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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 2007)
ih April II, 2007 Page A3 1 n rt la nò ®b serti e r Easter Burglary Stopped in Progress Pastor wonders if incident was race-related S arah B lount T he P ortland O bserver by Members of New Paradise Wor ship Center in Gresham came very close to getting an ugly Easter sur prise - but the attempt to rob them of approximately $20,000 worth of church equipment was foiled be fore assailants could get off with the gear. Church memberGail Kindler hap pened to drive by around 4 a.m. Easter Sunday on the way home from her night shift, and discov ered computers, printers, monitors, musical equipment and a brand new copy machine piled outside the building next to a vehicle. She said one computer was being used to prop open a side door. Kindler, who does maintenance work at New Paradise, called 9-1-1 before the ear drove off from the parking lot - without the pricey equipment. Gresham police arrived shortly after and church pastor Rev. Dwayne O. Fleming was alerted by a call around 7 a.m. from Rev. Al Cush way of Highland Community Church, a congregation that shares the building. According to the Gresham po ERVATIVE BAPTIST) lice report, the vandals caused $850 9$A WORSHIP IO^ a i 6 p worth of damages to a window and six kicked-in doorframes leading to offices, plus damage to a water gutter. Police made no arrests and have no suspect information. Members of New Paradise were able to meet for an Easter Sunday service because of the minimal dam age. By Monday afternoon, most of the equipment was once again intact. photo by M ark W ashing ton /T he P or it . \ nd O bse r \ i k Fleming said it looked like atheft Rev. Dwayne 0. Fleming, p a sto r o f N ew Paradise Worship C enter situation gone awry, but he can't in G resham , w onders if vandals targeted the church b e c a u se o f help but wonder if the vandals tar- its racial diversity. r^CHooi CONWWcE ¡5 THE MÊSS1AH A * geted the African American church because of race. The year-old non-denomina- tional Christian church has about 40 members, Fleming said, with about 60 percent of members who are white and 40 percent African American. New Paradise joins a few other Gresham churches w ith di verse demographics, and Fleming said he chose the East County loca tion to represent the increasing minority population. "We moved out here because of the displacement in northeast." said the former Vancouver resident and previous music minister al Morning Star Baptist Missionary Church, which burned down in February after a fire of an undeter mined cause engulfed the historic building. Fleming said that in the days before the break-in, church leaders had placed at least 100 signs the size o f political placards around the area of Southeast 182nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard. The signs, featuring a photo of Fleming and his wife Tamara, invite the commu nity to visit New Paradise. “This seemed to happen right after that," Fleming said. Expressing relief that no parish ioners were hurt. Fleming said the break-in has led him to consider a security system, but he also wants to get the word out that there is a burgeoning minority-based faith community east of 1-205. "It's been a great challenge so far," he said, "especially with w hat’s been happening to m inor ity chu rch es in the past few m onths." Fleming and his wife Tam ara have applied for non-profit sta tus and offer drug and alcohol treatm ent within their ministry. Fleming said he is involved in several community development ini tiatives in Gresham and meets regu larly with Gresham PoliceChiefCarla Piluso and other city leaders. State Takes Custody of Newborn; Couple Keeps Up Hope by R aymond R endi . eman P ortland O bserver N e w ly tr a n s p la n te d Portlanders C laudia Davis and Nathaniel Hodges are living a nightmare. M oving here six months ago, they planned to begin a better life on the W est Coast. But they are instead spending every waking moment in pursuit o f the right to care for their own three-m onth- old child. The worst was realized during the cross-country trip from Bos ton, after a falling-out with trav eling com panions. T his oth er couple called the Oregon D epart ment o f Human Services, alleg ing that Davis ar.d H odges car ried on a dangerously abusive relationship. Given H odges’ criminal record and D avis' abusive ex-husband, the tip caused DHS to closely m onitor the progress o f D avis' pregn an cy . W hen A lex an d ria H odges w as born Dec. 28 at Legacy Emanuel Hospital, DHS took immediate custody, citing “reasonable cause for threat o f harm ." The couple barely had time to pose for a photo-op with their daughter before the infant was w hisked away to foster care with the presence o f armed security personnel. Hodges says, "There must be a better way, because when DHS gets a report, they do n ’t even give the family a chance to dem onstrate their ability to parent." The case caught the attention o f East-County N A A CP coordi nator Ruth Pitts-London, who is also A lexandria’s godmother. “ I certainly support DHS con ducting investigations when there have been allegations o f abuse or neglect," she says, "but they need to notify the parties involved on the front end, and be trying to keep fam ilies intact rather than im m e d ia te ly b re a k in g th em apart." Pitts-London sees the dispute as an exam ple o f "the criminal- justice and social-service sys tems w orking together to sup port racism .” The couple must attend six w e e k ly c la s s e s g e a re d to parenting skills, drug abuse pre- Il!