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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2012)
Local News Garbage Sheriffs and Kids continued from page 1 changes to city code, but conced- ed that only San Francisco includes fines for violators. Fines would be a last resort, she said. “We try to do everything we can to work with the customer to many tens of thousands of pounds. It’s a very small percent- age.” Michael Armstrong, policy and operations manager for the Bureau of Planning and Sustain- ability, explained that the confidentiality proposal came about so people could feel safe reporting a sidewalk obstruction. “We typically protect the name of the person to keep them safe,” he said. Armstrong said that the Office of Neighborhood Involvement and the Office of Development Services have similar confidentiality rules for similar reasons. However, he affirmed that once written into the code it would apply across the board, “to all parts of the solid waste code.” Won’t that encourage people with grievances to use the city to get another person into trouble? “We never take action on the basis of someone telling us some- thing,” Armstrong says. “We always look into it ourselves, depending on what the issue is.” not get there. My intent would be to never use it but to have it be there.” Leonard said he would vote for the ordinance if it made clear that fines would not be levied. And Commissioner Dan Salzman said underlying the issue was the change from weekly to bi-weekly garbage collection. Only a small number of house- holders are putting waste in the wrong bins, Anderson said. “…100 lbs a week out of many, LISA LOVING PHOTO Proposed code changes would spell out violations, keep confidential names of neighbors who complain Volunteers from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office broke ground Tuesday morning for a new basketball/sport court for the Community Transitional School, which serves kids whose families are homeless, in transition and experiencing chronic poverty related crises. Volunteers from many local businesses as well as MCSO Court Services Captain Rai Adgers expected to complete the facility by next week. Here Sheriff Dan Staton commemorated the new sports court with Transitional School students. Gangs continued from page 1 way: The East Portland Community Violence Prevention Meeting is at 6 p.m. June 20 at Papa’s Pizza parlor, 16321 S.E. Stark St. The East Portland Neighborhood Violence Prevention Committee is scheduled to meet on the third Wednesday of every month. The Northeast Portland Community Vio- lence Prevention Meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. June 26 at the Northeast Police precinct, 449 N.E. Emerson St. The North- east meeting is now scheduled for the last Tuesday of each month. The Office of Youth Violence prevention promotes the 360 degrees strategy, which combines efforts to keep youth on the right track through activities, education, family support and outreach to gang members with arrest and prosecution for violent crimes. “We have over 800 documented gang members in the city and we can’t arrest all of them,” said “It’s going to be about changing mindsets.” The meeting included a discussion about guns. Russ Corno, a police officer with the gang enforcement team said more young people are carrying weapons, and so when argu- ments or fights break out they are more like- ly to shoot. When youth know they will be stopped and searched for weapons, they don’t carry guns, Corno said, which makes for more opportunity to think and change their course before shooting. Portland. Salazar said she believes more girls are carrying weapons. Corno said police are watching the people they believe are most likely to use weapons. “We definitely know who we need to tar- get,” he said. “It’s a small percentage who are committing the violence.” ‘We definitely know who we need to target. It’s a small percentage who are committing the violence’ -- Portland Police Officer Russ Corno “That definitely is a fact,” he said. “The less they have firearms on them the less likely they are to spontaneously start shoot- ing.” Harris said that arguments and fights increase the demand for guns, so preventing minor arguments from escalating is impor- tant. And Valerie Salazar, an outreach work- er with IRCO, said young women have been at the heart of several recent fights in East From his enforcement perspective, Corno wants to see shooters prosecuted for the most serious crimes, instead of having charges reduced to lesser crimes. That’s because if a youth has a felony conviction, they can be prosecuted for having a weapon when they return to the community. “It’s a hammer to maybe get them to change their behavior,” he said. Art Alexander, safety manager with Port- result of the named officials’ negligence in failing to timely and expeditiously protect plaintiff from attack, and or minimize housing of white supremacists in the gener- al population.” The lawsuit claims $75,000 in pain, suf- land Parks, said we give youth the message that they need weapons. Video games like ‘Call of Duty’, for example, tell youth that shooting a gun is how you become a hero,” he said. “They are inundated with messages that say: Guns are cool You’ve got to have a gun, and It doesn’t matter because it’s urban war- fare out there.” For children in safe, healthy, comfortable environments, such messages may have lit- tle impact. Not so for children living in communities impacted by violence, Alexan- der said. Around University Park, for exam- ple, “We have a ton of 10-14 year-old kids out here playacting what they see in the community. “How do we get resources there, so we can see a downward trend (in violence)?” Alexander shared plans for summer youth programs in the parks, with free lunches, games, sports, gospel concerts and more. Parks directors try to make sure no kid is turned away for lack of funds, he said. Jail continued from page 1 prior to treatment and transport to a medical facility, delaying treatment and ultimately contributing to and causing permanent loss of vision,” the lawsuit says. The lawsuit also charges that the attackers included a murderer who was held with the general prison population, and an unspeci- fied number of white supremacists. “The wrongful beating and blinding of plaintiff by was a proximate result of the County’s negligent hiring, training and supervision of deputies Hibbs and Scholl,” the lawsuit says. “The wrongful beating of plaintiff by above-named defendants was a proximate Batista had been serving a 20-day sentence at Columbia County Jail rather than paying a large fine for a hunting-related gun violation injury, the negligent housing of a murder[er] in the general population and the fering and medical expenses and $15,000 for the cost of a glass eye. The case was extensively investigated by a Washington County Sheriffs Department detective who turned in a 30-page report, but as yet no charges have been filed against the two known assailants, Ashley Wade Siclovan and Scott David Lavelle. A spokeswoman from the Columbia County District Attorney’s office, said the case remains unresolved. “All I can tell you is it’s still open, so if there ever comes a time that there’s enough evidence (as with any potential case) to charge a crime with, we’d charge,” she told The Skanner News in an email. June 13, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 3
