Page 6
New Prices
Effective
May 1, 2014
Martin
Cleaning
Service
July 29, 2015
O PINION
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
Residential &
Commercial Services
Minimum Service CHG.
$45.00
$VPDOOGLVWDQFHWUDYHO
charge may be applied
CARPET CLEANING
2 Cleaning Areas or
more $30.00 Each Area
3UH6SUD\7UDI¿F$UHDV
(Includes: 1 small Hallway)
1 Cleaning Area (only)
$40.00
,QFOXGHV3UH6SUD\7UDI¿F$UHD
(Hallway Extra)
Stairs (12-16 stairs - With
Other Services)
Area/Oriental Rugs
$25.00 Minimum
Area/Oriental Rugs (Wool)
$40.00 Minimum
Heavily Soiled Area
Additional $10.00 each area
(Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying)
UPHOLSTERY
CLEANING
6RID
/RYHVHDW
6HFWLRQDO
&KDLURU5HFOLQHU
$25 - $49
Throw Pillows (With
Other Services)
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
• Area & Oriental Rug
Cleaning
$XWR%RDW59&OHDQLQJ
• Deodorizing & Pet
Odor Treatment
• Spot & Stain
Removal Service
• Scotchguard Protection
• Minor Water Damage
Services
SEE CURRENT FLYER
FOR ADDITIONAL
PRICES & SERVICES
Call for Appointment
(503) 281-3949
Obama Gets Real About Criminal Justice Reform
A historic
moment and
turning point
S HARDA S EKARAN
Fifteen years ago,
ZKHQ , ¿UVW VWDUWHG
working on drug
policy and criminal
justice reform is-
sues, I never would
have imagined these words
d
coming out of the mouth of
a sitting U.S. president. But
then again, I would never have
imagined Barack Obama.
Actually, I might have met
Obama by then. I remember
shaking his hand after a person
told me he was “someone to
watch” at a gathering of black
state legislators around that
time. He was still an Illinois
state senator.
But there’s no way I would
have believed anyone telling
me that he would go on to be-
come president. And if you told
me that, as president, he would
give the speech he did this
month at the 106th annual con-
ference of the NAACP, I would
have found such optimism de-
BY
lusional but endearing.
“For
non-violent
drug
crimes, we need to lower long
mandatory minimum sentences
-- or get rid of them entirely,”
Obama said.
Fifteen years ago, we
were still advocating to
w
JHW LQÀXHQWLDO FLYLO DQG
JH
human rights organiza-
hu
tions to recognize U.S.
tio
mass incarceration as a
m
crisis. We were the un-
cr
derdogs
promoting awareness
d d
around the fact that appallingly
high numbers of incarcerated
people are more likely to be
poor, black, brown, marginal-
ized and ensnared in a broken
system than they were a threat
to public safety.
We were still sounding the
alarm that the drug war had
failed, mandatory minimum
sentences were unjust and low
level drug offenses would be
much more effectively man-
aged with alternatives to incar-
ceration and the availability of
drug treatment.
These were still relatively
unconventional notions not so
long ago.
Today, it would seem that
we have not only the more
liberal-leaning and progres-
sive groups on our side, we
also have a sizable presence
of people on the right in sup-
port. As Obama noted in his
speech, there are outrageously
unlikely partnerships at the ta-
ble like the Koch Brothers and
the NAACP, and Van Jones and
Newt Gingrich.
Obama also made this point,
“In too many cases, our crim-
inal justice system ends up
being a pipeline from under-
funded, inadequate schools to
overcrowded jails.”
Is that the sound of the
president of the United States
acknowledging the “school-
to-prison pipeline?” These
words must give a power-
ful light of hope to grass-
roots community activists
who have been shouting this
message far from the halls of
power for decades.
President Obama hit most
of the main rallying cries for
FULPLQDOMXVWLFHUHIRUPHYHU\-
thing from stopping the cruel
SUDFWLFHV RI VROLWDU\ FRQ¿QH-
ment and rampant indiffer-
ence to prison rape to ending
employment discrimination
against formerly incarcerat-
ed people and restoring their
voting rights. For longtime re-
formers, it was an impossible
dream come true.
This seems like an historic
moment and a turning point for
¿[LQJWKHFULPLQDOMXVWLFHV\V-
tem in this country. With the
powerful pledge of a second
term U.S. president, who just
gave clemency to 46 people
serving draconian sentences
and promises to do the same for
dozens more, it really feels like
the wind is in our sails. Like
the song that was playing as
President Obama was leaving
the NAACP stage, “Ain’t No
Stopping Us Now.”
But Obama’s promise for
overhauling our cruel and inef-
fective approach to crime and
punishment, which is destroy-
ing millions of American lives
and wasting countless resourc-
es, must be realized. Let this
not be empty rhetoric.
A stage has been set but now
all the actors have got to get to
work. The stars are aligned and
the time is now.
Sharda Sekaran is the man-
aging director of communica-
WLRQVIRUWKH'UXJ3ROLF\$OOL-
ance.