Wake up for dozens of elderly residents.
The fire broke out around 2.30 this morning in the 12 story Marshall Union Manor, a retirement home for union workers.
Fire crews say the fire started in room 417. Firefighters found the 84 year old resident in the hallway, overcome by smoke.
They tried to revive him with CPR, but his heart had stopped beating.
Ambulances took six other elderly residents to nearby hospitals. Firefighters rescued 22 residents from the fourth floor.
Some stood ready by their windows, signaling for help. Most had wisely learned through safety training to stay in their rooms if there's smoke in the hallway.
The smoke has went out and went down the hall, the full length of the building on that floor.
And I mean, when you walk in there, the smoke level is right down to the floor. A lot of the people on that floor stayed in the room.
Residents said a very loud fire alarm woke them up. More than 200 residents on other floors took the stairs to get out of the building.
They were able to go back in a couple hours later.
As they surveyed the damage this afternoon, many residents said they didn't realize there are no sprinklers in the 22 year old building.
The average age here is like 89. So people forget, you know, and you have to keep reinforcing what to do. Like Lily, she didn't realize it was a firetrain.
We all stuck together and we all worried about each other.
You know, when I came back from the hospital, one of the gentlemen was down here from the same floor and he says, I looked at him and I said, oh, thank God you're all right.
He says, well, thank God for you. He says, you're OK, too.
As of 1975, all Portland buildings over 75 feet tall must have sprinkler systems. But this one was built in 1972. So it's exempt from the law.
What do you do to make it safe up here? And the best thing would be, you know, put a sprinkler system in.
The fire bureau is obviously very frustrated about this kind of situation because without a law, there really is no way to force building owners to install a costly sprinkler system.
By the way, the last time this particular building was inspected was in December of 1992. Firefighters say that that's not unusual. They inspect these kind of buildings about every 18 months.
Now, we obtained a copy of that inspection report and took a look at it and it showed several minor violations, but none involved the fourth floor and all were corrected very quickly. Back to you.
Lisa, we understand inspectors are still looking into the cause of the fire. Since it started in one room, would a fire extinguisher in that room have helped?
Definitely, Mike. They say that's something that everybody should have, whether they live in a small apartment or in a home, definitely have a fire extinguisher handy.
But they say one thing, though, don't forget to call the fire department. It may sound silly. They say, though, the problem they find with elderly folks is they try and fight a fire.
It gets out of control. Then they call the fire department. They say they'd rather have you call them when you smell smoke and have them come out many times than for you to try and fight the fire yourself and then call them.
So call them first before you make any attempt, but any kind of protections you can have like a fire extinguisher. Those are good things to have on hand.
Thank you, Lisa. Lisa Bailey reporting from the scene of this morning's fire. Firefighters were a lot of Tory of the tenants who stayed in their rooms, kept their doors shut so the smoke didn't get inside.
We checked to with the Portland Fire Bureau about other high rise buildings in the city. One hundred forty five of them, most one hundred five are equipped with sprinklers.
Nursing homes, by the way, are required to install sprinklers. But the Marshall Union Manor is a retirement home, not a nursing home.
That retirement home fire forced twenty two people from their homes. Unfortunately, most were able to stay with nearby relatives and friends.
But some were put up in a motel across the street.
Alexia Gromko shows us the courage of one woman who found the secret to get through such a rough time.
Lily Remington's sense of humor is helping her survive this tough time. This morning, we asked her where she was during the fire in bed.
Two firemen came in and woke me up, pulling covers off of me and said, Let's get out of here.
So you were sleeping while the fire was going on? Well, I thought they were trimming trees.
I heard the noise, but I thought they were trimming trees, you see.
Lily lives three doors down from where the fire started. Her apartment suffered only minor smoke damage.
Even so, she's moving across the street to the carriage in where she'll stay along with seven others until the damage is cleaned up.
Hello, my sister. Hello. Yes. Oh, it's my brother Clarence. Yes, we had a fire. But I'm OK.
