JU L Y 22,1998
Page B8
glie ^Jortlanh @baeruer
The African
American Program
C o n i in i ed F rom F ront
return rate to prison was nearly
one in four, which was dispropor
tionately high in comparison with
other segments o f the population
under supervision.
The new' program ran as a pilot
project until recently, and utilized a
holistic, culturally-based approach
that reached out to inmates still in
prison, but within about four months
o f release to parole in Multnomah
County. Corrections counselors from
AdultCommunity Justice established
group counseling sessions w ithin the
institutions, with the cooperation of
state officials. Voluntary inmate par
ticipation helped ensure only those
willing to make a commitment to
change would be accepted into the
program, which dealt with issues of
race, employment, education, voca
tional training, financial and family
stability and how to find the support
to break the cycleof recidivism. Upon
release, participants were immedi
ately linked with parole officers who
are members of the program, and the
momentum begun in prison was
strengthened and carried forward in
the community, as a team effort.
Today, what has become the Afri
can American Program has shown
that lifestyle and perception changes
can be made, that will allow these
men to deal w ith issues that once kept
them trapped within a system. When
C ontinued F rom M etro
August 31, 1996
Location: 3950 NF. Garfield
one stumbles, the rest reach out and
offer support during regular group
meetings led by ACJ staff. The
program's goals o f reducing recidi
vism, increasing educational levels,
securing meaningful employment and
encouraging family involvement have
shown great promise. The achieve
ment award ceremony marked the
first group o f these men to be offi
cially recognized as having success
fully reached the “unsupervised”
parole status, meaning their behav
ior and level o f accomplishments
earned them the right to no longer
have to report to a parole officer on a
regular basis. For many, it was the
first time in their lives they could say
this.
At the recent graduation, men re
ceiving their certificates openly
shared their appreciation and remark
able experiences in having partici
pated in the African American Pro
gram. Many vowed to remain in
volved to support others, and some
spoke o f reaching out to youth who
are starting out on the road they once
traveled.
When interviewed after the cer
emony, Carl Goodman stated that he
was touched by their statements o f
gratitude for what the program had
done for them. “Everything we had
envisioned has come about. 1 was
humbled by it. I got touched today,"
he remarked.
Victim: Johnson, A laijom ale, Black
17 years old
The victim was sitting on the front steps with his girlfriend. They hear
noises in the bushes and shots are fired. The victim is shot multiple times.
Case Open
Case Detectives: Craig Yost and Terry Wagner
November 15, 1996
Location: 1460 NE Prescott
Victim: Banks, Willie male. Black
19 years old
The victim and his girlfriend stop at a convenience store. The suspect
begins talking to the victim ’s girlfriend. An argument takes place and the
victim is shot.
Case Open
Case Detectives: Dave Rubey and Shirley McLaughlin
October 17, 1996
Location: SE 3rd and Ash
Victim: Cobenais, Clayton
male, Indian
29 years old
The victim was verbally accosted by the suspect. The victim then shoves
the suspect. He is shot as he follows the suspect down the street.
Case Open
Case Detectives: Dave Schlegel and Steve Christensen
December 5, 1996
Location: SW Alder and Fifth
Victim: Ramirez-Avila, Alvaro male, Hispanic 24 years old
The victim was involved in a drug deal when he was shot by the suspect.
Case Open
Case Detectives: Mike Hefley and Tom Nelson
May 6, 1996
Location: North Buchanan and Olympia
Victim: Beedle, Roger male. White
30 years old
Officers responded to a report o f a fight in the street. Upon arrival, they
discovered the victim with multiple stab wounds.
Case Open
Case Detectives: Craig Yost and Terry W agner
March 3, 1996
Location: 7300 block o f North Montana
Victim: Underwood. James
male. White 49 years old
The victim, a transient, was found lying behind a hedge. He had sustained
numerous stab wounds.
Case Open
Case Detectives: Terry W agner and Craig Yost
M ay 11, 1996
Location: 7325 N. St. Louis
Victim: Krueger. Angela
female. White
20 years old
The victim is found bludgeoned to death in the Washougal River after
disappearing from her residence in Portland.
Case Open
Case Detective: Jon Rhodes
Christopher Sutton was horn Septem
ber 26, !980anddiedonJuly2l,1998. He
attended Vernon Elementary School,
Binnsmead Middle School, and gradu
ated from Benson Poly-Technic High
School in June o f this year where he par
ticipated in both basketball and football.
He was planning to attend Alabama State
University in the fall.
