What's Happening in San Jose Vietnamese Community & Interested News:
Sept. 29, 2000: Former Canadian PM Trudeau Dies. TORONTO — With the death of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Canadians lost their own version of Camelot.
Trudeau, 80, died of prostate cancer at his Montreal home Thursday. The news triggered a stream of Kennedy-esque reminiscing and photos rolling across Canadian television screens: the prime minister frolicking with his three young sons, with a beautiful wife on his arm, or in the heat of a passionate speech laced with liberal idealism.
A French Canadian who fought for national unity, his charisma and irreverence helped define an era. Trudeau's powerful influence on Canada was apparent far beyond the crowds gathered outside his home on a Montreal hilltop.
He was a policy expert and a political visionary - his vision birthed Canada's constitution in 1982. "Pierre Trudeau opened a dynamic new era in Canadian politics and helped establish Canada's unique imprint on the global stage," President Clinton said Thursday from Washington. More SF. Examiner.
Sept 27, 2000: Viet center finds a home. SEARCH ENDS AS S.J. COUNCIL APPROVES SITE IN KELLEY PARK. A Vietnamese cultural garden and community center that has been planned for 13 years has found a home at San Jose's Kelley Park and could be under construction as soon as next summer.
With the San Jose City Council's approval of the site Tuesday, the Vietnamese Cultural Heritage Garden Association will push ahead with raising the estimated $6 million it will cost to develop the four acres containing a garden, a 7,000-square-foot museum and 4,500-square-foot community hall. More SJMN.
Landlord ordered to live in slum apartments in San Jose. For the first time in San Jose, a judge has ordered a landlord who failed to repair her crumbling properties to spend two months in one of her own run-down apartments -- and to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet to make sure she stays there.
Although similar steps have been taken against owners of slum housing elsewhere in the country -- notably New York City and Los Angeles -- the house-arrest action is believed to be the first ever in San Jose, City Attorney Rick Doyle said Tuesday.
``I think it's OK to have her live'' in one her own apartments, Rosas said through an interpreter. ``. . . so she can know what it's like to live in some messed-up apartment.''
In addition to submitting to electronic monitoring and house arrest, Arciaga was ordered to pay fines totaling $15,450, including civil penalties to the city; $2,600 restitution to tenants for service reductions based upon substandard housing conditions; and $1,200 in costs for the electronic monitoring.
Due to recent plumbing problems at one of her four-plex units, Martin also required Arciaga to temporarily relocate the tenants of the unit to a residential hotel for a week while repairs are under way and provide them with a daily stipend of $100. More SJMN.
Sept. 24, 2000: Government offers one-stop data site. 27 million Web pages are consolidated. WASHINGTON (AP) -- Want to track your Social Security benefits? Need to apply for a federal student loan? Having trouble surfing the Internet to find the nearest veterans hospital? Want to reserve a campsite at a national park?
Now, Americans can do all these things by logging on to a single U.S. government Web site: htttp://firstgov.gov. The one-stop Internet site consolidates 20,000 government Web sites -- some 27 million Web pages -- into one.
Rather than digging through the Social Security Administration's Web site to print out a form to track retirement benefits, or entering their salary information to calculate it themselves securely, users can go straight to FirstGov to easily see all the government transactions, shopping and more they can do online. More SJMN.
Note: Also can be reached at our Links page.
Sept. 20, 2000: State's census response soars. California emerged as a leader in reversing the nation's decades-long slide in returning census forms, a surprising step for a state with an increasingly diverse population that is traditionally difficult to count.
Seventy percent of households in the Golden State returned forms, surpassing the national average that climbed 2 percentage points to 67 percent, according to census response rates released Tuesday.
The response was even more impressive in Santa Clara County and San Jose, which had the highest percentage -- 74 percent -- among the nation's 15 most populous cities. The response in the county was 75 percent, despite mounting difficulties to hire census workers and overcome language barriers. More SJMN.
Senate clears historic bill on China trade. WASHINGTON -- U.S.-China relations entered a new era Tuesday when the Senate overwhelmingly approved permanent normal trade relations with the communist giant, ending a rancorous, yearlong debate over strengthening economic ties with an emerging world power often cited for human rights violations.
