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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 2010)
Zoo Safari Hispanic Arts Free admission fo r seniors Festival brings 22 shows over 16 days See A &E, page 11 See El Observador, page 7 Established in 1970 Volume XXXX, Number 36 Committed to Cultural Diversity Wednesday • September 15, 2010 Steering TriMet .. . . , photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver TriMet General Manager Neil McFarlane sets a high bar for making improvements to the transit agency even during a period of fiscal uncertainly brought on by the recession. GM looks to voters for improving system by J ake T homas T he P ortland O bserver A pager on the hip o f TriM et’s new gen eral manager steadily chums out a feed o f A Breathless Touchdown Football player scores, then suffers heart attack A Central Catholic football player sur vived a heart attack during a game in Canby Friday night thanks to a nurse who was in the grandstands and came down to apply information concerning any trouble spots for the transit agency’s buses and MAX trains. Neil McFarlane knows when a pas senger is having a medical emergency. He knows if a bus is having mechanical prob lems. But beyond the daily in-and-outs o f TriM et’s operating system, which served over 324,000 people each weekday last year, reduce service. McFarlane has had more on his mind. Much * McFarlane, who took over as general more. manager this summer, sat down with the Every since the economy tanked in 2008, Portland Observer to talk about his priorities TriMet has seen its budget hammered by at TriMet, including plans to upgrade its high diesel prices along with a devastating facilities, its fiscal outlook, and the Columbia drop in payroll taxes that fund the mass- continued on page 6 transit agency, causing it to raise fares and life-saving chest com diagnosis from a previ pressions. ous episode in which he Hayward Demison, a stru g g le d to b rea th e 17-year old junior at the while playing basketball southeast Portland high and the in h aler after school, collapsed in the F rid a y ’s h eart attack fourth quarter o f the game seemed to make things against Canby just mo worse. ments after he ran a 45- Luckily, cardiac nurse yard touchdown, ulti Lisa Lyver was watching mately winning the game the contest as Demison’s for his team. heart stopped beating on Demison struggled to Hayward Demison (KGW photo) the sidelines. breathe and asked his coach to get his in Lyver prayed for a miracle as she began haler, a device used to treat asthma. chest compressions on the pulse-less foot But asthma turned out to be an incorrect ball star. Two minutes later, Demison was breathing again. The teenager will miss the rest o f the football season. Doctors discovered he suffers from a defective left coronary ar tery, but his heart didn’t sustain damage after the cardiac arrest and the prognosis is for a full recovery after surgery in the coming weeks. Demison, who wears No. 21 for the Cen tral Catholic Rams, says he’s truly blessed and thankful to the nurse who saved his life. “I’m just going to keep my head high and support my team no matter what,” he continues, “If it’s G od’s w ill...next year, #21 will be back”.