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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 2021)
Call for Tear Gas Ban Commissioners lead effort to protect children. March celebrates WOMEN’S y MONTH r o t s i h See Metro, page 9 PO QR code ‘City of Roses’ Volume XLVV • Number 6 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • March 24, 2021 Committed to Cultural Diversity Vaccine Eligibility Timeline Accelerates 3 million more doses headed to the state After prioritizing seniors 65 and old- er and other priority groups in the latest COVID-19 vaccinations, new eligibility timelines are coming into focus which will allow many more people to receive the po- tentially life-saving shot. Gov. Kate Brown accelerated Oregon’s COVID-19 vaccine eligibility timeline last week in order for vulnerable populations to receive shots ahead of May 1, when all adults are now scheduled to become eligi- ble, nationwide. At a news conference Friday, state health officials said that they expect to re- ceive approximately 3.3 million doses by the end of May — enough vaccine to give every adult Oregonian their first shot. “Until recently, in these news confer- ences, we’ve talked about our limited vac- cine supplies and the prospect that it could take until late fall before we reached com- munity immunity,” Patrick Allen, the di- c ontinued on p age 4 photo courtesy M etro Four Portland area healthcare systems, Kaiser Permanente, Legacy Health, OHSU and Providence, are working side by side to operate a COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Oregon Convention Center that sees more than 5,200 patients each day, one of the highest vaccination sites in the country. The site is ready to scale up even more as more vaccines are produced and distributed. Judge Takes Leave after Divisive Comments Family to file wrongful death lawsuit The family of Kevin Peterson Jr., a Black man killed by sheriff’ss deputies during a drug sting operation in Hazel Dell last October, has announced plans to file a wrongful death claim against Clark Coun- ty. Peterson’s parents and the mother of his child held a press conference last Thursday to share memories of him and demand jus- tice. “I’m very upset and I want justice,” his mother said. “He was a super super nice guy. I want people to remember him.” Olivia Salto, the mother of his child, said she hopes their daughter remembers him for the person he was. “He was a great person,” she said. Just two days earlier Clark County Dis- trict Court Judge Darvin Zimmerman tem- porarily removed himself from the bench after demands for his resignation by the Vancouver NAACP and others for com- ments he made about Peterson that were picked up on a hot microphone. Zimmerman called Peterson “the Black guy they were trying to make an angel out of,” and said, among other comments, he believed Peterson “was so dumb.” In response to the outcry, Zimmerman announced he would take a leave of ab- sence to help determine what he can do to help heal the community he has served. The judge also is the father to a Clark County Sheriff’s office deputy who was on the scene of Peterson’s shooting last Oct. c ontinued on p age 4 Darvin Zimmerman Kevin Peterson Jr.
