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Volume XXXXI, Number 14
Wednesday • April 6. 2011
Established in 1970
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Girl Killed, Teen Friend Charged
Massive search
fails to find body
Flags were lowered at city of
Portland buildings M onday in
memory of Yashanee Vaughn,
the missing 14-year-oldgirl that
police believe was killed by her
teenage boyfriend.
C ity C o m m issio n e r Dan
Saltzman invited Vaughn’s fam
ily and frie n d s to a tte n d
W e d n e s d a y ’s c ity c o u n c il
m eeting where he will take a
m o m en t to re m e m b e r the
victim ’s life. The council low
ers the city ’s flag in honor of
Parrish Bennette
children who died from abuse,
neglect or hom icide violence.
Parrish Bennette, 16, was arrested on a m urder
charge last week in connection with V aughn’s disap
pearance, but a juvenile court judge later reduced the
charge to m anslaughter.
Yashanee Vaughn
Smoking Ban
Lands Butts on Neighbors
PCC’s tobacco policy has unintended consequences
by C ari
H atchmann
T he P ortland O bserver
Cigarette smokers at Portland Community
College must take responsibility for their
cigarette butt or face greater fines.
Since a tobacco-use ban on all PCC
campuses went into effect last school year,
smokers have been pushed to the edge of
cam pus boundaries, where they can light
up off-site, often in surrounding neigh
borhoods in order to avoid facing school
fines.
Neighbors of the PCC Sylvania campus in
southwest Portland complained to college
officials that migrating smokers were tossing
their cigarette butt litter within the vicinity of
their homes and in natural areas.
College officials responded last month
with a m odification to their tobacco policy
that allows for "Good Neighbor Zones"
where students and staff can smoke in
dedicated, well marked places on the pe
riphery of school properties.
continued
on page 5
A smoker lights up and used cigarette
butts pile up in the street and along the
edge o f Portland Community College’s
Cascade Campus in north Portland.
Litter from cigarettes has accumulated
on the edges o f PCC’s campuses and
into neighboring yards one year after
the college district went smoke free.
C ari H atchmann /
T he P ortland O bserver
photo by
The ju d g e ’s choice to lower the change may indi
cate Bennette didn’t intend to kill Yashanee but some
sort o f reckless or negligent behavior led to her death,
according to Bruce M cClain, a form er M ultnomah
County S heriff’s captain and current law yer who
speculated on the prosecution in an interview with
KATU.
Prosecutors believe Vaughn
was killed by Bennette on March
19 at his father’s northeast Port
land home. A uthorities said they
found blood and DNA evidence
that linked the m ale teen to
V aughn’s death. She was re
ported m issing by her family on
M arch 21.
A grand jury was taking testi
mony this week in a review o f the
case and new charges were pos
sible. Investigators were also ex
ploring w hether others were in
volved in V aughn’s killing, and
where her body was taken.
A large scale search o f Rocky Butte for V aughn’s
continued W on page 6