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