Their Cup Runneth Over Who knew? The last, best bulwark against liberal biblical interpretation is right here in the least-churched city in the least-churched state in the country. Portland's own Multnomah Bible College and Seminary received a million-plus-dollar donation late last month for its commitment to its students and to biblical fundamentalism. "Multnomah," the anonymous benefactors said, "is where the battle is going to be won or lost." Doug Taylor, Multnomah's public-relations director, says the donor believes too many Bible colleges and seminaries now teach the Bible as a historical text (subject to human interpretation) rather than as the inerrant word of God (to which people are subject). According to Taylor, the donors believe Multnomah Bible College has remained steadfast in the face of this postmodern trend, living up to its slogan, "If it's Bible you want, you want Multnomah." Indeed, the college's 800 students are required to take 56 hours of Bible study--more than any other college in the country. For example, Chicago's Moody Bible Institute, Billy Graham's alma mater, requires just 35 credit hours. The $1.06 million gift is the largest in the school's 64-year-history. Taylor says the money is targeted for student aid and a yet-to-be-built 22,000-square-foot office building and classroom complex. --Rachel Graham Don't Bogart that Ballot Watch out, 18-to-34-year-olds. If you thought peer pressure was intense in junior high school, you ain't seen nothing yet. This year you're going to feel it like never before. Not to smoke, not to wear capri pants, but to vote. You know, like in the election? X-PAC, Portland's political equivalent of Friends, is gearing up for an unprecedented get-out-the-vote drive. The group plans to spend $200,000 to $500,000 this year for a media blitz to convince Gen-Xers that while tree-sitting and WTO protesting is great, if you want real power, you've got to swing the power of the pen and fill in that ballot. But it isn't going to be easy to stir enthusiasm among this pragmatic generation that has checked out of the political establishment. It's a group for whom the Kennedys are merely talk-show fodder and the American Dream is alive only on Nickelodeon reruns. They are more likely to volunteer for the Cascadia Forest Alliance than the Democratic Party of Oregon. "If they really want people to get out and vote, they have to give us someone to vote for," says Brent Foster, 28. Foster is no civic slouch. A recent graduate of the Northwestern School of Law, he's a self-employed environmental lawyer working on wolf recovery in the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest and water issues in the Willamette Valley. The political ennui of his peers, he says, stems from being ignored. He volunteered for Ron Wyden's 1998 campaign because he believed the U.S. senator would be a leader on environmental issues. Now, he's dismayed by what he sees as Wyden's passive stance on key green issues. "What are his big issues other than for senior citizens? Airline-passenger bill of rights?" says Foster. "Until politicians take seriously the issues of young people, it will be very difficult to get them involved." But until young people get involved, there's no reason for politicians to pay attention to their pet issues. "It's no accident that the State of the Union speech focused on Social Security and health care," says Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, the state's top elections official. "I would argue those are not the top issues for people 18-34." He's right. When polled, younger people place a higher importance on education, the environment, poverty and population control. If more young people voted, he says, politicians might be a bit more sympathetic to Mother Nature and students. Bradbury will talk to X-PAC at 7 pm Wednesday, Feb. 2, at the Snake & Weasel, 1720 SE 12th Ave., 232-8338. --Patty Wentz Murmurs SCUTTLEBUTT WITH AN EDGE Members of the National Rifle Association should start watching their mailboxes. Everyone's wondering if the NRA will cough up the big bucks to fight Sen. Ginny Burdick's measure to require background checks at gun shows or join Oregon Gunowners on their counter measure. Word is, the local lobby will do what NRA members tell it. Surveys will start to go out in a few weeks. Consolidation in the microbrew world struck again Tuesday as Portland Brewing Company and Saxer/Nor'Wester agreed to merge. Saxer has struggled gamely since acquiring the Nor'Wester brands in September 1997, but, at 16,000 barrels a year of production, was too small to go it alone. The good news for brew hounds is that PBC, which is more than three times Saxer's size, will continue to produce all the Saxer/ Nor'Wester beers under the same name and label. Some would argue that football and theater operate in similar spheres: The audience pays to observe an unfolding human drama and, at some point, achieve a measure of cathartic revelation. Those people, of course, are bonkers. The Wall Street Journal understands the differences; last Friday it published a page of cultural alternatives to the Stupor Bowl. Portland's standing as a place kind to the finer arts was solidified when the Journal included Stark Raving Theatre's production of Family of Mann. Other plugs included a performance by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, a Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas and the film Boys Don't Cry. Gov. John Kitzhaber hits the streets this week with his two education-funding ballot measures. The guv will use both volunteer and paid signature gatherers. No word yet on who's going to run the campaign. Perhaps ballot-measure Mafioso Bill Sizemore is available. After years of bringing tunes to the Oregon Zoo, local "Showman" Steve Reischman is expanding his reach into Seattle, where he recently got the job to book gigs for the Woodland Park Zoo's summer concert series. Overheard: "You guys swear too damn much. I mean, shit, man, I'm a Christian." --One youthful westbound MAX rider to his three companions, Jan. 31 Site of the Week: Don't know how you would have voted in New Hampshire? Go to www.selectsmart.com and, based on your views, the site will tell you which of the presidential candidates should be your man. Hard Lessons The mood