October 1 2007______________________________________
®‘" $ o rlla tx h © b s e r u e r _______________________________ ''a8eA]
Portland School Superintendent Hired; Introduced
District insider
ran community
alternative school
T he P ortland S chool B oard in ­
troduced C aro le S m ith M onday
as its next su p erin ten d en t re p la c ­
ing V icki P hillips, w ho q u it the
top post to take a jo b w ith the Bill
and M elinda G ates F o u ndation.
B oard m em bers p raised Sm ith
for her passion and co m m itm en t
to p ublic educatio n .
Carole Smith
Health Coalition
Funds Dry Up
from Front
and the “Spice It U p” classes,
where A frican A m ericans learn to
cook
h e a lth fu l
foods on a budget.
Such program s
have help ed m ore j
th an halve the dis-1
p a r ity b e tw e e n
w h ite s ’
and
b la c k s’ d eath rate
from heart disease
b etw e en 1990-94
and 2 0 0 0 -0 4 , a c ­
co rd in g to L illian
S hirley, d irecto r o f j
Corliss McKeever
th e M u ltn o m a h j
nity norm ,” accord­
in g
to
C o r lis s
M c K e e v e r,
th e
coalition’s president
and chief executive
officer, who said that
they “really engaged
people w ho w ould
not have been en ­
g ag ed .”
N ow the c o a li­
tion is scram bling
to
f in d
o th e r
so urces o f revenue
to bu ild on its success in g etting
th ousands o f peo p le to p a rtic i­
pate in its program s.
O ne g reat hope fo r altern ate
g rants lies in the M eyer M em orial
T ru st funding to help hire a d e­
velopm ent d irec to r, acco rd in g to
John B arnett, coalition operations
m anager.
A lthough exercise-class fund­
ing has disappeared, other offer­
ings will remain. They include a
diabetes-support class, “L ookin’
Tight, Livin’ Right," in which beau­
ticians and barbers train to pass on
health inform ation to their clients.
C ounty H ealth D epartm ent.
T he co a litio n also h o p es to
restore funding fo r its ex ercise
program s by ad ding to the fin an ­
cial success o f this su m m e r’s
W e lln ess W ith in R each w alk
with a H ealth D isparities C o n fer­
ence on F riday, O ct. 19.
The follow ing day, som e o f the I
same experts gathered in the co n ­
ference will offer their services to
the com m unity during the AA HC
W ellness Village, a free event with
more than 40 health screeners and
exhibitors at the Blazers Boys &
Girls Club.
Free Health Care
at Wellness Village
T he I2 th -an n u al W ellness
V illage w ill take place S a tu r­
day, O ct. 20, from 10 a.m . to 3
p.m . at T he B lazers B oys &
G irls C lub. 5 2 5 0 N .E. M artin
L u th er K ing Jr. Blvd.
M o re th a n 4 0 h e a lth
sc reen ers and ex h ib ito rs w ill
provide se rv ic es to the co m ­
m unity, free o f charge. T he
ev en t is spon so red by the lo­
S chool in B eaverton. She earned
a B ach elo r o f A rts deg ree in u r­
ban stu d ies from O b erlin C ollege
in O hio and co m p leted her g rad u ­
ate w ork in ed u catio n at H arvard
U n iv ersity , w o rking in teaching
an d a d m in is tr a tiv e p ro g ra m s
serving B oston area schools.
In h er first 100 days as su p e r­
in ten d en t, S m ith said she will
reach out to d istric t em p lo y ees,
the sch o o ls and the co m m u n ity
so that peo p le have an o p p o rtu ­
nity to share th eir id eas about
w h a t’s im p o rtan t at th is tim e.
■■MMHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHeMHMm^.n.'?
■M M M
continued
“C aro le is the right leader at n ew s u p e r in te n d e n t th a t i n ­ catio n serv in g both stru g g lin g
the right tim e. S h e ’s a d ecisiv e clu d ed m ore than tw o m onths o f and g ifted stu d en ts who h a v e n ’t
lead er and this is a natural next co m m u n ity m eetin g s to g ath er th riv ed in trad itio n al settings.
step for h er,” said board co -ch air input to d esig n the hirin g criteria.
Sm ith w as recruited to w ork for
D an Ryan.
S m ith b rin g s 30 y ears o f e x p e ­ P o rtland Public S chools in 2005,
B oard co -c h a ir D ilafru z W ill­ rience in ed u catio n . From 1982- in itially heading the O f flee o f Edu -
iam s added, “ I attended alm ost 2005, she w orked as ex e cu tiv e catio n al O p tio n s then assum ing
every co m m u n ity m eeting and d i r e c t o r o f O p e n M e a d o w interim leadership o f the O ffice o f
nearly all stak eh o ld ers said they S ch o o ls in P ortland, an ac c re d ­ S tu d en t, F am ily and School S u p ­
w ant a su p e rin ten d e n t w ho v al­ ited, nonprofit education program p o r t. S h e w a s p r o m o te d as
ues co m m u n ity p ro cess, u n d er­ for m iddle and h ig h -sch o o l stu ­ P h illip s’ c h ie f o f s ta ff last year.
stands P o rtland, and can m ove d e n ts.
A n o rth east P o rtlan d resid en t,
student ach iev em en t fo rw ard ."
U n d er her lead ersh ip , the o r­ S m ith m oved to P ortland w ith her
T he an n o u n cem en t m arks the g an izatio n grew to b ecom e a n a­ fam ily w hen she w as six and
en d o f a fo u r-m o n th search for a tional m odel for altern ativ e e d u ­ g r a d u a te d fro m S u n se t H ig h
cal A frican A m erican H ealth
C oalition.
