December 30, 2009
Page 5
ö'l’e IJortlanb (Obstruer
Police Critic Runs for Council
continued
from page J
opportunity to do the right thing.
PO: You expressed interest
in getting management o f the
Police Bureau if elected. Usu
ally this bureau has gone to the
mayor. What if the mayor took
it?
JR : Mayor Sam Adams de
cided last year that he was busy
with other things, and found the
person most willing and most
reasonable to dot that task in
Dan Saltzman. That has failed.
I’m interested in it because o f
my advocacy around the Chasse
event. I'm interested in it be
cause 1 think it's a very compli
cated problem to solve. And it's
a problem that no one on City
Council knows how to solve, but
1 do. The issue isn't really the
police union contract or rules or
rules or laws. The question re
ally is about post traumatic stress
disorder and how do we get
police officers who have a men
tal illness helpand support to and
get back to work.
PO: Are you saying that the
officers involved in the Chasse
incident have PTSD?
JR : Christopher Humphreys
[an officer involved in the inci
dent], coincident with the disci
pline Saltzman imposed, filed a
disability claim stating he had a
stress-related disorder, which is
labor parlance for an anxiety
disorder that we would call in the
psychiatric business a post-trau
Tax Measures go to Voters
More than 1.7 million Or
egon voters' pamphlets have
been delivered to post offices
for delivery this week.
The 92-page pamphlet con
tains a total of 204 arguments
for and against Measure 66 and
Measure 67.
Measure 66 raises the tax on
household income o f $250,000
or more and individual income
of$ 125,000.
Measure 67 uses a sliding
scale to raise the state's corpo
rate minimum tax.
The deadline for registering
to vote in the Jan. 26 special
election is Tuesday, Jan. 5.
Ballots start going in the mai 1
on Friday, Jan. 8.
Smart TV has Built-in PC
A local entrepreneur has a
new product to condense the
num ber o f electronic gadgets
consum ers have in their homes
and put Portland on the map.
Giorgio Johnson, chief ex
ecutive officer o f Nyxio Tech
nologies, is working on the
VioSphere, which he described
as a television with a built-in
PC.
It allows users to sim ulta
neously surf the Internet and
watch television on split screen,
with capabilities for wireless
connections, and a DVR drive.
All o f it can be operated on a
touch screen, m uch like an
iPhone.
“ It's one o f a kind,” said
Johnson, a native o f Portland
and graduate o f Benson High
School.
The V ioSphcre also lets
people plug into Skype, a web-
based application that works
like a phone and is popular
with people who want to talk
over long distances, but not
pay hefty phone fees.
For many fam ilies, the tele
vision is where they gather for
theirnightly entertainment. But
with the Internet, some family
m em b e rs s e q u e s te r th e m
selves in their individual rooms.
Johnson hopes that a devise
that offers so many features
will bring them back together.
Johnson said that he has
even b ig g er plans for the
VioSphere. He hopes to launch
an online video game network,
with titles that can t be found
anywhere else.
Currently, he is using Port
land as a test market.
“ Portland is a family city,
and it has a lot o f tech-savvy
individuals,” he said.
For more information, call
Johnson at 503-290-9690.
matic stress. This is a perma
nent injury that has no cure.
There are police officers all over
the nation receiving treatment,
including in the Portland Police
Bureau. We need to start talking
about how we can create a sup
port structure so that they can
talk about this openly. He had to
hide it for months. He had to call
it something that it's not. And
when he was asked to come
back from his first claim he ended
up shooting a 12-year-old girl
with a shotgun.
PO: When Saltzman reversed
himself on placing Humphreys
on paid-leave, did he do the right
thing?
J R: The union's argument was
that there should be an investi
gation, that there should be a
process. You can't just take an
officer’s guns and badge away.
Saltzman was clearly unfamiliar
with the police union contract.
He's clearly either incredibly
poorly advised or pol itical ly pres
sured. And both o f them are the
wrong qualities to have in the
person whose about to go and
negotiate the contract with the
police union. I expect that we're
going to get taken to the clean
ers. That's what this is about.
PO: How can City Hall get
people back to work?
JR : I think the city can do a
couple things. It can model and
embrace diversity. 1 think that
diversity is an economic issue as
well as a cultural issue. And the
city, by modeling that for the rest
o f the community, brings people
in and finds them positions of
power and respect. I think Sam
had a fascinating set of ideas in
his campaign that he has since
completely dropped around the
creative capacity o f the city.
Portland has transformed into a
creative community not only of
people who knit tea cozies, but
people who design computer
systems. W e're building an in
tellectual capacity here, which
is quite astounding and we need
to look carefully at the inter
ests and needs o f those people
who come in here so that they
stay.
For a complete interview
visit portlandobserver.com
Wal-Mart Eyes Hayden Meadows
Wal-Mart is going to give it
another try in Portland.
The mega-retailer announced
plans last week to build a north
Portland store near Delta Park
where it could draw business from
across the river in Vancouver.
The 86,000-square-foot store
would be among a number of big-
box stores in the Hayden Mead
ows area. Additionally, the com
pany said it will expand its South
east 82nd Avenue store to include
groceries.
Wal-Mart and Portland have
held a contentious relationship.
Twice in the past five years Wal-
Mart has pulled back on proposed
stores amid criticism from Sam
Adams for its labor practices.
Adams is now the city's mayor.
“We are about neighbors
helping neighbors improve
their community."
Mary Harrell
at I'ricnds of Tree*
503 - j 8 j ■ 8846
www.FriendsofTrees.org
F rie n d s 0 / Trees
Ctrnwinq Healthy ('aaimamticA