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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 2012)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM O CTOBER 17, 2012 P ORTLAND , O REGON V OLUME XXXV, N O . 2 25 CENTS C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW PAALF is looking for seasoned professionals Bruce Poinsette Of The Skanner News P roper representation amongst decision makers has long been a gripe in the Black community. The Portland African American Leadership Forum (PAALF) is launching its African American Leadership Academy this month to address the problem. “We recognize that as much as there may be folks in our community that we consider leaders, we do not have good representation at the tables where decisions are being made that impact the African American communi- ty,” says PAALF co-chair Tony Hopson. “If you really want people in there, you have to identify them, groom them and position them to be able to run for these positions and step into these roles.” The new program is part of the group’s larger effort to re-introduce itself and con- tinue to tackle issues specifically impacting Portland’s Black community. PAALF is part of the broader African American Leadership Forum, which was started in Minnesota in 2007. It spawned from a conversation about the unprecedent- ed number of Blacks in leadership positions in Minneapolis at the time and how the city’s Black community could take advan- tage to address its needs. Once the group formalized and developed specific initia- tives, it got funding from the Northwest Area Foundation. The success of the program prompted conversations on how it could be replicated in other areas with smaller Black popula- tions. In 2009, Portland became the subject of one of those conversations. According to PAALF director Cyreena Boston Ashby, around two dozen leaders, representing everyone from clergy to non- profits to business leaders, gathered to create a policy forum model for the Portland organization. The initial fiscal agent was the Urban League oft Portland. LOVE FOR LINDA An all-star cast of Portland blues, soul and R&B artists are coming together in Love for Linda, a benefit for Portland soul diva Linda Hornbuckle, at Jimmy Mak’s, Sunday, Nov. 11. Recently diagnosed with kidney cancer, Hornbuckle is taking a leave from work and performing while undergoing treatment. Read more about the artist, and the benefit show, on page 8. Parrish Bennette Before His Arrest What did Oregon’s child abuse and juvenile justice systems know? By Helen Silvis Of The Skanner News S ince March 30, 2011, Par- rish Bennette Jr. has been held in Multnomah Coun- ty’s Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Center. He is accused of killing 14-year-old Yashanee Vaughn and burying her body on the slopes of Rocky Butte, less than two months after his 16th birthday. The charges he faces, murder and manslaughter, fall under Oregon’s Measure 11, which See LEADERS on page 3 INDEX News ............2,3,13-15 Opinion ..................4,5 Church ......................6 A & E ...............8-10,16 Food........................12 Bids/Classifieds ........15 PHOTO BY NORM EDA More Leaders on Tap treats accused teens as adults and sets out mandatory mini- mum punishments. If Parrish is found guilty of murder, he will serve a minimum of 25 years in prison, but could be sentenced to longer. If he is found guilty of manslaughter in the first degree, his sentence will be at least 10 years. If he is found innocent, he will have served two years in jail. The trial date has been set over until Feb. 1, 2013. Whatever the outcome, grief will endure for the family that lost a beloved daughter, grand- daughter, sister and niece. Many hearts were broken when Yasha- nee’s bright light went suddenly dark. “She was an incredibly charming and friendly young lady,” says Elizabeth Jensen principal of Open Meadow Middle School. “She was a big, magnetic personality.” Parrish told his father that he shot Yashanee accidentally. But it was four months before the teen led investigators to Yasha- nee’s body. She was found buried three-feet underground on the wild hillside. Yashanee’s grandmother Reynelda Hayes says the family is tormented by a host of unan- swered questions. Without the facts, they’re left to join the dots in any way that seems to make sense. What happened on the night of March 19, 2011? What were the circumstances of Yashanee’s death? Who carried her body taken to its lonely grave? Why did nobody see or hear See PARRISH on page 13 Bob Stoll Goes to Bat for Consumers Portland attorney on advisory board for CFPB in Washington, D.C. By Helen Silvis Of The Skanner News P ortland attorney Robert Stoll has retired from his law firm –but only so he can get back to work for American consumers. The Obama administration has tapped Stoll to champion ordinary Ameri- cans dealing with the powerful financial services industry. It’s familiar territory for Stoll who found- ed the law firm Stoll Berne, and spent 40 years fighting consumer and investor fraud cases. “We have a lot of experience in bringing banks and financial institutions to justice through the courts,” he says. As one of 25 people – chosen from around 1,000 candidates – he will serve on the Con- sumer Advisory Board that will advise Richard Cordray director of the new federal Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Stoll is the only member from the Northwest. Created in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, the bureau is responsi- ble for regulating banks, credit card companies, the insurance industry, loans and collections agencies, mortgages and all See STOLL on page 3
