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Volume X X IV Number 45
Serving the community through cultural diversity
9,
A New Era For
Cable TV Access
November 9, 1994
Election Day ‘94
Deborah Luppold resigns
from Portland Cable Access
after 11 years and is
honored at a reception.
See Metro, inside.
Don Lincoln o f Northeast Portland
defied the rain to make his way to
vote Tuesday. Oregonians elected
a new governor and decided the
fate o f 20 ballot measures in the
election.
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THEi™
REVIEW
Tri-Met
Rider
Advocates
Conference On Race
Held
from the
Northeast
Coalition of
Neighborhoods
are poised to ride
the buses in
North and
Northeast
Portland. The
advocates will
board the buses
Nov. 14, working
full-time shifts
from 2:30 p.m. -
11:30 p.m.,
helping Tri-Met
passengers with
customer service
and augmenting
security.
Hundreds o f African Americans from
across the nation will gather in Baltimore
at the N ational State o f the Race Confer
ence Nov. 17-20 for a series o f grassroots
meetings, planning sessions and workshops
to discuss the plight o f African Americans,
the destiny o f the race and reconstruction
o f the black community.
Dance Pioneer Dead a t
74
One o f this nation’s pioneering black
dancers and choreographers died last week
at her home in New Rochelle, N Y. Pearl
Primus was 74. She was a powerful per
former and played a role similar to that o f
Katherine Dunham in establishing dance
by and about blacks as a leading com po
nent o f American culture. Primus was a
native o f Trinidad. She is survived by a
son.
Zimbabwe Ambassador
Nominated
P re sid e n t C lin to n w ill n o m in ate
Johnnie Carson o f Illinois to be U.S. A m
bassador o f Zimbabwe. Carson has ju st
completed a three-year assignment as U.S.
Ambassador to the Republic o f Uganda.
Prior to that he served as Deputy C hief o f
M ission at the A m erican Em bassy in
Baborone, Botswana. Before entering the
Foreign Service, Carson served as a Peace
Corps volunteer in Tanzania.
M ortgages For
M inorities Increase
A federal agency reported last week
that efforts to end mortgage loan discrimina
tion against minorities appears to be produc
ing positive results. According to the report,
conventional home loans to blacks rose 36
percent last year. The increase for Hispanics
was 25 percent. The improvement results
from more financial institutions providing
home loan programs for low and moderate
income households. However, the report
found that the mortgage rejection rate is still
much larger for blacks and Hispanics than
for whites and Asians.
Recent Female Grads
Earn More
An analysis o f Census Bureau data by
researchers at Queens College in New
York has found that among recent college
graduates black females are earning more
than black males. College graduates 25
years old and younger were studied and the
findings showed the median income for
white males was $18,000 a year. Black
females came in second with a median
income o f $17,000. They were followed
by white females at $16,800 and black
males at $16,400.
Appeals Court Rejects
Scholarship
The president o f the University o f
M aryland pledged last week to fight “all
the way to the U.S. Supreme C ourt” to
continue a popular scholarship program
for black students. His comments came in
the wake o f a federal appeals court ruling
which in effect declared that scholarship
funds set aside just for black students were
unconstitutional. The case was brought by
a Hispanic student who applied for the
Benjamin Banneker academic scholarship
but was rejected even though he had the
third highest test scores
Speed Bumps,
Graffiti Line To Fight Crime
Speed bum ps have been installed at
Jefferso n H igh School to a d d re ss tra ffic
an d crim e related problem s and a graffiti
hotline is now o p e ra tin g to prev en t g ra ffiti
an d to c o o rd in a te v o lu n te e r efforts.
Three speed bumps were added to North
Commercial Avenue between North Alberta
and Killingsworth streets.
The Bureau o f Traffic M anagement,
Portland Police and Fire Bureau and the
Northeast N eighborhood Coalition Office
recommended the traffic devices after Alcena
Boozer, principal o f the school, requested
additional support to address problems expe
rienced in the area.
The speed bumps cost the city $1,500
and will be evaluated in a year for their
effectiveness, officials said.
The Portland Police Bureau Graffiti
Hotline at 823-4T AG (4824) was created for
city residents to report graffiti for clean-up,
receive information on preventing graffiti
and to volunteer in clean-up efforts.
Police information and referral staff'will
handle the hotline from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. A
voice message mail system will be available
after hours.
To report graffiti, people will be asked
for the exact address o f the vandalism and
how much o f the property is affected. The
information wi 11 be forwarded to agenc ies for
clean-up o rto Neighborhood Coalition offic
es for clean-up by volunteers.
The graffiti handbook describes resourc
es and information on graffiti and is available
at police precincts and coalition offices. It
contains information on cleanup resources
and graffiti prevention tips.
