Page 2
December 23, 2015
Established 1970
USPS 959 680
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.,
Portland, OR 97211
The Portland Observer welcomes freelance
submissions. Manuscripts and photographs
should be clearly labeled and will be re-
turned if accompanied by a self addressed
envelope. All created design display ads
become the sole property of the newspaper
and cannot be used in other publications or
personal usage without the written consent
of the general manager, unless the client has
purchased the composition of such ad. ©
2008 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION
IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PER-
MISSION IS PROHIBITED. The Portland
Observer--Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural
Publication--is a member of the National
Newspaper Association--Founded in 1885,
and The National Advertising Representative
Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York,
NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers
Association
Mark Washington, Sr.
e ditor : Michael Leighton
Hunger Carries into New Year
Impact worsened by low wages, high costs
C hris t homas
One in five Oregonians faces a New
Year in which he or she will rely on food
from a food pantry or soup kitchen, accord-
ing to a new survey of people who receive
food assistance.
The Oregon Food Bank survey shows
that 36 percent of food recipients said they
visit their local food pantry regularly -
at least 12 times a year, up 5 percentage
points from just a few years ago.
While the survey did find that more peo-
ple are working than in the previous years,
they’re just not making enough money to
support their families, according to Su-
sannah Morgan, Oregon Food Bank chief
executive.
by
P ublisher :
e xecutive d irector :
Rakeem Washington
A dvertising M AnAger : Leonard Latin
Office Manager/Classifieds:
Lucinda Baldwin
c reAtive d irector : Paul Neufeldt
r ePorter /P hotogrAPher :
Olivia Olivia
CALL 503-288-0033
FAX 503-288-0015
news@portlandobserver.com
ads@portlandobserver.com
subscription@portlandobserver.com
Postmaster: Send address changes to
Portland Observer , PO Box 3137 ,
Portland, OR 97208
Miss Universe Gaffe
The 2015 Miss Universe contest suffered
a very public error Sunday night when
the wrong contestant was momentarily
crowned during
a live broadcast.
Colombia con-
testant Ariadna
Gutierrez Areva-
lo was declared
the winner and
accepting congratulations when host Steve
Harvey returned to apologize for not cor-
rectly reading the winning card, which said
that contestant Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach of the
Philippines was this year’s winner and Miss
Colombia was actually the first runner-up.
The folks who are accessing food assis-
tance who are also actively seeking work as
unemployed workers has fallen from 23 per-
cent in 2012 to 16 percent today, she said.
Another trend this year compared to pre-
vious years is that more people age 65 and
older are food-bank clients. One-third of
those surveyed said food bank assistance
has made the difference in being able to
pay a utility bill. Almost as many (29 per-
cent) cited high housing costs as a factor in
their inability to make ends meet.
Morgan attended the recent Oregon
Leadership Summit and cited one speak-
er’s comment that Oregon is a “job-cre-
ation machine.”
“This gives me real hope for the future,
The
Week
in
Review
Motorcycle Club Shootout
One man was killed and two people were
injured after a shootout at a north Portland
motorcycle clubhouse early Saturday, ac-
cording to authorities. Witnesses reported
more than two dozen shots were heard
during the gathering at the Dahuru Mo-
torcycle Club on Kerby Avenue and Co-
lumbia Boulevard. No arrested have been
made and no suspects have been identified.
High Winds Cut Power
Notorious Bike Thief Busted
Over 14,000 residents suffered power out-
ages at some point on Monday when win-
ter gusts cut through the city. The Portland
International Airport clocked winds over 55
mph around 2 p.m., and PGE crews and local
police spent most of the day responding to
numerous reports of fallen trees cutting pow-
er lines. The MAX blue line stopped running
while respondents worked to remove a down
tree from the line’s overhead wires.
Leroy Parsons Jr., a man convicted of more
than 25 felonies and misdemeanors, rang-
ing from identity theft, meth possession,
attempted robbery and theft, was sentenced
to 30 months in jail Monday after he was
caught in a bike theft sting set up the inves-
tigative news show Inside Edition. Parsons
has long been a suspect in dozens of bike
thefts in Portland.
in thinking that we have the possibility
of creating those jobs, those family-wage
jobs,” she said. “But he also said there has
not been much movement on poverty.”
Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed
said they worry “often” or “always” about
where their next meal is coming from.
Morgan said a combination of low earn-
ings and high debt lands people who never
thought they’d be in this situation at their
local food pantry. The source of the debt,
for 39 percent of those surveyed, was med-
ical bills.
The survey is online at oregonfoodbank.
org.
Chris Thomas is a reporter with Oregon
News Service.
No Indictment in Sandra Bland Case
A Texas grand jury failed to find anyone cul-
pable for the death of Sandra Bland, a black
woman who was reportedly found hanged
by a garbage bag in a jail cell last July.
The story made headlines when footage of
Bland’s arrest for failing to signal a lane
change showed the police officer screaming
“I will light you up!” as he threatened the
woman with a taser. Her last words heard
from the dash cam video were “You just
slammed my head into the ground.”
Oregon Zoo Elephant Dies
One of the America’s
oldest and largest bull
elephants, a 45-year-
old Asian elephant
named Tusko, was
euthanized Tuesday
after
veterinarians
concluded he was in
too much pain from a decades-old leg in-
jury. Tusko had developed severe swelling
that had severely impaired his movement.
Tusko came to the Oregon Zoo in 2005 and
had spent time working in a circus, having
been born in Thailand in 1971.