Page A5
July 22. 2009
L aw & J ustice
Portland’s Homeless Ordinance Ruled Unconstitutional
(A P )- T he tension has re
turned to Portland sidewalks.
A ju d g e r e c e n tly to s s e d
Portland’s sidewalk obstruction
ordinance, leaving police w ith
out the tool th e y ’ve used to
p rev e n t the c ity ’s h o m e less
people from sitting or lying on
do w ntow n sid ew alk s during
the day.
T he d ec isio n ren ew ed the
conflict between dow ntow n re
tailers and those who contend
hom eless people have an equal
right to the streets.
C ity c o m m is s io n e r s a p
proved the so-called “sit-lie”
ordinance tw o years ago, but
M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty Ju d g e
Stephen Bushong ruled that the
o rd in an ce co n flicts w ith the
state’s disorderly conduct law.
T h e s ta te law p r o h ib its
blocking a sidew alk with the
intent to cause inconvenience.
The city law didn’t require
intent, so it was m uch easier to
enforce.
Kit Taylor reclines on a
Portland sidewalk down
town. Up until last week,
doing this could have gotten
him a police citation.
J ake T homas /
T he P ortland O bserver
Greater St. Stephen Missionary Baptist Church
3605 N.E. Mallory
Pastor Kimberly K. Black and the GSS church fam ily cordially invite
the City o f Roses to come and worship with us as we celebrate our
25th Church Anniversary • August 14-16,2009
Special G uest, Friday at 7:00 pm
Dr. Robert E. H ouston Sr. - Frankfort, KY
Banquet Celebration, Saturday at 6:00 pm
At the Em bassy Suites Portland A irport -
7900 NE 82nd Avenue
Bishop A lexis Thom as - Phoenix, AZ
(See banquet ticket information below)
Late Night M usical 10:00 pm at the
Em bassy Suites featuring Portland’s Finest
G ospel A rtist W ilder W ard Jrs., G od in
Charge, G race & M ercy, New Testam ent
COG1C, St. Paul M BC and from Seattle WA,
Silent Praise M inistries
Musical Guest: Lady Tramaine Hawkins
Sunday at 3:30 pm; Dr. A. Bernard Devers, 1 - San A ntonio, TX
Banquet tickets $60
T icket Locations: C hristopher’sG ourm ent G rill, E arl's B arberShop, Elem ents o f Artistry,
G eneva’s Shear Perfection, M eR ae’s, O ne Stop Records and Tondalayera D esigner Salon.
F or m ore inform ation call 503-281 -5200 or visit
w w w .g re aterstste p h en m issio n a ry b a p tistch u rch .co m
Kroger Secures Settlement
Rack up another victory for
Oregon Attorney General John
Kroger.
Last week Kroger announced
a m ulti-state settlem ent w ith
DISH Network, LLC, a satellite
TV provider that has generated
hundreds o f com plaints from
Oregon consumers.
The settlem ent resolves alle
gations from several states that
Dish was involved in a num ber
o f sh a d y a c tiv itie s th a t in
cluded: making telem arketing
calls in violation o f do-not-call
rules, failure to tell custom ers
the full terms and conditions of Oregon Attorney General
agreem ents, telling consum ers John Kroger •
m isleading inform ation about
com petitors products, charging
c u s to m e rs ’ d eb it and c re d it
cards w ithout appropriate au
thorization, and others.
“T elecom m unications co m
panies ranked num ber one on
the Department of Justice’s Top
10 Consumer Complaints 2008,”
said Kroger. “For that reason,
we have made telecom m unica
tio n s ab u ses one o f o u r top
consum er protection priorities.”
Dish will pay out a total of
$5.99 m illion in the 46-state
settlement. Oregon will receive
$l25,(XX)of that.
Immigrant Deportations Up
(A P)- Federal officials say
deportations from Washington,
Oregon and A laska are up by
nearly 10 percent from a year
ago.
U.S. Im m igration and C us
tom s Enforcement also said that
deportations o f illegal im m i
grants with criminal records has
spiked by 50 percent.
For the first nine m onths of
the federal fiscal year - O cto
ber through June - more than
8,(XX) deportations originated
from the P acific N o rth w est.
That com pares to 7,345 in the
sam e period last year. T here
have been bigger increases in
previous years - for example,
d ep o rta tio n s b etw een fiscal
years 2007 and 2008 increased
by 40 percent.
Illegal immigrants with crimi
nal records now make up the
largest share of the region's to
tal deportations, at 60 percent.
Watch out for Car Scams
T h e B e tte r B u s in e ss B u c a r m e ets a set o f r e q u ir e
reau is w arning con su m ers o f m e n ts a d e a le r is g iv e n a
a scam being p erp etrated by $ 3 ,5 0 0 to $ 4 ,5 0 0 c re d it to
h u ck sters looking to m ake a w ards the p urchase o f a new
vehicle, offsetting the cost for
buck o ff y o u r old car.
C on a rtists a re ru n n in g a the consum er.
F rau d sters are using sim i
scam that involves a new g o v
ern m en t p ro g ram ca lle d the lar nam es to hook con su m ers
C ar A llo w an ce R eb ate S y s in to id e n tity th e ft sch em es.
tem . T he program is intended C o n su m ers are asked for p er
to help people trade in their sonal in fo rm atio n , like social
old gas g u zzler for som ething secu rity n um bers, in o rd er to
m ore fuel efficient. If an older g et a v o u ch e r o r have th eir
nam e added to an app licatio n
list that d o esn ’t exist.
A ca r d ea lersh ip reg isters
w ith p ro g ram , n ot the c o n
sumer.
To get accurate information,
or to find out if your vehicle
applies, visit www.cars.gov, or
call 866-227-7891.
The BBB recom m ends that
consum ers avoid anyone who
offers a money order, check or
direct deposit to get the rebate.
Leader Tackles Disparities
Irvington Covenant Church
4046 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. corner of NE Shaver and MLK
Infant and Toddler care will be provided • DOORS OPEN AT 6PM •
For directions or more information, call
5 0 3 - 4 8 8 - 5 4 8 1 or log on to w w w .m fhm portland.com
M ichael M. W are, a local
leader with decades o f experi
ence w orking with m inorities
groups in adult and ju v en ile
justice system s, has been se
lected to ch air a special task
fo rc e c r e a te d by G ov. T ed
K u lo n g o sk i to ad d re ss why
Native A m erican and African
American children are over -
represented in O regon's foster
care system.
The task force is made up al
most entirely o f members repre
senting m inority populations,
includes state legislators, tribal
leaders, law enforcement officials
and child advocacy experts.
Michael M. Ware
Ware has directed community
and family programs at Self En
hancement, Inc. for the past five
years.
T he g o v e rn o r's task force
faces the daunting challenge of
reducing the numbers o f minor
ity children in foster care. To
day. African American children
make up 2.3 percent of O regon's
child population, but they ac
c o u n t fo r 7 .3 p e rc e n t o f
O re g o n 's foster care p o p u la
tion. Native A merican children
m ake up 1.3 percent o f state’s
population, but they account
for 10 percent o f the children in
state foster care.
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