Page A 6
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November 16, 2005
DIMJ« HIKE ZONE DEBATED
con tin u ed
fro m Front
“I w ant to know how you allow
a police officer to be prosecutor,
ju d g e and executioner,” one A fri
can-A m erican w om an said.
“ I’m concerned that my young
brothers and sisters, people o f color,
a re ta r g e te d ,” sa id C a ssa n d ra
V illanueva, 23. " W e’re told that we
young people are the future, but
too often w e’ re excluded from deci
sion-m aking. Y ou can say that ar
rests are not based on skin color,
but when the majority o f exclusions
go to people o f color, it’s a cause o f
concern.”
O thers also expressed concern
about the high percentage o f m i
norities am ong those excluded.
A ndrea M eyer o f the A m erican
Civil Liberties Union said P otter’s
proposals go a long way tow ard
m eeting her organization’s co n
cerns about the zones taking away
due process.
“O ne’s right to travel and asso
ciate freely is a fundam ental right
way all have,” M eyer said.
Although safeguards and a sys
tem for challenging exclusions were
added to the ordinance after they
were instituted in 1992, Meyer said
many people do not understand their
rights or have a way to defend them.
Skip O sbourne said, “This is the
United States o f America. W e’re
entitled to be considered innocent
until proven guilty. We h av e arig h t
to travel freely. W e’re becom ing a
police state.”
King Neighborhood Association
chair Chad D ebnum said the ordi
nance as is gives too much pow er
to the police. H ow ever, he added,
"W e re moving in the direction I'd
like to see this g o.”
The Boise N eighborhood A sso
ciation initially voted to support
continuation o f the zone after hear
ing from d istric t atto rn ey Jim
H ayden. However, at a subsequent
m eeting, after hearing from critics,
they asked for am endm ents.
O thers are asking authorities to
get to the root o f drug and prostitu-
Travis Gamble, Multnomah County
parole officer with the African
American Program.
Life
After
Time
safeguards Wanted
“T he police are losing a pow er
W oboril said that as a practical
ful tool to deal with street level drug m atter police aren ’t interested in
dealing,” he said.
people passing through an area.
W oboril said currently, ex clu
“T he behavior police target is
sions can be appealed to a hearings people standing around, circling
exam iner and that 25 percent o f the block, behavior central to drug
such appeals result in the exclusion dealing,” he said.
being voided. An attorney added
C h ief D errick Foxw orth told the
that he had challenged “dozens” o f forum , “O ver the years this has
such exclusions, “and I’ve never been a very effective tool for us, but
lost a case.”
w e understand the concerns.”
Several people asked if the law
The next forum will be Thursday,
m eant excluded people could not Dec. l,sta rtin g at6 :3 0 p .m . in coun
visit their ow n families.
cil cham bers at C ity Hall.
i ’ hoto by I saiah
Fairness of Law Questioned
B olie /T he P ortland O bserver
Drug and prostitution free zones were added to Portland's law
enforcement arsenal in an attem pt to get a handle on street
crime in problem areas.
tion problem s by concentrating on
prevention.
The Eliot N eighborhood A sso
ciation has called for a drug free
zone to be continued in their neigh
b o r h o o d , w h e re th e d is tr ic t
atto rn ey ’s office has called for its
rem oval. Som e Eliot board m em
co n tin u ed
fro m Front
itself to building relationships and
trying to overcom e barriers that keep
people from succeeding,” said Travis
G am ble, another parole officer for
the program .
S ta tistic s show tw o -th ird s o f
those w ho leave prison are likely to
show up there again within their first
year out. This is w hy it’s essential
that training and m entoring goes
beyond sim ply having a parole of
ficer to m eet w ith clients for ju st a
bers w ho attended the forum said
later they w ere not aw are o f the
concerns associated with the zone
at the tim e o f the vote.
Richard Brown, chair o f the Hope
and H ard W ork C om m ittee and a
local African-American leader, sup
ports the zones.
short tim e every month. W ith 80
percent o f those behind bars being
non-violent offenders, a lot o f them
sim ply need treatm ent program s.
“T hey fall back into the sam e
places,” Blank said.
A fter release, a parole officer can
seem intimidating to the inmate, block
ing o ff effective com m unication and
sim ply acting as an authority figure.
But the African A m erican Program is
about feeling com fortable to speak
w ith others if y o u ’re experiencing a
relapse so that you can clim b out o f
port this until th at’s fixed.”
D uring a recent hearing on the
C om m issioner Erik Sten, a past issue, C om m issioner Sam A dam s
critic o f the zones, said, “R epeat seem ed to be lining up as a sup
offenders are doing these things p orter o f the zones.
o ver and over again and it’s not
“W hile looking at ethnicity,
possible to keep them all in ja il - boundaries and fairness, I hope
th at’s the problem . The issue for w e d o n ’t dull w hat has been a very
me is can w e exclude people w ho useful tool,” he said. “Som e neigh
have no record on their first o f borhoods are overw helm ed by this
fense? I will continue to not sup- kind o f activity.”
co n tin u ed
fro m F ront
any holes you m ight be falling into.
“W e d evelop som e trust so that if
there are issues, we can address them
and connect people with services,”
G am ble said.
Former offenders often have bro
ken ties with their family and friends
and finding a way back into their hearts
takes a lot o f tim e and a lot o f trust.
T he program covers topics like
how to be m ore involved in fam ily
oriented activities, how to be a good
parent and how to be a role model for
younger fam ily m em bers w ho might
be falling into crim inal activity.
T he docum entary started in the
late 1990s and spans the life struggles
o f reentry, so it w o n 't be finished
until early 2006.
T h e f ilm m a k e r s a re a ls o
fundraising to launch “From Prison
to H om e” as a sort o f “m edia spokes
person” for the A frican A m erican
Program . T h ey ’re also hoping to
m ake
th e
f i l m ’s
w e b s ite ,
www.fromprisontohom e.com, acom -
prehensive resource for those going
through reentry.
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