500 Police Cleared in James Death gJC lyu bU kedfOr haVi”8 dinner ,Oge,her H u n g e r D e fe n s e Sta* sees dramatic increase in food stamps See story, Metro section ‘City of Roses’ ^ n rtía n h ©íiseruer Volume XXXIV • Number 31 T, Week in TheReview Bill Pays Iraq War Costs President Bush signed a $417.5 billion wartime defense bill pro­ viding an additional $25 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, body armor for troops and reinforced Humvee vehicles. Possible Cult Victims Discovered Police in eastern Nigeria discov­ ered body parts, skulls and more than 50 corpses, some partly mummified, in shrines where a secretive cult was believed to have carried out ritual killings, officers said. Some victims may have died after swallowing poi­ son to prove their innocence. Bush Defends Terror Alerts President Bush defended the! decision to issue terrorism warn-1 ings and tighten security in New York and W ashington, saying “the threats w e’re dealing with are real” even though some of the intelligence on which the [ government acted was as much as four years old. Koko Uses Sign Language When Koko the gorilla used the | American Sign Language ges­ ture for pain and pointed to her mouth, 12 specialists, including! three dentists, sprang into ac­ tion. The result? Her first full I medical examination in about 20 years, an extracted tooth and a | clean bill o f health. Nichols Asks for Forgiveness Oklahom a City bombing con- spiratorTerry Nichols addressed a court for the first time, asking for forgiveness and offering to help victims’ families with the healing process as he was sen-1 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • August II. 2004 COMPa Not I Revenge I Survivors of violence forgive attackers by Liz W allace T he P ortland O bserver While supporters o f the criminal justice system maintain that hard time for violent offenders is beneficial to victims and com ­ munities, many real crime survivors disagree. “Everyone knows that in prison you are likely to get raped, molested, abused and assaulted,” said Theresa Huggins, a rape survivor and participant in Survivors Advo­ cating For an Effective System (SAFES). “I would never wish that on anyone, not even the man who raped me.” The rape occurred when she was 12, after a night o f bowling. A man offered her a ride home, but instead drove her out to the coun­ try and raped her. "I told my dad I was late, hoping h e’d be mad at me and ask why. He just said, ‘D on’t do it again. ’ I wanted so badly to tell him what had happened, but I couldn’t.” For years, Huggins remained silent about the sexual assault. She started drinking heavily and doing drugs, sinking so low she became a violent offender herself, repri­ manded for assault throughout her youth. When Huggins married her high school sweetheart, her life did not improve. Together, they pulled robberies, got in scrapes, did dope, and were generally “run­ ning amok.” She tried to look beyond his criminal his­ tory to see his gentler side, as he cared o f an aging grandmother. Eventually, her husband wound up in jail. With no support and the knowledge that he was at great risk physically, mentally and emotionally, Hugginscontinually visited him behind bars. She started cleaning up her life Theresa Huggins, a crime survivor’s advocate, tells her story. photo by * In a system that heals no one, where will the violence end? - Arwen Bird, founding member and executive director of Survivors Advocatlngfor an Effective System (SAFES) by taking classes at Chemeketa Community College in Salem. But when he was freed from lockup, the system hadn’t changed him and together they spiraled back down into crim e and drug addiction. A year and a half after he was freed from jail, Huggins hit bottom. She left him and made a commitment to clean up once and for all. Through writing classes taught by an inspiring professor, Huggins learned how to tell her story. The writing finally allowed her to start healing from her childhood rape. It was then that she discovered SAFES, an organiza­ tion that resonated with her own views and experiences with violence and the criminal justice system. Huggins thinks that the criminal justice M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserve system needs to do a better job of healing t victim, the offender and the community. T current system, she feels, heals no one, h only perpetuates the physical, mental a, sexual abuse in prison. “In a system that heals no one, where w the violence end?” asks Arwen Bird, foun ing member and executive directorof SAFE Bird was paralyzed by a drunk driver. / punishment, she only wanted him to help pj her medical bills, but instead he went I prison and she received no financial help. “When they (offenders) get sent to prise and their victims receive little say in senteni ing and little financial orem otional support, she asks, “what are we offering survivors’! continued on page A6 tenced to life without the possi­ bility o f parole on 161 state) charges. Reporter Held In Contempt Time magazine is appealing a ju d g e’s ruling that one o f its re­ porters is i n contempt o f court for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the leak o f the | Local Judge Leaves Legacy Services Friday for Roosevelt Robinson Roosevelt Robinson, 62, a local African-American leader, judge and former minister will King Kong Actress Honored be remembered during a public The Empire State Building - the | memorial service at 11 a.m. Fri­ skyscraper that King Kong scaled day, Aug. 13 at Mallory Church while holding tight to Fay Wray o f Christ, 3908 N.E. Mallory. - will dim its lights for 15 minutes Robinson was bom in De­ Tuesday in honor o f the actress cember 1941 in Valdosta, Ga. who died Sunday, a building His great-grandm other raised spokesman said. him after his mother was mur­ dered when he was a child. He later became valedictorian of his high school graduating class in 1959. He earned a theology de­ gree from Southwestern Chris­ tian College in Texas before heading for Oregon in 1962. He got a jo b at a Nabisco bakery in northeast Portland, working his way up from ja n i­ c tor to foreman. He also served o >ri 0Í) O as minister at a north Portland 1» C) church and earned a sociology degree from the University of O © Portland in 1970. In 1976, Robinson gradu­ o e lege. He spent a few years in c > OD © private practice before joining 3 □ ¿ the M ultnomah County dis- Roosevelt Robinson was honored to serve as a judge. UJ identity o f a covert CIA officer. > o trict attorney’s office in 1978. In 1987, he was appointed to the Oregon Parole Board. In 1990, he was appointed as a M ultnom ah County C ircuit Court Judge, later winning elec­ tion to that seat. R obinson p resid ed o v er the law suit against cigarette- m aker P hilip M orris that re­ sulted in a $150 m illion ju ry aw ard. R obinson criticized com pany officials, but he re ­ duced the aw ard to $50 m il­ lion in 2002. R obinson resigned from the bench last year, as his health began to decline. But after entering hospice care, he surprised many by living nearly a year longer than ex ­ pected, in spite o f failing k id ­ neys. He credited his rebound to ad v a n c e d th e ra p y and prayer. “He loved what he did," said Jan Wyers, also a circuit judge. “He felt so honored to be a judge.” Last year, Lewis and Clark L aw S ch o o l s ta rte d th e Roosevelt Robinson Minority Scholarship in his honor. photo by M ark W ashington / T he P ortland O bserver /wceS/nwr .foo/w „ //((’«