger also investigated
whether Adams committed official mis­
conduct in lying about the relationship.
Breedlove said he was 17 when he
and Adams first kissed. But Kroger's
report concluded that those accounts
lacked corroborative evidence.
It also stated that Breedlove lacked
credibility because of past inconsistent
statements and a prior felony convic­
tion, as well as evidence he sought fi­
nancial gain from the scandal.
"At times, a responsible prosecutor
may seek to charge an individual with a
crime based solely on the uncorrobo­
rated testimony of a single witness,"
Kroger's report said. "However, a re­
sponsible prosecutor will do so only
when there are no serious questions
about the credibility of the witness's
account.
Sam Adams is cleared o f
m isconduct a fte r a five month
investigation.
"Here, there are serious questions
about the credibility of Breedlove's ac­
count, due to his prior inconsistent
statements, the lack of corroborating
witnesses or evident, his attempt to
gain personally from matters related to
his involvement with Adams and his
prior criminal record."
Kroger called a news conference to
discuss the report on Monday. Mayor
Adams issued a statem ent thanking
Portlanders for their support and un­
derstanding.
“I made mistakes in my personal life
that led to this investigation,” a state­
ment from the mayor said. “As a result,
the city I love was put through an or­
deal. I am gratified the investigation has
been completed and 1 want to reiterate
continued
on page All)
Lents Outrage Kills Stadium
City now
open to
other
locations
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
City Hall’s efforts to bring
major league soccer to Portland
stum bled after a com bative
meeting last week involving
residents of the Lents neigh­
borhood.
In March, City Council nar­
rowly voted for a proposal that
would put major league soccer
in PGE Park. But the move
would displace the city’s triple-
a baseball team, the Beavers,
which prompted the city to be­
gin looking for a new baseball
stadium location.
After an aborted attempt to
raze Memorial Coliseum for the
ballpark, proponents began ey­
ing Lents Park, which sparked
intense outrage from nearby
residents who worried that the
increase in traffic and noise
PHOTO BY JAKETHOM AS/THE PORTLAND OBSERVER
Residents get support from Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish during a rally against a proposed new minor league
baseball stadium for Lents Park in southeast Portland.
g e n e ra te d by the stadium
would render the area unlivable.
Lents, a neighborhood in
outer southeast Portland, has
struggled with its image as an
impoverished area which some­
times gets referred to as “felony
fiats.”
T he n e ig h b o rh o o d has
b een q u ie tly g e ttin g a
makeover since 1998 when the them tow ards Ioans for local
city established an urban re­ b u s in e s s e s , h o u sin g im ­
newal area in Lents. Urban provements and general infra-
renewal areas siphon off prop­
continued
on page A3
erty tax revenues and direct
Diversity Takes
Festival Stage
For Good in the Neighborhood
1
by
L ef . P erlman
8 T he P ortland O bserver
Good in the Neighborhood
a c o n tin u e s to evolve and
I change.
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of
•'co m m u n ity service
www.portlandobserver.com
Adams Survives Conduct Inquiry
Despondent Man Saved
Portland police officers talked
a despondent man with a
knife and a bow and arrows
away for the rail o f the 1-5
Bridge over the Colum bia
R iver Sunday. The sou th ­
bound lanes were closed for
four hours and boats were
deployed below in case the
m an ju m p ed o rfell.
___
Established In 1970
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The 17th annual multi-cul-
tural music and food festival
and community parade will
occur this Saturday and Sun-
day celebrating the diverse
populations o f inner north
and northeast Portland. The
main events will occur at the
King School Park and park-
ing lot in the 4800 block of
Northeast Sixth Avenue, just
south of Alberta Street. How-
ever, this year, the grounds
will be shared on Sunday with
the new King Farmers Mar-
ket.
“W e’ve actually jo in e d
forces, and w e're doing this
together as one event," Good
in the Neighborhood orga-
nizer Cheryl Roberts told the
Portland Observer.
To make sure it all fits,
Sunday's market will be slightly
smaller than usual and, to cre­
ate more space. Northeast Sev­
enth Avenue in front o f the
school will be closed to traffic
for the day.
Other aspects of the festival
will go on as before. On Satur­
day, there will be a parade along
Normal Sylvester
Northeast Martin Luther King
Jr. Boulevard, starting at 11 am.
at Dawson Park.
Once again there will be two
full days of free music. Noon to
Patrick Lamb
9:30 p.m. Saturday and Noon to
8 p.m. Sunday featuring the
likes of Ocean 503, Cool Breeze,
Norman Sylvester, Patrick Lamb
and the Erotic City Prince Trib­
ute Band.
A multicultural stage will fea­
ture ethnic entertainment, in­
cluding Mexican and Cambo­
dian artists. A food court will
be dispensing multi-ethnic cu­
lin ary
d e lig h ts.
The
McMenamin brothers will host
a beer garden, and once again,
there will be a community vil­
lage of 150 booths manned by
public and private agencies and
organizations dispensing use­
ful information.
Also returning is a special
Kids Space with clowns and
face pain tin g am ong other
things; and local entrepreneurs,
Julian Ride o f Portland fronts the Erotic City Prince Tribute
Band.
offerin g unique goods and help from friends Roberts
crafts for sale.
said this year was especially
To do all this with free admis­
continued y ^ on page A 10
sion requires more than a little
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