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Page A2
luly 22. 2009
Police Respond to Multiple Shootings
In the latest incidents, police
said a man was shot in the foot
outside the Parkside Com m ons
A partm ent in the 8700 block of
North Colum bia Boulevard and
a woman inside suffered m inor
injuries when a stray bullet shat­
tered glass.
A descrip tio n o f a vehicle
that fled from the apartm ent led
to the arrest of M atthew A nto­
nio Cage, 19. He was taken into
custody near North Ainsw orth
Apartment
gunfire leads
to arrest
G unfire rung out inside the
L e n ts F re d M e y e r sto re o f
so u th e a st P o rtla n d and at a
north Portland apartm ent com ­
plex Monday night, marking the
fo u rth stra ig h t d ay o f lo cal
shootings.
Matthew Antonio Cage
an d V an co u v er A venue an d
charged with attem pted murder,
a s s a u lt, u n la w fu l u se o f a
w eapon and co cain e p o sse s­
sion.
At the Fred M eyer store near
Southeast 82nd and Foster, bul­
lets started to fly around 10:40
p.m . M o n d ay d u rin g an a t­
tem pted robbery.
Police said one o f tw o teen­
age su sp ects w as stru g g lin g
with security guards w ho cam e
to assist a store cashier and the
other suspect pulled a gun and
began shooting.
Police searched the area af­
ter the shooting but did not lo­
cate any suspects. But on T ues­
day, a 17-year-old male was ar­
rested for firing the shots, while
the second suspect was still on
the run.
At
le a s t
th re e
o th e r
shootings have frazzled local
residents in recent days.
Police said on Friday, a man
was shot after a fight broke out
at a dance party on Northeast
M artin Luther King Jr. Boule­
vard. On Saturday night, a per­
son w as shot in the leg near
N o rth east 4 2 n d and A lberta,
and on Sunday a m an took him ­
self to the hospital after he was
s h o t o n N o rth F e s s e n d e n
Street. Police said by the tim e
they arrived on the scene, ev ­
eryone had scattered.
Football Camp Open to All
Grant High School is hosting
its 5th annual football cam p to
support young people on and
o ff the field.
The focus is on improvement
in the fundamentals o f the game
through both group and team
drills, while stressing the impor­
tance o f team concept, attitude
and work ethic.
The cam p will also stress the
skills needed o f each player’s
position, giving him an excel­
lent base on which to build his
potential for the upcom ing sea­
son. Participation is open to all,
regardless o f their high school
or youth football affiliation, and
is geared tow ard grades three
through 12.
The camp runs from Monday,
July 27 through July 31, from
1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day.
The cost is $25 for athletes on
free o f reduced lunch with Port­
land Public Schools, and $50 for
all others. Athletes can register
30 m inutes prior to the camp.
P re re g istra tio n is e n c o u r­
aged, and can be done by get­
ting in touch with Diallo Lewis
at: 503-916-5160, extension 439
or dlw eis@ pps.kl2.or.us.
Woody Broadnax o f Portland (right) meets Sen. Roland Burris, D-lll., during a visit to
Washington, D.C.
Witness to Historic Events
photo by
T his y ear's Ju n e tee n th , an an n iv ersary
observing the end o f slavery in the U .S., was
a particularly m em orable one.
With an African A m erican as the country's
p resid e n t, the S en ate p assed reso lu tio n s
apologizing for slavery and recognizing the
June 19 holiday.
A local m an, W oody "Mr. Juneteenth"
Broadnax, was in the nation's capital for the
Juneteenth recognition.
He was ushered into the R aybum B uild­
ing, w here he met with m em bers o f the C on­
gressional Black Caucus, and other members
o f Congress, including the Senate's sole Af-
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Coach Diallo Lewis leads a workout with Kenny Acker at the bench press.
Healing Old Wounds
continued ^ ^ f r o m Front
o f the city's m ost recent efforts
to improve the relationship be­
tween the com m unity and the
police. For years, the city has
formed a number of similar com ­
mittees com posed o f police and
citizens. The issue o f racial pro­
filing has often taken center
stage.
