The
Goat Brother Strikes Back
Larry Colton blew up his big-league pitching
career after one game, and to local literary observers
it seemed his writing career had ended after one book--the
1993 best seller Goat Brothers.
Colton proved doubters wrong last week, when Warner Books
bought his latest book, Counting Coup, a nonfiction
account of his year on a Crow Indian reservation.
In keeping with the ex-Phillie's unconventional career,
the sale marked the second time a major publisher had
bought Counting Coup.
Colton, a former WW writer turned public-school
teacher, began writing the book in 1994. When he turned
in his first draft in 1995, editors at Doubleday told
him it was unreadable. "They not only told me it was no
good," recalls Colton. "They said, 'We'll never want it.'"
Nonetheless, he kept the six-figure advance.
Colton abandoned the book for almost three years, spending
his time working with the Community of Writers program,
which puts professional scribes into the classrooms of
Portland's public school.
Colton credits Gerry Pratt for giving him the push he
needed to revise the book. Pratt, a director of the Meyer
Memorial Trust (a Community of Writers benefactor), challenged
Colton over lunch at Ruth Chris' Steak House, loudly branding
him a "chickenshit" for neglecting his writing.
With the Warner contract, the book has now earned Colton
advances in the "low- to mid-six figures" (though he'll
have to return a portion to Doubleday).
In its final form, the book tells the story of a female
Native American high-school basketball star and the turbulent
world of the reservation she inhabits.
Colton says movie producers have shown some interest
in the book, but in the meantime he is busy expanding
Community of Writers, which will move into Laurelhurst,
Hollyrood and Irvington elementary schools next year.
--Nigel Jaquiss
Fits
Like A...
In a city where used-car salesmen pass for
celebrities, this rises to the level of news: Danny Glover
has become a Rose City resident. Glover, perhaps best
known as Mel Gibson's Lethal Weapon sidekick, recently
purchased a home in Dunthorpe. Mimi McCaslin, the real-estate
agent who handled the transaction, declined to comment
on the deal, but WW hears Glover paid $1.3 million
for his new abode.
Treatment
Shock
Earlier this month, Multnomah County's
system for treating low-income mentally ill people suffered
a huge shock when 17 workers at Unity West, the county's
largest treatment provider, were laid off. Workers were
told that more layoffs were imminent.
"It's a significant downsizing," says Floyd Martinez,
the director of the county's Behavioral Health Division,
which contracts with Unity.
Martinez says Unity managers told him the layoffs could
hit about 10 percent of the nonprofit's 380-member staff.
The agency, whose facilities include Mental Health Services
West, the Garlington Center and Delaunay, has a roster
of about 3,500 clients. Unity officials did not return
WW's phone calls.
Marian Drake, a 57-year-old client at Unity who suffers
from manic depression, says staff gave patients the bad
news in mid-May. Programs in art therapy, recreational
therapy, skills training, treatment management and medication
management have all been cut, she says. The downtown treatment
center, where consumers can drop in for counseling or
just relax in a safe place, also faces changes. Drake
says Unity plans to cut the center's staff from 12 to
two and change it to what is being called a "consumer-run"
facility, where clients themselves would supervise activities.
That makes Drake leery. "If you don't have professionals
there, I don't feel emotionally safe," she says. "And
if it's consumer-run, you can't serve the lower-functioning
clients anymore."
Although most consumers have positive things to say about
Unity, it has suffered from the constraints of managed
care. In the new world of health care, according to mental-health
workers, it's financially difficult to treat people with
severe illnesses because reimbursement rates do not cover
costs. Several sources say Unity management didn't realize
its cost projections were wrong until it was too late.
"They probably should have read some signals much earlier
than they did," Martinez says. "The longer you wait to
make course corrections, the bigger the correction has
to be. That's just a basic rule."
Unity's clients and others fear the agency might fold.
"People in the community are talking about it," says Miriam
Gershow, who works for the Office of Consumer Technical
Assistance, a group that helps the mentally ill.
