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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 2011)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM J ANuARY 19, 2011 P ORTLAND & S EATTLE V OLuME XXXIII, N O .13 25 CENTS i nSiDe Seattle Peace Awards page 2 Mental Health page 3 BOOKS: ‘12 Angry Men’ C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow Tacoma MLK Bomb page 4 King BrEaKfast FBI: Device could have caused ‘multiple casualties’ by nicholas k. Geranios of The Associated Press See bomb on page 7 inDex News ................2,3,6,7 Opinion .....................3 Books.........................4 A & E .........................5 Bids/Classifieds .......6,7 pHoto bY Julie keefe T he FBI offered a reward Tuesday for information about a potentially lethal bomb found in a backpack along the downtown route of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day paradein Tacoma. The discovery before Monday’s parade for the slain civil rights leader raised the possibility of a racial motive in a region that has been home to the white supremacist Aryan Nations. “The confluence of the holiday, the march and the device is inescapable,” said Frank Harrill, special agent in charge of the Spokane FBI office. “But we are not at the point where we can draw any particular motive.” He called the planting of the bomb an act of domestic terrorism that was clearly designed to advance a political or social agenda. The suspicious backpack was spotted by three city employees about an hour before the parade was to start, Harrill said. They looked inside, saw wires and immediately alerted law enforcement. The parade route was changed to avoid the device. A bomb disposal unit disabled it without incident, he said. Harrill declined to release details of the device, other than to call it a functional bomb that could have caused multiple casu- alties. “The potential for injury and death were clearly present,” Harrill said. The FBI received no warnings in advance and did not have a suspect, Harrill said. No one has claimed credit for planting the bomb. The agency decided to appeal to the pub- lic for information and offered the $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. “Subject should be considered armed and dangerous,” the agency said in its The Skanner News Group 25th Annual Martin Luther King Breakfast, ,held Monday, Jan. 17, drew more than 1,000 participants, including Spanish businessmen visiting Portland to build a sustainable plant. From left, Portland Housing Authority Board Chair Lee Moore, Jorge Tarazona and Miguel Figuero of the Tarazona Corporation, Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish, and Tarazona Vice President for Operations Wayne Branch. Tarazona manufactures a chemical that reduces polluting emissions in diesel fuel. A complete photo chronicle of the event will appear in next week’s issue of The Skanner News. For photos of scholarship winners at the King event, see page 5. Do You Qualify for a Tax Refund? Free Advice Available on ‘Super Saturday’ Bank Event Feb. 5 F ree tax help is available Jan. 22 through April 16 by local group CASH Oregon, in cooperation with the American Association of Retired Persons. The two groups are especially focusing on helping taxpayers benefit from the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC. On Saturday, Feb. 5, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., KeyBank and CASH Oregon are offering “Super Refund Saturday” — a free tax preparation event inside Lloyd Center Mall, Suite 2010. The EITC is a federal income tax credit that returns money to low- to moderate-income households. Unfortunately, tax- payer advocates say, up to 25 percent of eligible households miss out on EITC benefits they are entitled to receive each year, largely because they are unaware of the law. If you qualify for the EITC for tax year 2010, you may be eligi- ble for anywhere between $457 and $5,666. The tax credit is calculated according to the number of qualifying children you have, compared to your “earned income.” “Specifically, that means, at the low end, single taxpayers making less than $13,460 with no qualifying children could get $457,” says Rob Justus, execu- tive director of CASH Oregon. “Different ranges of income and children would land you somewhere in the middle,” he says. At the high end, married tax- payers filing jointly, making less than $48,362 with three or more qualifying children could receive $5,666. Your child is a “qualifying child” if he or she meets four tests, which are based on: their relationship to you; their age; where they live; and if they are filing a joint return or not. Justus says a tax preparer can help you understand the specifics of each of these requirements to determine if your child is considered a “qual- ifying child.” “The good news is that, in many communities, you can See taxeS on page 7 Black Pioneers Talk About Preservation ‘Sustaining Oregon’s African American History’ Conference Feb. 14 A frican Americans have a long and storied history in Oregon, overcom- ing daunting challenges as a minori- ty population in a state that started off by declaring itself ‘Whites-Only.’ Preserving and communicating that history is the topic of a conference to be held Feb. 14 at the Architectural Heritage Center, 701 SE Grand Ave., Portland. “Sustaining Oregon’s African American History and Legacy” has been sponsored by the Oregon African American Museum, Oregon Northwest Black Pioneers, William Hart of Carleton-Hart Architecture and the Bosco-Milligan Foundation/Architectural Heritage Center. Conference participants will learn how preserving Oregon’s African American his- tory and legacy sustains our community, encourages diverse perspectives and reveals little-known African American contribu- tions to the State of Oregon. And they’ll find out more about the new Oregon African American Museum. Local and national leaders dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting and exhibiting material evidence of the African American experience will speak at the con- See pioneerS on page 6
