North Portland’s Community Newspaper - Bi-Weekly - PO Box 83068, Port. OR 97283
503-283-5086
reviewnewspaper@gmail.com WEB: www.stjohnsreview.com
Missing woman tragedy spurs new sign for St. Johns Bridge
O
n Tuesday, September 8,
an alert was sent out for a
missing woman, 37-year
old Lisa Jane Wright of Linnton.
According to the Police Bureau
message, Lisa was last seen by
friends and family at 6:30 pm
when she left for a walk. Later
that evening some of her belong-
ings were found on the St. Johns
Bridge. Exactly one week later,
On September 15, a Police Bureau
bulletin announced that her body
had been discovered on the banks
of the Willamette River near the
St. Johns Bridge in what appeared
to have been a suicide.
Tragically, the St. Johns Bridge
has been the site of three suicides
since May 2015, a spike compared
to the four previous year’s statis-
tics according to Greg Stewart of
Portland Police Bureau Strategic
Services. He said suicides are a
serious health issue. “The Medical
Examiner reports more suicides
in Multnomah County than ho-
micides or traffic fatalities.” Re-
search has proven that as a state,
Oregon stands out, with a suicide
rate forty-one percent higher than
the national average. The vast ma-
jority of
suicide
victims
are clini-
cally de-
pressed.
Survi-
vor Kev-
in Hines
offers an
inside
look into
the mind
of a vic-
tim. 13
years
ago
Hines
jumped
the rail-
ing of the
Golden
Gate
Bridge
in San
Francis-
co and
fell 220
St Johns Review PO Box 83068 Port. OR 97238
#21 Oct. 16, 2015
The new St. Johns Bridge sign may look something like the one designed for
the Vista Bridge.
THERE IS JUST
ONE MORE
ISSUE LEFT TO
SEND YOUR
St. Johns Bridge
Pictures for the
2015 Contest.
(The contest ends
with the Oct. 30, 2015
issue.
See Page 2 for details
515-840
ft., about the same height as the St.
Johns Bridge—the rough equiv-
alent of jumping from a 25-story
building. Only 2% survive such a
fall. It took four seconds for Hines,
then 19, to hit the water. He lives
with a bipolar disorder, he said. His
condition, in the weeks before he
fell, had been worsening. He had
been hearing voices commanding
him to jump. Yet he said in the in-
stant he fell—the instant the cold
“Signs for Bridge”
Continued on Page 4
By
Barbara
Quinn
Citizen advisors request community support
for effective Superfund river clean up
What: Community Press Con-
ference
When: Monday, October 19,
2015, 11am
Where: Cathedral Park turn
around (end of Pittsburgh St.)
C
itizen volunteers working on
the superfund on the lower
Willamette River request resi-
dents’ support for an effective
clean up in an October 19 commu-
P hoto
of the
W eek
A popular and well photo-
graphed view, this one was
selected because of a unique
opportunity the photographer
caught. Geraldine Gladden
said, “My husband Nathan
Sandberg and I came to the
park to enjoy a picnic and see
the Jazz Festival. We had the
wrong date. Instead, we found
this piano and a cat hanging
out. I could not help but get up
there and use my muscle mem-
ory to slightly butcher the “La
Lettre a Elise” . My Husband
took the picture. Minutes later,
a young guy with baggy pants,
blond hair looking like he got
caught in a dog fight sat down
at the piano. I have shivers just
remembering what we heard.
It was a 1st class symphony,
goodness pouring out of his
fingers, amazing and beau-
tifully played with passion...
then he took off on his skate
board....Loved it!”
Geraldine Gladden
This issue’s Masthead was tak-
en by Warren Payne and is a
beautiful shot of the changing
colors of fall.
nity press conference. The clean
up of contaminated sediments in
the 11 miles of river adjacent to
north and northwest Portland is a
huge project in which decisions
are immanent. At the press con-
ference, the Portland Harbor Com-
munity Advisory Group (PHCAG)
will present a paper outlining a
community plan for the river clean
up. The paper will be turned in the
same day to EPA’s National Rem-
edy Review Board.
The National Remedy Review
Board (NRRB) is an internal EPA
panel that reviews proposed Su-
perfund cleanup decisions to make
sure they meet cost-based criteria
and to assure they are consistent
with Superfund law. The Board
will examine clean up methods
recommended by EPA Region 10.
“Superfund”
Continued on Page 5