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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (July 11, 2012)
Local News Camp continued from page 1 Recruiting are also sponsors. The boot camp is broken down into four sessions. Upcoming sessions will be held July 14, Aug. 4 and Aug. 11. The first session featured catering by The Green Lady and a talk from guest speaker Stic.man of the group Dead Prez. “What we lack is inspira- tion and motivation,” says Stic.man. “Every 30 seconds on TV we see ‘Supersize this.’ Taco Bell everywhere. CrackDonald’s and Murderking.” Following a conscious music warm- up activity, students were treated to a vegan breakfast, along with a testimo- nial from Stic.man. He shared how his turning point came when he was 21 and starting to taste success from his music career. is a type of arthritis that occurs when uric acid builds up in the blood and causes joint inflammation. “The doctor offered me a prescription for more drugs,” says Stic.man. “He said that would take care —Stic.man of the symptoms and ‘If you need some more, come holla at me.’” At that point he decided to explore natural healing. Stic.man says he began exercising regularly and taking meat out of his diet. ‘Every 30 seconds on TV we see ‘Supersize this.’ Taco Bell everywhere. CrackDonald’s and Murderking’ Stic.man says he was drinking too much alcohol, smoking too much weed, not exercising and eating an unhealthy diet. When he woke up from one night of hard partying, he found his left ankle was swollen. He was diagnosed with gout, which Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com Mugshots Green Lady catered the camp’s vegan menu. continued from page 1 While both the mugshot websites and the mugshot-removal websites reap big bucks, critics argue that they increase recidivism and damage the economy by making it harder for a significant number of people to find a job. How many people? One website in Flori- da reportedly carries some 4 million mugshots alone — and those are just of peo- ple who are too poor to pay to get them taken down again. For their part, mugshot website operators argue that they are performing a valuable public service by shaming miscreants and deterring others from criminal acts through fear of the commercial mugshot industry. However while law enforcement agencies have posted mugshots online for years, the profit motive in private sites doing the same thing has been boosted by a handful of fac- tors: liberal “sunshine laws” that mean most states consider mugshots to be public docu- ments freely available online without any request process; the down economy, which has likely increased the number of mugshots overall; the number of out-of- work web code writers; and search engine optimization. This issue blew up in Kansas last week when a freshly-minted mugshot website appeared that offered a $199 take-down service right on the home page – considered a rare step, although a Portland website had already done something similar. Entrepreneur Matthew Creed had set up a website not only posting mugshots next to a direct-pay removal option, but he also planned to send out snail-mail notices to the mug owners – and their neighbors — in envelopes printed with the mugshot and the words, “We know!” Creed won even more headlines a few days after the Kansas City Star reported on his business; he’d received so many death threats that he closed the site and moved his wife and two kids out of the area, news reports said. Which is why Diane says she doesn’t want to reveal her full name – she’s afraid of harassment from mugshot website sup- porters. Oregon and Washington State appear to lack a movement or any governmental champion against mugshot websites, but in the state of Idaho, Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney has taken one of the toughest stands in the country – if not the toughest – on keeping mugshot scrapers off his turf. The issue is compelling, Raney says, because mugshot websites increase recidi- vism and represent a form of digital extor- tion – and the information they contain is not truly accurate. “We want justice to be served but we also want whatever happened to that person to make sure that they don’t do it again,” Raney said. “It’s not just the punitive part of go to jail, ‘They’re only out to make a fast buck at somebody else’s expense’ -- Sheriff Gary Raney or pay a fine or serve community service. It’s what we do to change that behavior.” The sheriff was adamant that posting mugshots online is a crime deterrent – but, he said, the way law enforcement has tradi- tionally done that involves posting com- plete information about the case including whether the arrestee was charged after arrest, whether the charges were dropped or withdrawn. Plus, the mugs are taken down after a period of time. “All of the community feedback I get is that posting the mugshots does have very