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
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Are you the mother of
a child with ADHD?
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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
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