NEWS BUZZ

murmurs | scoreboard | rogue of the week

TOP COPS SPANKED
Fax machines at the Portland Police Bureau are buzzing after an independent arbitrator lashed out at two top cops for their role in a paycheck dispute.

In a ruling issued Feb. 21, arbitrator Marvin Schurke described statements by Assistant Chief Bruce Prunk and Capt. Bob Kauffman as "fiction or fabrication."

Schurke was hired to resolve a dispute between the bureau and Sgt. Michael Barkley. Barkley was placed on unpaid leave after being accused of stealing $20,650 from a Washington County family in 1995. He did not get a paycheck for the next three years, until October 1998, when Judge Janice Wilson declared him innocent and said "an illustrious career of a police officer [was] tarnished."

"The poor guy was just treated like shit by the bureau," said one officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

During the ensuing arbitration hearing, Prunk and Kauffman claimed that Barkley had requested unpaid, as opposed to paid, leave--a position the arbitrator called "not credible."

Schurke ruled that Prunk, in defending the bureau's actions, "seems to have taken and reiterated...positions which were unfounded [and] in violation of the collective bargaining agreement," Schurke wrote.

Prunk and Kauffman declined to comment on the ruling.

Many cops are steaming at the way Barkley was treated and speculate that Prunk and Kauffman will fall victim to an impending management shakeup by Chief Mark Kroeker.

The ruling raises "the serious issue of credibility" of the bureau's management, said Robert King, president of the police union.

The ruling comes soon after the debunking of what cops feel was another politically motivated hatchet job: "Centralgate." In 1999, the bureau claimed that anti-drug officers in Operation Northstar had defrauded the city of $165,000 in phony overtime pay. But earlier this month officials admitted that the actual overtime fraud was a mere $877.

--Nick Budnick

SCOREBOARD

WINNERS

LOSERS

1. Porn-dogs and professional-wrestling aficionados can thank the Mount Hood Cable Commission for fining AT&T Broadband Services $180,000 for providing lousy service to cable-TV customers. Now if somebody could just do something about Internet service providers. 2. OHSU aerial tram foes shellacked OHSU representatives at a March 1 neighborhood meeting, where not one neighbor supported the tram--a gauge of just how intense a battle Corbett-Terwilliger and Lair Hill residents will bring to the university's doorstep should it proceed further with its plans. 3. The Earth Liberation Front handed the timber industry and Republican lawmakers a public-relations boon when it claimed responsibility for spiking trees in the Umpqua National Forest near Eugene.

1. Former Bill Sizemore aide Kelli Highley copped a plea for falsifying signatures on Sizemore's initiatives. The General Custer of the anti-tax movement says he had no idea she was breaking the law and he's just torn up about the whole thing. 2. The club scene in Olympia might be better than in Salem, but last week's tremor proved that our Capitol is sturdier. Washington's Capitol, its dome cracked, is out of service, as is Olympia's Fourth Avenue Bridge; citywide, 80 buildings have been declared unsafe. Salem, while terminally boring, remained intact. 3. Life got tougher for Oregon strip-club owners when a state lawmaker proposed that nude dancers under age 21 be stripped of their right to perform. Even worse, a statewide study showed a decrease in lottery gambling--nearly as big a draw for strip-joint denizens as the peelers.

the DOMINO EFFECT
The scramble began almost as soon as Multnomah County Chair Beverly Stein resigned to pursue the Democratic nomination for governor.

On Tuesday, County Commissioner Diane Linn said she would quit her job in order to seek Stein's post in a special election May 15. Promising to "hit the ground running," Linn already has a campaign organization in place and is confident she can raise $100,000 in short order.

County Commissioner Serena Cruz, who wavered last week about running for the chair in 2002, now sounds very much like a candidate. "I expect to make an announcement on Friday," she told WW, after spending the early part of the week making fund-raising calls--or checking in with potential supporters, as she put it. Like Linn, Cruz would also have to resign her commission post in order to run, as required by the county's charter.

Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Noelle, himself mentioned as a potential candidate, said he would endorse Cruz if she ran.