A Dream Expired To Soon
“ 17”
Written by
Sean Sutton
July 21. 1998
For funeral details, please call the Portland Police Bureau's Crisis
Response Team at (503) 823-5700.
I
Location: North W ebster and Albina
Victim: Lim, Wendy
female. W hite
34
The victim is shot multiple times as she is involved in a drug deal.
Case Open
Case Detectives: Kerry Taylor and Kent Perry
June 14,1997
Location: NE 23rd and Alberta
Victim: Myrick, Jamal m ale, Black
16 years old
The victim is found lying in the street suffering from a gunshot wound.
Case Open
Case Detectives: Kris Ferrell and Dave Rubey
June 9,1997
Location: 12900 SE Division
Victim: Castineira-Delarosa, Ivan
male, Hispanic
22 years
old
The suspect knocks at the victim ’s door. The victim does not answer the
door and is then shot as he looks out the window.
Case Open
Case Detectives: Derek Anderson and Kerry Taylor
August 9, 1997
Location: SE Milwaukie and Powell
Victim: Brewer, Joshua male. W hite
18 years old
The victim is shot in a store parking lo, after a conformation between the
occupants o f two vehicles.
Case Open
Case Detectives: Kris Ferrell and W ayne Svilar
July 17 and 18. 1997
Location: NE. 7th and Flanders
Victim: Luttrell, Lois female. W hite
38 years old
The victim was found in a business parking lot with multiple stab
wounds.
Case Open
Case Detectives: Dave Rubey and Kris Ferrell
December-January 1998
Location: Irving Park NE 7th and Fremont
Victim: Scott, Reggie male, Black
20 years old
The victim was found in Irving Park on New Y ear’s morning. He was
initially thought to have died from an overdose. At the autopsy,
however, it was determined that he had sustained a gun shot wound to
the head.
There are no suspects at this time.
Case Detectives. Bob Heimbach and Mark Bigeagle
December-January 1998
Location: 4700 block NE 14th Avenue
Victim: Stone, Ragshann
male. Black
19 years old
The victim was found shot to death on a parking strip. He had sustained
a gun shot wound to the head.
This is possibly gang related although the victim was reportedly no
longer involved in gangs.
Case Detectives: Tom Nelson and Bob Heimbach
You Can
Now Find
Us On The
Web!!
The Way to Happiness
A Proven Method to
help Prevent Crime.
h ttp ://
www. portland
observer.net
The Way to Happiness booklet is used all over the world in
schools, businesses and community organizations
to help create a saner world.
white-owned cosmetic giants used
her format for ‘vertical’ develop
ment.
In the ‘St. Louis m odel,’ relo
cated in many a major city across
the country, there was the College
ofCosmetology, a beauty salon with
20 ‘stalls,’ mineral baths, lunch
room, a superb restaurant, ice cream
parlor, the Amytis Theatre (only
hlack movie projectionist in the mid-
w est-m y m other dated him for
awhile).
All o f this was based in a real
estate complex C.J. W alker owned.
There were many apartments tor
rent and several public meeting halls
and banquet rooms.
In several key cities like New
York, Chicago and Atlanta, cosmet
ics manufacturing plants were part
o f the com plex. M adam e C.J.
W alker was generous w ith her
wealth-education and charity, her
stylish New York mansion was the
scene o f many gathering o f black
intelligentsia and entertainers.
The performance o f her heirs and
those with whom she came to share
control o f her empire is no, a pretty
story. But, fortunately, her accom
plishments have served as strong,
positive motivators for many black
women (and men). Herstory is found
in a number o f Black History Books
and Encyclopedias. Try Reflections
Book Store and the Public Library.
Conclusion next: Those little kids
in our ‘village’ grow into teenagers;
“Joe Louis M arches,” and from
‘middle class’ to ‘high-rise slum s'
and horizontal ghetto.
1
May 28, 1997
May 6, 1996
F amily M atters : T he W ay I t W as III
decorum and social interaction was
to be maintained in both places.
‘Truance’ was not an acceptable be
havior and consequently, no roam
ing neighborhood terrorists or bur
glars allowed.
The social structure o f the “ex
tended fam ily’ was not supported
by any o f today’s panaceas or icons;
there was no Prosaic, no Dr. Spock,
and no schoolyard massacres. How
much, indeed, is owed to those tens
o f thousands o f black or white fe
males who gave up so much o f a
‘norm al’ life in honoring a self-
im posed societal responsibility?
(“ Proudly and joyfully we might
add.” )
That educational mode is long
gone as it should be, but it should
have been replaced with a carefully-
crafted societal structure which
could do the same job. Our moral
and education wastelands mark those
w om en's absence.
