March 30. 2005
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Page B2
L aw & J ustice
Guilty Verdict
Prompts Family Feud
(AP) - A Multnomah County
jury has found a man guilty ot
murdering hischildhood friend.
The jury decided Tuesday
that Robert Wagner shot Lavell
Matthews to death last year
over a $100 drug debt.
For years, the two extended
fa m ilie s
in P o rtla n d 's
Humboldt neighborhood cel
ebrated together and attended
the same church. According
to police, on March 23, 2004,
Matthews, 35, was shot to
d e a th on N orth W ebster
Street.
Wagner left the next day
for Las Vegas. Two witnesses
later told police they saw the
shooting.
When the judge read the
verdict, a gasp was heard in
the courtroom and then the
families began shouting at each
other. Due to the intense emo
tions in the courtroom, a dozen
sheriff s deputies were brought
in to stand guard.
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C A N N O N 'S
_ ^ = RJB EXPRESS
Meth Most Wanted Arrested
Bust made in
north Portland
A man described as one of
M ultnom ah C o u n ty ’s 10 m ost
wanted methamphetamine cooks
was arrested March 23 after police
raided his home on North Missouri
Avenue in the historic Mississippi
district.
Terry Rae Dowell, 56 was de
scribed by police as the county’s
most notorious meth cook. He faces
charges of violating terms of his
parole. Since 1988, he twice has
been convicted o f possessing and
manufacturing a controlled sub
stance.
Dowell may also face charges of
child and elder abuse after authori
ties discovered that a 15-year-old
boy and 18-year-old woman and
91 -year-old woman had been living
at the north Portland house.
Police said the home was used as
a meth lab. A quarter of an ounce of
crystal meth and m eth-cooking
P hoto by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver equipment was seized from the
home.
One of the county's most wanted methamphetamine cooks was arrested and meth-cooking
equipment was seized at this home on North Missouri Avenue.
Portland May Pull Out of FBI Task Force
( AP) - Portland’s mayor is threat
ening to pull the city out of the
FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force
unless the federal agency gives
him and the city police chief a higher
security clearance.
The FBI has created task forces
with police departments in 100 cit
ies across the country to investi
gate potential terrorists and pre
vent possible attacks.
Portland would be the first city
to remove itself from such a team,
officials say.
M ayor Tom Potter and other
city officials want expanded over
sight over any FBI anti-terror
operations that include Portland
police officers. A resolution in
troduced W ednesday by Potter
goes before the full C ity Council
next week.
Robert Jordan, the special agent
in charge of the FBI’s Portland di
vision, said there is no precedent
for granting top secret clearance to
an elected municipal official.
For now , the tw o Portland o f
ficers assigned to the task force
have higher security clearance
than Potter or Police C hief D er
rick Foxworth.
Potter took office seven months
after the arrest of a Portland lawyer
whose fingerprints the FBI eventu
ally determined had been mistak
enly linked to the terrorist bom b
ings that killed 191 people in Spain
last March.
The FBI issued a rare publ ic apol -
ogy to attorney Brandon Mayfield,
a convert to Islam who is suing the
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111 S.W. 2nd Avenue,
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CRIME
STOPPERS
Man Mugged at ATM
On the evening of Oct. 19 ,2(X)4 a man was
standing outside of his northeast area busi
ness when an unknown suspect approached
from behind and struck the man in the back
of the head. The suspect then told the victim
to get down on the ground and bound the
victim 's hands. The suspect took the victim’s
car keys, picked him up and led him to the
front of the business where the victim’s
work car was parked.
The suspect demanded the victim 's ATM
card and personal identification number.
In the victim 's car, the suspect went to
the nearby Bank of America and ordered the
man to withdraw money from the ATM.
Luckily, the victim managed to escape and
ran to a gas station to call police.
The suspect was last seen at the Bank of
America ATM on Northeast 101" and Sandy
branch. A camera on the ATM took photos
O ur S pecialty :
R eal H ickory S moked B ar -B-Q
Police need your help finding this suspect.
of the suspect using the stolen card. Authori
ties were able to determine that the suspect is
a white male wearing a gray or bluejacket with
baggy pants and possibly wearing a cap on his
head. Detectives hope this information would
allow someone to identify the suspect.
