AFTER KAREN’S HUSBAND was injured, he was out of work for nearly 18 months. Slowly, the family fell short by a few hundred dollars each month on their bills and mortgage. “All the bills just started to accumulate,” she explained.Over the course of a year, the family tried to scrape money together. At the same […]
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Honor Thy Debts
Prying Open the OCA’s Wallet
NINE YEARS AGO, while working on a photodocumentary of the OCA’s (Oregon Citizens Alliance) promotion of their anti-homosexual legislation, Catherine Stauffer was thrown against a wall and dragged across the floor of a local church by Scott Lively, a spokesperson for the OCA at the time. Though the court awarded Stauffer $31,000 in punitive damages, […]
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Fatal Secrets
HIV/AIDS Activists Demand Anonymity
ON TUESDAY, a purple and black, 15-foot papier-mâché man loomed in front of the Northeast State Office Building; around his neck was a hand-painted sign that read, “Dr. HIV.” He and roughly 35 flesh-and-blood people stood chanting, “no names, no nombres,” for an hour, while confused businessmen navigated their way through the crowd. Triggered by […]
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The Evil Within
Ballot Measure 2 Rides Into the Legislative Danger Zone
CLOAKED IN eye-glazing bureaucratic jargon, Ballot Measure 2 has flown low enough on the radar screens to avoid detection from voters thus far. But if the voter initiative passes, say concerned legislators and environmentalists, it threatens to short-circuit the entire legislative process in Oregon. Demurely titled “Administrative Rules Repeal,” Measure 2 promises to expose every […]
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Not Making the Grade
Does Grade Inflation Hurt Minority Students?
MONICA LINDSEY thought her son Brad was doing well in the Portland schools. When he graduated from the seventh grade last year, his final report card was all A’s and B’s, and only one C. But during a parent-teacher conference, Lindsey learned that her son didn’t meet the state standards. In fact, the teacher said, […]
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WHAT IF GOD WERE GAY?
Out-of-State Bigots Enter the Fray Over Measure 9
LAST FRIDAY at Grant High School, a young girl–not old enough to attend school herself–stood behind a roped-off section at Grant High School. From there, she recited a Bible verse that her father taught her, to a group of approximately 100 queer protestors. Her adult-sized T-shirt dragged on the ground as she walked; it read, […]
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THE SECRETARY OF SPENDING
Ballot Measure 6 Attempts to Curb Runaway Political Spending
IN AN INCREASINGLY HIGH-STAKES political gambit, Lynn Snodgrass, the stalwart Republican from Eastern Oregon, has raised an eye-popping $700,000 for this year’s Secretary of State race. In the process, Snodgrass has transformed what is usually a sleepy race for the state’s second most powerful position into a heated battle where, to stay competitive, candidates must […]
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HUNGRY FOR CHANGE
Daunting Food Stamp Application Keeps Thousands Hungry
IN APRIL, Kathy lost her job as a legal assistant. She dropped from a $16 an hour job to nothing. With a 12-year-old son to feed, health bills, and housing costs, Kathy (who requested that her last name not be used) was suddenly thrust into poverty. During the days, she spent hours trying to wrestle […]
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DON’T TREAD ON MY LAND
Measure Seven Threatens to Trespass on State’s Land-Use Laws
SEVERAL YEARS AGO, Stuart Miller and his wife, Becky, bought an investment property with the intent of subdividing it. A year later, though, to protect a watershed, the City of Portland changed the zoning of the property so that it could not be subdivided. The Millers bemoaned this change, claiming this lowered their property value […]
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DIRTY NEEDLES
Oregon Health Standards Set Up a False Sense of Security
SIX MONTHS AGO, Julie laid down $75 for two, 16-gauge rings to be planted in the soft spot between her areola and her nipple. She was so ecstatic that she didn’t mind the pain–or give much thought to the hygiene of her piercer. “I just looked some place up in the phone book and made […]
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THE STRONG-ARM OF JUSTICE
Has Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Set Up an Unfair Advantage?
IF HE COULD, Mike McClellan would vote this November for ballot measure 94, the voter initiative that hopes to dismantle Oregon’s mandatory minimum sentence laws. But, even though he turned 18 this year, McClellan isn’t allowed to vote, because at the age of 15 he was convicted of a felony as an adult. The rest […]
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PINING FOR VICTORY
The Green Party Goes for Respectability
WHEN WHITNEY SMITH entered the race for a State House Seat, he had no hope of winning. Smith is the Pacific Green Party candidate, and like dozens of other Green Party candidates around the country, his candidacy is heavy on the rhetoric when it comes to bringing new issues to the table. In July, Smith […]