good value in deterrence and in helping people and you should keep it up,” Raney said. “The flipside of that is the profiteering – when it’s not credible information, because we just had one recently where somebody was arrested for lewd conduct or sexual abuse of a minor, and that charge was with- drawn, and we were able to correct that on the website immediately and get that picture off,” he said. Raney says there is no question that mugshot websites represent a significant barrier for people trying to get their lives together. “A person who loses their job, you just increased the likelihood of recidivism for that offender. Or they’re embarrassed in front of their family – family social support networks are one of the greatest things to reduce recidivism, and now you’re decreas- ing that,” he says. “They’re only out to make a fast buck at somebody else’s expense.” Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com Hattie continued from page 1 ness, a homicide, a charge of corrupting a minor and, for Redmond’s husband, an early death in the poor house. Hattie’s Parents Lived in St. Louis Lenzen discovered that Hattie’s father Reuben Crawford was born enslaved in 1828, in either Missouri or Virginia. She believes he was the same Reuben Crawford who was emancipated in November 1862, by a banker and grocer from Mississippi, called William H. Glasgow. Hatties mother, Vina, was emancipated in October 1862 by a Stephen F. Summers. Southern businessmen who wanted to work in the Northern states had to sign an oath of loyalty to the U.S. constitution, Lenzen says, which meant emancipating any slaves they held. Like the famous writer and orator, Freder- ick Douglass, Reuben was trained as a caulker,a trade that offered steady work and decent wages. Caulkers sealed the seams of wooden ships, making them waterproof and seaworthy. Reuben registered for the Union draft in 1863, but Lenzen found no record that he actually served. Lenzen found that Reuben had been “shifting for himself” since the age of 13. His struggles may have influenced Hattie to struggle for her own rights. “That really hits you because he was on his own from 13 years old,” Lenzen says. “He was most likely sold to become a ship caulker. So why did Hattie do this? Her father must have been a big part of the rea- son.” In 1914, an Oregonian article called ‘This is an incredible family. It’s not just Hattie; it’s everybody’ —genealogist Connie Lenzen Reuben perhaps the “best known ship caulker on the coast.” He was 86 then, but had just retired. City directories for 1864-68 list Reuben and Vina as living on Kosciusko and later Wyoming streets near the St. Louis water- front. A William Crawford, also a caulker, possibly Reuben’s brother, also lived there. The Move to Portland Hattie was born in St. Louis around 1862, the oldest of eight children—five daughters and three sons – born to Reuben and Vina. Cupid D. Crawford and William Crawford also were born in Missouri by 1866. But then the family disappears from St. Louis, They must have traveled to Marysville, Calif., because Susan Crawford was born there in 1871. Then they moved to Hood River, where Mary Frances Crawford was born in 1873. Also born in Oregon were: Elizabeth “Lizzie”; Benjamin; and Blanche. In the 1870 census the family is listed liv- ing in Wasco County, but by 1880, the Crawfords were living in Portland. Lenzen found that they were active in their church, Mt. Olivet, and on the social scene. A news story records that Hattie recited the poem, “I’m So Happy,” at a benefit organized by A.M.E. Zion Church. “These were very social people, who were very active in their community, socially and politically,” Lenzen says. Reuben was a singer who “delighted the audience with a beautiful song, ‘Free as a Bird,’” at the Good Samaritans 4th anniver- sary celebration. He was a member of the Republican Lincoln Club, and also active in the Portland Colored Immigration Society, set up to persuade more African Americans to come to Oregon. From the earliest Oregon records, Reuben Crawford was registered to vote. And he kept registering and voting, and working too, until he was 86 years old. His hand- writing is firm, but printed, which suggests he probably did not get much education. But all the Crawford children learned to read and write. No wonder Hattie was an activist, Lenzen says. “He was her motivation, I’m sure, because he registered early and he regis- tered often, and here he is registering at 86. This man was incredible. I’m sure he walked to register, and he walked to vote, and he’s walking to work right into his 80s. “This is an incredible family. It’s not just Hattie; it’s everybody,” she says. Visit theskanner.com to read about Hat- tie’s marriage and the trubulent life of her brother Cupid. Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com July 11, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 3 R
