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F EBRUARY 22, 2012
S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON
V OLUME XXXIV, N O . 8
25
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
FAIR CONTRACTING
Pushed
Out, Left
Behind?
‘Kiddie racial profiling’
feeds achievement
gap, prison system
By Lisa Loving
Of The Skanner News
Part 1: Defining the Problem
T
See ARMY on page 3
See KIDS on page 2
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
from other people. Soldiers
diagnosed with PTSD gain at
least a 50 percent rating of dis-
ability, and qualify for pensions,
family health insurance and
other financial benefits.
In 2011, an ombudsman
investigated complaints from
soldiers who said the forensic
psychiatric team had reversed
earlier diagnoses of PTSD and
tagged some of them as possible
malingerers.
The ombudsman also wrote a
memo about a lecture in which a
amberlee Tarver’s son Camron has
been suspended from his North Port-
land school nine times since last
October.
He’s run away from teachers, tried to run
away from school, spit on a teacher and
thrown papers on the floor.
Camron has a short list of disabilities
impacting his coordination and his ability to
focus – and now has been diagnosed with an
anxiety disorder.
A kindergartner, Cameron is five years
old.
“I’m currently looking for a therapist to
undo some of the damage that’s been done
so far – because my son’s turned into a
whole different person,” Tarver says.
Who knew that little kids could be kicked
out of school? But a 2005 study by Yale
University found that in Oregon, preschool-
ers are expelled at twice the rate of school-
aged kids, and that black toddlers are
expelled at about twice the rate of their
white counterparts – even higher than the
national average
Not only are the littlest African American
students banished from classes at higher
rates than their teenaged counterparts, but
nationwide, Black students are punished
with classroom dismissals at a far higher
rate than any other group throughout the k-
12 system – especially if they’re in special
ed programs.
Yet, many researchers say, there is no evi-
dence that Black kids act out more than any
others.
Despite the fact that the dynamic has been
known and recognized for generations,
many educational policymakers have been
slow to move on the evidence that hundreds
of millions of dollars could be saved by
state and local governments with one simple
policy: use suspensions and expulsions as
Members of the business community, veterans and community activists visited the offices of Senators Murray and
Cantwell to present evidence of the low utilization of African American Contractors on Federally funded construction
projects and to insist that the 1964 Civil Rights Act is enforced.
Investigation into Soldier Care
Army medical center commander removed during PTSD probe
SEATTLE (AP) — The
Army has removed the head of
the Madigan Army Medical
Center in Washington state dur-
ing an investigation into
whether soldiers had diagnoses
of post-traumatic stress disorder
reversed to reduce medical
costs.
“This is a common practice
during ongoing investigations
and nothing more,” Maj. Gen.
Phillip Volpe, who heads the
Western Region Medical Com-
mand, said Monday about the
removal of Col. Dallas Homas.
Homas is a West Point gradu-
ate whose career has included
deployments to Afghanistan and
Iraq, where he served as com-
mand surgeon. His military hon-
ors include two Bronze Stars,
The Seattle Times reported.
“I remain optimistic that the
truth will come out with these
investigations,” Homas said. “I
don’t feel that I or my team have
done anything wrong.”
Homas was appointed com-
mander at Madigan in March
2011. The center is on Joint
Base Lewis-McChord near
INDEX
News ........................2,3
Calendar ....................2
Opinion ....................4,5
A&E .............................6
Bids/Classifieds............7
Tacoma and serves thousands of
soldiers who have been to Iraq
and Afghanistan.
The focus of the Army Med-
ical Command investigation is a
Madigan forensic psychiatric
team that has the lead role in
screening soldiers being consid-
ered for medical retirement due
to PTSD, a condition that results
from experiencing or seeing a
traumatic event, such as a bat-
tlefield casualty.
Symptoms can include recur-
rent nightmares, flashbacks,
irritability and feeling distant
Celebrity Journalism: Women’s Roles
‘The corporately defined standards of beauty remain very narrow,
By Sean Duncan
Special To The Skanner News
A
journey to the grocery-store cashier
often involves a trip down the
celebrity magazine hall of shame.
Whether you enjoy it or can’t believe the
hype, you are showered with sensational
headlines about the most intimate details of
celebrities’ lives.
Susan Douglas, author and professor at
University of Michigan, discussed this at
the University of Washington on Feb. 15 in
a special lecture entitled, “Starstruck: The
explosion of celebrity journalism and corro-
sion of the nightly news since 9/11.”
“Beginning in the 1990s and accelerating
wildly in the first decade of the 21st centu-
ry, celebrity culture has moved from the
margins of the mass media, into its oracles
and ventricles,” Douglas said, contrasting it
with the decline in international news con-
tent.
Douglas said one reason celebrity culture
became popular is because, after 9/11,
women were not celebrated in the world of
politics, but their opinions and presence
were valuable in celebrity gossip culture.
See MEDIA on page 3