A recent estimate by the Goldman Sachs investment firm projects that U.S. exporters will roughly double their annual sales to China from $13.5 billion to about $26 billion during the next five years. For Silicon Valley, exports to China hit $761 million in 1998, more than double what the valley sent to China in 1993. More SJMN.
White House urges approval next year of Viet trade pact. SUPPORT HIGH IN CONGRESS, BUT DISSENT REMAINS. Even if Republican candidate George W. Bush should defeat Vice President Al Gore in the November election, the Vietnam deal probably would be sent to Congress because it is thought to enjoy significant bipartisan support. More SJMN.
Sept. 19, 2000: Vietnam: A changing nation. So many changes so fast have left a country of young people gripped in an identity crisis. By Andrew Lam SPECIAL TO THE EXAMINER.
Sept. 18, 2000: Asian Men Avoiding Doctors. Survey of 440 O.C. males shows that language barriers and lack of insurance are deterrents to adequate health care. Dr. Chi Huu Phung has seen them all, from the sad to the tragicomic. A 57-year-old man whose preliminary tests showed he might have prostate cancer recently told him he couldn't afford further tests because he didn't have health insurance.
Most of Phung's patients at the Asian Health Center in Santa Ana are Vietnamese. They also have something else in common: Many avoid health care.
The findings, by the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance, are still preliminary. But they point to some areas of concern, the organizers said. Of 440 men surveyed since January, only one in 10 of those over age 30 had had a prostate examination in the past year.
But Ninez Ponce, a senior researcher at the center, doubts the numbers. She believes the API population is undercounted because such surveys are conducted in English and Spanish, but not in Asian languages. More LA. Times.
Sept. 17, 2000: Ho Chi Minh Highway path brings controversy. High-profile project along wartime trail emperils natural treasures. CUC PHUONG NATIONAL PARK, Vietnam -- A new highway that will cover long stretches of the fabled Ho Chi Minh Trail will be nothing short of an ecological disaster for Vietnam, according to Vietnamese scientists and foreign conservationists.
A secret Ministry of Transport plan obtained by the Mercury News shows the 1,674-mile highway cutting through at least 10 parks and protected areas, including a five-mile stretch through Vietnam's first and most famous nature preserve, Cuc Phuong National Park. The heavily forested sanctuary is home to five of the world's most endangered primate species, and new varieties of mammals, birds, insects and plants are discovered at the park every year. More SJMN.
Sept. 16, 2000: Olympic flame lighted by aboriginal. The choice of Freeman, a champion of aboriginal rights, also was a symbol of the country's efforts to heal the wounds over the treatment of its 390,000 indigenous people. More SJMN.
Sidney Official Olympic 2000 site.
Two Koreas enter united in ceremony. Athletes, coaches and sports officials from both countries wore matching uniforms and paraded behind a special flag designed by the International Olympic Committee. The white flag, which showed the entire Korean peninsula in the same shade of blue, was carried jointly by athletes from both countries. In a rare display of emotion, even Juan Antonio Samaranch, the taciturn president of the International Olympic Committee, stood and applauded. More SJMN.
Sept. 15, 2000: Clinton plans to visit Vietnam. Presidential journey, first since war's end, aims for reconciliation. WASHINGTON -- President Clinton will travel to Vietnam shortly after the November election in an effort to improve relations between the United States and its once-bitter enemy, and to help close one of the more painful chapters of recent American history.
Clinton will visit Vietnam after attending an annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, on Nov. 15 and 16. More SJMN.
Sept. 14, 2000: East Bay hit by carjack string. Phony police:Thieves approach drivers with lights that resemble those on officers' vehicles. In several cases throughout the East Bay, solo female drivers have stopped for a car flashing its lights, only to be carjacked at gunpoint. The suspects are considered armed and dangerous, though no one has been injured.
Pull over
in a well-lit public area. Drivers can drive to a public
area or, better yet, a police station, as long as they signal their intentions.
Look
for a steady red light before opening your door. State
law requires that emergency vehicles have a single red light -- which the women
haven't reported seeing -- in addition to rotating lights.
Legitimate
law enforcement cars have headlights that ``wig-wag,'' or blink on and off from
right to left, instead of both at a time as with most
cars. More
SJMN.
Bush in O.C. for votes, funds. The Republican campaigns in Little Saigon, then attends events for contributions. "We win California and you're listening to the next president of the United States," Bush said during his 17-minute speech before a crowd police estimated at about 2,000 people.
