CVN May 2008, page 13

Marcus Lopez - First Black Person in Oregon

By Jose dos Anjos

Cape Verdeans have been some of the earliest pioneers of the Pacific coast. The Lopes family seems to have led these early explorations. In 1858, Manuel Lopes, a Cape Verdean-born native, became the Seattle’s first barber and Black resident. He was a middle-aged sailor who originally settled in Massachusetts prior to moving to Seattle. About seventy years earlier, Marcus Lopez became the first Black to set foot in Oregon and the first to be killed by Native Americans. Lopez story is told below:

In 1787, an enterprising voyage was sponsored by businessmen who wanted to trade with Northwest Coast Native Americans for sea otters. A ship, The Lady Washington, was procured for the purpose and was captained by Robert Gray. Lady Washington left Boston, Massachusetts and stopped in Cape Verde to replenish supplies. A native of the islands, Marcus Lopes, joined the crew as a cabin boy, or valet, for Gray. Another crewmember, Robert Haswell, a nineteen-year-old first mate, kept a diary of the voyage. He commented that Cape Verde was abundance with tropical fruit and that the black people were contented, polite, and hospitable. Lady Washington left Cape Verde on 21 December 1787 and sailed around the tip of South America, into the Pacific Ocean, and up the western coast of North America.

On 14 August 1788, they arrived at the location of present-day Tillamook, Oregon. The initial contact with the Natives was friendly. They brought berries, crabs, and otter skins that were exchanged for knives and axes. Crew members, including Lopez, went ashore looking for food, water, and wood for the crew and animals on the ship. Though Natives brought them fruit to eat, they always came armed. On 16 August, Natives visited the ship and traded crabs, dried salmon and berries for buttons and novelties. That afternoon, the scantly armed crew went ashore and visited the local village. They were offered food and entertainment, including demonstrations of agility with arrows and spears and a war dance.

After the village entertainment, the crew went to the beach to look for clams. Marcus Lopez stuck his cutlass (knife) in the sand while carrying a load of grass for the livestock back to the boat. One of the Natives took the cutlass. A crewmember saw what had happened and called out, threatening to shoot, in the hope of preventing the loss of the knife. “Marcus was warned not to interfere with the Indians, but he chased the man who had taken his cutlass into the village. Other members of the crew followed Lopez, offering a reward if he were returned unharmed. The chief refused to intercede, and suggested that the crew members rescue Lopez themselves. They found him surrounded by a group of well armed Indians, who saw the men approaching, killed Lopez, and attacked the crew members.”

“The other crewmen of the Washington, seeing themselves heavily outnumbered, ran to their longboat and paddled as fast as they could for the sloop, narrowly avoiding being cut off by Tillamook war canoes. The fur traders named the place Murderers Harbor in commemoration of what happened to

Cape Verde and Angola Envisage New Co-operation Accords

Luanda, 04/21 - Angola and Cape Verde are signing this week a protocol in the domains of agriculture, cattle-raising and research, aimed at creating the conditions for the reinforcement of co-operation in the mentioned areas between the two countries.

Therefor, in view of this objective, the Cape Verdean minister of Agriculture and Environment, Maria Madalena das Naves, arrived Sunday in Luanda at the invitation of her Angola`s Agriculture and Rural Development minister, Afonso Pedro Kanga.

The Cape Verdean official, who is scheduled to pay a three-day visit to Angola, said at the airport, in Luanda, that a new stage in the relations is intended, “which is that of entrepreneurial development between the two countries”, with new opportunities and the establishment of partnerships for investment.

She also revealed that there is already a signed verbal process that covers the areas of fisheries, education, scientific research, social communication, civil engineering, and others.

“The relations between the two countries are historical ones, and have enabled the holding of a series of activities in various fields” she stressed.

During her stay in Angola, Maria Madalena das Naves will be received in audience by the Prime Minister Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos.

She is also to travel to Malanje Province, where she will visit the Pungo Andongo Farm.

Cape Verde: TACV airline to be privatised in 2009 [ 2008-04-22 ]

Praia, Cape Verde, 22 April – Cape Verdean air carrier TACV is to be privatised in 2009, the Cape Verdean minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Manuel Inocêncio Sousa said in Praia Friday.

According to weekly newspaper, A Semana, the minister made the statement during a “lightning” visit by US sub-secretary of state for Transport, Thomas Bennet.

The first date set for privatisation of Cape Verde’s flag air carrier was the end of 2007, that is one year after US company Sterling Merchant took on the company’s management.

