Page 3
December 30, 2009
IN S ID E
Police Critic Runs for Council
pages 3 and 5
L ocal N ews
Mental health advocate on a crusade
N ational N ews page 4
Year™ Re view
Jason Renaud, the co-founder
o f the Mental Health Association
o f Portland, has been outspoken
critic o f the city’s handling o f the
2006 death o f Jam es Chasse, a
schizophrenic man who died after
a confrontation with police.
Renaud is now taking his crusade
further by running for the City Coun­
cil against Police Commissioner Dan Jason Renaud
Saltzman. He is trying to secure
public financing before a Jan. 29 deadline.
Renaud spoke to the Portland Observer. His
remarks have been edited for brevity and clarity:
Portland Observer: At what point did you
say, 'I'm going to run for this office?'
Jason Renaud: I was the co-founder o f the
Mental Health Association, and we had been
patiently waiting for the police to finish their
internal investigation o f the Jam es Chase case,
and three years had gone by. We went to City
Hall and asked, ‘W here is the investigation?’ We
got an immediate negative response from the
police and from the police commissioner.
PO: W hen you say you got a negative re­
sponse what do you mean?
P.g«*-.2 1
JR: We called a press confer­
ence and said, ‘Listen we really
n eed this in v estig atio n n o w .’
People may be in danger we don't
know w hat the status o f these
officers are. The public deserves
a public answer and not some sort
o f confidential m em o to the HR
departm ent. Police C hief Rosie
Sizer im mediately came out and
said she would not release it. She
had not finished the internal investigation. A
week later when she finished the internal inves­
tigation she sent out a press release saying here
it is.
JR: There was no internal investigation at­
tached to the press release. We still don't know
what happened in the internal investigation, other
than they fact that they then had a fight about
discipline for the token discipline for these two
officers. A man lay dead on the street com er and
they're arguing about whether the sergeant should
have made a transport decision for a human
being. It sort o f m issed the point. It missed the
c o n tin u e d
on p a g e 5
Free Rides on New Year’s Eve
O pinion
pages 14-15
All rides on T riM et’s MAX
and buses will be free beginning
at X p.m. on New Y ear’s Eve,
Thursday, Dec. 31.
TriMet will provide extra ser-
For com plete TriM et sched­
vice on MAX Blue, Green and
ules
and trip planning, visit
Yellow lines, which will run more
often and later into the evening for trim et.org or call 5O3-23X-RIDE
late-night revelers. Buses will run (7433) weekdays between 7:30
a.m. and 5:30 p.m.
on regular weekday schedules.
Portland Observer’s New Look
N i l IUSHIM
Beatles
Tribute Band
page 16
Queen of
Hip-Hop
Soul
T. Rex at OMSI
page 17
We also expect the new look
Editor’s Note: The Portland
Observer enters the New Ycar to save money on printing and
create less dem and on a vital
with a new look.
We have adopted a m aga­ natural resource. In addition, the
zine-style format to keep the Portland Observer is now better
Portland O bserver cutting- positioned for im proving our
c o v e ra g e
on
edge and sophisticated in a In te rn e t
changing world. G one are the P o r t l a n d O b s c r v e r . c o m .
c u m b e r s o m e fo ld s a n d T w itter.co m /P D X O b s e r v e r ,
m ega-size broadsheet pages and the Portland O bserver on
that can frustrate readers in Facebook.
Please be assured that our
sm aller q u arte rs, on m ass
news
coverage and award-win-
tra n sit, and at the coffee
ningjoum
alism will not change.
shop.
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