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gjfnxtlanit
hserüer years-,
Established in 1970
Volume XXXX, Number 31
Committed to Cultural Diversity
•'communitv service
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • August 4. 2010
Where are Jamie and Ubaldo?
Missing children who
don’t make the news
Portland, and every development concerning his family
has been closely followed by the media.
The very different handling of the two cases reveals
longstanding issues that child advocates have struggled
with in getting attention to missing children.
One big difference between the two cases, according
to child advocates, is that Jamie and Ubaldo were imme
diately suspected to have been taken by their mother.
When news of Kyron Horman’s disappearance broke, it
was assumed that he was snatched by a stranger outside
of his school’s science fair.
Meaghan Good of the Charley Project, an online com
pilation of missing persons from around the country, said
that cases where it’s presumed that a family member
abducted a child get far less attention.
It s sad, said Good, who explained that people as
sume that because children are with family members they
are safe, which is far from true.
According to the National Center for Missing & Ex
ploited Children, 20 children have gone missing in Or
egon in the last five years. O f those, nine are thought to
be cases involving a family abduction.
Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Miss-
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
Five-year-old Jamie Mejia and her 1-year-old brother
Ubaldo Sanchez-Mejia went missing from their Portland
home May 19 of this year.
Their pictures weren’t on the front pages of any news
papers. They weren’t
on any television sta
tions.
But when Kyron
Horman went missing
from Skyline Elemen
tary School two weeks
later, his case drew
considerable atten
tion.
M ultnom ah
County has already
spent $365,000 looking
for him. His image has
been plastered all over ^Ubaldo Sanchez-Mejia
Jamie Mejia
continued ' W ' on page 18
Police Leaders Make Unity Pledge
Chief teams up with
union president
to send a message
J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
by
Portland Police Chief Mike Reese and
Portland Police Association President Daryl
Turner are sending a message that police
rank-and-file can get along with manage
ment, but also, perhaps more importantly,
with the citizenry of Portland.
Both officials are relative newbies to their
positions, which came to them after their
predecessors were ousted after getting into
high profile conflicts.
Reese, a former commander of East Pre
cinct, was given his new job just short of
three months ago after former Chief Rosie
Sizer got into a very public spat with M a y o r _______________
__
Sam Adams over the budget. Adams sacked photo by J ake T homas /T he P ortland O bserver
Sizer, took control of the police bureau and Portland Police Chief Mike Reese (left) and newly elected Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner team up for a
continued
on page 17
patrol of Old Town during a July 28 demonstration of unity between police rank-and-file and management.