NEWS BUZZ

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NAACP'S HOUSE DIVIDED

A power struggle at the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has degenerated from acrimonious to litigious--seven figures' worth of litigious.

At a chaotic meeting held March 24, a group of NAACP dissidents led by Bruce Broussard challenged branch president Roy Jay's leadership, in part because of Jay's alleged lobbying on behalf of Safeway.

Now Jay is suing Broussard, a former NAACP vice president, for $1 million. Jay announced the suit at an April 17 press conference.

On April 6, Jay's attorney, Curtis Kinsley, sent Broussard a letter saying that Broussard had defamed Jay at the NAACP meeting by accusing him of accepting a "bribe 'under the table' from Safeway Stores."

"Hell, no, I didn't say that," says Broussard, who told WW he considers Jay's letter an empty threat.

As previously reported (see "A House Divided," WW, April 4, 2001), the Oregon Liquor Control Commission was clearly impressed last September when the NAACP president testified in support of allowing Safeway to keep its alcohol permit at its Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard store. The commissioners subsequently voted to let Safeway to keep the permit, despite repeated instances of the store selling alcohol to minors.

The issue of Jay's testimony before the OLCC was on the agenda at the March 24 meeting until a shouting match erupted between Jay's supporters and opponents. Jay called a halt to the meeting after 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, as first reported in The Oregonian, Safeway had earlier made a contribution of $5,000 to the African American Chamber of Commerce--whose president is Roy Jay--to help offset costs of a shuttle service for Northeast Portland senior citizens.

At the news conference, Jay said that nothing improper happened between him and Safeway. Bridget Flanagan, a Safeway spokeswoman, also calls the claim of impropriety outrageous.

Jay is also hinting at further lawsuits.

--Philip Dawdy

Bad-Girl School Faces Ax

Facing a severe budget squeeze, Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Noelle has reluctantly decided to ax a program aimed at helping female offenders stay out of jail.

Run by the YWCA, the Transitional Opportunities Project (TOP) provides services to women who have just gotten out of jail or who have broken probation--usually stemming from drug or alcohol abuse. Clients live at the downtown YWCA, where counselors show them how to write résumés, keep jobs, manage their anger, avoid abusive relationships and stay off drugs and alcohol.

The program, which serves 291 women annually at a cost of $235,000, boasts an impressive track record. Eighty percent of clients find jobs before leaving the program, and 87 percent of recent graduates have stayed out of jail for at least six months.

"It's a good program," says Christina Mendoza, a drug offender who has lived at TOP since she was released from jail in December. "It helps in transitioning through the overwhelmingness of being back in the community." Mendoza, a 33-year-old mother of five, now holds a steady job as a food-services crew leader at the Greyhound station.

In an effort to shave $8 million from a $94 million budget, Sheriff Noelle has proposed cutting TOP and instead sending women offenders to the Multnomah County Restitution Center, which offers similar programs, although Noelle concedes it will not provide the same level of care.

But research shows that women offenders do better in the absence of male compatriots. TOP's director, Alice Sigmund, attributes the program's success to a gender-specific environment in which women learn to empower themselves--a girl-power mentality that she worries will not survive in an 80 percent male-dominant facility. If she is correct, the sheriff's proposal will ultimately lead to more women winding up back at the jailhouse door--starting the cycle over again.

--Alexandra Hamlett

FOLLOW UP

Standoff at Eagle Creek

In 1999, a hardy band of activists, girded by ropes and hammocks, climbed trees at Eagle Creek to stop loggers from chopping them down. Despite the Forest Service's best efforts, they've managed to maintain a constant presence. But even as the tree-sitters mark two years in the air, the future of the 1,100-acre timber sale in the Mount Hood National Forest seems as murky as ever.

Last fall, Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman called for an outside review of the Eagle Creek timber sales in response to pressure from environmentalists. An independent panel would examine Forest Service "blowdown" estimates of trees likely to be felled as a result of the
proposed logging. At the time, the call for review was considered to be a blatant political move to pull more green voters toward Al Gore.

The review was supposed to have been finished by April 15, but Tax Day came and went and nothing happened. The panel hasn't been convened, the work hasn't been done.

Lumber baron Adolph Hertrich has cut less than half of the timber in the four sales. Now he's headed into his third logging season in the woods, and he doesn't know what is going on. "We have no idea who is on the committee," he says, clearly frustrated. "We haven't heard any information on it."

The Forest Service isn't much help, either. Rex Holloway, spokesman for the Northwest Region, said all the plans are being made in Washington, D.C. The D.C. spokeswoman, Heidi Voletkevitch, referred WW back to the regional office.

So the standoff continues. Because of slumping timber prices, Hertrich is not eager to resume logging immediately. Meanwhile, there are currently three platforms mounted on trees along Forest Service Road 4615. This Friday many supporters will be in town for an anniversary bash and fundraiser at Conan's Pub. Call Cascadia Forest Alliance at 241-4879 for more information.

--Patty Wentz

FOLLOW UP
"METRO EXPRESS"
COLLIDES WITH WATCHDOG

"She ignored the signals," wrote David Bragdon, Metro Council chair, in an email to his chief of staff last month. "Alexis is stepping in front of a train. The Council Express will whistle once but shall not be slowed."

Internal emails reveal that last week's showdown between the Metro Council and Auditor Alexis Dow, the regional agency's elected watchdog, was a long time coming (see Rogue of the Week, WW, April 11, 2001).

Metro officials have long groused that Dow has a "gotcha" approach--one of her investigators was recently accused of snooping in an office while its occupant was absent--and some feel her office hinders rather than helps the agency's workings. But Dow has defended her independence and quality of work--last year, for instance, she resisted pressure to water down criticism of Metro's open spaces program (see "Off Limits," WW, Aug. 16, 2000).

