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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 9, 2011)
local news Youth kitzhaber Recommends No Oregon local School Taxes continued from page 1 system to the failing economy, citing statis- tics showing that if the achievement gap can be eliminated in Oregon over the next decade, the economy will expand by “up to 1.8 percent.” That’s why the Education Summit is a new feature of the long-term Portland Plan urban development blueprint that will guide the next 25 years of regional development. To maximize public participation, the city is holding four family-oriented fairs with games, food, childcare, raffle prizes and presentations to lure as many people as pos- sible to the often-dry task of hammering out the region’s priorities and programs. The fairs are: Wednesday, March 2, 6:30- 9 p.m. at Hosford Middle School, 2303 SE 28th Place; Sunday, March 6, 12:30-3 p.m. at the Oregon Zoo; Thursday, March 10, from 6:30-9 a.m. at De La Salle North Catholic High School, 7528 N. Fenwick Ave.; and Saturday, March 12, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Immigration and Refugee Community Organization, 10301 NE Glisan St. A centerpiece of Adams’ approach to the Portland Plan is an innovative “cradle to career” ideal that pushes youth opportuni- ties towards the top of regional develop- ment goals. “With the Portland Plan process we are able to take the cradle to career framework to the neighborhood level,” Adams said in a statement Tuesday. “The plan will outline the policy and infrastructure to support healthy, vibrant well-educated neighbor- kali Thorne ladd hoods.” Monday’s brainstorming session took off from the issue of what the city has the power to do in addressing Portland’s dismal school graduation rate – only some 53 per- cent of high school students make it to their commencement ceremony within four years. City officials say the effort to find a per- manent fix to the schools really depends on plenty of participants at March’s planning fairs, where people will be sifting through the ideas and partnerships generated this week and, hopefully, forging concrete plans and policies that will be ratified by the City Council this summer. Participants Monday included Multnomah County Chair Jeff Cogen, Rep. Earl Blumenauer; Portland Schools EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Gov. John Kitzhaber has recommended that school districts avoid new local taxes — but he’s not going to oppose them. Last week, the governor summoned education leaders to Salem for a meeting that included leaders from Eugene, Portland, Lake Oswego and Clackamas County who are considering asking vot- ers to approve new property or income taxes in response to projected cuts in school budgets in their communities. Kitzhaber said he is concerned that stopgap taxes to help school finances in some cities could lessen the political urgency in the Legislature to reform edu- cation funding across the state, The Register-Guard reported. Kitzhaber didn’t tell the local leaders to abandon their tax proposals. ``He just preferred that local jurisdictions not’’ pursue new school taxes, said Eugene City Councilor Pat Farr, who was at the meeting. Eugene councilmembers are scheduled to decide next Monday whether to put an income tax on the May or November bal- lot. Those at the meeting assured the gov- ernor they would be committed to statewide education reform even if local voters approved new taxes for schools, said Eugene School Board Chairman Craig Smith, who also attended the gov- ernor’s meeting. He said Kitzhaber wants school advo- cates to help reform education, including changes that will ensure that every child enters kindergarten with the skills to learn. The governor wants help in push- ing such reforms even if Eugene voters approve the proposed six-year income tax, Smith said. The rates for the proposed Eugene income tax and other details have yet to be determined. The tax is meant to lessen the effects of projected budget cuts that would lead to layoffs of teachers and other employees, increase class sizes and eliminate instruction days. Foundation CEO Dan Ryan, Portland Police Chief Mike Reese, area school district superintendents and principals as well as nonprofit service providers. They were joined by representatives from New Seasons Market, the United Way, Latino Network, and Pearl neighborhood- based Turtle Island Development. “There are too many silos between these institutions,” Ladd says. “That’s why we had Chief Reese on one panel – we need to work in partnership, and we’re using this to inform action steps with the Portland Plan.” Find out more about the Portland Plan and how you can put in you two cents here. http://www.portlandonline.com/portland- plan/. A few days after his arrest, Fair was sent to the OHSU Cardiac Intensive Care Unit without explanation to his parents or fami- ly; he suffered a massive psycho- logical breakdown after being revived, and still cannot remember how