Local News
Coal
National Night Out
continued from page 1
According to Sightline, the Burlington
Northern Santa Fe Railroad has said that
each car would leak about a pound of coal
dust into the environment for every mile it
travels.
The Alliance for Northwest Jobs and
Exports, an industry-sponsored group, has
launched
a
media
cam-
paign to per-
suade viewers
that
coal
exports
are
desirable
because they
will bring jobs
and money. Coal companies Peabody Ener-
gy, Arch Coal, Cloud Peak Energy, Kinder
Morgan and Ambre energy all are alliance
members.
Portland companies Gunderson Marine
and Vigor industrial, which have signed
contracts to build coal barges, also joined
the alliance, along with railroad companies
and several unions. They say coal exports
terminals will bring 2500 jobs to the region
as well as millions in taxes.
Both the Port of Portland and the Port of
Vancouver decided not to pursue coal con-
tracts.
But the Port of St. Helens has signaled
interest in the plans. So has the Port of
Longview and other ports in Washington
and Oregon.
Gov. Kitzhaber sent a letter to the Secre-
tary of the Army, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, and the Secretary of the Interior,
Ken Salazar, asking for a study to look at
the full regional environmental impact of
coal transports. Kitzhaber lists concerns that
range from health effects to economic
issues.
METRO councilor, Rex Burkholder said
the
council
will consider a
resolution
Sept. 13 that
lays out con-
cerns
about
coal transports.
“It’s
about
environmental
justice, as well as about transportation and
economics, he says.
“We have 50 crossings in our region,” he
noted. “That could be three or four hours a
day of trains crossing streets. And we move
a lot of goods here. We are a major export
city.”
When potash trains blocked deliveries to
and from the Columbia Sportswear ware-
house in the Rivergate Industrial area,
Burkholder said, the company considered
leaving. The solution was a $16 million
bridge, funded by the public.
“The public pays for bridges over rail
tracks,” Burkholder said. “It won’t be the
railroads who are shipping the coal and
making the profits, and it won’t be the peo-
ple who make the railroad cars.”
Burkholder says the impact on the econo-
my would be complex and may not add jobs
PHOTO BY HELEN SILVIS
“If they pollute the air then we
can act, but it’s too late...”
Rex Burkholder
Residents of the St. Johns Woods and Pier Park apartments held a landmark
celebration Aug. 9, for National Night Out. The gate between the two
complexes – one private, the other run by Portland’s housing authority –
was open for the first time in more than 10 years. Efforts by outreach
workers, housing managers and the residents themselves, have put a halt
to drug dealing and crime. Residents say they now feel safe and able to
come out of their homes and socialize together, after years of being afraid
to do so. The gate between the complexes will now stay open between 7
a.m. and 5 p.m. See more pics on The Skanner News Facebook page.
in the long term.
“If they pollute the air then we can act,
but it’s too late,” Burkholder says.
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Lodge
continued from page 1
Blazak, one of the nation’s top experts in
white supremacy groups, said this week that
he doubted the graffiti was sprayed on the
Masonic Temple by a hate group – and that
in fact, skinhead organizations have passed
their peak years in the Portland metro area.
A founder of the PSU Coalition Against
Hate Crimes – which helps local residents
report and track hate crimes — Blazak has
spent decades researching skinhead and
Nazi groups throughout the region.
“We work on a number of different lev-
els,” he said. “One is of course around the
issue of when there are crimes, can we have
good lines of communication to help solve
the crime – so that’s getting people to report
crimes and getting folks feeling comfort-
able talking to the FBI and to the local
police.
“The other side is getting education
around the issue in the community — so
when a hate crime happens we want victims
to know the resources available to them but
also how communities themselves can best
respond when something happens in their
neighborhood,” Blazak said.
“The good news is that the groups that
had the most strength and the most appeal to
young people in the Portland metro area
have been on the wane for the past few
years,” he said.
