Medical Marijuana Reversal
Morning Star Revival
Feds won’t go after patients
who comply with state law
Burned out church
begins to rebuild
See story, page A3
See story, page A2
©'’33ortlan&<©b0Eruër
l'I ROSt’S
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L r(n U h rk „ J
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXVIV. N um ber 41
.Week in
lhe Review
Walton Apologizes
A tearful Bill
W a lto n
a p o lo g iz e d
to P o rtlan d
Trail Blazers
fans Friday
30 years af
te r le a v in g
the team he led to its only NBA
championship. The 56-year-old
said he regretted the circum
stances in w hich he left the
Blazers fam ily and hoped to
m ake things better in the fu
ture.
Jobs May Not Return
Even with an econom ic revival,
many U.S. jo b s lost during the
recession may be gone forever
and a weak em ploym ent market
could linger fo r years. See
sto ry , page A2.
Portland Jobless Jumps
The unem ploym ent rate in Port
land rose to 11.7 percent in
Septem ber, up from 11.4 per
cent in A ugust. O fficials said
an estim ated 127,(XX) area resi
dents were looking for work,
com pared to 60,6(X) more than
one year ago.
Michelle to go on Leno
y»
F irs t L ad y
J 3*
M ic h e lle
Obama will be
«■T
a g u e s t on
“T h e
Ja y
L eno Show
w
on
F rid a y
night. O bam a
will check in via satellite forthe
“Ten @ Ten" segm ent, where
she’ll answ er a series o f 10
questions from Leno.
Beyonce Delays Show
R&B star Beyonce K now les
has postponed a planned con
cert in M alay
sia, the event
o rg a n iz e r
said M onday,
follow ing ac
cusations by
Islam ic con
s e rv a tiv e s
that the show
w ould be imm oral. Fem ale art
ists at M alaysian concerts are
required by governm ent rules
to cover up from the shoulders
to knees.
Flu Vaccine Runs Short
The C enters for D isease C on
trol and Prevention said Friday
that it anticipates a sm aller allo
cation than expected o f the
H 1N 1 vaccine during O ctober
due to a slow er m anufacturing
process. See story, page A3
Hospitals Restrict Visitors
H o sp itals around the c o u n
try are tu rn in g aw ay visitin g
ch ild ren and tig h ten in g re
strictio n s on ad u lts in hopes
o f lim itin g the spread o f the
H 1N 1 flu. O th ers are posting
signs th at urge people o f any
age to postp o n e that visit if
they have a sn iffle or cough.
College Tuition Climbs
A v erag e tu itio n at fo u r-y ear
p ublic co lleg es in the U .S.
clim bed 6.5 percent to $7,020
this fall as scho o ls passed on
m uch o f th eir ow n financial
p ro b lem s, a c c o rd in g to an
annual report from the C o l
lege Board.
years*
community service
! r. I ( 1 7 f l
............,1 I „ J „ U
Established in 1970
www.portlandobscrver.com
Wednesday • October 21, 2009
Police, Fire or Ambulance...
A im to
diversify
has m ixed
results
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
fthe over 100 academic
program s at Portland
C om m unity C ollege,
m aybe none have m ore direct
bearing on p eop les’ lives than
its em ergency services cu rricu
lum, w hich train the next gen
erations o f fire fighters, 91 1 dis
patchers, m edical technicians,
and others.
A nd th a t’s w h y P C C has
p ilo r o by J ake T homas /T he P ortland O bserver
been w orking to increase diver Kai Robertson is the director o f emergency services programs for the Portland Community College Cascade Campus.
sity in these program s, so that
The Fire Protection Program, dents accustom ed to w orking Hispanics, and African A m eri
m inority com m unities can be how to com m unicate and get in
touch
with
their
com
m
unities
in
which
trains firefighters, used with minorities. The dum m ies cans that moan, groan, and cry.
best served in tim es o f distress.
an
em
ergency
situation.
to
be
housed
out in Gresham , used to train em ergency m edi
“O u r stu d en ts, in O regon,
However, the college still has
but
was
moved
in
2003
to
PCC’s
cal
technicians
are
designed
to
might
no, com e in contact with
“It
ju
st
helps
to
m
ake
the
re
w ork to do to m ake sure these
Cascade
Cam
pus,
which
is
lo
resem
ble
both
black
and
white
a
dark
skin person until they are
lationship
a
lot
stronger
and
a
p ro g ra m s re fle c t th e p eo p le
cated
in
one
the
m
ost
diverse
people.
in
the
field,"
said Robertson.
lot
better,”
she
said.
they serve.
parts
o
f
Portland.
PCC
has
taken
steps
to
d
i
R
o
b
e
rtso
n
said
th
a
t
o
n
ce
Results
from
their efforts, so
Kai R obertson, the director
versify
the
ranks
o
f
students
“It’s
not
by
accident
at
all,"
P
C
C
e
x
p
a
n
d
s
its
f
a
c
ilitie
s
,
far,
have
been
a
mixed bag.
o f the em ergency services pro
A ccording to data provided
gram s fo r the PC C C ascad e studying in em ergency service said Ed Lindsay, who chairs the thanks to a $374 m illion bond
Cam pus in north Portland, ex fields by doing outreach with program, o f the program ’s loca passed by voters las, N ovem by PCC, the num ber o f m inori
ber, it will build a realistic sim u ties in the college's Emergency
plained that it’s im portant to high schools with high concen tion.
