Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, April 07, 2010, Page 2, Image 2

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    Page 2
'ri'c JJortlanb (Observer
Duke Wins NCAA Thriller
S u rv iv in g e v e ry ­
thing B utler could
m uster in front o f a
hom etow n crowd in
one o f the closest,
m ost e x h ila ra tin g
national cham pionship basketball
gam es in history, D uke hung on
M onday night for a 61-59 victory
that gave coach M ike K rzyzew ski
his fourth national title.
Cogen
Appointed Chair
T h e M u ltn o m a h
C o u n ty B o a rd o f
C om m issioners a p ­
proved a resolution
Man Charged in Threats
T hursday to appoint C ounty C o m ­
m issio n er J e f f C ogen, a form er
assistant to Portland C ity C o m ­
m issioner D an Saltzm an, to the
position o f county ch air to fill
out the rem ainder o f form er C hair
T ed W h eeler’s term.
rights abuses and assault.
County Settles Lawsuit
Top Model Casting Call
A northeast Portland w om an w ho
alleged she w as beaten by jail guards
after her arrest on reckless driving
and D U II c h arg es w ill be paid
$27,500 to settle a law suit, the term s
o f a settlem ent reached T hursday
by the M ultnom ah C ounty -Com­
m issio n . T in a P h illip s, 38, had
sought unspecified dam ages for civil
D o y ou h a v e w h at it ta k es to w o rk
it on th e ru n w a y ? S u p e rm o d e l
h o p e fu ls in th e P o rtla n d area w ere
b ra c in g fo r th e a rriv a l o f TV p ro ­
d u c e rs o f the h it sh o w A m e ric a ’s
*
N ex t T op M odel w h o h av e s c h e d ­ Heroin Deaths Increase
u led a c a stin g call at L lo y d C e n te r N ew s ta tistic s from th e O re g o n
M all on S atu rd ay , A pril 10 from 10 M ed ic a l E x a m in e r sh o w an in ­
c re a se in h e ro in -re la te d d e a th s
a.m . to 3 p.m .
Week ¡n
The Review
Federal p ro secu ­
to r s
have
ch arg ed a 64-
y e a r-o ld S elah ,
W ash.
m an,
C h a r le s
A la n
W ilson, w ith re­
peatedly m aking threatening calls
to U.S. Sen. Patty M urray's Seattle
office, threatening to kill her b e­
cause o f her support for the health
carebilj.
A p ril 7, 2010
w ith 127 p e o p le k ille d by th e drug
in 2 0 0 9 , an in c re a se from 119
d e a th s in 2 0 0 8 . M e th a m p e ta m in e
u se w as th e s e c o n d h ig h e st d rug
k ille r w ith 87 d e ath s.
Kennedy School Quirkiest
M c M e n a m in ’s K e n n e d y S c h o o l
in n o r th e a s t P o r tla n d h a s b e e n
ra te d th e q u ir k ie s t p la c e in th e
n a tio n to s ta y b y T r ip A d v is o r , a
n a tio n a l tr a v e l c o m p a n y . T h e
c o n v e rte d g ra d e s c h o o l fe a ­
tu re s o v e r 3 0 fo r m e r c la s s ro o m s
c o n v e r te d to c o m f o r ta b le lo d g ­
in g , b u t th e c h a lk b o a r d s a n d
o th e r s c h o o lh o u s e c h a r m r e ­
m a in s.
A Voice for Kids, Seniors and Jobs
Candidate
outlines her
priorities
I
Loretta Smith has w orked for Ron
W yden, O re g o n ’s sen io r D em o­
cratic senator for nearly 20 years as
a field representative. The g ran d ­
daughter o f shipyard w orker from
V anport, Sm ith now w ants to rep re­
s e n t‘north and northeast Portland
on the M ultnom ah C ounty C o m ­
m ission.
W hat are your priorities?
W e can do a better jo b 'o f serving
our youth. The school day is not
enough, so I w ant to extend after­
school program s sim ilar at the Boys
and G irls C lub and S e lf E nhance­
m ent, Inc. M y son participated in
program s like that, and I’m con­
vinced that if he h a d n ’t had those
» » » » » » I I • • • • I
program s he w o u ld n ’t be a sop h o ­
m ore at the U niversity o f W ashing­
ton today.
Since w e are m oving a lot o f our
low -incom e folks out to M id and
East C ounty w e need to deliver ser­
vices for those folks. There are m ore
free and reduced lunch kids w ho are
hungry out there. I w ant to be a
cham pion for those issues so we
d o n ’t have hungry kids or seniors
w ho c a n ’t afford their energy bills.
A nd at the sam e tim e w e can create
jo b s by doing energy audits o f those
hom es.
W hat are som e other challenges
in East C ounty?
I think the co u n ty ' h?s done a
great jo b getting a new health cen ter
in
R ockw ood.
B ecause o f
gentrification a lot o f folks have
m oved east because they can afford
the rent, but w e c a n ’t ignore the
folks that are still in north and n o rth ­
east Portland. So w e need to do a
♦ « • • • » • » • • • • « I I » * » I »
I I
Loretta Smith
good coordination o f services to
m ake sure everyone is served.
Y ou have quite a few en d o rse­
m ents. Is th ere any y o u ’re after?
State S enator C hips Shields is
endorsing me. C om m issioner D iane
M cK eel is en dorsing m e, so th a t’s
great. I look up to both, and I know
them . I ’ve w orked w ith C o m m is­
sio n er M cK eel on hum an traffick ­
ing issues, so she has a pretty good
idea o f w here I stand on issues that
I care ab o u t so I think it’s great.
A lot o f people d o n ’t understand
w hat the county is or w hat is does.
W hat do you do about that?
I think you have to go out to
w here the people are, w hether it be
n eighborhood associations, senior
centers o r co m m u n ity events so that
people understand w hat the county
does. E ven though w e operate the
s h e r if f s office, w e ’re often co n ­
fused w ith the city o f P ortland p o ­
lice. W e ’re the social service agency
that kind o f intersects delivery o f
m ental health services, so I think we
could be a b etter partner w ith law
en fo rcem en t and the city o f P ort­
land to m ake sure that o ur neig h b o r­
hoods are m ore safe and secure and
figure out how to do som ething
d ifferen t so w e can have m ore p o si­
tive outcom es.
H ow abou t the issue o f law en­
forcem en t being first responders
for p eop le ex p erien cin g crisis?
O ne o f the things w e need to do
is identify that w e need culturally
specific m ental health services. I
think w e really need to identify w hat
those best practices are and have a
b e tte r c o o rd in a tio n o f serv ices.
O nce w e do that, w e ’d have a little
bit b etter positive o utcom es that
som e o f these kind o f deadly situa­
tions.
W hat experience from your work
with Senator W yd en ’s office would
you bring to the county?
O ne o f the things I bring is 20 years
o f experience. I’ve w orked with vul­
nerable populations m ost o f m y ca­
reer. So I’m very, very fam iliar with
social service program s. I ’m fam iliar
w ith being able to identify federal
resources to bring into the county
continued
on page 18