However, the Government opted to give Sterling Merchant more time and decided to postpone the privatisation until 2008, with the Minister now saying that it will happen in mid 2009. (macauhub)

Environment Experts Define CPLP’s 2008/09 Programme of Activities

Luanda, 04/23 – Defining of priority activities for the 2008/09 period tops the second day of discussions of the experts meeting of the 4th CPLP Environment Ministers Conference.

The Ministers Conference will start on Thursday at the Talatona Conventions Centre, south of Luanda, ANGOP learnt this Wednesday.

Speaking to ANGOP, the spokesman of the event, Vladimiro Russo informed that the experts are debating in separate working groups, on the various themes attributed to each country namely Biodiversity (Guinea Bissau), Combat to Desertification and Reducing the Effects of Droughts (Mozambique), Ecotourism (Cape Verde), Environmental Education (Angola), Navy and Coastal Environmental Management (Brazil), Management of Residues (Sao Tome and Principe), Integrated Management of Water Resources (Portugal) and Climatic Changes and Renewable Energies (Portugal).

The implementation of the CPLP Platform of CPLP in the environment area, a document that was approved during the third conference, held in Brasilia in May 2006, which shows the engagement of member States regarding multilateral agreements, will be also part of environment ministers` discussions.

The meeting of Environment ministers of the community will be opened by a technical segment that will also analyse the rate of fulfilling the recommendations of the previous conference.

CPLP is made up of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy reported this past January that more teens abuse prescription drugs than any illicit drug other than marijuana. According to the report, more than 2.1 million teenagers abused prescription drugs in 2006.

MacNeil/Lehrer Productions is developing the.News, an in-school news broadcast for high school and middle school students and teachers that will emphasize 21st Century learning objectives. the.News will include a regular health awareness feature called the.Medic.

As part of our development process we have created a prototype the.Medic series that focuses on teenage prescription drug abuse. The series includes five videos, each roughly four minutes long. Four reports are for students, the fifth for parents. The videos are accompanied by lesson plans with curriculum appropriate for middle and high school students in the subject areas of science and language arts. The segments are:
» Segment 1 "Myth Busting"
» Segment 2 "Science of Addiction"
» Segment 3 "Changes for Life"
» Segment 4 "Media Literacy"
» Segment 5 "What Parents Should Know"

The curriculum and video features have been informed by the.News instructional design that can be found on the website www.macneil-lehrer.com/thenews. The curriculum includes content-based standards, discussion questions, student activities, vocabulary and primary reference sources. This material is presented as options to fit teachers' instructional needs.

This series was produced in collaboration with the National Association of School Nurses (www.nasn.org), which is also developing prototype school assemblies on teenage drug abuse. Funding was provided by PriCara™, Division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. For further information and questions about this material contact Lisa Denny at ldenny@newshour.org.

BELLINGHAM — The First Baptist Church of Bellingham has encountered a groundswell of new members in the last few. months after a new face in the pulpit apparently sparked churchgoers' interests.

"There were just 14 members who were actively attending - church and now we're averaging about 54 members," says Baron Rodrigues, pastor of the church. "The spirit of joy and people are actually coming forward wishing to be part of the ministry."

Most people wouldn't expect to hear the terms "correctional officer" and "church pastor" in the same sentence — especially not in reference to the same person — but that is exactly what Rodrigues is.

A correctional officer for the Massachusetts Department of Correction for the past 21 years, Rodrigues had worked in his local church, has four years of Bible college under his belt and had been a guest pastor for about seven years when, he . says, he began praying about leaving the Department of Correction and pursuing a full-time career in a ministry in the south.

Fortunately for the First Baptist Church, a parishioner had heard Rodrigues' preaching and asked him to temporarily lead the congregation during their search for a permanent pastor.

"They asked me if I could be the interim pastor, which I accepted, which was just a temporary position for a couple of months," says Rodrigues. "While I was preaching there on Sunday mornings, that's when I was approached to put in my name for candidacy for the permanent pastor's position."

After being ordained in September and officially being approved for the

Prison guard-pastor Baron Rodrigues breathes new life into Bellingham

pastorship ,by the church in November, Rodrigues nixed the idea of relocating to the south and embraced the opportunity to become the church's new pastor; even moving with his family to Bellingham from his hometown of Mattapoisett, Mass., in order to become more involved in the community.

"I just felt led and I had a settled spirit that [the First Baptist Church was where God wanted me to go," he says.
Although he enjoys his work as a correctional officer.

Pastor Baron Rodrigues