Page A5
August 19, 2009
L aw & J ustice _____________
Change Agents Earn Highest Honors
actor Sidney Poitier and 14 other
"agents of change" at an Aug.
12 cerem o n y at the W hite
House.
The award is the nation's top
civilian honor.
Rivera, who originated the
P resid en t B arack O bam a
awarded the Presidential Medal role of A nita in "West Side
of Honor to Tony Award-win­ Story," won the Tony Award for
ning a c tre ss-sin g e r-d a n c e r best actress in a musical for
Chita Rivera, Oscar-winning 1993's "K iss o f the S pider
President
awards medals
of freedom
Actor Sidney Poitier is saluted as an agent o f change as
President Obama presents him the nation's highest
civilian honor.
Joe Medicine Crow, 95, the last living Plains Indian war
chief, receives the Presidential Medal of Honor.
Actress, singer and dancer Chita Rivera becomes the first
Latina to receive the Medal o f Freedom.
Poitier, 82, received an Acad­
Woman" and 1984's "The Rink."
emy
Award in 1962 for leading
The 76-year-old actress last
appeared on Broadway in 2005 actor for his portrayal of a
in her autobiographical show form er GI in "Lillies o f the
"Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Field," the first African Ameri­
can man to receive an Oscar. He
Life."
"Dolores Conchita Figueroa was nom in ated fo r a Tony
del Rivero knows that adversity Award for his role as Walter Lee
comes with a difficult name," Younger in the 1960 Broadway
Obama said of the actress, the production of "A Raisin in the
first Latina to receive the Medal Sun." Poitier, the White House
of Freedom. She was honored said, "left an indelible mark on
for "breaking barriers and in­ American culture" and "would
spiring a generation of women advance the nation's dialogue
on race and respect."
to follow in her footsteps."
Also honored were Nancy
Goodman Brinker, founder of
the Susan G. Komen for the
Cure; Pedro Jose G reer Jr.,
founder of Camillus Health Con­
cern and St. John Bosco Clinic
in Florida; physicist and math­
ematician Stephen Hawking;
Jack Kemp, the 1996 Republi­
can vice presidential nominee,
who died this year at age 73;
D em o cratic Sen. E dw ard
K ennedy o f M assachusetts;
tennis star Billie Jean King, 65;
civil rights leader Rev. Joseph
Repairing a Shattered Image
Film looks at
gendered form
of violence
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
In a country with limited op­
portunity for women. Tat M a­
rina was a rising star.
Beautiful and talented, she
w as g a in in g an in c re a sin g
a m o u n t o f a tte n tio n in
C a m b o d ia ’s karaoke scene.
She e v e n tu a lly c a u g h t the
eye of a powerful government
official, Svay Sitha, who ob­
sessed o v er her, and p a m ­
pered her with luxuries that
Tat M arina once thought she
could only dream of.
However, she also drew the
ire o f the Svay's w ife, who
sp la sh e d acid on h e r face Chour Sreya, a survivor of an acid attack, prepares for her
while feeding her niece fish wedding in “Finding Face, ’ a documentary about human
porridge. The savage attack rights that will make its Portland premier Sunday, Aug. 23
left Tat M arina disfigured and at the Portland Art Museum.
her life in shambles.
"Finding Face", a docum en­ stru g g le to e sta b lish som e hideously disfigured by je a l­
ta ry p ro d u c e d by S k y e semblance of norm alcy after ous men who splash acid in
Fitzgerald and Patti Duncan, having her life violently un­ their faces. The men who per­
petuate these violent assaults
is as m uch about the unac­ settled.
Sadly, there is nothing un­ are seldom held to account,
countable pow er and the sec­
o n d -c la ss c itiz e n sta tu s o f common about the sort o f a t­ and their victims rarely speak
women in Cam bodia as it is tack Tat suffered in C am bo­ out.
T h e a tta c k e f f e c tiv e ly
about Tat M arina's 10-year dia, where women are often
Mother Poisoned Infant Daughter
ended Tat M arina's karaoke
career, forcing her to hide the
scars on her face with a piece
of cloth w henever in public.
She was pressured by Svay
Sitha to remain quiet, but con­
tinued to speak out. She even­
tually fled to the United States
to live with her brother. There,
she got asylum and received
reco n structive surgery, and
gave birth to a child.
However, in Cambodia acid
a tta c k s c o n tin u e a g a in s t
women with impunity. Svay
Sitha even received a prom o­
tion, despite his involvem ent
being well known.
" F in d in g F a c e " , is an
impactful and w ell-told story
o f one w om an's courage to
confront an injustice that is
far-removed from many of its
viewers, but is still very real
for its victims.
