February 20. 2013
The
Portland Observer Black
History Month
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Page 3
Fred Meyer
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P hoto by C ari H achmann /T he P ortland O bserver
Jesse Dunn, 12 (left), Izaya Glover, 14, and D’shawn Bogan, 13 (back), collect signatures to save the Police
Activities League’s Gresham Youth Center, which serves over 3,000 kids a year and has been slated for
closure due to lack of funding.
Youth Center in Peril
Police Activities
League moves
to shutter
Gresham site
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
by
ENTEDTÀINMENI
pages 12-15
C lassifieds
page 16
FEDERAL BUbGET
B U S TE R 'S L A S T STAND
Staff members, along with par
ents of kids who attend the Police
Activities League of Greater Port
land after school program, were
shocked, frustrated and angry when
they were suddenly told last week
that the non-profit’s Gresham Youth
Center would be closing down due
to financial shortfalls.
“It’s like the rug has been pulled
out from under us,” said Danielle
Wells, the youth center’s art direc
tor who is studying to become a
teacher. “These kids depend on us.
Parents depend on this place. If this
place closes, where are they going
to go?”
Open since 1989, the Gresham
facility provides after school pro
gramming Monday through Friday
for up to 150 mostly minority and
low-income kids aged 8 to 18-years-
old.
Officials announced the Gresham
facility may remain open for two
more weeks giving parents a chance
to find alternative childcare and the
organization a chance to secure at
lea st $ 2 0 ,0 0 0 from a F rid ay
fundraising event. For now, PAL’s
Beaverton facility will stay open
with funding help from the city of
Beaverton and their police depart
ment.
PAL’s Gresham Youth Center
Executive Director Patricia Day
MMI
continued
on page 10
■M M M M M HM M M HHM M M M M M I
Four Charged in July Murder
O pinion
pages 18-19
C alendar
TenEyck told staff Thursday that
she was also shocked after a three
hour meeting on Monday when the
non-profit ’ s board of directors made
the decision to throw in the towel.
PAL’s administrative offices in
the Portland Police Bureau’s North
Precinct are also planning for clo
sure.
Gresham’s PAL staff were upset
that they were not involved in the
board’s decision.
“We were left to tell these kids,”
said Wells. “To me it feels like no
body cares about these kids. It
shouldn’t be tolerated. It’s human
life. How could you go to sleep
knowing what you’re doing to these
kids?”
Two members of the PAL board,
including Executive Com mittee
pages 20
Four young African-Americans
were charged last week in the death of
Bernard Linton Yarborough, 49, who
was shot in northeast Portland’s King
Neighborhood last July.
The arrested men are identified
as Ladarius Dashawn Storey Jr., 21,
Jelani Jabari McClendon, 26, Byron
Lamar Bearyman, 21, and Deandre
Money Goudy, 20.
Storey has been in custody since
Sept. 16 on unrelated charges and is
charged with aggravated murder in
Y arborough’s death. The other
three men face murder charges.
On July 19 at 6:46 p.m., after re
sponding to a report of a shooting in
the 5800 block of Northeast 6th Av-
enue, police found Yarborough criti
cally injured. He later died at a Port
land hospital of a single gunshot
wound, an autopsy report concluded.
Anyone with additional informa
tion on this case is asked to contact
Detective Jim Lawrence at 503-823-
0867
or
James.Lawience^'PtirtlandC)regon.gov.