Fortunately, the Red Cross is taking care of Lily and the others in her situation, providing them with everything they'll need until they can go back home.
Obviously, all the residents are shaken by the fire, but many say that's not going to make them leave the place they call home.
But maybe next time they'll be a little bit more prepared because this week they're all attending a disaster preparedness seminar, which was ironically on the calendar books for weeks.
In northwest Portland, Alexa Gromko, News Center Six. Fire officials say the fourth floor residents may be allowed back into their apartments by the end of this week.
Two fishermen are telling a tale tonight after their boat was flipped by strong winds in the Columbia Gorge.
The two Portland men spent the morning fishing on the Columbia River near Corbett.
When they started to raise the anchor, it got caught in the engine and a gust of wind flipped the boat.
They floated almost two miles downriver clinging to the boat.
Like the wind took the boat and stood it straight up in the air, like for, you know, maybe 20 seconds or so, and then the boat flipped over backwards.
One guy jumped and another guy went over with the boat.
Ambulances took both men to the hospital where they were treated for hypothermia.
Remarkably, this dog was fine after spending 45 minutes in the cold water.
Rescuers say the wind gusts in the gorge reached 30 miles an hour today.
That's a hardy dog, isn't it?
Yes.
Those winds are apparently blowing down the gorge and will meet up with a front that should bring us a change in the weather.
And since we've been enjoying beautiful spring-like weather, a change must mean rain. Is that right, Jim?
Well, a change certainly means clouds.
The chances for rain are not all that great because the weather system, while it looks fairly impressive on our satellite pictures, is kind of falling apart as it moves on in.
Take a look at the satellite picture, and that's a good band of clouds out there.
When we superimpose the fronts, it looks fairly impressive, but it has been weakening.
So it's this area that's going to affect us. Move on through, so we'll see more clouds tomorrow than we saw today.
It looks like pretty much an overcast day.
Not a lot of rain out of this, I don't think.
We may get a few sprinkles here and there, so we'll keep the chance for rain in the forecast.
But I don't want to make it sound like it's going to be just a rainy day all day tomorrow.
Certainly a lot of clouds.
Next couple of weather systems out here look like actually they're heading a little more to the north of us.
So we'll see drier weather, a little more sunshine then for Thursday and Friday.
Another weather system is due in on Sunday, and we'll talk more about that coming up a little later in Newsroom 6.
I can handle that change. Thank you.
Coming up next, we're going to update today's developments in a situation some are comparing to Watergate.
And we'll hear how Northwest Democrats feel about so-called white water.
Also ahead, can Portland's golfers rescue high school sports?
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President Clinton today hired a White House attorney who was practicing law well before Clinton was even born.
Lloyd Cutler will add a little gray to Clinton's baby boomer staff
during a time when the White House is being shaken by white water.
This isn't the first time Lloyd Cutler has stepped in to help a president.
He served President Carter during 1981.
This time he says he will stay just 130 days.
In government, as in other aspects of life, trust is the coin of the realm.
And Mr. President, I pledge myself to do what I can to assure that that trust is maintained.
Cutler is known as a Washington insider who represented former Secretary of State George Shultz
during the Iran-Contra proceedings and pushed for Robert Bork's failed nomination to the Supreme Court.
Most recently, Cutler fought Washington state term limits.
Cutler now joins the White House as Clinton searches for a replacement for Bernard Nussbaum,
who, as you remember, quit under fire for his handling of white water.
Cutler says he wants everyone in the White House to cooperate in these white water probes.
As headlines fill with the white water scandal, some in the White House are calling it mostly media-created hysteria.
New Center Six reporter Kim Wright in the nation's capital talked with Oregon Democrats about the president's troubles.
Any comparison between white water and Watergate is irreconcilable.
Depending on who you talk to, the white water scandal is either media and Republican-created hype
or the nation's next Watergate.
What you know is that every major investigation made by the media,
hardly known for their Republican sympathies, has uncovered many important questions about white water.
