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)