Last October, Jeff Stone, the Council's chief of staff, internally suggested persuading Dow to enter "therapy" with Metro's big wheels. "[The] goal is to get her to understand the damage that her process (as opposed to her findings) does to the agency," wrote Stone. "She will never go along with putting pressure on her to change her findings--you know how that blew up last time--but if we can at least get her to change her attack-dog style that might help."

Last month Dow made a lackluster defense of her $624,000 budget. Saying Dow's answers were unsatisfactory, Councilor Rex Burkholder proposed firing Dow's investigators.

"Hey, ya got my vote!" Council Chair Bragdon responded by email. "This is 600k a year going down the drain.... I say we can risk a bad editorial!"

On April 10 Burkholder backed off his idea, but he now wants Dow to report on her upcoming audits and projected costs, as if she were a regular department head under council control. The council will debate the proposal April 18.

--Nick Budnick

SCOREBOARD

WINNERS

LOSERS

1. Former county chair Bev Stein dodged another political bullet when Congressman Earl Blumenauer said he won't run for governor. The announcement means that Stein is still the only progressive Portland Democrat in the 2002 gubernatorial race. 2. Drug dealers felt even better than usual this week. First, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors can't assist undercover police investigations. Then a Marion County judge upheld Measure 3, the civil-forfeiture law that prevents the state from taking suspects' money without a conviction. 3. After a 42-year drought, The Oregonian picked up its second--and third!--Pulitzers in three years. The top honors were given for the paper's coverage of problems at the INS and Tom Hallman's profile of a local youth's fight to correct a facial deformity. 4. Bono. Duh.

1. Oops! Less than a year ago, the Port of Portland, with the blessing of Port exec Mike Thorne, sold its Swan Island shipyard to Frank Foti for a bargain price. Now Foti plans to sell the heart of the operation, Dry Dock No. 4, virtually guaranteeing that jobs will be lost and raising the possibility that the Port may lose $8.5 million. 2. It was bad enough that Mexican national Jose Mejia was shot dead by police in a mental hospital. Reports that he was also savagely beaten during his arrest have ratcheted up pressure on Police Chief Mark Kroeker and Portland cops. 3. What do salmon and aluminum smelters have in common? Both got screwed by the BPA, which nixed dam-spilling to ease smolt seaward, then pressured 10 smelters to idle their plants. Blame the energy crisis.

ROGUE OF THE WEEK
The Rogue desk is now accepting nominations
buzz@wweek.com

TPam Balaski is the first to admit she's not built like a ballerina. But 32-year-old Balaski does not want to work at the ballet. She wants to be a bus driver.

Balaski knows she can drive a bus. Her father and brother are bus drivers, as well as many of her friends. And, she says, "I have an excellent driving record."

Unfortunately, Balaski, who tips the scales at 320 pounds, is considered too fat by this week's Rogue, Tri-Met, which twice in the last month turned down her application.

Balaski, who's been unable to lose weight she gained when pregnant six years ago, failed Tri-Met's "fit test"--whether a prospective driver can sit without his or her stomach touching the steering wheel.

Inexplicably, though, this standard does not apply to Tri-Met's current employees. Tri-Met sources have confirmed that the agency employs numerous plump drivers who may have passed the fit test years ago but whose girths have since swelled to wheel-touching proportions.

"If it's a safety issue for me," says Balaski, "then it's a safety issue for everyone who works there."

Balaski is not the only one with a beef on the fit test. Last August, ergonomics consultant Steve Russell recommended that Tri-Met change the standard: Instead of merely touching the steering wheel, the applicant's stomach now would have to cause "significant interference" in order to be denied.

Asked for a copy of Russell's report, Tri-Met spokeswoman Mary Fetsch acknowledged that it had gone unheeded due to an oversight. On April 13, Tri-Met General Manager Fred Hansen ordered the new test implemented. On the same day, however, Balaski got a letter from Tri-Met saying she cannot take the test more than twice in one year.

But her story may yet have a happy ending. To their credit, after being contacted by Rogue Central, Tri-Met officials said they would let Balaski take the new test.

Murmurs
PULITZER PRIZE-CALIBER GOSSIP, AND NO LONGER “BENICIO-FREE!”

* Is Scott Thomason headed for early retirement? That's one rumor flying at Thomason Auto Group after employees were notified of a major announcement coming next week. Insiders say all Thomason dealerships will close at 4 pm on April 25 and employees will motor to the Monarch Hotel for a brief by the company's majority partner, Asbury Automotive. Employees were given no details, but many speculate that Asbury has bought the rest of Thomason's 49 percent share in the business and will announce the boss's retirement.

* Three cheers for Old Town/ Chinatown: After torturous runs through the OLCC obstacle course, micro-hipster hangouts Tube and East finally got the go-ahead to open the spigots at last week's meeting of the state liquor board. Banana Joe's, a decidedly macro chain of bars based in Ohio, also nabbed a license to open in the old Erickson's Saloon building.

* Is the Imperial Hotel going upscale? If so, it's news to the owner. Al Gentner confirmed that a buyer has made an offer for the historic downtown hotel but insists he doesn't know what that out-of-town suitor (whom he won't name) has in mind. Word on the street is that one of the folks involved is Gordon Sondland, of Seattle's Dunson Equities, who teamed up with Joe Angel to build the downtown Westin a couple of years back. One source says Sondland envisions a high-end artsy rehab along the lines of the Hotel Triton in San Francisco.

* A sharp-eyed Benicio spotter has tipped Murmurs off to the Oscar-winner's Portland lodging. We're not going to ruin the proprietor's life by disclosing the info, but we will say that Ms. M. Louise Veronica Ciccone would recognize the place.