S erv ices and ac tiv itie s w ill
in c lu d e c o o k in g d e m o n s tra ­
tio n s and ta stin g s, m a ssag e
therapy, c h ild ren 's activ ities,
flu shots, d ental, v isio n , h e a r­
ing, and d iab etes screen in g s;
and m uch m ore.
For m ore info rm atio n , v isit
a a h c -p o rtla n d .o rg .
Taser Guns Going to Oregon Prisons
Critics call them
torture devices
(A P ) - H ig h - te c h T a s e r s
equipped w ith digital cam eras are
b e in g d is t r ib u t e d to O re g o n
prison gu ard s to help co n tro l an
in m a te p o p u la tio n th a t h a s
reached about 13,500.
But inm ates and civil-rights a c­
tiv ists say they are co n cern ed
the T asers co u ld be used to p u n ­
ish inm ates, in clu d in g those p ris­
o n ers that are m en tally ill.
N early 100 co rrec tio n s o ffic ­
ers ac ro ss the state are b eing
train ed on how and w hen to use
the sh o ck -in d u cin g w eapons, in ­
tended to help p rev en t in ju ries to
both g u ard s and inm ates.
"The officers are able to quickly
subdue the (inm ate) versus w res­
tling with him for som e time." said
Paula A1 len. D epartment o f C orrec­
tions chief o f security.
U n d er p ro p o sed d ep a rtm en t
rules, approval fo rT aseru se would
H i
have to com e from a supervising
officer in charge, along with the
prison superintendent. Trained of­
ficers and com m anders will make
judgm ent calls on when to em ploy
the weapons. Allen said.
”1 can't give you a num ber for
how often were going to use it," she
said. "In our world, there are a lot of
different variables. There are prob­
ably 1,000 different scenarios you
could run through."
But more than 70 people, includ­
ing inm ates, civil-rights activists
and other concerned citizens, re­
cently filed written objections in
resp o n se to the p ro p o sed rule
changes that govern prison use of
Tasers and other shock devices.
"Prisons already have plenty of
means to control inmates, and this
is an unnecessary, deadly and ex ­
pensive w eapon," w rote Lauren
Regan, executive director o f the
Civil Liberties D efense C enter in
Eugene.
Taser shocks, if adm inistered to
mentally ill convicts, would amount
"W hen used properly, medical
to cruel and unusual punishm ent,
experts have concluded that Taser
Regan added.
"There are greater percentages technology is am ong the m ost ef­
o f mentally ill people in Oregon fective and safest use-of-force in­
prisons than ever before," she wrote. terventions available to law enforce­
"The use o f the T aser will not only ment and corrections officers to
be ineffective, but clearly results in halt violent situations that pose a
cruel and unusual punishm ent for safety risk to an inmate and the
those with dim inished capacities to officer," the prison ch ief wrote.
The new T aser replaces an ob­
respond appropriately."
solete
model that collected dust in
The
R ev .
S a ra h - A n d r e a
M orrigan o f the Church o f Divine recent years. In all, the prison sys­
Heart in Portland said Tasers are tem w i 11 purchase 20 to 30 T asers at
considered torture devices by some acost of $814.95 each, plus $399.95
countries, which have banned them. for the cam era system , for a total
"In spite o f Taser being billed in price tag o f $1,214.90.
this proposed rule change as a se­
T asers won't be carried by cor­
curity or control device, it is clear to rections officers who work with the
anyone that it is used as a m eans o f general prison population, where
corporal punishm ent, in a m anner inmates vastly outnum ber officers,
sim ilar to how the Republic o f officials said.
S ingapore m akes use o f rattan
"It's not som ething that will be
canes as a way o f judicial punish­ deployed on a correctional officer
ment for crim es," she wrote.
at work in a housing unit or a recre­
Corrections D irector Max W ill­ ation yard." Allen said. "It's going
iams. however, defended the new to be locked and secured in an
Tasers in a recent letter responding arsenal until the need arises for
to a critic.
one."
H M M H H tH M M H M M M M M M H M M M
Alliance Sponsors AIDS Awareness Message
My frie n d w ith
^.AIDS is s tilb
* my frie n d ||
Ä Q e i lested'-H
Sponsored by; African American AMance, AMna Ministerial AMance, Brother To Brother, Cascade AOS Protect, CoaAtton
ol Black Men, Lamar Advertising, Maranatha Church, Midtnomah County Health Department, Portland Alumnae Chapter ol
Delta Sigma Theta, he., The Portland Chapter ol The links, Inc., TrFMet and The Urban league ol Portland, Inc.
4 marketing campaign about
HIV/AIDS was plastered on
five bus stop benches last
week, sponsored by a local
coalition o f African-American
groups with the help o f
TriMet and Lamar Bench
advertising. The goals of the
campaign are to raise
awareness about HIV/AIDS,
reduce the stigma surround­
ing the disease and encour­
age testing so people know
their HIV status.
N O W D E L IV E R IN G
Y o u r fa v o rite n e ig h b o r h o o d g r o c e r y s to r e n o w d e liv e r s
g r o c e r ie s r ig h t to y o u r h o m e o r o ffic e .
i
photo by
M ark W ashington AT he P ortland O bserver
Creative Job Search
Longtime community volunteer and Radio Cab
driver David Yendell (right) gets some help in an
unusual job search by launching helium bal­
loons Saturday from the Jefferson High School
annex field. The balloons were attached with
Yandell's resume that said, “Frustrated PSU
Graduate Needs Job; has three degrees, is
talented, creative, innovative and passionate.”
For information, call Yendell at 503-380-8027.
w w w .n e w s e a s o n s m a r k e t.c o m
you click, we deliver, (or pull up for pick up)
/
J