T he college has also taken lation lab featuring life-like dum
have m inorities in these posi trations o f minorities, non-prof
continued
on page AN
tions because they know best its, and m inority com m unities. sm all steps to get w hite stu mies in the likeness o f Asians,
Food Stamp Demand Unprecedented
Each day sees
540 new
recipients
e w figures released from
the Oregon Department
o f H u m an S e rv ic e s
show that assistance to Oregon
fam ilies through food stam ps is
unprecedented and officials ex
pect to see continued grow th in
the need for assistance to indi
viduals and families.
S in ce O re g o n 's e c o n o m ic
dow nturn began m ore than a
y ear ago, the nu m b er o f food
s ta m p r e c i p i e n t s h a s i n
creased by nearly 34 percent.
T h ere w ere 4 8 2 ,4 0 7 in d i
viduals on food stam p s, fo r
m ally ca lled the S u p p lem en
tal N utritio n A ssistan ce P ro
gram in Ju ly 2008, and that
n u m b er in creased to a total o f
6 4 5 ,2 3 4 in d iv i d u a ls la s t
m onth.
F ood stam ps are funded by
fed e ra l d o lla rs, an d O re g o
nians are receiv in g an ad d i
tional $247 million through the
A m erican R eco v ery and R e
in v estm en t A ct.
S tate o ffic ia ls said the in
crease help ed in tw o w ays -
by p ro v id in g m ore reso u rces
to help peo p le w ho are fe e l
in g th e im p a c t o f th e e c o
nom ic d o w n tu rn and by p u t
tin g a d d itio n a l m oney back
into the local econom y.
"W ithout th ese federal d o l
lars w e w ould not be able to
help all the people w ho need
us and co m m u n ities w ould be
sta m p b e n e fits. In o rd e r to
k eep up w ith th e in c re ase d
pace, the C hildren, A dults and
F am ilies D ivision a, DHS has
transform ed its intake process
| to reduce w ait tim es and elim i
Dr. Bruce Goldberg
s tr u g g lin g m o r e ,” sa id Dr.
B ruce G o ld b erg , d ire c to r o f
th e O re g o n D e p a rtm e n t o f
H um an Services.
O ver the pas, 15 m onths, an
average o f 540 new recipients
per day received S N A P /food
partn er organizations, such as
fo o d b an k s an d fa ith -b a se d
organizations, for their help in
a d d r e s s in g h u n g e r in th e
state.
"It takes all of us in our com
m unities to ensure that O rego
nate backlogs.
"T he se rv ic es we p ro v id e n ian s m eet th e ir m ost basic
touch the lives o f m any O r need - food for their families,"
eg o n ian s every day, and that she said.
Like food stamp benefits, de
is w hy it is so im portant that
w e co n tin u e to do o u r jo b s m a n d fo r c a sh a s s is ta n c e
w ell. B ecause o f o u r strea m through the Temporary A ssis
lining efforts, O reg o n ian s re tance for Needy Families pro
ceive th eir b en efits an a v e r gram has also increased since
age o f nine days so o n er than las, year.
In September, a total of 24,632
th e y d id b e f o r e . In m o st
p la c e s a c ro ss th e sta te , it's families with children received
sam e-day service," said Erinn tem p o rary assistan ce in O r
K e lle y -S ie l, d ire c to r o f the egon, an increase o f 22 percent
D H S C h ijd re n , A d u lts an d o ver last year. The program ,
Fam ilies D ivision.
continued
on page AN
K e lle y - S ie l a ls o p ra is e d
Local Students
Give Back
At Self Enhancement,
kids learn values
bv J ake T homas
T he P orti ani ) O bserver
W ho says teenagers are apathetic?
A, Self Enhancem ent Inc., a non-profit acad
em y in north Portland, five 8th graders have
s p e a r h e a d e d an e f f o rt to g a th e r fo o d fo r
P o rtlan d 's neediest residents, and learned to
appreciate w hat they have in their own lives.
T h e in itia tiv e d u b b e d “ G o t F o o d ? L e t's
Share!” grew out o f a class discussion on ways
to give back to the community.
LaVeme G reen, the students’ teacher, asked
w hat students w ould do for others once they
were ou, o f school. The students decided now
was the tim e to give back, and began organizing
a food drive.
Five students formed a com m ittee to com plete
the effort, and divided up the work am ong them
selves.
The school had made a sim ilar effort las, year
that d id n 't go well, bu, this year was different.
continued
on page A3
photo be J ake T iiomas /T iie P oru and O b siraer
Students Tressina Eddinger (from left), Marlando Sparks, Daytreiona Jackson. Delmody Tillman and
Naiqwan Penn are leading an effort at Self Enhancement Inc. to get food for the needy.
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