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WWW . THESKANNER . COM J UNE 8, 2011 P ORTLAND V OLUME XXXIII, N O . 32 25 CENTS I NSIDE s r e e Car n o i t i d e C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow Report Details Abuse The Princesses Officials denied services, claiming 17- year-old ‘faked it’ Benson: Erica Wu Central Catholic: Heidi Henderson Cleveland: J'reyesha Brannon Douglas: Cassandra Hamann by lisa loving of The Skanner News Part 1 of a 2-Part Series O n Sept. 13, 2010, Parkrose High School senior Kyeron Fair went to school. Within 24 hours he was incarcerated and in the middle of a night- mare so deep he couldn’t eat, sleep or track what was going on around him. The 17- year-old had no prior arrest record. Criminal charges against Fair are sched- uled for an ongoing series of settlement hearings. Meanwhile questions about what happened to him in custody have generated an 1,151-page Oregon State Internal Excessive Force Investigation, obtained by The Skanner News. Arrested on charges he was present during the armed robbery of an alleged marijuana dealer – and hit with nearly a dozen gun charges himself even though the alleged victim told police Fair was not armed – the teen was arrested by the Portland Police, questioned before his parents even knew where he was, then lodged at the Donald E. Long Center, where he began showing men- tal health problems within hours. By the time a week had passed, Fair had been housed in the adult jail, Tasered, beat- en, placed on suicide watch, “approved for strip-search,” dosed with anti-psychotic medications, and lodged in the OHSU car- diac intensive care unit in a catatonic state. All that before being arraigned on any charges. The Oregon State Police investigation into why a 17-year-old was hospitalized in an intensive care unit while in the custody of Multnomah County authorities was request- ed by state Rep. Lew Frederick, who spoke recently about Fair’s case on the floor of the Oregon legislature before passage of a law against incarcerating minors charged with Measure 11 crimes in adult facilities. The investigation into county law enforce- ment, opened Oct. 13, 2010, was done by Franklin: Lamarra Haynes Glencoe: Taylor Gerst Marshall: Nadia Martinez Parkrose: Taylor Ballard News ................2,3,8,9 Opinion ..................4,5 A & E ......................6,7 Bids/Classifieds ...10,11 Lincoln: Sarah Schreiter Madison: Uma Abdullahi Roosevelt: Kristin Cubbison St Marys: Anne Nienow Birch Wilson: Taylor Hodge The Rose Festival Queen will be crowned on Saturday morning before the Grand Floral parade. For more information about Rose Festival events, go to page 7. Portland’s Negro Baseball Team Multnomah Library seeks artifacts of short-lived sports league by brian Stimson of The Skanner News I t’s like something straight out of a pulp mystery novel. In the spring of 1946, Olympic gold medalist became the owner of the Portland Rosebuds – one of 10 baseball teams in the West Coast Baseball Association, an all- Black league. The association itself was owned by Abe Saperstein, the owner and one of the original founders of the Harlem See KyEroN on page 3 INDEX Grant: Maya Allen Globetrotters. The Rosebuds – who shared a name with a professional hock- ey team in Portland 25 years before — played their first game against the Seattle Stealheads in a city that has never been con- sidered to be a part of the West Coast – El Paso, Texas. Two months later, with only the Oakland and Seattle teams bringing in any money, the league folded and was nearly lost to memory. Now, the Multnomah County Library is looking to include the Rosebuds as part of a national traveling exhibit on baseball, “Pride and Passion: The African American Baseball Experi - ence.” The trouble is – so little evidence exists of the Rosebuds’ existence that it’s becoming a little bit like a wild goose chase. Cindy Strasfeld, the library’s Program Development Special - ist, says it’s been the most diffi- cult exhibit she’s had to put together so far. She’s desperate- ly trying to find anyone that has old artifacts, memories or infor- mation “This is what keeps me up at night,” she says of her search. In an unofficial capacity, the library’s Rodney Richards has been assisting Strasfeld in her search. An amateur baseball his- tory buff who’s lived in Portland since 1981, Richards made friends with Artie Wilson after Richards’ wife tailored a dress for Dorothy Wilson. While Wilson never played for the Rosebuds, he did play for Negro Leagues teams and See roSEbuDS on page 3 Urban League’s Young Professionals Grows Join them for the Let’s Move health event on Saturday, June 11 by Helen Silvis of The Skanner News S ome work for government, nonprofits and city leaders. Others are perform- ers, marketers, doctors or designers. Many run their own businesses; others are rising stars at top national companies. What do they have in common besides being young, gifted and Black? They all belong to the National Urban League’s Young Professionals. With more than 50 chapters in cities from Atlanta to Anchorage, the Young Professionals are growing in numbers and influence. Portland’s group now numbers more than 50. “They are part of a national network,” says Marcus Mundy, CEO of the Urban League of Portland. “They help the Urban League reach its strategic goals, financial, advocacy and community goals. “They’re a group of young people, so they have different ways of getting things done. And they have better, more creative ideas that some old people like me don’t have.” Mundy is being modest. Under his leader- ship, the Urban League of Portland has See ProfESSIoNalS on page 3
