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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 2012)
WWW . THESKANNEr . COM F EBruArY 8, 2012 P OrTLANd , O rEGON V OLuME XXXIV, N O . 6 25 CENTS For The Skanner news alerts Text "NEWS" to 503-715-0890 or scan this QR code C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW Girls’ Fight on TriMet 106 AND PARK Documents show the December incident not ‘racially based’ By Lisa Loving Of The Skanner News PHOTO BY HELEN SILVIS A violent incident between teenaged girls on a MAX train, caught on a cell phone the day after Christmas, is apparently not the “hate crime” that some television stations reported. Documents obtained by The Skanner News – as well as the complete video tape of the tussle, in which no one was injured – show that the white, female victim was not a random target of racist black teens. Rather, according to police reports, the victim first engaged with her attackers in a verbal altercation over a flirtation with her boyfriend, in the moments before the slap- ping and hitting depicted in the video. Documents show that two of the women charged in the incident are being pressured to accept a plea bargain that would send them to the Coffee Creek Prison for 15-18 months. “This is the only offer I will make and am doing so because I believe the public should know, as soon as possible, that this crime was not a race based attack but had a com- pletely separate motive,” wrote Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney John Copic to the women’s lawyer, James Britt of Calhoun & Fishback, in a memo on Jan. 26. Sandra Abiori, the grandmother of two of the teens, says the incident has been mis- characterized as a racist attack and, with the help of the media, blown out of proportion. “I’m not saying that the girls were in the right – they should never have hit anyone,” she says. “The problem I have is that, here this girl opened her mouth and started a fight – and now my family has to face prison time? “Where’s the fairness in that?” Meanwhile, white supremacists have taken the complete video clip and reposted it on a racist YouTube channel with the cap- tion, “Portland: MAX Green Line Train - Anti-white Mob Assault on White Teenage Aaron Obryan Smith, pictured here performing at Self Enhancement Inc.’s birthday party last summer, was a winner on BET’s popular 106 and Park show. Big Mike from the show will be holding auditions from noon-3p.m. Saturday Feb. 18 at Oregon Outreach/Gladys McCoy Academy, 3802 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Get Better Health Care at a Lower Cost? Patient/Physician co-operatives offer new solution for uninsured By Helen Silvis Of The Skanner News A ffordable health care may seem out of reach for many working adults. But a group of healthcare workers and patients have come up with a new plan for low-cost health services. If it succeeds, it could help create a better health care future for us all. “We’re not waiting for politi- cal things to happen,” says Morgan Butler, membership See TRIMET on page 3 INDEX News ......2,3,6,7,13,14 Opinion ..................4,5 A & E ......................8,9 Health ................10-12 Obituaries................13 Bids/Classifieds ........15 services community organizer for Patient Physician Coopera- tives Portland. “We’re creating our own thing, which seems to work a lot better and a lot faster. “We want people to know they can have a primary care provider right now. And they won’t have to wait months for an appointment.” Patient Physician Coopera- tives Portland (PPCPdx) is not an insurance policy. It is a non- profit that brings together physicians and patients outside of the traditional insurance model. To join the co-operative, patients pay $18 a month. That basic $18 membership fee allows members to see any participating medical provider at discounted Medicare rates. Members can call and speak to a doctor by phone or webcam at any time, through the co-op’s TeleDoc service. Yes, that’s 24/7. Membership also brings a pre- scription drug discount of around 54 percent. And it covers medical advocacy. If you need surgery, for example, advocates will work with you to help you get a discounted rate. They will go over your bills and challenge any questionable charges. On top of basic membership, you can also choose a primary care doctor and agree to pay them a fixed monthly fee for a year. The fee, which varies from doctor to doctor, pays for a number of no-pay visits during that year. Doctors all set their own rates, which cover several no-pay visits. Kirsten Carr M.D. charges her See CARE on page 12 Portland Youth Summit This Weekend Talent show, business and personal improvement workshops--free A talent show with prizes. A freestyle, confidence building workshop. How to succeed in hip hop without selling your soul. All this and much more are on the menu at Portland’s Sixth Annual Youth Summit, “The Mis-Education of Our Youth,” set for this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 10-11 in Smith Hall at Portland State University. A talent show called Free Ya Mind and Your Swag Will Follow kicks off the event Friday evening. Young artists from Port- land and around the state will showcase their dancing, singing, musical and spoken word performances to compete for the grand prize – a photo shoot with Adrian Adel, the photographer of choice for many of Portland’s hip hop artists. Rip City Kingz will host the show. Saturday is filled with workshops to help young people find their creative confidence and develop skills in music, writing, freestyling, the business of hip hop, and even –sex and love. The keynote speaker is recording artist and activist Jasiri X of Pittsburg. In his address, Jasiri X will talk about: How To Succeed in Hip-Hop Without Selling Your- See YOUTH on page 3