The Asian Garden Mall has become a traditional campaign stop for Republican presidential candidates. John McCain appeared here in March, preceded by Bob Dole in 1996 and Dan Quayle in 1992.
Bush also appealed to Orange County's wealthy donors by raising an estimated $1.2 million for Republican causes at evening fund-raisers at an Irvine hotel and a Newport Beach dinner party. More OC. Register.
Bush Stumps in Little Saigon. The Texas governor delivered a standard, if brief, campaign speech in a familiar staging site for local Republican campaigns--the green tile and red pagoda columns of the Asian Gardens mall in Little Saigon. The Texas governor delivered a standard, if brief, campaign speech in a familiar staging site for local Republican campaigns--the green tile and red pagoda columns of the Asian Gardens mall in Little Saigon. More LA. Times.
Sept. 13, 2000: 11th-Hour Bush Visit to Little Saigon Today Sends Hosts Hustling. Vietnamese Americans were scrambling Tuesday to get out word that Texas Gov. George W. Bush would visit Little Saigon today on his presidential campaign swing through California. Confirmation of Bush's planned afternoon stop at the Asian Garden Mall in Westminster came late Monday, leaving supporters and activists little time and plenty of worries as they tried to ensure a warm welcome.
Bush's visit to Little Saigon was in keeping with his party's tradition of courting Orange County's Vietnamese community. Former President George Bush, then-Vice President Dan Quayle, Arizona Sen. John McCain and Kansas Sen. Bob Dole all have walked the streets of Westminster. More LA. Times.
Sept.12, 2000: Burglars targeting residences of Asians. 40 Daly City homes hit so far this year, police officials warn. Most of the burglaries have taken place between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when the residents are away. On a few occasions, older family members were home and frightened the burglars.
The Asian-targeted burglaries have spread from the East Bay and San Francisco and seem to be branching out, Cisneros said. More SJMN.
Sept. 11, 2000: Little Saigon's Insularity Is Melting--on the Ballot. Four Vietnamese American candidates, the most ever for local seats in one election, say the mainstream is their place.
The cultural barrier keeping Vietnamese Americans politically insular may be crumbling, experts say, now that four such candidates--a record number--are seeking city council seats at one time in Orange County fall elections. Even if they don't win, the decision by this many former Vietnamese immigrants to seek public office reflects growing confidence and maturity in a community forged by wartime and political exiles, the experts say. More LA. Times.
Sept. 10, 2000: Mayor's troubles go beyond fallout from affair. Style has alienated growing political sectors; some have begun bucking Gonzales' agenda. But the affair has brought into sharp focus the drawbacks of the mayor's unshakable confidence in his own power.
In recent months, Gonzales has also alienated growing sections of the community, angered many of the labor, environmental and Latino leaders who helped elect him and made enemies of some of the region's most prominent elected officials. More SJMN.
Sept. 9, 2000: Mayor Brown angles for a trip to Vietnam. He wants to join President Clinton on trade mission. Clinton, who in July signed a sweeping trade pact to normalize relations with Vietnam for the first time since the fall of Saigon, has expressed interest in visiting the communist country in mid-November. San Francisco doesn't have California's largest Vietnamese American community about 300,000 live in Orange County and 120,000 live in San Jose but San Francisco has been on the forefront of forging a relationship with post-war Vietnam.
Andrew Lam, 36, an essayist for the Pacific News Service, pointed out that many Vietnamese Americans remain strongly anti-communist and don't believe the United States should give Vietnam any economic breaks while human rights continue to be violated there.
"San Francisco (officials) have an obligation to their own citizens to represent their point of view," Lam said.
Philip Nguyen, executive director of the Southeast Asian Community Center in San Francisco, said the trade accord is a vital economic tool. "With the development of trade between the two cities, this is a necessary step toward democracy in Vietnam," Nguyen said. "Otherwise, they would close their doors." More SF. Examiner.
Sept. 8, 2000: Office Romance? No Comment. IS THE OTHER PANTS LEG about to drop in the story of San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales' divorce from wife Alvina? The mayor's private life may soon become a public matter if loose talk that he's romancing a young female member of his staff turns out to be more than just loose talk. ...If true, his personal behavior will have political implications in the Capital of Silicon Valley. More on Metro.
