Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2005)
)ujy20- 2005__________________________________ 0:1,1 ÿlarthnth © b scru er_____________________________ Page as L aw & J ustice Local Student Earns Medical Degree Justice Overcomes Republican Block year for a third six-year term with 62 percent of the vote. S he w as s u b s e q u e n tly elected by her fellow ju s tices to be their chief. S ears vow ed to “strive m ightily to uphold the in d e p e n d e n c e and in te g r ity ” o f th e ju d ic ia ry . T h o m a s , a lo n g tim e friend w ho is also a n a tive o f the Savannah area, said “ my pride runs deep as a hum an being, as a m em ber o f the ju d ic ia ry and as a G e o rg ia n .” I never thought that in my lifetime I would be able to w itness a black woman Sears first black woman to lead Georgia court A black fem ale state Suprem e Court justice who overcam e Re publican efforts to block her re- election has taken the oath of the ch ief ju stic e ’s office, with her longtim e friend U.S. Suprem e C ourt Justice C larence Thom as sa y in g he n e v e r th o u g h t he would w itness such an event. Leah Sears is the first black woman to head the highest ap peals court in any state, accord ing to the National Center for State Courts based in W illiamsburg, Va. Leah Sears She took office last month, be com ing the first woman to serve tivist judge by Gov. Sonny Per as ch ief justice in G eorgia. due and other R epublicans, but Sears, 50, was branded an ac- she won a nonpartisan race last as the ch ief justice of the state of G eorgia’s Suprem e C ourt,” he said. Sears was the first woman and the youngest person ever to serve on the G eorgia Suprem e Court when she was appointed in 1992 by then-Gov. Zell Miller, a Demo crat. Thom as said he is confident Sears will “call them as you see them .” “Those o f us who are judges know that it is easy to judge when you already have your mind made up,” he told Sears at her oath of office cerem ony. “ It is hard to judge when you have to make your mind up.” SAFEWAY Hands Down for Secrecy Lacreasia K. Wheat Congratulations to Lacreasia K. Wheat of Portland for her hard work and determination in gradu ating May 26 at the University of Pittsburgh with a medical degree in internal medicine and pediat rics. A 1989 graduate of Jefferson High School, Wheat first went on to further her education at Lloyla Marymont University where she graduated with a bachelor’s de gree in performing arts. She then moved to New York City and for several years performed with the Nicholas Rodriduez Dance Com pany. In 1998, she decided to further her education and applied and was accepted for medical school at the University of Pittsburgh. Ingredients for life. State Senate supports domestic violence survivors’ confidentiality The state Senate gave unani mous support last week to a bill proposing the creation of an Ad dress Confidentiality Program in the Oregon Department of Justice. The program is designed to protect victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking who have re located from having their address disclosed through public records. The proposal, Senate Bill 850, is modeled on the successful pro grams currently operating in 17 o th er states, like W ashington where they first started the pro gram in 1991. Senator Richard Devlin, chief sponsor of the bill, say the program would provide survivors with a tool to escape and abusive relationship and end the violence against them and their family, while at the same time allowing public agencies to easily respond to the requests for public records. “Theactoffilingforarestraining order orchild custody requires court documents to be completed,” said Devlin, “In cases where the victim has taken extreme measures to con ceal his/her location, he/she may be hesitant to take any steps that could reveal their whereabouts to the abuser.” The A ddress C onfidentiality Program functions by giving the victim a substitute address through the Attorney General’s Office to use on all public records, including drivers license, voter registration, public assistance and court pro ceeding. All the state and local government use this address both for public records and correspon dence. First class mail is forwarded by the Attorney General’s office to the victim’s actual address. Senate Bill 850 received wide spread support from district attor neys and law enforcement agen cies around the state along with domestic violence and sexual as sault advocates and the Oregon Attorney G eneral's Office. The bill will not proceed to the Oregon House of Representatives. This is a security camera's view o f the bank robber that hit Wells Fargo and Bank o f America branches recently. Repeat Bank Robber at Large H e’s hit two local banks within a month, and the FBI needs the public’s help in finding him. The first robbery occurred on June 9 around 4:30 p.m. at the W ells Fargo Bank lo cated at W ashington Square. The second robbery took place at Bank of A m erica on SW 185lh and W alker in A loha at 4:40 p.m. on July 8. In both cases, the robber w alked into the bank, dem anded cash from the teller and left on foot. He may be arm ed. Witnesses describe the robber as a man in his late 20s to early 30s with a medium build between 5 ’7” a n d 5 ’9”. Anyone with information about the robber’s identity or either bank robbery is asked to call 503-224- 4181. Laurelhurst Sees Rise in Burglaries hours later, but released him be cause they c o u ld n ’t prove the property he had was stolen. The property was later found to be connected with an T he L a u re lh u rst other burglary. area in northeast Port land has seen a few too Further investiga many burglaries lately, tion connected Jen and it's possible that kins to a burglary that one man is behind all of occurred on June 25, them. among others. On W e d n e sd a y , T h e S o u th e a s t July 13, detectives ar P recinct has e x p e ri re ste d 2 9 -y e a r-o ld enced an e sc a la tio n Stacy Russel Jenkins o f cat b u rg la rie s in on three counts of bur Russel Jenkins in n e r n o rth east and glary and one county of attempted so u th east P o rtland in the past burglary. sev eral m on ths, but it is yet to Early m orning on June 11, o f be determ in ed if Jen k in s isc o n - ficers responded to a reported nected w ith any o f th ese in c i burglary in the Laurelhurst neigh d ences. T he in v estig atio n is o n borhood. They spotted Jenkins going. Man arrested on four counts I i
