Black novelist
in Portland
Brutal police
shooting
Pages 1, 2 b 7
Keystone Cops are
at it again
Page 3
PORTLAND OBSERVER
83-year-old woman murdered by Portland police
(Photo: Kris Ahschsrl
Scan* of police shoot-out. 6108 N.E. iStn.
GRASSROOT NEWS. N.W. —
Tommy Graves’ world came crashing
down on him July 5th and his aggres­
sive, armed temper-tantrum created a
police response that resulted in his
death and the death of an 83-year-old
women whom he regarded as his
grandmother.
"Tommy just got his check on the
first o f July and by the fifth he was
broke,” recalled James Philips.
"His so-called fnends had been
selling him junk such as a rusty bike,
a two-bit radio and always getting
him to buy beer. Tommy said he
was tired of people messing over
him," Philips added.
Philips said Graves had pulled a
knife on him a week ago and later
laughed it off by saying he was play­
ing. "Tommy was not dangerous
He was vulnerable.”
On Enday, Graves caused his usual
disturbance at the Pub tavern, 1526
N.E. Alberta. Robin Coulson, the
bartender on duty, said a drunken
Graves spurted out a list o f racial
slurs at her patrons. His actions at the
Pub were not new. "He would come
in and ask for ice water, shout racial
slurs and cuss everybody out.”
On this day Graves threw coffee on
Coulson's boyfriend. Her boyfriend
and two others chased Graves across
the street to a house where he had
lived with the family for 14 years.
The house belonged to Mr. Luther
fate where he and his recently de­
ceased wife (she died a year ago) op­
erated a half-way house for mentally
impaired adults After she passed
away the family kept Graves who
Used there whenever he was released
from area mental facilities, rhree
days prior to this incident. Graves
was released from Holladay Park
psychiatric ward. Police said pro­
ceedings were underway to involun­
tary commit Graves when lie snapped.
"I saw a white man chasing him.
He threw a rock at him and called him
a ‘darkle’,” remembered B. Robert­
son, who lived one house down from
the Tates
Viola Palmer, who lived nest door,
heard Graves shout, "I’m going to get
you honkies! He had a gun and was
firing into the air ”
The first officer on the scene, a
white female, never gained control of
the situation. Four neighbors wit­
nessed Graves calling her a "B— !”
"He would come out and shoot in
the air and go back into the house,"
said one neighbor.
At 8:30 while the police set up bar­
ricades to start their containment
procedure, Graves sat on the porch
and ate his dinner The police knew
Mrs. Tate was inside. Tate lived with
her son and would cook for those
who lived in their adult foster home.
Negotiations
Graves continues his game of
shooting and running back into the
Bedford Water Company transferred
COMMISSIONER DICK BOOLE
Dick
Bogle,
commissioner-in­
charge of the City of Portland Bureau
of Water Works, will formally ac­
cept the transfer of the Bedded Water
Company from President John
Veentjer on Thursday, July II, 1985,
at lOrOO a.m. The ceremony will take
place in the front yard of Mr. Veent-
jer's home at 4805 NE 77th.
The Bedford Water Company,
bounded by NE 76th to NE 77th. NE
Prescott to NE Alberta, was annexed
into the City of Portland on June 27,
i985 through the formal approval of
the Portland Metropolitan Area local
government boundary commission.
Its 38 customers will save as much
as $40 yearly by receiving water as
Portland residents.
When John Veentjer originally
moved into the Cully neighborhood,
he thought he was buying his home in
the City o f Portland He heard there
was a water board meeting and thtxighi
it his civic responsibility to attend
That night, over 30 years ago, he was
elected to the Bedford Water Cooper
ative Board of Directors. He has
•W ( M3
served as president of the board of
directors for the last 26 years. One of
the duties of the president is to actual­
ly read and replace water meters.
Florence Cole, secretary of the
Bedford Water Company Board of
Directors for the last 25 years, since
taking over the duties from her late
husband, says she’s relieved she will
not have to take any more minutes of
the meetings. Veentjer says he
couldn't have handled the company
without her.
One of the more critical decisions
the district has faced in the past years
waas replacing a water main when the
street was improved. The main was
too shallow and the two-inch boiler
tubing had to be replaced with a gal­
vanized water line. Veentjer had to
collect $126 from each home served
by the company. And it wasn’t easy.
The cost of the water main was $5,000.
However, the bids came in twice (hat
high. A friend of Veentjer’s re­
placed the main at half the cost for
the benefit of the 38 users. Veentjer
projects today that same line would
cost $15.000.
Commissioner Bogle and Carl
Goebel, administrator of the Bureau
of Water Works, have directed the
transfer of the Bedford Water Com­
pany and will study options for up­
grading the system to City of Port­
land standards.
Dick Bogle welcomes the citizens of
the Bedford Water Company to the
City of Portland.
tz ---'
I .•
» # »
house. At 10:00 p.m. police set up a
hostage negotiating post at King
School, at 10:26 they made contact
with Graves. Detective Sue Hill re­
fused to answer specific questions
about the negotiations, but said
Graves was very angry “ He was call
ing everybody names. We were get
ting nowhere."
