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What the librarian should have done, according to system policy, was dial up an AT&T service called Language Line, which provides translation between English and 140 different languages and dialects. After showing the patron a card with written samples of several dozen languages, the librarian can call Language Line and request a translator for the correct language. AT&T started offering the service in 1989 using translators who work out of their homes around the country. The service now has 10,000 clients, ranging from libraries to hospital emergency rooms. Although the library calls the service less than once a week, Cindy Gibbon, director of community services, says it's an important safeguard against greeting non-English speaking patrons with the dreaded "blank look." After hearing about Tam's experience, Gibbon fired off an e-mail to library employees reminding them of the procedure. "It was really kind of a wake-up call to us," she acknowledged. Tam is not bearing a grudge against the library for his experience, which he described as an isolated incident. He says that as they grew up, his children used many Chinese-language books from the library. --Ruth Rowland
Go Postal!
You know where it is. In that drawer, stuffed between the Visa bill and the OPB membership renewal. It's your ballot; you know what to do with it. WW's choices for the March 10 mail-in election are listed at right. For complete endorsements, dig up a copy of last week's paper or visit our check the article on this web site. WW PICKS:County Commissioner District #1: Diane Linn
County Commissioner District #3: Barbara Willer
Measure 26-28 (Raises business income tax for school funding): YES
Follow-up
DO AS I SAY...
You'd think a guy who watched convicts for a living would know how to act once he became one. Not so. Frank Caywood, who spent more than two years supervising crooks as a Multnomah County parole officer, will spend the next year sitting in jail among them. Last week Caywood plead no contest to 12 counts of theft, official misconduct and possession of heroin. Caywood apparently was hoping for some leniency from Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Dorothy Baker. He didn't get it. Deputy District Attorney Mark McDonnell says that when Baker sentenced Caywood to 12 months in jail, Caywood called the judge "cold-hearted." Baker promptly tacked another 10 days on to his sentence and ordered that he not receive credit for good behavior. Under normal circumstances, Caywood could have whittled his sentence down to less than seven months. "He just dug himself a hole. He blamed everybody else," McDonnell says. "He showed no remorse whatsoever. People expect more of their public employees." Caywood's defense attorney, Edward P. Bernardi, refused to comment on the case. The Department of Adult and Juvenile Community Justice began investigating Caywood last summer after officials there began to suspect that he was stealing the fees he was supposed to be collecting from clients. Authorities later discovered that he had relapsed into heroin addiction and was using the money to feed his habit ("Broken Trust," WW, Oct. 15, 1997). Despite having two misdemeanor convictions on his record, Caywood was hired by the department in 1995. He was indicted in October and fired in September. --Maureen O'Hagan
Turkish Taffy
A centuries-old conflict between Mediterranean neighbors spilled over onto the Portland State University campus last week, raising questions from at least one state lawmaker over the use of public funds.
At issue is a contract PSU signed in June that will endow a teaching post in the Turkish Studies Program to be jointly funded by Turkey and the Oregon University System. Arguments over academic freedom have raged since well before the contract was signed. Supporters say the pledge of $750,000 would go a long way on a cash-starved campus. Opponents in the Greek and Armenian communities charge that the Turkish government will have excessive control and teach revisionist history. As The Oregonian reported last week, the debate has grown loud enough to make new PSU President Daniel O. Bernstine reconsider the deal, which was negotiated before he arrived this summer. What hasn't been reported is that Bernstine isn't the only one with a big say in the matter. State Rep. Frank Shields attended a panel discussion on the topic last week and walked out very concerned. That's because the grant from the Turkish government requires $750,000 in matching funds--money that comes from taxpayers. The Southeast Portland Democrat knows PSU is short of money, but he wonders whether the university is compromising itself. "Is the price of the beef too high?" he asks. A PSU committee is reviewing the university's contract and expects to release findings in the next few weeks. Shields, who is considering calling for hearings on the Turkish gift, will be watching with interest. --Nigel Jaquiss |