Meanwhile, Linn's announcement has spawned its own race: There are at least four candidates for her westside and inner Southeast Portland seat. They are Maria Rojo de Steffey, a former aide to Stein and former chief of staff to City Commissioner Dan Saltzman; Jeff Cogen, Stein's communications manager; George Eighmey, a former state Rep, who lost to Linn in 1998; and Charlotte Comito, an aide to County Commissioner Lisa Naito. Announcements will come this week.

Even though Cruz has not decided whether to run, state Rep. JoAnn Bowman (D-Portland) is eyeing her seat. And what would that leave? A potential vacancy--which Bob Durston, City Commissioner Erik Sten's chief of staff, is said to be interested in filling.

--Philip Dawdy

ROGUE OF THE WEEK
Seen a rogue on the loose?
Contact our roguemeister,
John Schrag
jschrag@wweek.com

While their classmates practice long division, some of Portland Public Schools' neediest students are learning a different kind of lesson.

At North Portland's Beach Elementary, which the Education Crisis Team has named one of Portland's 14 chronically underperforming schools, a group of fifth-graders will spend 40 hours working in the school cafeteria this year, missing precious time in class.

Unlike the adults they work alongside, the students don't have food handlers' licenses, nor do they get paid--except in the form of a free lunch (for which most of them qualify anyway).

The Portland Public Schools' Department of Nutrition Services is our Rogue of the Week for allowing this Dickensian state of affairs.

Fifth-grade teacher Angie Harris is outraged that six of her students serve food and clean up the cafeteria from 11 am until 1:15 pm every day for four weeks. "I am doing my best to bring these students up to benchmark but find it difficult when four times a year they MUST report to cafeteria duty," Harris wrote in a recent email to Superintendent Ben Canada (the message so far has gone unanswered).

At the beginning of each school year, schools send home a letter asking parents to let their kids serve lunch. Most refuse. But some--especially those less fluent in English--agree.

"At Beach a lot of parents don't speak English," Harris says. "Those who do and are more involved send notes immediately."

Bob Honson, the district's director of nutrition services, says that kids have served in Portland school cafeterias for 25 years and that many enjoy the work. They are exempt from county licensing requirements.

But Honson says he was unaware of the situation at Beach and agrees that making students miss class is wrong. "That would surprise me and I would want to correct it," he says.

SCHOOL BOARD PICKS
Here are our picks for the contested races in the current elections. Ballots are due March 13.

Portland School Board

Zone Four: Derry Jackson

Appointed to the board in 1999 to finish the term of Lucious Hicks, Jackson is energetic and passionate. But he's also wildly erratic and sometimes under-prepared.

His opponent, Mary Fetsch, worked in the media and for former U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Furse before becoming Tri-Met's Communications Director, but she has virtually no record of educational involvement with schools.

We'll stick with Jackson, who clearly outshined Fetsch in their joint endorsement interview.

Zone Six: Carrie Adams

Both candidates in this race are impressive. Julia Brim-Edwards, 39, spent 16 years in Washington, D.C., and Salem working for several politicians including her husband, Randall Edwards, the current state treasurer. Brim-Edwards is smart and wired, but she reminds us of current board members, who have failed to ask tough questions or hold Superintendent Ben Canada accountable.

We think her opponent, Carrie Adams, would do both. Adams, also 39, works for the Albina Head Start program and is a member of the Education Crisis Team.

As a representative of low-income parents, Adams would add a fresh perspective to board discussions.

Multnomah Education
Service District

Position Two:

Sy Kornbrodt

Portland Community College Board

Zone 4:

Dana Anderson

Zone 5:

Doreen Margolin

Zone 6:

Michael R. Hereford

BETTING on BASEBALL
Major-league baseball in Portland looks less like a longshot and more like a prospect every day.

That's great news for ball fans, but not for the city and Portland Family Entertainment; they're spending nearly $40 million to restore PGE Park for Triple-A baseball.

Until recently, PFE appeared to have quashed hopes for a rival stadium that could accommodate major-league baseball.

But last week, major-league baseball supporters introduced House Bill 2941, which would devote $150 million worth of lottery-backed bonds to a new stadium.

That put PFE and its allies on the defensive. "It would be outrageous if the bill did not include protection for the city's investment," Portland Sports Authority Director Drew Mahalic told the House Commerce Committee.