Mr. Speaker, how many people outside the Beltway in Washington, D.C., care about white water?
Zero. More and more, white water becomes an inside-the-Beltway issue raised by those who oppose the president
but can't criticize him on the substance of his policies.
Hey, hey, ho, ho, Republican winch-line's gotta go.
Both sides of the issue are rallying their troops.
While Republicans on the Hill are holding news conferences,
feminists outside the White House are crying foul,
especially about how the media and Republicans have treated the First Lady.
But I don't think that we are talking about a major scandal.
I think that the efforts to fan this into a scandal have become a feeding frenzy,
and I think that the media's played into it.
And while many congressional Democrats have been slow to jump into the fray,
Oregonians here are standing by the president for now.
Frankly, there are some who just want to play for headlines and sensationalism.
That's why it's so important for elected officials,
and I just came home from town meetings this weekend to be out in their districts
talking to constituents and hearing them out.
Any issue like this needs to be not tried in the press, of course.
I think we need to have open hearings.
We need to make sure that the special counsel is able to do his job.
So there's no doubt about it, this has become very much a partisan issue.
Democrats hoping to wait for the special counsel's investigation
while Republicans continue to call for full-fledged congressional hearings.
Kim Wright, News Center 6, Washington.
Today, President Clinton called Whitewater a real estate deal gone bad
that cost him a lot of money.
He insists that no one has tried to abuse the authority of the White House
by influencing the investigation of the land deal.
The cost of a postage stamp may soon rise, but this time by three cents.
Today, the U.S. Postal Service formally proposed raising mail rates more than 10 percent.
That would boost the cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents, an increase of three cents per stamp.
We've been paying 29 cents for three years now, and it's time, they say, for an increase.
So says the agency that lost over $1 billion last year.
Along with the stamp increase, the cost of sending a postcard could rise by two cents,
as could the cost per ounce for sending first-class mail.
An independent board will not make a final decision on the increases for about 10 months.
So it will be early next year before we see any of those 32-cent stamps.
Another revenue-raising idea is taking aim at golfers.
Portland's four municipal courses could raise their rates.
City Commissioner Earl Blumenauer wants to give the extra revenue
to the school district for high school athletics.
If your driver's license doesn't say Portland, a round of golf could cost you a little more,
as Mark Sanchez reports.
The plan targets non-resident golfers.
The plan targets non-resident golfers.
They play most of the 600,000 rounds Portland's city-owned courses will see this year.
Any weekday a round costs $13, but could jump another two bucks for out-of-towners.
I heard very few complaints.
I don't have a problem with that, not really.
That's not a lot.
I mean, we're paying an average of 20 to 25 for public courses down there in California.
Where it's going is a fine place.
They need it. They need it real bad today.
Do they ever?
High school athletics in Portland could be gone within two years.
Tax limitation put the squeeze on school financing.
The Blumenauer surcharge might raise another $400,000.
It's not a complete solution.
Blumenauer says, though, it could mean the difference between saving kids or losing them.
For me, it is being clear about what our priorities are
and that it ought to be our kids working with the school board and having a city that works.
I think the main thing is just making sure that the fees themselves are reasonable.
You won't hear much squawking from neighboring cities.
Many of them already charge nonresident fees to Portlanders for using their recreational facilities.
Another point, even at $15 a round, golf in Portland is about equal in cost with other public courses in the area.
If fees do go up, the Parks Bureau would prefer they go up across the board for everyone.
Officials say that would be easier to manage and perhaps be a little more consistent
because right now, the city collects 50 cents on green fees from resident and nonresident alike.
That works out to about $300,000 a year, and that money goes for programs to help at-risk kids in Portland.
Blumenauer hopes to formalize a rescue plan within a month.
It could mean golfers to the rescue of high school sports.
Mark Sanchez, New Center 6.
Those athletics cost more than $2 million a year.
Portland's upcoming school budget will cut $25 million in spending and next year, $50 million.
We can make a lot of money on this. Golf is huge here.
Very popular and doesn't sound like that in comparison is that much of an increase.
