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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2011)
WWW . THESkANNER . COM D ECEMBER 21/D ECEMBER 28, 2011 P ORTLAND , O REGON V OLuME XXXIII, N O . 60 25 CENTS i nsiDE H av e a safe H o l i d ay page 2,3 Pet Health page 4 Bids and Classifieds C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow ETAP: Job Training at PCC Faces page 11 Happy Holidays Program seeks more students interested in construction work The importance of learning the trades has not been stressed enough in the black com- munity, says Portland Community College instructor Eddie Lincoln. "Learning the trades gives recipients skills to remodel and repair their own homes," he says. "They can take these skills and be competitive for city and county contracts in the construction industry. It offers high pay- ing jobs with exceptional benefits." Lincoln, coordinator of the Excellence in Trades and Apprenticeship Preparation (ETAP) program at PCC, hopes to get more students interested in the opportunity trade work provides. According to the 2011 City of Portland and Portland Development Commission Disparity Study, only six percent of the firms available for City construction and construction related service work are minor- ity owned. In addition, the study says 1.9 percent of City construction contract dollars are expected to go to minority owned firms. Lincoln says learning the trades can bene- fit the black community in particular because when a construction trade business opens, it gives a person the opportunity to employ and train people from his/her com- munity. "When someone gets a contract they are in a position to improve the economic situation of the people they trade with," says Lincoln. "It gives them the ability to stimulate eco- nomic growth because money spent in the community stays in the community." Many Portland schools don't have voca- tional training and others are cutting back due to budget shortfalls. According to Lincoln, part of ETAP is a primary focus on outreach to high school seniors. The program is state certified with the Bureau of Labor and works with Portland Public Schools, faith based organi- zations and nonprofit groups. It is also a paid apprenticeship, which lasts for three to four years. "You can have a really good career with- out going into debt," says Lincoln. "You earn while you learn." see ETaP on page 8 inDEX News ................2,3,5,6 Opinion .....................4 Bids/Classifieds ........11 H av e a safe H o l i d ay PHOTO BY Lisa LOving By Bruce Poinsette special To The Skanner News Multnomah County Sheriffs Honor Guard Deputy Lee DeLaGarza enjoys chatting with a kid at the Community Transitional School holiday party hosted for the 23rd year by the sheriffs department. Almost 100 kids received toys, books and clothes courtesy of sheriff’s department employees, as well as pizza, fruit and a comedy juggling show. When Santa arrived at the party, the room went wild. White Extremist Violence on the Rise Experts Say 2011 a Big Year for Pacific Northwest Violence By nicholas k. geranios The associated Press SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - They exist in the margins of the Pacific Northwest. Some are white supremacists. Some are anti-Semites. Some are anti-government. Many are all of the above. Sometimes their margins are literal, as they live in small towns near the vast forests that dominate this region. Almost always their margins are social, as many are unemployed, or underemployed, and live alone. Every now and then, one breaks from the margins and creates a public spectacle. The latest incident occurred last week as a house in Washougal, Wash., burned to the ground while someone inside shot at firefighters to keep them away. The homeown- er has been identified as a self- proclaimed white separatist. It was one of numerous inci- dents this year in which extrem- ists of various kinds made news in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. The crimes involved a white supremacist couple charged in a three-state killing spree; an attempted bombing at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Spokane; and a former militia member who opened fire on deputies in Montana and vanished into a forest. To be sure, the perpetrators are by no means representative of the broader, law-abiding pop- ulation in the Pacific Northwest. But they are part of a trend that has seen extremist activity on the rise nationally. The region has also been the base for some of the highest-profile ones, including the Aryan Nations and the Militia of Montana. Travis McAdam of the see aTTacks on page 5 ‘Portland Memorials’ Lists City Histories Depicted in Park Benches, Fountains, and More By Lisa Loving Of The Skanner News Portland writer Trevor Blake’s book, “Portland Memorials,” is a compilation of historical markers to be found by walking through the downtown area. Sound simple? Consider that the author must at some points have practically crawled on his hands and knees to transcribe dates and names from the hundreds of “plaques, buildings, statues, benches and fountains” that were grist for his investigations. He even discovered that a few memorials touching on Black history were likely thrown into the Willamette River. The Skanner News traded electronic letters with Blake to get his story on how, and why, Portland has chosen to remember its past. The skanner news: Trevor what made you want to put this book together? Trevor Blake: I wrote Portland Memorials for three reasons. The first rea- son is an echo of one of the memorials found in the book. The Shemanski Fountain is located at the north end of the South Park Blocks. It was a gift to the city by Portland shopkeeper Joseph Shemanski (1869-1951) in 1926. Shemanski gave the fountain to the city "to express in small measure gratitude for what the city has done for me." And that is exactly the reason I have written Portland Memorials. I moved to Portland in 1992 and the city has given me as many opportu- nities, experiences and challenges as anyone could ask for. The second reason is writing a book is a good way to learn a subject, and I wanted to learn more about the architec- ture and history of Portland. The third rea- son is it provided some good exercise for see HisTOrY on page 10