Gonzales apologizes for affair. Admitting liaison with aide, 25, he pledges to move city forward. San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales, who promised during his campaign that he would bring ``honor and integrity'' to City Hall, announced at an unprecedented news conference Thursday that he has been concealing a monthslong extramarital affair with a 25-year-old member of his staff.
``I have misrepresented this relationship to my family, my friends, my staff and members of the media,''
On Thursday, Metro, a Silicon Valley weekly, published rumors of the affair in its political gossip column. Gonzales was also scheduled to meet with the Mercury News to discuss the relationship Thursday morning, but canceled at the last minute. More SJMN.
Sept. 7, 2000: Study: Minorities doubling in economic clout. ATHENS, Ga. (AP) -- Buying power among blacks, Asian Americans and American Indians has skyrocketed in the past decade, a University of Georgia study shows. Disposable income for the three groups is projected to rise from about $440 billion in 1990 to $860 billion in 2001, an increase of more than 95 percent, according to the study released Thursday.
Asian Americans led the way among the four minority groups, with buying power jumping from about $113 billion in 1990 to a projected $254 billion next year, an increase of nearly 125 percent. More SJMN.
SJ mayor admits to affair with staff member. San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales today admitted to having an extramarital affair with a staff member. ``I'm here to acknowledge that I have had a relationship with a member of my staff,'' Gonzales said at a news conference in his City Hall office,``That relationship is wrong and I'm sorry for that.''
Gonzales, 49, said he began a relalionship with 25-year-old staffer Guisselle Nunez before leaving his wife, Alvina Gonzales, in June. Gonzales said that he has filed divorce papers to officially end his marriage. More SJMN.
Sept.6, 2000: Use safety gear with in-line kids' scooters, agency warns. Injuries sending more riders to emergency room. In August alone, 4,000 scooter users visited emergency rooms, compared with fewer than 500 in May, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Tuesday. Children younger than 15 account for nearly nine out of 10 injuries. More SJMN.
Sept. 5, 2000: Delicacies of Asian Cuisine Not to Inspectors' Taste. Health: Eateries, many in O.C., that keep foods at room temperature for flavor endanger public, officials say.Take Korean gim bap: rice rolled in seaweed, stuffed with meat and vegetables, a variation on the Japanese sushi. If refrigerated, the rice hardens. Keep it hot, it dries up. Or goi cuon, a Vietnamese appetizer of cooked shrimp wrapped in thin rice paper. Keep it too hot and the delicate shell shrivels up; too cold, the wrap bursts. The merchants insist such food is safe to keep at room temperature for an entire day. Some risk citation. More LA. Times.
Sept. 3, 2000: Vietnam Business Plan Ends in Limbo. Prominent Little Saigon entrepreneur is barred from leaving homeland by fraud charges from murky deals. Community shrugs it off. Son Hung "Sonny" Luu had the boldness. But the luck part didn't quite hold up.
Surprisingly, Vietnamese American businesspeople in Westminster's Little Saigon--a hub for low-level trade between the U.S. and Vietnam-have been slow to defend Luu and others, dismissing the arrests as part of the risk of doing business. More LA. Times.
Scandal testing immigrants' trust. Anger over funeral society wrongdoing forces Vietnamese and Chinese into rare public roles.It was an unusual gathering: more than 100 elderly Vietnamese and Chinese picketing in a supermarket parking lot, some sitting in wheelchairs, others leaning on canes, many shouting, a few weeping.
Such an outpouring by this immigrant community usually is reserved for demonstrations against the most incendiary of subjects: communism. This time, demonstrators were expressing their anger at leaders of a funeral society, the Chinese-American Mutual Assistance Association Inc. More SJMN.
Sept. 2, 2000: Vietnam embassy in UK attacked. It's emerged that there's been an arson attack on the Vietnamese embassy in London. The blaze was apparently brought under control before it could cause extensive damage. The statement blamed the attack on an unnamed man who it described as an anti-revolutionary Viet Kieu, or overseas Vietnamese. More BBC/U.K.
Sept. 1, 2000: Magazine ranks Princeton as top university. Princeton University tops this year's U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of the nation's universities, followed quickly by its Ivy League brethren Harvard and Yale, which were tied for No. 2. More Seattle Times.