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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2012)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM F EBRUARY 1, 2012 P ORTLAND , O REGON V OLUME XXXIV, N O . 5 25 CENTS I NSIDE Arrest This Woman! page 4 Books page 6 Movie Openings C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW BBQ, Stalker, Lawsuit page 7 THANKS City of Gladstone, Clackamas County hit with tort claim Lisa Loving Of The Skanner News See GLADSTONE on page 3 INDEX News ................2,3,8,9 Opinion ..................4,5 A & E ......................6,7 Bids/Classifieds ...10,11 PHOTO BY JULIE KEEFE T he racially troubled town of Glad- stone is chalking up another dubious racial milestone: a tort claim filed last week against the City of Gladstone and Clackamas County for “discriminatory enforcement” of city codes. Scott and Pam Richardson, owners of the Arlington Mart on Arlington Road in Glad- stone, as well as Scott’s cousin Tim Antoine, have operated a barbeque in their parking lot for the past three years. They were surprised last May, they told The Skanner News, when the city’s code enforcement officer arrived at their deli with a uniformed officer in tow, to deliver them a criminal citation for serving food outside their building. Surprised, Richardson says, because they’d operated the business for 16 years and had built a brand-new mixed use build- ing in 2009 – just two weeks earlier the city had approved their new liquor license allowing alcohol sales and food consump- tion in their new patio area outside. Within weeks, the Richardsons developed a more frightening problem: harassment by a stalker hurling racial epithets and threat- ening repeatedly to kill them. No police officers seemed to be available to take their 911 calls, despite the fact that they had wit- nesses, photos and video of the incidents. Scott, a retired Portland Police officer, is white; Pam was born in Laos; and Tim is African American. The family is being rep- resented by the Portland-based Creighton & Rose law firm. Specifically named in their tort claim are the city, the county, Police Chief Jim Pryde, code enforcement officer Sean Boyle, and Senior City Planner Clay Glascow. An answering machine was taking calls during business hours at Gladstone City Hall Tuesday, and a message left there requesting comment has so far not been On Friday, Jan. 20, Skanner Publisher Bernie Foster visited the Miller-McCoy Academy for Mathematics and Business in New Orleans, La. He shared advice on starting a business especially a newspaper company. “Mr. Foster encouraged us to reach our goals by being prepared with a good education. We were inspired by his success. He spoke to us about how to present ourselves as well-spoken, well-groomed, and well- informed young men. In an era where there is often a lack of African-American role models, Mr. Forster showed his concern for our success by his visit to our class.” Signed, the 7th grade class, Miller-McCoy Academy for Mathematics and Business, New Orleans, LA. Culture Shift at College Papers Two Oregon journalism powerhouses have Black editors -- a first W hen Tyree Harris first started writing at the Oregon Daily Emer- ald, the University of Oregon’s daily newspaper, there were no other Black people on staff. “Journalism is traditionally a white man’s club,” says Harris, who is now the Emerald’s edi- tor-in-chief. “It’s a really weird time in college journalism. You have two Black leaders of major college news organizations in the northwest.” Along with Brandon South- ward, editor of Oregon State’s Daily Barometer, Harris repre- sents a change in the culture of Oregon’s predominantly white college newsrooms. Initiating discussions about race is something Harris has done since he first took an inter- est in journalism as a sopho- more at Parkrose High School, where one of his teachers rec- ommended that he apply for the school newspaper and he has been enamored with the field ever since. “Having a lot of people in school discussing the issues I brought up in my columns made me realize how powerful a writer is in society,” says Harris. While he was attending a minority camp at the Oregonian at the end of his senior year, Harris decided he wanted to write for the Emerald. However, the path to that dream wasn’t as smooth as he had envisioned. Harris applied to the opinion staff his sophomore year at UO, but had trouble getting an inter- view. At first he was discouraged but when a position opened up two months later, he decided he would make the most of the opportunity. He came with a column idea in mind. It was going to be called “In These Eyes” and use personality profiles to convey arguments through the perspec- tives of his interviewees. Harris had two story ideas already pre- pared. “I wanted to put myself in a position where they had to hire me,” says Harris. “It definitely made me hungrier and more See NEWS on page 3 Mom Strikes Back Against Son’s Murderer Lucy Mashia organizes press for witnesses in death of L.J. Irving N obody has been charged with the murder of Leonard James Irving. So far. “People know who did this, but they won’t get on the witness stand,” says his mother Lucy Mashia. “If they don’t put these killers away then they will go on to kill more people. “Somebody else’s mother is going to be sad.” Mashia, who works as a drug and alcohol counselor for the nonprofit Central City Concern, talked to The Skanner News in her kitchen. On the wall, photos show her son as he was in life: a handsome smiling man with his arms around his mom and his little sister Shauncey. On the outside, in her soft, cream dress and matching heels, this pretty woman looks put-together. Inside, she’s struggling. “The grief has been overwhelming,” she says. “I’ve got three little kids without a daddy. They don’t understand. They were at his house waiting for him to get home. “It’s so sad. My daughter is devastated by her brother’s death. And his dad is devastat- ed.” L.J., as he was known to family and See MURDER on page 3