I can personally relate to one of
the most notable accomplishments
o f an eminently successful African
American business woman-’’Madam
C.J. W alker" who in the 1920’s be
gan a nationwide cosmetic, beauty
salon and real estate empire (W ell, I
was a child and I patronized her ice
cream parlor in my neighborhood—
how “personal” can you get?)
Without the aid o f television and
many other o f today’s marketing
tools, this talented woman use the
“Negro Press,” the public lecture,
the church, the schools, the auto and
the train to ‘connect’ with the black
women of America. M anyoftoday's
Location: Woodlawn Park
7200 block NE 11th
Victim: Yeggins, Michael
male. Black
22 years old
The victim had been sitting in the park with his girlfriend. They are
confronted by 2 suspects who asked what his name is. One o f the
suspects fired multiple shots, killing the victim.
Location: Forest Park hiking trail
Victim: Overlund, Maggie
female. White
19 years old
The victim was shot multiple times and was discovered on a trail in Forest
Park.
Case Open
Case Detectives: Derek Anderson and Kerry Taylor
July 11, 1996
A dream expired to soon
In a world too unbearable to consume.
Loved and cherished by all peers
So many memories through the years
All your talents and jokes we shared
You'll never know how much we cared
1 love you brother, remember Chris
I never thought it would come to this
Enjoy heaven, happy and clean
We’ll always remember your number “seventeen"
Not only your number but also your age
A devastation to all, God turned the page
We love you. Chris
God Please Bless Him!
P roe , M c K inley B i rt
A reader suggests that it is about
time that i highlighted the important
roleofthe African American woman
on this early inner city stage. Take
you seats and let the house lights
dim.
We could begin with the ‘prepa-
ration-for-life’ provided by those
gifted and dedicated elementary
school teachers.. Those were not
’high school’ curriculums, grammar
exercises or vocabularies which
were described the past two weeks.
Rather, this level o f ability to use
and understand the English language
was considered a prerequisite for an
acceptable educational performance
in high school. Never mind that this
was a typical urban ghetto in the
pre-civil rights era and that oppor
tunities for African Americans-edu-
cated or not-were severely limited;
‘degree o f improvement is debated.
These committed ’grade school’
teachers, black or white, came un
der the prescribed education mantra
o f the time: a degree from a ‘recog
nized’ teacher college, ‘be o f the
female sex ,' and unmarried. I am
familiar with the process because
both my mother and her sister gradu
ated from “Stow eT eacherC ollege”
o f St. Louis, Mo. My mother lost
her job when she married my father
and divorced three years later, re
turned to her father’s house with her
child.
In those days, the schoolhouse
was an extension o f the homes in the
“village,” and it was understood that
the exact same level o f conduct.
-
UNSOLVED MURDERS
In Loving Memory
o f Christopher Sutton
i
by
-
DOWNTREND IN CRIME STATISTICS
“The crime statistics from major crime in this area have been considerably
down for each o f the first four months of the year. I know that the distribution
o f over 16,000 The Way to Happiness books has had a lot to do with this.”
Mike Hoy, Director, Pico Union Improvement Association, LA California
80% DECREASE IN VIOLENCE ON SCHOOL CAMPUS
4
“In addition to making a kinder, gentler school, The Way to Happiness
program has made it safer. We have decreased the violence by 70% -80% over
the school year. We have decreased disrespectful attitudes towards teachers,
decreased vulgar Language and gestures. You name it, it’s better.
»
V.B. Principal, Lockland, Tennessee
RECIDIVISM (REPEAT CONVICTIONS) REDUCED
FROM 70% TO 10%
“We noticed immediately that the children who were exposed to The Way to
Happiness had a much lower recidivism than those who were not exposed to
the booklet. About 90% o f those who were given the booklet did not come
back to the court again. The recidivism rate, in other words, dropped from
70% to 10%. The result were so spectacular that we incorporated the use of
the booklet as a standard element in our program. The Way to Happiness has
proved so effective in rehabilitating delinquent teenagers, we feel that the
booklet really should be made available to them before they get into trouble.”
Danny O. Black, C hief Probation Officer, Greenville, Alabama
To order The Way to Happiness booklets or for information
on programs call ABLE Oregon at (503)203-1301
Tht Way to Happiness is a trademark owned by L. Ron Hubbard Library and is used with its permission A B L E is a trademark and
service mark owned by Asaociation for Better Living and Education and is used with its permission.
I