(Elje Jlortlanò (ßbserUer
August 27,2003___________________________________
Page A3
Scathing Report Blasts
Police Bureau Review
Humbolt Festival
C oordinator B ridget Bayer, who
h elp ed o rg a n iz e the ev en t for
the H u m b o ld t N e ig h b o rh o o d
A sso c ia tio n .
T he A frican rhythm group
com es from G hana. Their rhythm
music style is strongly influenced
by jazz.
“ I th in k w e had a rea lly good
tu rn o u t,” B a y er said. She e s ti
m ated ab o u t 500 p eo p le tu rn ed
o u t for the festiv al th ro u g h o u t
th e sun n y , S un d ay aftern o o n .
In addition to gospel groups,
o rg a n iz a tio n s su ch as W rite
A round Portland also appeared.
The group offers free creative
w riting w orksh o p s, ex p lain ed
W RA P volunteer and outreach
coordinator Rhea Wols.
The Portland Fire D epartm ent
arrived w ith Engine N um ber 14
from the fire station at N ortheast
19th and K illingsw orth.
“ We w ere invited to com e.
W e’re also here to show o ff our
rig ,” Lt. Bob W oolins said refer
ring to the fire engine.
A nother interesting part o f the
festival w as a dunk tank, o p erat
ing as a fundraiser for Yaweh Drill
M im e and Sign. Participants had
a blast chucking balls at the tank
sitter in this good-natured gam e
ending in a splash.
The ev e n t’s sponsors include
Gospel music party
at neighborhood back
to school event
by S ean P. N elson ,
T he P ortland O bseryer
T he air rang o u t w ith the
sound o f gospel c h o ir Ju n io rs
Ja m m in 4 J e s u s d u rin g the
H um boldt Back to S chool C e l
eb ra tio n S unday.
B eautiful voices o f children
gave thanks from the M om ingstar
Baptist Church in N ortheast Port
land.
M any other gospel choirs also
brightened the celebration with
their joy o u s music.
O ne notable perform ance was
by the St. Jam es Pentecostal Step
pers.
U s in g w h a t th e y c a lle d
a ffirm a tio n s, the gro u p danced
to g e th e r and c h e e re d a love o f
G od to a m u sical tune.
“ Because he loves me, and I
love him too,” the team cheered.
H eadlining the event was the
w orld class A frican rhythm band
led by O bo Addy.
“ W ow , w e w ere so lucky to
get w o rld cla ss m u sicia n s to
play in ou r n eig h b o rh o o d fe s ti
v a l , ” s a id N o r t h /N o r th e a s t
B usin ess A sso c iatio n D istrict
continued
But the center’s experts found
numerous problems in the way
homicide detectives investigated
the cases.
Among the problems were a
typical three-day delay in the in
terviewing o f officers involved,
untaped interviews o f officers
before their taped interviews, lead
ing questions in taped interviews
o f officers and witnesses, and no
order prohibiting officers in
volved from meeting or discuss
ing the cases.
Some current and former Port
land hom icide detectives d e
fended the three-day waiting
period as reasonable and even
preferable, because it gave offic
from Front
relationship with the Police Bureau, it
did not receive the necessary support
from the city’s Independent Police
Review Division. The division, she
said, shunned dissenting opinions
and withheld access to police internal
affairs reports on cases the citizens
com mittee chose to review.
The citizens committee also had no
pow er to review officer-involved
shooting, including those o f Kendra
Jam es, the unarm ed 21-year-old
woman killed by police at a traffic stop
in north Portland and Mejia Poot, who
was shot by police while in a psychi
atric hospital.
New members will be selected to
photo by
M ark W ashincton /T he P ortland O bserver
Area kid s s o r t through free sch o o l s u p p lie s a t th e H um boldt
B ack to Sch o o l celebration S u n d a y on th e Portland C om m unity
College c a m p u s on N orth Killingsworth S treet.
the North Star Ballroom, B igC ity
Produce, the B lindO nion, theten-
ants o f Falcon Arm s A partm ents,
replace those who have stepped down.
