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