News
Project Clean Slate: Fugitive Surrenders
By Lisa Loving
Of The Skanner News
A
fter 13 years on the run from law enforcement, Tim-
othy Luther McNair decided to change his life — so
he called up Project Clean Slate.
Still the only program of its kind in the nation, Clean Slate
is a cooperative effort between the African American
Chamber of Commerce, the Multnomah County Circuit
Court and the County District Attorney’s office.
The program’s participants – if they are accepted and ful-
fill all its terms — are able to resolve outstanding warrants
and legal problems without becoming mired in the criminal
justice system.
And they only get to do it once.
The idea, its founder says, is to “help people get back on
track rather than building more jails to keep people behind
bars.”
“I’m doing this now because I have a calling in my life,
as a minister, and also to effect change in the Portland area
– and I knew I couldn’t effect change with this hanging over
my head,” McNair told a bank of reporters last weekend
just before turning himself in. He’s been booked and is now
at the county jail, where he’s waiting to find out whether he
will be granted bail.
Charged in 1999 as an ex-felon in possession of a firearm
— and violating parole for skipping town when he should
have been at trial – McNair is now a minister who says his
goal is to work with at-risk youth in his home town.
“We don’t cut any deals, we don’t make any promises,”
says Roy Jay, the project’s founder, and the director of the
AACC. “What we do is give people the opportunity to face
the music and get on with their lives.”
Clean Slate made a splash in 2005 with its first event, a
massive “surrender day” for anyone with unresolved traffic
tickets, fines, and other mostly low-level charges such as
failure to pay child support and driving while intoxicated.
Nearly 3,000 people showed up, clutching old paperwork.
Crews from the DA’s office, judges from the Circuit Court
system, volunteer attorneys and social services providers
processed the paperwork and signed the applicants up for
community service – and in some cases drug treatment,
food stamps or health insurance.
Once they completed the terms of their agreements, the
applicants’ records were cleared, wiping out a huge backlog
of unresolved cases for law enforcement while giving indi-
viduals a better chance at housing and jobs.
The program ballooned, then stalled for lack of financial
support. But that
changed in 2007,
when the Oregon
State Legislature
first folded the pro-
gram into the state
budget.
In addition to
facing the charges
against them, par-
ticipants
are
Luther McNair
required to go
through an educa-
tional program taught by Clean Slate staff, with help from
law enforcement.
“We also are trying to provide people with some tools and
resources on how to clean up your credit, how to become a
better citizen,” Jay said. “So it’s not about wiping the slate
clean so people can start having the same problems over
again — they must go through this rigorous process, but as
I tell people in court, your attitude determines your altitude
in life,” he said.
Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Shrunk
recalls a similar effort “many, many years ago” between the
DA’s office and the Public Defender, in which annual “sur-
render days” aimed at clearing a backlog of unresolved
cases.
But, Schrunk says, Project Clean Slate does it better.
“It’s interesting in talking to people around the country
about it, they scratch their heads and wonder,” he says.
“Most of the participants, it’s a hindrance for them getting
a job, hindrance getting a driver’s license, hindrance for
them to start going in the right direction, and so they get
caught in this shadow culture,” Schrunk said.
McNair told reporters that his life was changed by his
brother, who started a nonprofit group serving youth.
Recently the brother has become so ill he can’t continue the
work on his own, and McNair wants to step in and keep it
going.
He admitted to reporters, before turning himself in, that
he committed other crimes years ago that he was never
charged with, including drug dealing.
“In a perfect world I would have learned that — ok the
mistakes that I made were stupid, you know? I wish that
instead of using my gifts in the criminal world, I had used
them in the corporate world – we wouldn’t be here today,”
he said.
“I destroyed a lot of lives with the amount of drugs that I
dealt in the streets of Portland, and I wouldn’t wish that on
anybody.”
Schrunk said two of the common elements in Clean Slate
participants are that they never deny doing the crime, and
they all look ahead to the future.
“They’re not saying they didn’t deserve to get the ticket
or didn’t deserve to get the conviction, it’s just – what do we
do now? Can’t we move forward? And Clean Slate is one of
the things that’s making them move forward,” Schrunk
said.
“So it’s been a win-win-win.”
Reach Project Clean Slate at 503-244-5794.
Health
continued from page 12
“The impact of either the court invalidating the Afford-
able Care Act or some subsequent Congress repealing the
Affordable Care Act would be devastating to small busi-
nesses,” said Maryland Lt. Governor, Anthony G. Brown.
“We would just continue on this same unsustainable path
that we’ve been on for the last few decades. That path has
put America as a nation at spending more per patient than
any other country, yet there are at least 50 countries that
best us when it comes to the quality of care and health qual-
ity outcomes.”
The last part of the law to take effect will oversee a major
shift in the way doctors are to be paid. Beginning January
1, 2015, physicians will earn their pay based on the quality
of the service they provide. If patients are receiving low
quality care, physicians will get a low quality check.
The Act has already made preventative care free of
charge for Medicare recipients. Children can now be cov-
ered on their parent’s health insurance up to age 26 and
citizens 19 and younger can no longer be excluded from
coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
Those arguments closed after three days and a decision is
Page 16 The Portland Skanner April 25, 2012