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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 28, 1981)
ra Former inmate sues Rocky Butte jail guard Bv Nyewusi Askari Ms. Agnes Barboza was 3,000 miles away when she received the shocking news that her son, Peter Aland, 25, had fallen from the third flo o r o f the Psychiatric W ard at Oregon State Hospital. The in fo r mation read: Head badly crushed; fractured spinal vertabrae; a blood- clot forming near the brain; internal bleeding; a broken leg and foot; an uncontrollable flow o f spinal fluid from the nose; in addition to a con cussion. Stunned by the news, Ms. Barboza immediately returned to Portland, only to find that the news she had received, wasn’ t nearly as tragic as the events leading to her son’s condition. A rriv in g back in Portland, Ms. Barboza discovered that Peter, prior to receiving m ultiple injuries suf fered from the fa ll, had also suf fered serious head injuries during incarceration at the Rocky Butte jail. He wasn’ t expected to live. It is here that the tragic story unfolds. ...In May o f 1979, Peter Alarid was confined at Rocky Butte jail. Pacing felony charges, he was housed in the maximum security section known as A-Tank. A-Tank consist o f 14, 5x7 feet cells, with a 5-foot corridor on the outside known as “ the w a lk way.’ ’ The firs t cell o f A-Tank is known as the “ Day Room” and at the time was completely bare. It has a concrete floor, three steel walls, a steel ceiling and. bars covering the fro n t p o rtio n o f the tank. The remaining 13 cells have four steel bunks, with toilet and sink fixed to the back walls. It is in one o f these cells' that Peter is alleged to have spent hours, on a bare concrete floor, unconscious. News o f Peter’ s co n d itio n was described in a note, smuggled out o f the jail, and given to Peter’ s brother, David. It read in p a rt;“ I do n ’ t know you, but I want to help your brother out. Your brother was knocked out cold fo r a couple o f hours, where they (guards) dragged him into a cell naked with nothing but a concrete flo o r; no sh irt, jacket, no blanket or anything. Get a lawyer to get your brother put in a hospital. (P.S.) I got your address from one p f your b ro th e r’ s en velopes.” The news united the Bar boza family as never before. However, by the time the Barboza fam ily were able to organize their resources to help Peter, another chain o f events were already in m otion; events that were in direct 'elation to what had happened to him at Rocky Butte. When it was decided by authorities at Rocky Butte that Peter’s condition warranted medical attention, he was moved to Portland Adventist Hospital. On the day o f his release from this hospital, he was taken to the Oregon State Hospital Psychiatric W ard in Salem, and kept there from June 1, 1979 until June 20, 1979. His next admittance to OSH was July 25th. He was kept there until September 24th. During this tim e, electro-shocks were ad ministered to him under strange and adverse methods. A ccording to reports obtained through Legal A id fro m the Psy chiatric D ivision o f Oregon State H ospital, the hospital obtained permission to administer the shock treatm ents, fro m C irc u it C ourt Judge Robert E. Jones via telephone. Ms. Barboza was never consulted. On A p ril 17, 1981, Peter A larid filed a S2001000 suit against Rick Gaskell, a Rocky Butte guard, charging violation o f his civil rights. The circumstances surrounding the “ incident” at Rocky Butte, is told by Peter himself. Peter alleges: ” We were allowed a I hour a day walk in the corridor outside our cell, in which we were expected to shower, phone o ur friends or fa m ily , and take a walk in the corridor as our daily exercise during that time. The other 23 hours, we were locked in our cells, in which there was no room to w alk, and were expected to eat our three meals a day admist the grotesque smell of our leaking and smelly toilets. “ A p p ro xim a te ly fo u r guards, headed by o ffic e r Rick Gaskell appeared in the corridor at the front o f our cell. Another o fficer at the end o f the co rridor, managing the locking mechanism opened our cell (Please turn to page 14 col. 5) PORTWND OBSERVER LISPS 959-680-855_______ . Stars & Stripes on the march! By Nyewusi Askari The Black com m unity o f P o rt land has undergone tremendous organizational change during the last three years. One apparent reason is the high degree o f partici pation in com m unity a ffa irs by parents, educators, artists, com munity activists, clergymen, social agencies and young students, dedicated to the co m m u n ity’ s growth. From this participation has emerged new voices, uncom prom ising cre a tivity, and a high level o f political, social, economic, cu ltu ra l and sp iritu a l awareness. Enter James Freeman Richardson. He is special. He was special to the home folk o f Tulare, C a lifo rn ia , where he founded and directed a d rill team called "T he Stars and Stripes D rill Team ,” which consisted o f 38 young girls ranging in ages 7-20. He was special to those who had the honor o f watching the team per form. Under his direction, the team perform ed in 46 com petitive parades; won 2 sweepstakes; 2 mayor trophies; 33 firs t place; 5 second, and 4 third place trophies. And now, in less than five months, he has become someone special to 30 young girls who call themselves, “ The P ortland Stars and Stripes D rill Team.” He is a man with a mission. " I en jo y w orking w ith young people. I love them. And one o f the reasons I organized the d rill team here in P ortland, is because I went to a com m unity meeting at the King N eighborhood F a cility, where 1 heard talk about how bad the kids were in the parks. A t the meeting, the parents and community leaders expressed the need for more positive programs directed at the youths of the community, so, I decided to get Solidarity w ith Africa and Black people throughout the world was demonstrated by involved by doing the same thing 1 had done in Tulare; and that was, to organize a d r ill team. 1 wanted to help reduce some o f the problems facing the youths