he ended up in the hospital. Fair’s family has been left to wonder how their healthy teenager, a football player, ended up coma- tose in a cardiac unit – however the issue of Taser-related heart attacks has been debated since 2008. No information has yet been released about who injured Fair and how the teenaged athlete ended up in that ward in a coma, but State Rep. Lew Frederick con- firmed last week that two separate investi- gations have been opened on the case, one by the Oregon State Police and one by the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office. This week an expected bail hearing for Fair was cancelled; his trial on Measure 11 robbery charges is set to start March 1. Find out when and where your neighbor- hood Special Safety Public Action Committee meets online at http://www.port- landonline.com/oni/, or call 503-823-4519. Read the Portland Auditors Report, “Police Taser Use: Incidents generally resolved, but some practices and policies could be improved” http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor. past 9 a.m., despite calling in. up. They told him there was a single order left in the in-box when he left his last shift – an order he said was not there on Dec. 16. “I tried to explain to (the manager) that the order wasn’t there when I left,” he said. “In all the years I’ve been there, I’d never heard of anyone else being treated with such harshness.” Then in May of 2010, Murray was told he was to engage in mandatory cross- training on a job in a different part of the warehouse. Because of the previous write-up, he said he was not eligible for the . Murray said he was given “no support that was meaningful on the new position.” Others put on “cross duty” were not assigned full-time to their positions and he says White workers were not given mandatory cross-training. Taser continued from page 1 delivered him to the Oregon Health and Sciences University emergency room. Charges against him were dropped; he’s now being represented by attorney Emily Simon. Last week Vancouver resident Jason Elgin won a $30,000 judgment claim- ing battery against Portland Police Officer Kevin Tully after being Tasered while sleeping at a table in a Denny’s restau- rant in 2009. An array of misdemeanor charges against him, includ- ing resisting arrest and trespassing, were all eventually dropped. Tully’s attorneys Greg and Jason Kafoury have been retained by the family of Kyeron Fair, a 17-year-old high school student Vancouver resident Jason Elgin won a $30,000 judgment claiming battery against Portland Police Officer Kevin Tully after being Tasered while sleeping taken into Multnomah County Sheriffs cus- tody on alleged gang-related charges last September. Tazo continued from page 1 the Skanner news was unable to speak with the fourth employee. Stacey Krum, a spokesperson for Starbucks, says they “certainly deny the allegations” of disparate treatment or wrongful firing. “Mr. Shabazz’ complaint was the first and only indication of any such concerns at the plant,” wrote Krum in an email response to The Skanner News’ inquiry. “We take this issue very seriously and are cooperating in the investigation. We are confident that the evidence will show that the actions involv- ing Mr. Shabazz and others individuals he has named were made for legitimate, per- formance-related reasons.” on Light Duty Shabbaz – like Willis – said his troubles began when he “challenged the company’s policies” regarding his constant shift changes. “I got hired the same day as a Caucasian man and I got changed regularly to swing, graveyard and day shift,” he said. In the month before he was fired, Shabazz said he began having severe spasms and pain in his foot – a foot that had nearly been severed when a forklift fell on it back in 1979. He visited two different doctors, both of which recommended he be put on “light duty.” He was to work no more than 6 hours a day, according to a note from his doctor, although he said he was still put on duty that kept him on his feet. In addition, he says he was not allowed to take his prescription pain medication during the day. “So I’d take it at night,” he said. “One night, I overslept because of that. I don’t normally take medication … it kind of overwhelmed me.” The week before, Shabazz — says man- agers had told him he could be flexible when coming to work. But on Monday morning, he was fired for arriving slightly the 12-Year veteran Murray was hired on Oct. 16, 1998 in the shipping department and said his troubles In the month before he was fired, Shabazz said he began having severe spasms and pain in his foot began when he asked one manager to sit in on his weekly meetings with his direct supervisor. He said he wasn’t “comfortable” with her had feared she’d misrepresent his concerns during the meetings. His request was never granted. On Dec. 17, 2009, Murray called in sick. The next day he showed up, he got a write- See INvEStIgatIoN on page 9 february 9, 2011 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 3