Right. Coming up next, New Center 6 is going to investigate how your tax dollars are being spent on public lands.
And in about 10 minutes, a tragic story from Washington state of a fatal dog attack involving a five-year-old and a Rottweiler.
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Once loggers cut trees on federal land, it's up to the government to get the acres replanted.
But auditors are now questioning reforestation programs at the Bureau of Land Management.
The Office of Inspector General tells us the BLM dipped into more than $5 million in reforestation funds
to pay for such things as public relations.
Eric Mason tonight has more on the diversion and a new shakeup at the top of the agency.
The accusations are embarrassing to Bureau of Land Management officials,
who in the past prided themselves on such things as tree planting ceremonies.
Government auditors charged the BLM diverted more than $5 million from a fund intended to replant denuded hillsides
to fund that ended up paying for management expenses including office furniture and public relations.
This is a very troubling report, that money that was earmarked for reforestation is not being spent for that use.
It comes at a critical time. You've got timber workers losing family wage jobs.
This isn't the first time BLM officials have been faced with charges they diverted reforestation money.
Years ago, government auditors caught what they considered a $40 million diversion.
The state BLM director Dean Bibles declined our offers for an interview today, his staff saying he was in meetings.
Bibles told staffers yesterday he was resigning his post, but said the diversion question had nothing to do
with his move to a post at the Department of Interior in Washington.
While top BLM officials weren't talking, BLM public affairs specialists did agree to explain the money troubles.
There isn't one dime that's been misspent or misappropriated.
I would categorize it as an accounting disagreement which we corrected before the IG did their report.
All the trees that can be planted have been planted and the sites have been maintained.
But environmentalists challenged the BLM saying dipping into the accounts will affect the forests of the future.
And I think if you go to southern Oregon in particular you'll find lots of documentation
that the reforestation efforts of BLM are way behind.
It's serious for the BLM, it's serious for the whole credibility of the agency,
which doesn't have much credibility at this point anyway.
The report by the inspector general says the BLM neglected a whole range of forest development programs,
including fertilization and tree thinning.
The report maintains that taxpayers could end up losing as much as $200 million in revenues in the end
because skimping on programs today could mean spindly trees tomorrow.
In Portland, Eric Mason, News Center 6.
Eric tells us that Congressman Wyden says he'll ask Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt for a full audit at the Bureau of Land Management.
If you're wanting to run for state or federal office in Oregon, it's too late.
You needed to file by 5 o'clock today for the May 17th primary.
A number of veteran officeholders are bailing out this year, but there is no lack of candidates to take their place.
Two congressional seats are open.
Five Republicans and three Democrats are seeking that second district seat vacated by Representative Bob Smith.
And in the fifth district, four Republicans and five Democrats are hoping to succeed, retiring Representative Mike Kapetsky.
In Multnomah County, a race there, 23-year-old veteran of the sheriff's department filed for sheriff.
Vera Poole is a shift commander at the Inverness Jail.
She said the sheriff's department must become more progressive and creative in combating crime.
Poole believes her experience in criminal justice system management would improve the sheriff's efficiency.
Incumbent Bob Skipper is seeking reelection.
David Chambers and Kirby Broulard also filed for that office.
Coming up, wine connoisseurs have been enjoying vino from California for years.
In about 10 minutes, we're going to visit a Portland microbrewery that's betting Californians will drink beer from the Northwest.
Next from the News Center, in the Astoria Trial watched on national TV, the verdict is guilty.
And Jim Little forecasts a change in our web.
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Now, your complete source for Northwest news and information.
This is News Center Six.
It's 530. Welcome to News Center Six.
A woman who was elected to uphold the law in Clatsop County
has tonight been convicted of misusing her office.
Late this afternoon, jurors found Julie Lenhart guilty of all seven counts against her.
Here's the count.
Guilty of forgery, guilty of tampering with records, and guilty of official misconduct.
Jurors believe Lenhart used her office to try to get police to drop a ticket again.