Crime Stoppers is offering cash reward o f up to $1,000fo r information that would lead to
an arrest in this case, or any unsolved felony. Those who contact Crime Stoppers with tips
remain anonymous. Call Crime Stoppers at 503-823-4357.
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Gap Shows Economic Inequality
Racial lines divided
by the color green
(AP) — Forty years after the passage of the
1965 Voting Rights Act and decades after the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. made strides in
racial equality, America remains split along
racial lines - divided by the color green.
Economic equality has become the para
mount civil rights issue of the 21st century,
according to many civil rights advocates.
Fewer blacks than whites own their houses,
get fair loans, invest in the stock market or sit
on corporate boards, or have any real control
over much of the trillions o f dollars flowing in
mutual funds, pension plans and the financial
markets, they said.
“ Very real gains have been made on some
parts o f the econom ic front and the educa
tion front and m ost particularly on the job
front.” said T hom as Shapiro, professor at
I
»
Same Crime,
Different
Punishment
Study shows blacks
receive harsher
judgement for gun laws
(FORMERLY CHUCK HINTON'S)
Catering & Take-Out
government over the mistake.
Both Potter and Public Safety
Commissioner Randy Leonard said
whatever the outcome of the reso
lution, the city and the FBI should
continue efforts to work together
when there is a terrorism threat.
“ It is absolutely critical to have
their cooperation,” Jordan said. “I
think that’s what the public expects
from us.”
Foxworth issued a statement also
pledging cooperation with federal
officials.
the H eller School for Social Policy and M an
agem ent at Brandeis Uni versity. “(B ut) those
gains are being reversed through w idening
racial w ealth g aps.”
There is a difference between income and
wealth, which the latter includes investments in
stocks or pension plans, equity from paying a
mortgage, and assets that can be used to pay
for education or retirement.
And wealth is where the biggest differences
persist.
In 1999, during a boom economy, Shapiro said,
black middle-class families on average had one-
fourth of the wealth of similarly educated, simi
larly employed white middle-class families.
The disparity was even starker across all
income groups - black families as a whole had
only 10 cents in wealth for every dollar white
families had, according to government figures.
There are historical reasons - generations ot
poverty, a legacy o f slavery and laws that kept
them from education, housing and good jobs.
I
I
(AP) - A study o f C alifornia's weapons
registration law found that blacks were far
more likely to be charged with a felony than
whites, who were more often charged with a
misdemeanor for the same offense.
The study conducted by state Attorney
General Bill Lockyer prompted calls forchanges
from the N.A.A.C.P(National Association for
the Advancement o f Colored People); the law
maker who authored the legislation defended
The study examined data on how the law,
which took effect Jan. 1.2000, is being applied.
The law makes it illegal for anyone to possess
a gun if they are not listed by the state as the
firearm owner. Offenders can be charged with
a felony or a misdemeanor, a lesser count.
In 2003, less than 40 percent o f whites faced
felony charges under the law; more than 70
percent of blacks and nearly 70 percent of
Hispanics were charged with felonies.
This study has lead black leaders seek
change in law. The report shows that blacks
were proportionately most likely to be filed on
at the felony level, followed by Hispanics,
other race/ethnic groups, and whites. This
pattern was evident throughout the period
shown.
According to the law 's author. Democratic
state Senator Jack Scott the option of a misde
meanor charge is in the event an individual has
a giwxl excuse for possessing a weapon not
registered to him or her. For example if the
weapon is properly registered in the name of a
spouse or other close relative.
Scott noted many o f those charged with
felony possession of an illegal handgun also
were charged with other felonies at the same
time. “Perhaps more dangerous individuals are
charged with a felony," he said.
Alice A. Huffman, president of the Califor
nia State Conference of the N.A.A.C.P. said her
organization would work with the legislature s
black caucus to change the law or its enforce
ment.