“I really don’t think this graffiti was done
by members of these groups because the
swastikas were backwards – and these guys
practice drawing swastikas all the time,”
Blazak said. “If I’m a member of a neo Nazi
group there’s no image I am more familiar
with than the swastika.”
Blazak said research shows that most hate
crimes are not committed by hate groups —
but they may be inspired by those hate
groups.
Casey says the date for the painting party
has not been set as yet, but that plans are for
the event to fall before the memorial Day
holiday so that young people can get
involved.
Email her for more information at nola-
jean1979@yahoo.com.
nobody was hurt.
Frison was arrested and charged with
three counts of attempted murder and five
counts of unlawful use of a weapon — one
for each bullet he fired.
Because none of the victims showed up at
trial, the attempted murder charges were
dropped. He was sentenced to serve a
mandatory 60 months sentence.
Offered the chance to join the
CPR program, Frison seized his
opportunity. He worked the
program for six months before
his release in 2009, and for a
year afterward.
For the first nine months he
struggled to find employment.
Frison completed a pre-
apprenticeship training, gradu-
ating at the top of his class. That earned him
his first job at Walsh Construction. Now a
father, his construction career has allowed
him to make a living and support his fami-
ly. In 2012 CPR hired him as a mentor.
He found the move difficult.
Despite having a supportive family, a girl-
friend and a strong academic record – he
had 27 credits as a sophomore – Augustus
made a fateful decision. When some other
students were bothering him he got hold of
a gun and shot it over their heads.
“It was a scare tactic on my behalf,” he
says. “I thought that would put a stop to the
With that rash decision, Augustus threw
away his chance to fulfill a lifelong dream
of becoming a U.S. Marine. Yet he says he’s
not 100 percent disappointed he went to jail.
“It helped me save my life because I could
have been killed out here,” he says. “It gave
me the opportunity to find change and to get
help, so I can be successful.”
The Community Partner Reinvestment
program, worked with Augustus in
jail and after his release, to help
him rebuild his life. He graduated
in July, six months early because he
already had achieved his goals.
Married and the father of a tod-
dler, Augustus is now going to col-
lege with the goal of becoming a
certified personal trainer.
He’s been working, but now
hopes to land a graveyard job by the begin-
ning of next term.
“I’m open to anything and I’m a fast
learner,” he says. “Show me something
once, and I’ll learn it.”
CPR
continued from page 1
bery,” he told The Skanner News.
Once released from detention, Frison was
placed in foster care. But he continued to
get into trouble for “smoking marijuana,
drinking, hanging out with friends, and not
respecting the rules my P.O. wanted me to
follow.”
After working with drug and alcohol
counselor Rhybon Mayfield, Frison got
back on track. He had a 4.0 GPA, he says,
and was allowed to return home. But he
soon learned, “the program credits were
only worth half a regular credit,” leaving
him behind.
The disappointment sent the sophomore
spinning back into trouble.
On a warm afternoon in 2005, Frison,
now 17, and his girlfriend were on 33rd
Avenue near Wilshire Park when a car of
rival gang members, including someone he
had a conflict with, drove up.
Afraid he and his girlfriend would be
attacked, Frison pulled out his gun.
“As they backed up, I shot at the car,” he
said. “It was crazy. There was a picnic
going on, two baseball games and two sep-
arate parties. Sixteen people witnessed it.”
Fortunately for everyone involved,
“I love my job,” he says. “I can
reassure them because I’ve been
through the same things they’ve
been through.”
The Graduate
DeAngelo Augustus was 16 when he
moved to Northeast Portland from Atlanta.
problem.”
DeAngelo was charged as an adult with
Aggravated Attempted Murder and Assault
II. He ended up going to jail for nine years.
“I don’t have any hard feelings toward
anybody—not the police, not the correc-
tions department,” he says. “It was not what
they did that put me there. It was what I
did.”
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August 15, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 3