Weight Loss Tips
Rose Bowl Win!
Local woman
writes cookbook
fo r healthy living
Ducks outpace
Wisconsin and
end bowl game
drought
See Health, page 8
See story, page 3
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Read back issues of the Portland Observer at www.portlandobserver.com
‘City 0 /Roses’
Volume XXXXI, Number 52* I
Wednesday • January 4, 2012
Com
itted to to Cultural
Cultural D iversity
D iversity <commu!diy
•Komnumity
sendee
Com
m m
itted
sendee
New Year,
New Wages
Higher minimum to benefit thousands
by M indy C ooper
T he P ortland O bserver
Beginning with the New Year, more than
100,000of Oregon’s lowest paid workers are
getting 30-cents an hour more in their pay
thanks to a cost-of-living Oregon Minimum
Wage increase.
The increase from $8.50 to $8.80, which
went into effect on Jan. 1, means an extra $624
a year for a family with one full-time minimum
wage worker.
"A strong minimum
wage is good for work­
ers and good for
O regon's econom y,"
said Chuck Sheketoff,
executive director of the
Oregon Center for Public Policy. "It helps the
lowest-paid workers make ends meet, and it
helps the economy when the workers spend
those extra dollars in local businesses."
The wage increase is the result of a ballot
measure approved by voters in 2002 that
compensates for increases in the cost of
living as defined by the Consumer Price
Index, which rose 3.6 percent last year.
"The increase reflects the fact that costs
have risen, and allows minimum wage work-
ers to maintain much of their purchasing
power," said Sheketoff.
A W ashington, D.C.-based Economic
Policy Institute estimated that an additional
19,000Oregon workers currently earning just
above the new minimum wage will also see
their paychecks increase as employers ad­
just their overall pay structures to reflect the
new minimum wage.
The manager of a local Popeye’s said the
ch an g e s are a u to m ate d th ro u g h the
I have to find a way to make due
and cancel the unnecessary.
MMMI
-Linda Phan
company’s payroll department, and will help
employees “pay their bills.”
Other entrepreneurs and minimum wage
workers said the amount wasn’t enough to
make ends meet.
Linda Phan, who works at the 76 Food
Mart in northeast Portland, where every
worker receives the minimum, said the in­
crease was still not enough.
continued
on page 5
photo by M indy
C ooper /T he P ortland O bserver
Minimum wage employee Linda Phan, who works at the 76 Food Mart in northeast
Portland, is happy about the increase to her wages this year, but the new $8.80
an hour rate she receives is still not enough to make ends meet in such an
expensive economy.
M M H H H M M H M M M M H H M NM M NH H M NM H H NM
■M M M HNM M M M NM M M M M M M M M M
MMMMMMR*
Successful Coach Helps College-Bound
Urges athletes to
keep options open
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
by
photo by
M ark W ashin €; ton /T he P ortland O bserver
Local high school graduates Denetia Carline (from left), Kamaron Boggan andPaedra
Carline are multi-sport athletes playing NCAA Division 1 volleyball at Jackson State.
Dennis Carline, athletic director of De La
Salle High School, does not believe college-
bound players are taking full advantage of
future athletic scholarship opportunities.
Banking from 30-years of coaching experi­
ence, Carline gives student athletes and
parents an informational pep talk.
Contrary to what many may have been
told, he advises student-athletes to explore
multiple sports in high school rather than
focusing on just one. Why? “It gives them
a choice,” said Carline.
“If kids are good athletes, explore the
possibilities. Don’t limit them to one,” he
said.
As a former Benson High School basket­
ball and volleyball coach, Carline encour­
aged his players to cross-train in track, golf,
softball, and other sports during the off
season. His three daughters, all NCAA
Division 1 scholars, were multiple-sport ath­
letes in high school.
“Playing multiple sports keeps doors
open,” said Carline.
A high school athlete may be less inter­
ested or talented in one sport, but find greater
continued
on page 4