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See Metro section, inside
‘City of Roses
www.portlandobserver.com
Volume XXXV, Number 46
Wednesday • November 16. 2005
»HUG
W eek ¡n
e Review
Hotels for Evacuees to End
FEMA will stop paying for hotel
room s for most evacuees o f hur­
ricanes K atrina and Rita on Dec.
1, officials said Tuesday as the
agency pushed victim s to find
more stable housing. The Federal
E m e rg e n c y
M anagem ent
A gency estim ates that 53,000
families remain in hotels after los­ by L ee P erlman
ing their hom es to the storm s that T he P ortland O bserver
devastated the G u lf Coast.
Mayor Tom Potter is drawing community
I support for instituting new civil liberties
safeguards in the city’s drug and prostitu­
tion free zone ordinance.
The law allows police officers and judges
to order anyone arrested for drugs or pros­
titution-related offenses to stay out o f des­
ignated neighborhoods for up to 90 days. A
conviction o f such offenses carry a penalty
of being excluded from the designated zones
for up to one year and while excluded, people
who enter the restricted turfs can be arrested
on sight for illegal trespass.
Advocates call the ordinance an impor­
tant tool to combat street crime. Rather than
taking the time and energy to build a pros­
ecution case against drug dealers and pros­
titutes, only to see them released immedi­
ately, law enforcement can simply bar the
suspected violators from problem areas.
Critics say the law gives too much power
to police, allowing them to infringe on rights
without even charging people with a crime.
Such critics also fear police use the law to
practice racial discrimination.
Last month, during the ordinances’ three-
year review, Mayor Tom Potter called for the
zones to be continued as they are until Feb.
2, but scheduled a series of forums to exam ­
ine how the zones are used and get feedback
from the communities they impact.
During adiscussion at Emmanuel Temple
Church, a mostly African-American congre­
gation in north Portland, Potter suggested a
series of changes to the ordinance.
He wants police to have the ability to void
the exclusions after a review or if the district
attorney declines to prosecute or if charges
are dismissed in court.
City attorney David Woboril, who con­
ducted the forum, said that 26 percent o f the
exclusions in the drug-free zones, and 36
percent in the prostitution-free zones, are
already dropped through police internal re­
view.
The district attorney’s office declines to
prosecute 20 percent of the drug cases and
13 percent of the prostitution arrests. O f
those brought to trial. 95 percent result in
convictions or plea bargains, he said. About
2,000 people a year are arrested for trespass­
ing in the zones after exclusion.
IKE FAILING
Safeguards
Wanted
Suprem e Court nom inee Samuel
A lito distanced him self Tuesday
from his 1985 comments that there
was no constitutional right to
ab o rtio n , tellin g Sen. D ianne
Feinstein, D-Calif. in private that
he had been “an advocate seek­
ing a jo b .”
Baseball Steroid Penalties
M ajor league players and ow ners
have agreed to toughen penal­
ties for steroid use to a 50-gam e
suspension for a first failed test,
100 gam es for a second and a
lifetim e ban for a third.
lW » N S l
■SF
quick o
NO DRUGS
NO DRINKING
NO LOITERINt
I0 L W 0 R S W ILL BE PROSECl
THESE P R E M IS E S U N D E I
4 H O U R VID EO S U R V E IL L A
...
.
photo by I saiah
B ouie /T he P ortland O bserver
Like the neighborhood it surrounds, a local market on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard advertises its restrictions
to drug activity. The Portland City Council is
free zones.
Asked about the racial breakdow n of the
exclusions, Woboril said African-Americans
make up 83 percent of those arrested in inner
north and northeast Portland and 39 percent
of those arrested downtown.
Asked for a show of hands from the 70
people present at the Emmanuel Temple
forum, a clear majority had serious concerns
about the zones. About one-third said they
found the zones to be a worthwhile crime
prevention tool, but a like number indicated
they felt some changes were in order.
continued
y^
on page A6
Fairness of Law Questioned
by L ee P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
Mayor Tom Potter appears to have the
votes needed to soften Portland’s Drug
and Prostitution Free Zone ordinance to
better protect individual liberties.
Potter said while the courts have up­
held the constitutionality of the regula­
tions that can exclude drug and prostitu­
tion offenders from certain neighborhoods.
Portland’sordinancemay be unfairto resi­
dents subjected to the regulations.
Commissioner Randy Leonard said be­
cause he’s worked hard to give police the
powers they need to do their jobs, the
proposed changes present him with diffi­
cult choices.
“ I’m keenly focused on the argument
that these tools are used without due pro­
cess,’’ Leonard said. “We must protect
individual rights. We can’t just have a
system with no checks and balances.”
continued
yf
on page A6
Life After
Doing Time
Documentary
follows prisoners
by K atherine B lackmore
T he P ortland O bserver
What happens when a person gets out of
prison?
Most inmates are given a few bucks and
put outside the gates of the facility. Unless
they’ve planned transportation home, ques­
tions like where to seek shelter, where to find
food and most importantly, what to do with
their lives are up in the air.
Local filmmakers Brian Huston and Adam
Blank are working on a documentary called
“From Prison to Home," highlighting the
issues that two inmates grapple with upon
reentry, a term used to describe offenders
making the transition back into society.
“These guys have none of the benefits
with all of the hurdles,” Huston said.
The film also sheds light on the African
American Program - a unique organization
in Multnomah County that helps offenders
change the way they look at themselves and
the way they see the world around them.
Participants in the program are taught
how to live a healthy, fulfilling life in that
I
‘From Prison to Home" documentary filmmakers Brian Huston (left) and Adam Blank (right) join Nate Roberts, a Multnomah
County parole officer, at a sneak preview o f the film.
world - away from drugs, violence or what­
ever else it was that put them in jail.
They learn how to find direction, with
culturally specific information toward is­
sues that black men face.
"W hat’s hit on the most in the documen­
tary is that it all comes down to economics.
If I get pulled over. I have a different set of
problems than a black man does," Blank
said. “It’s an issue of poverty, through and
through. W e’re trying to show a population
that’s not on the radar.”
The program has only been around for 2
'/t years, but it’s already shelling out stories
o f hope and accomplishment.
“It’s a lot of hard work," said Nate Rob­
erts, parole officer for the African American
Program. “W e’re focusing on a non-tradi-
tional method of supervising them.”
In order to enroll, an inmate first has to
write a letter of intent nine months prior to
release. They'll then go to weekly meetings
i
before and after their release that teach them
life skills such as: how to find and be suc­
cessful in a career; how to access mental
health, health care, food and housing pro­
grams; how to combat the negative influ­
ences they once dealt with; how to be a
supporter and be supported; and how to be
a leader.
“It’s designed for success and lends
continued
yf
on page A6