WWW . THESKANNEr . COM
F EBruArY 8, 2012
P OrTLANd , O rEGON
V OLuME XXXIV, N O . 6
25
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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