On Feb. 28, PFE and city officials met with sponsors Sen. Ryan Deckert (D-Beaverton) and Rep. Bill Witt (R-Cedar Mill) to plead for protection. Deckert says he agreed because without the city's cooperation, lottery funding won't fly. "The city of Portland is in the driver's seat," he says.

Baseball supporters believe that if they secure lottery funding, an owner for a Portland franchise will surface. With improved funding prospects, speculation involving two of baseball's most troubled franchises is running rampant:

* Although KXL (Paul Allen's 50,000-watt AM station) and Oakland A's officials deny they're talking, an executive at one of the A's radio broadcast affiliates says there has been contact--which could mean Allen is interested in building local support for the A's. Allen has invested billions in cable TV but needs programming.

* Insiders say the Montreal Expos' financial problems are terminal and that owner Jeffrey Loria may announce relocation plans by mid-season.

* Major-league supporters know where they want to build: on the site of Portland Public Schools headquarters, just north of the Rose Garden. "It's by far the best site," says Alan Tressider, a lobbyist for the baseball supporters. Building a stadium there could solve the district's chronic oversupply of real estate and replace a white elephant with a pot of cash.

On Thursday, major-league supporters capped a strong week when Gov. John Kitzhaber's staff said the governor would soon "clarify" his position on baseball--presumably taking a less negative stance.

--Nigel Jaquiss

Murmurs

* The Guardian Angels have long gone, but a group of gay and lesbian activists is working with the Portland Police Bureau to beef up security in Old Town and on Southwest Stark Street this spring. The volunteer Rainbow Community Foot Patrol hopes to deter gay-bashing, harassment and other criminal activities near queer-friendly nightspots.

* It looks like Minh Tran, the Portland Public Schools administrator who is suing the district over an employment matter, will have to go to court to collect his money. Meeting in executive session (which WW did not attend) Monday night, board members, led by Ron Saxton, rejected for the second time district lawyers' advice that they pay Tran a settlement of more than $250,000.

* The safest place in Oregon this Wednesday may be the state Capitol. That's when Portland police will be turning out in favor of SB-615, which would allow cops to establish "no-fly zones" for news copters and ban live video feed during situations where police are dealing with armed criminals. Essentially, the deal gives statewide legal authority to an understanding that local police reached with TV stations in the wake of the shooting death of Officer Colleen Waibel in January 1998.

* Quote of the Week: "I'm leaving politics because I think the process is corrupted."

--Larry George, executive director of Oregonians in Action. He's referring to the court ruling against Measure 7, the takings initiative his group shepherded to victory last fall.

Pumphouse Blues
The British look to the cuckoo as the harbinger of spring; in Portland, we've got Saturday Market. But even as the long-absent aroma of incense and souvlaki wafted over the Burnside Bridge last weekend, the market's organizers were freaking out about another, less welcome, odor.

In fact, Saturday Market is facing its biggest threat in years--from a sewage pump.

To slash storm and sewer runoff to the Willamette River, the Bureau of Environmental Services is planning a new facility near the Burnside Bridge to pump the west side's combined sewage outflow across the river to treatment facilities on the east side.

Trouble is, the pumphouse may land in Ankeny Square, wiping out 20 percent of the market's stalls.

"It has the prospect of dragging the whole market under," says Paul Verhoeven, executive director of Saturday Market. Verhoeven also fears that a pumphouse would scare tenants away from the Skidmore Fountain Building, which the market recently purchased for $3.3 million.

The project has become a major headache for City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who oversees BES. If he puts the pumphouse in Ankeny Square, he'll upset legions of Saturday Marketeers. But if he chooses the other leading site--Waterfront Park--he'll face a battalion of Portlanders outraged at the prospect of desecrating the legacy of Tom McCall (even though the park already contains one pumphouse, under the Burnside Bridge.)

"It's been pretty intense," says Saltzman, who says he isn't getting much help from his council colleagues. "If the turd's in your pocket, why do I want any part of it?" is how he summarizes their attitude.

Saltzman's--and Saturday Market's--best hope is to shift a proposed river crossing from St. Johns south to Swan Island, meaning a small pump could be used at the existing Burnside Bridge site. Whatever decision Saltzman makes within the next two weeks will most likely face a lengthy land-use appeal.

--Philip Dawdy