Blackmer said he is disappointed
that the resigning members failed to
recognize the good work the commit
tee accomplished in the last two years.
“The issue is trying to improve
police services and w e’ve done a lot
o f things to improve interactions be
tween police and citizens,” Blackmer
said. “W e’ve brought the timeliness
for handling complaints from mea
surements in years to measurements
in weeks, with more satisfied com
plainants and more mediation be
tween complainants and police offic
ers. W e’ve spotted patterns o f com
plaints so we can change pol ice policy
and avoid complaints from happen
ing.”
I------
N E W
the Bureau o f H ousing and Corn-
m unity D evelopm ent, and Im-
press Printing.
Walk to
memorialize
woman killed on
her front porch
Market, 909 N. Killingsworth St.
and ending at Alberta Park, at North
east 20lh Avenue and K i 11 ingsworth
Street.
Bell, a wife and mother o f four,
was fatally shot in a walk-by shoot
Family and friends o f Asia ing. Her killer is still at large.
Bell James, a woman who was
A reward fund was set up to help
killed on the front porch ofher catch the persons responsible for
North M ississippi Avenue her death. Donations can be made
home last year, have orga to the Asia Bell fund at any US
nized a march to stop violence Bank.
The anti-violence march will in
in the city.
The Senseless Violence clude a barbeque dinner, games,
Leads to Silence March, in gospekchoirs, jazz, family photos
’
honor o f Bel I and at I victims of anJm W e
To volunteer or make a dona
violence, will be held Satur
day, Sept. 20 beginning at 10 tion, contact Pastor Leroy Hayes at
a.m. at the former Renaissance 503-249-5844.
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T ate said the AM A w ould fo r
w ard the results o f investigation
to a new alliance, currently being
formed. Some o f the m em bers o f
the original m inisterial review
team , including Tate, will take
BY JAYMEE R . C V Tl
seats pn the new board.
T he P ortland O bseryer
“W e’ve taken this as far as we
An independent in v estig a want to go,” said Tate. “ I ’m going
tion into the police shooting o f to continue because I think we
Kendra Jam es conducted by the need to co n tin u e voicin g our
A lbina M inisterial A lliance is concerns because we w ant to see
finished, but details w on’t be changes take place.”
made public until Sept. 6.
The A lliance plans to present
H ow ever, AMA P resident its findings to M ayor V era K atz
Roy Tate said M onday that he and Portland Police C h ief M ark
expects the A frican A m erican K roeker on T hursday, Sept. 4,
ministerial group’s findings will and will hold a com m unity m eet
be “shocking.”
ing to present the study to the
“ We w ant people to know public from noon to 3 p.m. on
w h at's really going on and what Saturday, Sept. 6 at M aranatha
w e’ve com e up w ith,” T ate aid. Church, 4222 N.E. 12,hAve.
T he A llia n ce co n d u c te d its
“ I think th ey ’re going to be
study b ased on ree n actm en ts surprised to see this isn ’t ju st
and a d isse c tio n o f th e 600- from the A frican A m erican co m
p a g e p o lic e re c o rd o f th e m unity, from the north/northeast.
d ea d ly sh o o tin g w h ic h o c It’s from a broader com m unity,”
cu rred M ay 5 d u rin g a traffic said Tate.
Black religious
leaders finish
Kendra James’
shooting report
NEW S E A S O N S J
I M A R K E T
S E A S O N S
E A S Y
ers time to decompress.
But the center's experts said
there is no significant research that
officers’ perceptions will be re
stored as time goes on.
D elaying the interview , they
said, increases the possibility o f
o fficer collusion and is unfair,
considering police im m ediately
interview similarly traumatized ci
vilians.
Other inadequacies cited were
the failure to keep extraneous offic
ers out o f crime scenes, failure to
locate critical pieces o f evidence,
failure to conduct relevant gun
powder residue tests or trace bullet
trajectory paths for all police
shootings, and failure to properly
canvass scenes and interview all
witnesses.
AMA Police Review
Called ‘Shocking’
Police Watchdogs Resign March Against Violence
continued
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