I eroy Philips was at the scene when
R I . Anderson, who was wearing a
minister's collar, inquired as to what
was going on. "He had a car and we
drove to a couple of places in the area
looking for Mr. Tate," Philips said.
They found him, and Philips intro­
duced Tate to Anderson They brought
Tate to the scene but Sergeant Bill
Osborne directed an officer to take
the trio to the negotiation post.
Anderson told police at the post
that he was a friend and volunteered
to help “ He kept saying, 'Let me talk
to the kid’," Philips said. But Graves
would talk only to Tate. “ He would
talk for a minute or two, hang up and
go outside and shoot. He did not
want to talk to Anderson,” Philips
added.
Hill said Anderson spoke for no
more than two minutes. However,
during the brief exchange with Tate,
Graves said the house and Mrs. Tate
were "safe "
"In his mind he really thought he
was protecting Mrs. rate," recalled
Philips. Hill said (he negotiations
never got off the ground.
Graen light
At 11:30 the negotiating team re­
ceived orders to pull out. Philips
heard "Grcenlight” over the police
radio.
According to Jay Decker, Public
Information Officer for the bureau,
Graves' random shooting started
getting closer and closer to the po­
lice. "At 11:48. St. Osborne gave the
orders to shoot if they got a clear
sight of him." The officers saw him
at the back door and fired three shots.
They did not know that (hey had hit
Graves and a radio transmission said
he was coming out (he back door,”
explained Decker.
But Mrs. Tate was coming out the
back door. The police had shot out all
the street lights so it was pitch dark
in her backyard. Twenty seconds
after Graves went down, Mrs. Tate
came out the back door and was shot
by Officer Keith Hattori.
Decker said throughout this inci­
dent officers never saw Mrs. Tate,
and thought another person was also
held in the house. Philips said he
was hiding in the bushes when Mrs.
Tate was shot and thought he heard
het moan.
Because the police did not know
what was going on in the house or
who was down, Mrs. Tate lay bleed
mg on her back porch. Graves, with
his feet sticking out the front door,
was already dead. Mrs. Tate died
from loss o f blood when officers
discovered an hour later that she
(Continued on Page 7>
Make swimming a fun sport, not a drossmlng sport.
7,000 people die of
drowning nationally
Red Cross promotes weter safe summer
"Red Cross wants everyone to have a
water safe summer There’s no gtxxl
reason that throughout the nation
nearly 7,000 people drown when so
many opportunities are available to
learn about water safety," says Eve
Nauman, Water Safety Specialist,
American Red Cross, Oregon Trail
Chapter.
"For instance, each summer ap­
proximately 20,000 youngsters and
adults complete Red Cross swimming
lessons which include basic life-saving
and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation,"
claims Eve. There is a minimum age
of 3 years but no upper age limit for
participants. 1-arge pools can be con­
tacted for these affordable swimming
lessons.
For individuals seeking more ad­
vanced water safety training, several
classes are available:
Water Safety Instructor Training,
July 8 through 19, Monday through
Friday, 8 to 11:30 a.m., Montevilla
Pool, NE 82nd A Glisan, $40 per
participant;
Lifeguard (professional) Training,
July 15 through August 23, Monday,
Wednesday and Friday, 8 to 10:30
a m ., Matt Dishman Pool, 77 NF.
Knott. Pre-registration and pre­
payment are required for this exten­
sive training. Call 243-7712.
"Red Cross is out to challenge the
drowning statistics throughout this
country. When you’re in or around
the water this summer, we ask you to
be careful, be trained, and above all,
have fun!" says Eve.
For more information about Red
Cross Water Safety programs, con­
tact the Red Cross, 243-7712.
Oragon atatlatlca
In 1982, 116 drowmngs occurred
Of those: 20 were boating accidents,
66 were non-boating at public beaches,
docks, etc., 16 were at home, 14
other; 75 percent were male, largest
group was aged 15-24 years, second
largest group was 25-34 years, 1 to 4
years figure in the majority of home
drowmngs, and two-thirds of the
victims never intended to get wet.
National atatlatlca
Drowning is the third leading cause
of accidental deaths - nearly 7,(XX)
people drown each year Most victims
drown dunng June
!y and August
In 1983 1,800 persons between the
'.\s
ages of 15-25 drowned; 1,900 per
sons between 25-44 drowned; 803
children under five years of age
drowned (300 of these drowned in
and around the home); 4,100 drowned
at public swimming areas and from
falling into the water; more than three-
quarters of the drowning victims
were males
Sixty percent of all drowmngs hap­
pen to victims who never expected to
be in the water And 50 percent of all
adult drowning victims are intoxicat­
ed at the time of death.
Swimming pool actlvltlaa
Approximately 63 percent o f the
total U.S. population participates in
swimming activities annually.
There were 2.149,000 swimming
pools (both public and private) in
the U.S. in 1982
There were 1,729,250 residential
in-ground swimming pooLs in the U.S.
in 1982
In single family residential pools,
the I to 10-year-old age group repre
sents almost 70 percent of fatalities;
children in the 2-year-old age group
are the most frequent victims.