Portland Parks Director Charles Jordan, House of Umoja Education Coordinator
Anthony Bradley, House of Umoja Outreach Coordinator Marcus Branch, and City
Commissioner Charles Hales at Monday's dedication of a basketball court at the
house on the corner of Northeast 17th and Alberta. The court was made possible
by the use of in-kind donations and will serve as one of many positive alternatives
for youth. The House of Umoja is a community-based residential program to help
address the needs of young men needs and offer a change to leave gang activity.
M llth llt
Investigators
Move In
For Clues
by
M ichael L eighton
Murder. When it occurs in Portland a
team o f law enforcement specialists move
into full gear to hunt forcluesand arrest the
killer.
The unit includes a p a iro f investigators
and a sergeant from the Portland Police
Bureau’s homicide unit, two special evi
dence investigators, a deputy district attor
ney, a medical examiner and the police on
the beat.
The law enforcment assault is strong, a
counter to a crime people find as most
repugnant. But despite the police work,
murder cases remain unsolved. On average
over past few years, no arrests have been
made in about 20 percent o f the slayings in
Portland.
This year, about 10 cases remain un
cracked after 46 people killed by the hands
o f others. The rate was about 21 percent last
year for the nearly the same amount o f
EDITORIAL
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murders. It was about 22 percent the two
previous years and at the beginning o f this
decade was only 1 1 to 14 percent.
Homicide Unit Sgt. Van Steam s says a
lot can be read into the statistics. He cautions
against thinking you can get away with mur
der in the city.
“The solve rate for murder is still higher
than almost any other crime and the vast
majority are solved,” Steams said.
Some o f the present cases are tied to a
higher incidence o f drug-related crime.
For example, in a shooting last January
on the 600 block o f North Humboldt Street,
police believe the victim was from outside
the community and was in town to buy drugs.
He was a stranger to the area, nobody knew
him.
“ We were left with an em pty,” Steams
said. “There was not a relationship, we had a
void.”
Drug-related murders can occur when
the purchaser or seller is shortchanged or
drugs are sold that are considered bunk grade.
Too often, one o f the parties reacts violently.
When there are no witness or clues,
murder cases often require someone talking
to crack To the advantage o f law enforce
ment, history shows most people can t keep
quiet when it comes to murder.
In gang killings, it sometimes break
METRO
BI
Police Look
For Suspects
downs to a “macho thing,” where the gang
mem ber who committed the crime likes to
talk about it.
Steam s said people who commit murder
just have to tell somebody, sometimes its
somebody they love.
But a lover can fall out o f love and put
“the dim e” on his or her former partner.
The first course o f action in the murder
investigation is draw ing a history o f the vic
tim, who their friends were, their relatives
and any acquaintances.
It’s not unusual for police in the homi
cide unit to work a m urder case 20 straight
hours after a death, when the evidence is most
available.
This is the “hot tim e,” when people are
shook up, haven't had time to get rid o f
evidence, alibies are not set, and memories
are fresh.
Steam s said detectives will keep work
ing as long as th ere’s any information to
pursue. Cases never close.
Currently, the departm ent is reviewing
all o f its open hom icide cases. The informa
tion from the files are being fed into a new
com puter database.
There are 10 detectives in the homicide
unit. With the average o f 4 to 5 murders each
month, that gives each officer an average o f
tw o cases to investigate each month
T he follow ing 1994 hom icides re
m ain unsolved in N orth an d N o rth e a st
P o rtla n d :
J a n . 2 6 - 5616 N. W illiams. Victim:
Dan Thomas. Died o f gunshot wound.
Possible residential robbery.
J a n . 27 - 600 block o f N orth
Humboldt. Victim: Sven Jansson. Died
o f gunshot wound. Possible drug-related
robbery'.
M ay 8 - 705 N.E. Skidmore. V ic
tim: Raymond Johnson Died o f stab
wounds.
M ay 11-5811 N.E. Killingsworth.
Victim: Tyrone Hayes. Shot while inside
his residence.
M ay 29 - Northeast 42nd and A lber
ta. Victim: Eddie Morgan. Died o f gun
shot wound during a drive-by shooting.
M ay 19 - 6435 N. Gay. Victim:
Brian Hill was shot in his driveway.
J u n e 29 - 4200 block o f North Albi
na Victim: Douglas Broadnax was found
lying in parking strip with gunshot wounds.
Possible street robbery, drug-related.
Sept. 16 - Columbia Boulevard and
North Peninsular. Victim: Isaiah Bing
was hanging onto the side o f his car and
the driver slammed him into a utility
pole. Possible carjacking or other crime
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