The docum entary recently
premiered at the International
Film Festival and Forum on
Human rights in Geneva and
will make it's Portland debut
on Sunday, Aug. 23 at 7 p.m.
at the Portland Art M useum's
W hitsell A uditorium , 1219
S.W. Park Ave.
Tat M arina will be in atten­
dance and answ er questions
after the screening.
Lowery, 87; Joe Medicine Crow,
95, the last living Plains Indian
war chief; Harvey Milk, slain
gay activist and San Francisco
supervisor; former Supreme
C ourt Ju stic e S an d ra Day
O'Connor, 79; Mary Robinson,
65, the first female president of
Ireland; geneticist and cancer
re se a rc h e r Ja n e t D av iso n
R ow ley; S outh A frican
archibishop Desmond Tutu, 78;
and B angladeshi econom ist
and Nobel Peace Prize-winner
Muhammad Yunus, 69.
Phony Debt Collectors
Work Phone Scam
people may have had their
personal information compro­
mised.
“Given the scammers' tac­
tics, it appears that those who
have previously used payday
The Better Business Bu­ loan services could be par­
reau is issuing an alert about ticularly at risk," he said.
According to reports re­
phony debt collectors that are
calling consumers nationwide ceived by BBB and posted
and claiming that they have online, the scam m ers ac­
defaulted on a payday loan cuse the victim of default­
and will be arrested if they ing on a payday loan and
claim they are being sued.
don’t pay immediately.
Claiming to be lawyers, the The phony debt co llector
scammers say they are with threatens that, if the victim
the “Financial Accountability d o e s n ’t pay as m uch as
Association" or the “Federal $ 1,000 immediately via wire
L eg islatio n o f U nsecured or by providing bank a c ­
Loans” and are equipped with count or credit card num ­
a disconcerting am ount of bers, he or she will be ar­
personal information about rested and extradited to Cali­
fornia w ithin the hour to
their potential victims.
“Because the scam m ers stand trial.
The scammers often have
have so much inform ation
the
victim ’s Social Security,
a b o u t p o te n tia l v ic tim s,
old
bank account numbers
BBB is concerned that this
or
driver's
license numbers
may be the result o f a data
as
well
as
home
addresses,
breach,” said Robert W.G.
Andrew of the BBB serving em ployer inform ation and
Alaska, Oregon and W est­ even the names of personal
friends and professional ref­
ern W ashington.
Andrew said thousands of erences.
Victims may
have had
payday loans
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO!
jfificheck.com
Dillard-Lubin told the hospi­
A 25-year-old mother was ar­
tal that she was on a painkiller
rested and charged with poi­
and the opiates must have come
soning her infant daughter with
through her breast milk. When
morphine, according to Wash­
she brought in a sample for
ington County authorities.
them to test, they found high
Sheriffs Sgt. David Thomp­
levels of morphine, indicating
son said Thursday that Sara
the drug had been added to the
Rose Dillard-Lubin was already
milk after pumping.
on probation for sickening her
The hospital alerted the state
son in a similar way in Califor­ Sara Dillard-Lubin
Department of Human Services,
nia. The new case began when
Dillard-Lubin brought the girl ing, a nurse found the child Child Protective Services and
to St. Vincent's Hospital, claim­ barely breathing. The baby sur­ county investigators.
The infant was taken from
vived, but her condition puzzled
ing she had a high fever.
Doctors admitted the infant doctors until toxicology tests Dillard-Lubin and placed in state
for observation. The next mom- came back positive for opiates. custody.
Charged Police Officer Resigns
A Portland police officer ac­
cused of making sexually ha­
ra ssin g tele p h o n e c a lls to
women and teenage girls has
resigned from his job.
Officer Joseph Wild has been
jailed awaiting trial on multiple
official misconduct and tele­
phone harassment charges. Fac­
ing the police chiefs recommen­
I
dation that he be terminated, the
28-year-old Wild resigned Aug.
3 when he was taken from jail to
attend a hearing with Police
Commissioner Dan Saltzman at
the Portland Police Bureau.
Saltzman had joined Chief
Rosie Sizer in recommending
Wild's termination after an in­
ternal affairs inquiry.
The four-year Portland police
veteran is charged with multiple
misdemeanor counts. Accord­
ing to court documents, during
some calls he threatened to rape
the women or told them he
wanted to see them naked.
He has pleaded no, guilty to
the charges and his trial date
has been se, for Sept. 14.
All lanes and ramps on 1-405 northbound between the Marquam and Fremont
Bridges will be closed Friday, August 21,10 p.m. through Monday, August 24,
5 a.m. Motorists can use Interstate 5 to get to their destination during the
closure. Downtown businesses will be open during construction. Detours are in
place to help you get to your favorite destinations.^ _
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO!
Call 5 11 or go to TrlpCheck.com
^ O r e g o n O«partfnwi> o f T>» n «p o rt*H «i