‘'^Jnrtlanb Gfrbseruer Established 1970 USPS 959-680 ____________________________________ photoby R aymond R eniii eman /T he P ortland O bserver Nathaniel H odges and Claudia Davis hold photographs that picture th e m se lv e s and their newborn baby ju s t before it was ta ken by Oregon D epartm ent o f H um an Services personnel vention and identifying dom estic violence. In the m eantim e, the N A A CP has helped secure the couple an April 18 hearing with a M ultnomah County judge who will determ ine w hether the child should be returned. DHS has allow ed D avis and H odges 90-m inute visits with their ch ild every T uesday, but Send address changes to Portland Observer, P 0 B o x 31 37 , Portland. OR 9 7 2 0 8 4 7 4 7 NE Martin Luther King. Jr. Blvd., Portland. OR 97211 Charles H. Washington E ditor M ichael Leighton D istriri tion M anager : Mark W ashington C reative D irector : Paul N eufeldt O ffice M anager : Kathy Linder R eporter : Sarah Blount R eporter : Nicole Roñal Hooper E ditor -I n -C hief , P i hi . isiter : Subscriptions are $60.00 per year 5O3-288-OO33 FAX 503-288-0015 news's parilundubscrvcr.coin subscriptions@portlandobserYer.com ads <sportluntlobsiTYer.com Are you the mother of a child with ADHD? elussitieds'eportlandohsener.eom The Ponland Observer welcomes freelance submissions Manuseripls and photographs should be clearly labeled and w ill be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope A ll created design display ads become the sole property o f the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent o f the general manager, unless ihe client has purchased the composition o f such ad. © 199b THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. A L L RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN W HOLE OR IN PART W ITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED Ihe Portland Observer--Oregon's Oldest Multicultural Publication—is a member o f the National Newspaper Association I 'nunded in IXK5. and the National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc. New York. NY. and The West Coast Black Publishers Association. Serving Portland and Vancouver. THE OHSU is currently enrolling families in PACT, a research study geared toward learning the best ways to support families who are living with ADHD. Who is eligible to participate? SPINA,COLUMN Dr Billy R. Flowers la st w eek th e fo s te r p a re n t called DHS asserting that A lex an d ria w as sick, and the visit w as cancelled. Horrified, the couple went to D H S' caseload supervisor Don Lehman, who said "the biggest problem for us as an agency is the one to tw o hours a week of visitation: we d o n 't really have the funds for any o f this." He couldn't give them any more in formation about A lexandria's sta tus. Davis said. "Y ou're not giving us any time to bond with our baby." L ehm an's response: "U nfor tunately. w e're going to err on the child's safety; it’s a crazy system, but you've just got to bear with us." An ongoing series of questions and answers about Americas natural healing profession • Families w ith at least one child (age 4-21) w ith a diagnosis o f ADHD • Families w h o live in the Portland m etropolitan area If you are eligible, you will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: 1. A h o m e -b a s e d a p p ro a c h a nurse visits your hom e at regular intervals to provide services and support that are unique to you and Part 1. CHIROPRACTIC: For the best in natural healing, hearing is believing. 0 « How did your family. A n in fo r m a tio n - b a s e d a p p ro a c h where families will be provit: literature about ADHD. patient's pain and reposition the the spinal colum n is in correct vertebra, Dr. Palmer placed h im o i l a alignment, Chiropractors elim inate table and pushed dow n o n Ills back, any possible interference, w h ich card every six months for 18 months for participating in the study, no perform ing a spinal m a n ip u la tio n o r would prevent the central nervous matter to which group they are assigned. Additional family members will “adjustm ent." H e perform ed this system from keeping th e body receive $10 gift cards each time they complete a short survey. Ix>en[jracti('(xlfort)vpr2.50() years. H ip p rx rates, the "Father of adjustm ent threedaysinarow . B ythe fu ix t it m ingt Ix'w ay nat tire, it Het xlcd. th ird day. not o n ly bad the patient's T o fin d out b o w C h iro p ra c tic M edicine," advised: "lo o k w ell to Ifack ,)ain disappeared, bis bearing reappeared. Today's Chiropractors m ig h t be able to h e lp y ou o r fo r * * * Chiropractic care come about? A • Spinal inanipulat ions I tave the spine for the cause o f disease." But m odem C h iro p ra ctic came o f atiswers to any qu estio ns you m ig h t have a lx iu t your h e a lth , age back in 1895. In D avenport. k ix iw tiia t tlx-cen tra l nervous system (housedwitWnthebody'sspinal column) Iowa, a |>atient came to Dr. D.D. provklestlie energy, w h ich governs all ph on e nu m b e r sho w n below . Palmer com p la ining o f back pain. tx x lily functions. By m aking sure that There is no cost for participating in the study. Mothers will receive a $50 gift For more information, please call 503 418-3603 or email pact@ohsu.edu OREGON please feel free to ca ll us at th e T h is patient had also been t,early deafslncesufferinga back in ju ry 17 years earlier. Dr. Palm er noticed a ifiim p on the patient s back, w h ich he suspected was related to a dislocated vertebra. T o relieve the Flowers' Chiropractic Office 2027 Lloyd Center Mall, Portland Oregon 97232 Phone: (5 0 3 ) 2 8 7 -5 5 0 4 OHSU is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution. elRB# 2071 yy HEALTH L S J &SCIENCE UNIVERSITY