Earlier this year the Portland
Police Bureau released a plan
to address racial profiling. It
acknow ledged that the problem
of using race as a basis for crimi­
nal suspicion is real, and rec­
o m m e n d ed d iv e rsify in g the
ranks o f the police and having
officers meet with com munities
traditionally distrustful o f law
enforcement.
T he plan was the result o f
w ork by the R acial P rofiling
Com m ittee, a disbanded group
that was form ed by then-M ayor
Tom Potter, which found itself
split o v er p ossible sanctions
when racial profiling undermine
basic hum an rights and free­
doms.
Some mem bers of the former
com m ittee, like O regon Action
Executive Director Jo Ann Bow­
man, faulted police for lacking
a m echanism to find out which
officers racially profile and hold
them accountable.
Dan Handelm an o f Portland
Copw atch, was on the old Ra­
cial Profiling Com m ittee, and
raised the accountability issue
with m em bers o f new panel.
"We see a lot o f th in g s that
1 *
rican American and holder of Barack Obama's
old seat. Sen. Roland Burris, D -lll.
“The purpose o f the observance is much
more than a national holiday,” said Broadnax,
w ho explained that having the Senate par­
tially recognize the hard sh ip s o f A frican
A m ericans has great potential to help better
educate the public, w hich will translate into
better schools and jo b s for all.
H ow ever, Broadnax said he w as disap­
pointed by part o f the resolution that explic­
itly stated that it w ould not provide any sort
o f im petus for A frican A m ericans receiving
reparations for slavery.
look like m isco n d u ct, and we
d o n 't see a lot o f h o ld in g o f­
ficers ac co u n tab le for it," he
said. "I th in k th at's w here you
get the m istrust from the co m ­
munity."
H andelm an also pointed out
that a new report on police use
o f force issued by the city au­
ditor revealed that 29 percent
o f all people w hom the police
u sed fo rc e on w ere A frican
A m erican, and that 34 percent
o f reports where a firearm was
pointed at som eone involved
African Americans.
"I was really glad Dan raised
those issues," said A rw en Bird,
a m em ber o f the new com m it­
tee, after the group’s July m eet­
ing. "Accountability is critical."
H ow ever, A ssistan t P olice
C h ief Brian M artinek doesn't
w ant to focus too much on "the
sins o f the past."
"If that's w hat w e're going to
do, w e're going to get stuck,"
M artinek said after the meeting.
*’*
NEW S E A S O N S
M A R K E T
N O W D E L IV E R IN G
Y o u r fa v o r ite 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 .
T
. President Barack Obama attends a roundtable discussion
with health care providers. (AP photo)
Obama Pushes Back on
Health Care Overhaul
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)
I
(A P ) — P re sid e n t B arack
O b a m a p u s h e d b a c k h ard
against Republican critics o f his
health care overhaul plan M on­
day, dism issing the “politics of
the m om ent" marked by G O P
com parisons o f his efforts to
socialism.
S tru g g lin g to re v a m p the
nation’s $2.4 trillion health care
sy ste m , th e p re s id e n t g av e
ground on his tight timetable for
passage of sweeping legislation.
O bam a's strong w ords came
ju s t h ours after R ep u b lican s
ratcheted up their criticism of
th e p re s id e n t an d c o n g r e s ­
sio n a l D e m o c ra ts. M ic h ae l
Steele, chairm an o f the R epub­
lican Party, likened O bam a's
plans to socialism and argued
th a t th e p r e s id e n t. H o u se
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and key
congressional com m ittee chair­
men are part o f a “cabal” that
w ants to im p lem en t g o v ern ­
ment-run health care.
The W hite House also faced
troubling news in the latest poll­
ing, with approval o f Obama's
h an dling o f h ealth care slip­
ping.
“We can't afford the politics
o f d elay and d efeat w hen it
com es to health care," Obama
said.
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