o f the com m unity.” His firs t involvem ent w ith the young was inspired by 10-year-old C ynthia O live r o f Tulare. In M arch 1972, w hile preparing to journey to Las Vegas, as a member o f a Rhythm and Blues band, he overheard a conversation between Cynthia and a friend, in which Cyn thia said, “ Tulare is dead...there is nothing for young people to d o .” This is when Richardson decided that he was going to try to change that particular situation So, on the 1st o f A p ril, 1972, “ The Stars and Stripes D r ill Team ” became a reality. A few days a fte r attending the meeting at King, he met with John Davis o f Channel-8 News. Davis suggested that Richardson talk to Avel M ayfild and staff. Davis was impressed with Richardson’ s plans to start a drill team in Portland and gave him a list o f additional names o f persons he felt would help get the program o ff the drawing board. “ It only took a few weeks for me to realize that the d r ill team was going to become a re a lity. The com m unity responded almost im m ediately. For example. Herb Cawthorne dug into his pocket and contributed $600; Roy P ittm an down at Pennisula Park, provided practice space; there was Faye Brunch; M a ttie Spears; Shirley Aaron; Jack Lenox (who gave a per sonal c o n trib u tio n o f $100); and Rozell Malray to name a few. “ Candice King was responsible for making people aware o f what I was attem pting to do. A ll o f our recruiting was done by w ord o f mouth, so, on December 13, 1980, we held our first d rill team practice. It was beautiful,” he said, a broad Members o f the d r ill team are required to adhere to specific rules, designed to improve character, per sonality, give a sense o f purpose, direction and belonging; all illnesses are to be im m ediately reported to the director; absences and tardiness must be accompanied by a written note from the parents; participants must m aintain a school grade average o f " C ” or above, and pay a m o n th ly membership fee o f $5. “ The membership fee goes toward helping cover expense, buy o u tfits etc. It is also a method o f teaching the girls how to help themselves. I teach them to be winners.” R ichardson’ s m otto is, “ U nite W ith The Youth,” and has plans o f m aking “ The P ortland Stars and Stripes” the largest drill team in the State o f Oregon. He is seeking more participants and volunteers. “ The requirem ents fo r volunteers are simple; are you w illing to dedicate some o f your time to the young. We d o n ’ t talk down at the kids, we uplift them.” Richardson said the concept o f the d r ill team goes beyond d rills . “ The main thing is to motivate the kids; give them something to do and in addition to get them involved in the community, the churches, show them how to socialize, improve their school attendance, develop respect fo r others, learn discipline, foster interest in careers, respect their parents and other aims. Richardson also has designed a five year program for the team. “ It is an on going program and when we get through the fifth year, we w ill re evaluate it, see that the needs are then and go from th e re ," he con cluded. march and rally to honor African Liberation Day. (Photo: Richard J. Brown) Community attacks prostitution One o f the issues raised at the O b s e rv e r's p o lic e /c o m m u n ity relations forums is the harassment o f northeast women and girls Ly customers coming in to the com m unity looking fo r prostitutes. Police officers were encouraged by forum participants to get creative in protecting com m unity women as well as discouraging prostitution. Strategies are being planned to deal w ith this concern through a newly form ed group called the Police and Community Interaction Committee. The planning commit tee is made up o f representatives from the Northeast Business Boosters, Neighborhood Against Crime and Police Bureau personnel from North Precinct, East Precinct and Crime Prevention staff. S e v e ra l n e ig h b o rh o o d associations over the past few months have complained about harassment of “ neighborhood women” by johns on Union Avenue, Vancouver and Williams Avenue. Businesses on U nion Avenue have been affected by prostitutes lo ite rin g on the street and discouraging potential customers from entering decent establishments. The Police and Community Interaction Committee is contacting N.E. com m unity groups and business for their reac tion to tactics ranging from an anti- john campaign to special police details to arrest prostitutes. Sharon McCormack, inner N.E. coordinator fo r Neighborhoods Against Crim e stated that in itia l response from neighborhood associations and community groups gave positive support to an aggressive campaign to discourage men from all over P ortland and Vancouver, W ashington from coming to NE fo r the wrong reasons. Those o f us who live in NE know we have good neighborhoods and businesses. Our image o f ourselves is that our women are decent people who deserve respect. We want to challenge anyone outside o f our community who has a cheap image o f Northeast. We have no illusions o f totally stopping prostitution. We also know there are other serious crime issues to work. However, this first effort has mutual support and could be the beginning o f serious cooperative efforts between com m unity people, businesses and police to develop safety newworks in our area. The Interaction Committee has long range goals to work on crime prevention, neighborhood watch programs, safe shelters established at businesses on m ajor streets and posting o f crime statistics and crime prevention resources at NE businesses and community agencies, as some o f the ideas that have already been looked at, according to Doug White, NEBB president. Anyone wishing to become in volved or have comments or suggestions can contact Sharon McCormack at King Facility, (287- 3692) or Doug White (288-5061). Stare tr Stripe« Drill Team practice« under the direction of Jama« Freeman Rlchardeon. Mem- bere will soon knock on door« In the community during a Portland Observer subscription campaign to raiee fund« for the teem. (Photo: Richard J. Brown)