at Lincoln High is somber this week after an 18-year-old student hanged himself in an office attached to his parents' houseboat in the early hours of Monday, Jan. 31. On Jan. 30 the young man, whom WW has chosen not to name, left a suicide note for a female friend absolving her of any blame for his action, according to the schools' police chief Cliff Madison. He also left a picture of himself for another old friend, Madison says. Madison describes the tone of both messages as "friendly." School police had never had any contact with the young man. "He wasn't a troubled person we'd had to deal with before," Madison says. Capt. Brian Martinek, Sheriff's Department spokesman, says school counselors reported no problems with the young man. One source told WW that the young man had been working on a class project on suicide. Both Lincoln High School and district spokespersons declined to confirm or deny that fact or provide any further information. The suicide rate among males aged 15 to 19 years old has tripled in the past three decades, according to the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among Oregon teens, according to the state Center for Health Statistics; the rate of suicide among teen males is triple that of teen females. Ironically, the February issue of the Lincoln High newsletter contains an article on teen suicide, written by school nurse Susan Darnell. She wrote that recent studies show that as many as half of U.S. adolescents have seriously considered suicide before they graduate from high school. --Philip Dawdy Who Are Wu? What's in a name? Well, at the percolating Web site WuName, everyday monikers contain hidden multitudes of obscure reference, pop-culture voodoo and vague menace. This ingenious Web site holds a simple bag of tricks: Visitors enter their mundane, birth-certificate names and, through binary alchemy we prefer not to understand, the site generates an alter-ego alias in the style of the epochal hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. The aptly named congressman David Wu, for example, emerges as Sweaty Butcher. The real-life Wu-Tang includes such sinister types as Ghostface Killah, Ol' Dirty Bastard (a.k.a. Big Baby Jesus), Killah Priest and Raekwon the Chef. (The latter, perhaps coincidentally, plays the Roseland on Feb. 5.) Although it's not clear if the Wu-Tang has taken a stand on WuName, the public service inherent in providing stockbrokers, librarians and pols with menacing Wu-Tang identities is obvious. To help the WuName crusade along, WW has uncovered the secret Wu-ness of some Portland ubiquitoids. Each seems oddly appropriate. --The Visible Choirboy HERE IS THE LIST OF NEWLY APPOINTED WWU CREW! John Kitzhaber = Vangelic Surgeon Rasheed Wallace = New Fast Automatic F-REEK DJ Gregarious = The Ever So Weary Assistant Deb Kafoury = Erratic Assassin Margie Boulé = Embryonic Crusader James Canfield = Dizzy Cow Ben Canada = Spunky Misunderstood Genius Paul Allen = Crafty Barnardo Art Alexakis = Curly Haired Slacker Earl Blumenauer = Gratuitous F-REEK Phil Knight = Half-Cut Skeleton Maggi White = Bellowing Rap Machine Arvydas Sabonis = Childish Gambino Kristy Edmunds = Violent Toilet Thing Elliott Smith = Homicidal Terrahawk Sandra Mimms Rowe = Undiscovered Bum Lucy Buchanan = Slumbering Pierrot Sleater-Kinney = 100-Watt Warlock Larry Yes = The Prickly Comedian Scottie Pippen = Action-Packed Mentalist Dwight Slade = Bastard, BASTARD HarbourMastah Bob Pamplin Jr. = Sheepish Lord of Chaos Larry Crane = Temporary Spastic Brian McMenamin = Grand Moff Puppeteer Get in touch with your inner Wu. Huff Daddy Geoff Thompson, the hot-tempered and verbally creative former proprietor of the Viewpoint Inn and Restaurant, has traded the chilly winds of the Columbia Gorge for the warm rays of Los Angeles. That's great for him, but back here there's some unfinished business, including outstanding debts and one unhappy landlord. Last fall Multnomah County shut down the Viewpoint Inn because Thompson was operating the business without a permit ("Buff Daddy," WW, Sept. 29, 1999). In November, Thompson deserted the Viewpoint, leaving about $15,000 in rent due and a $1,000 utility bill, according to Rick Taylor, property manager for the Viewpoint. Taylor also says that Thompson stripped the joint, taking concrete statues and benches from the yard, kitchen appliances, even two water heaters. Vandalism and theft charges have been filed against Thompson with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. Taylor isn't the only one fuming that Thompson is outside the reach of Oregon law. Scott McDevitt, who had planned to hold his wedding at the Viewpoint this July, has been unsuccessfully attempting to serve Thompson with a lawsuit since last December. He'd given Thompson a $1,000 deposit which he says Thompson took off with. "We called them every week after the Viewpoint closed," says McDevitt. "They kept saying they didn't have it, then that they would give it to us after they had an estate sale. Then they stopped returning calls." Thompson has no patience for McDevitt's concerns. When reached by WW in L.A., Thompson said, "McDevitt is a fucking whiner. He gave his money to the Viewpoint Inn, not Geoff Thompson. The Viewpoint Inn is out of business." Thompson is appealing the court's decision to close his restaurant with the Columbia Gorge Commission but expects to lose when the case comes up in March. Instead, he's pinning his hopes on the $20 million to $30 million lawsuit he says he is planning against the county and the state. --Patty Wentz Corrections In an article about a former Clackamas County deputy district attorney ("Stalked by His Past," WW, Jan. 19, 2000), we incorrectly reported that DA Terry Gustafson is not seeking re-election. WW regrets the error. In addition, an article on new Portland planning director Gil Kelley ("The Plan Man," WW, Jan. 26) stated that Mayor Vera Katz had twice suggested that Commissioner Charlie Hales was to blame for the planning bureau's decline, including once in a recent speech before X-PAC. Katz says WW misunderstood her comment before X-PAC. In last week's paper, we erroneously attributed Gina Purl's poem to "anonymous" ("Hai-2K," Jan. 26, 2000).   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published February 2, 2000