Rhys Scholes, a spokesman for Multnomah County Chair
Beverly Stein, says the county will assure that Unity's
clients--hundreds of people with severe and debilitating
mental illnesses--will not go untreated. "It's a concern,
but we have confidence they're maintaining the highest-priority
services," he says.
The county is currently working with the agency on a
financial plan. While bailout money is not yet being contemplated,
Martinez says, "That's still a discussion to be had."
--Maureen O'Hagan
I Will Not Write Outside the Box.
I
Will Not Write Outside the Box.
I
Will Not...
When the Oregon Department of Education returned the
results of the state's writing test last week, Laurelhurst
Elementary fifth-grade teacher Jan Greene couldn't believe
her eyes. Jordan Rede, one of her best writing students,
had failed to meet the state standard.
The test is designed to measure students' ability to
write clearly, grammatically and descriptively, which
Greene says is the boy's strength. Words run in Rede's
family. His father, George Rede, is a veteran editor at
The Oregonian.
"When we write out our spelling words, Jordan does whole
sentences," Greene says. "Everything he does, he makes
a story. He's just so committed to his writing."
Too committed for the Department of Education, it seems.
The quality of Rede's essay wasn't the problem; it was
the quantity. When Rede's answers filled the box on the
test form, he continued on another page, which he attached.
State officials declined to grade his work.
Rede's situation typifies the frustration families and
educators are encountering with the implementation of
school reform ("None of the Above," WW, May 5,
1999).
"It leaves me feeling we're not taking into account individual
differences," Greene says.
As for Rede, Greene says, "He's sort of disgusted with
the whole thing."
ODE spokesman Larry Austin says test rules permit attaching
an additional page to complete a thought, but the writing
shouldn't exceed half a page.
Laurelhurst principal Judy Wathen has made several phone
calls to ODE and received no satisfactory explanation
in Rede's case. According to Greene, officials at the
department downplayed Rede's results, saying that test
results don't really count until 10th grade.
"If the tests don't matter," asks Greene, "why are we
doing them?" --Nigel Jaquiss
Why,
There Oughta Be A Law...
HOUSE BILL 4019 * RELATING TO PED XING
SPONSORED BY J. WILLIAMS AND S. MCKENNIE
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OREGON:
SECTION 1: Whereas "Uh, excuse me, but pedestrians
still have the right of way":
(a) No morning-commute
drivers in Oregon shall be allowed to stop halfway over
the white line at crosswalks while digging through their
glove compartments or purses.
(b) Drivers who violate Section 1(a) must remain
in that exact spot while the 10:15 coffee-break crowds
complete three full, lazy circles around said vehicle,
sipping their lattes and discussing office troubles.
(c) Said drivers are not allowed any exasperated
sighs or "C'mon, move!" waves.
SECTION 2: All drivers making a turn must look
at the corners for pedestrians.
(a) Drivers who
stop for pedestrians entering a crosswalk but begin
to drive anyway (forcing pedestrians to "start, stop
and dash") must give such pedestrians a ride to their
destinations.
(b) If a driver violating Section 2 has perfume
or cologne overpowering the vehicle's exhaust, pedestrians
shall be given full driving privileges.
(c) If a driver violating Section 2 fails to
come to a complete stop, pedestrians shall be given
radio-station privileges.
SECTION 3: Any waving and honking male driver
who assumes that every female pedestrian is a prostitute
or "looking for action" must display a bumper sticker
that clearly reads, "I Prey on Desperation and Have
Never Had a Relationship Longer Than 12 Minutes."
This week's amateur legislators, J. Williams and S.
McKennie of Northwest Portland, win dinner at Captain
Ankeny's Well.
Send your proposals to WW Law Contest via fax
([503] 243-1115), e-mail (jschrag@wweek.com)
or snail mail (822 SW 10th Ave., Portland OR 97205).
Correction
In last week's Beervana and Vinotopia special
supplement we incorrectly identified McCormick & Schmick's
Harborside Pilsner Room as being connected to a hotel.
WW regrets the error.
