Local News
F
or the second year running, the Rob
Ingram Youth Summit Against Vio-
lence will bring together Portland
youth to discuss the kinds of violence they
face every day.
The event – totally free to all youth under
21– will be held on Saturday March 16 at
the Ambridge Event Center, 1333 N.E. Mar-
tin Luther King Jr., Boulevard, Portland.
The event is an
opportunity for youth
from all communities to
make their voices count
Organized and run by Multnomah Youth
Commission, the event is designed to give
young people room to speak their truth.
Breakfast will start at 9:15 a.m. followed
by activities, a panel featuring young peo-
ple, sharing stories, lunch, and sessions
where youth tell adults their opinions about
how to deal with different kinds of violence
and how to help youth succeed.
Discussions will look at violence in the
home, in relationships, on the Internet, in
gangs, from police, and in school. Restora-
tive justice, an alternative to punishment
will also be discussed. Youth willing to co-
lead sessions on gang violence, police and
cyberbullying are still needed at the event.
Raffles in the afternoon will deliver 40
prizes, including: two pairs of Soul Repub-
lic headphones, front-row tickets to the
Portland Timbers v. the L.A. Galaxy; $25
gift certificates to Fred Meyers, I-Tunes;
Regal cinemas and many more; four bas-
ketballs, one signed by the entire Trail-
blazer team; an I-Home; backpacks and
10 soccer balls. The main prize will be a
$250 computer tablet.
Rob Ingram was director of Portland’s
Office of Youth Violence Prevention
until his death in Novemeber 2011. Ingram
was a champion of youth and understood
the difficulties facing youth of color, low
income youth and gang-affected youth.
The event is an opportunity for youth
from all communities to make their voices
count. Upcoming City of Portland budget
decisions could strip funding from youth
work programs, such as Summer Works and
PHOTO BY HELEN SILVIS
Rob Ingram Summit Opens March 16
YungMil and Qualisha Carte attended last year.
Summer Youth Connect, for example.
One in four Portlanders is a youth under
the age of 18. All youth are invited to
attend the summit, eat, and take part in this
event. For info go to www.multco.us and
search for Rob Ingram Youth Summit.
Coal
continued from page 1
jected export terminal also are very close to
the tracks.
Multnomah County Health department
issued a report on the proposal last week,
calling for a regional impact study before
any decision is made. That’s supported by
Whatcom County Docs, a group of around
200 doctors in Washington state, who have
reviewed current scientific findings on coal
transportation and pollution.
“The effects of air pollution
are not hypothetical, but real
and measurable,” the doctors
say in a report. “Many of the
reviewed studies, some of
which were conducted in the
Seattle area, show significant
health effects of exposure to
everyday airborne pollutant
levels that are below national
U.S. Environment Protection Agency
guidelines.
“As physicians, we feel the risks to
human health from massive coal shipments
across our state and through our communi-
ties are significant, and we call for a com-
prehensive Health Impact Assessment, in
addition to an Environmental Impact State-
ment, addressing these issues along the
entire rail corridor.”
Increased noise levels from trains are also
a health risk, the doctors note. Noise has
been linked to heart disease, stroke, sleep
disorders, mental illness, and damage to
children’s brain development. Another
potential harmful impact would be delays to
“I don’t think there are any reliable esti-
mates right now that the public can review,”
says Eric de Place, policy director at the
Sightline Institute, an environmental non-
profit. Railroad companies have offered
some numbers (645 lbs over 400 miles their
estimates vary widely vary widely, he says.
“We have a mountain of research that
shows coal dust is extremely hazardous in
an enclosed environment in an occupational
setting. But the public has not
seen research on incidental
exposure to coal dust, and there
are really good reasons to be
concerned.”
Besides the coal trains travel-
ing on the south side of the
Columbia, other plans would
bring coal through Portland on
barges traveling down the
Columbia, and the proposals also call for
additional trains to travel through Washing-
ton State on the north side of the Columbia
River.
People of color, poor people and the eld-
erly are disproportionately represented
among those likely to be most affected.
That’s a concern, because those groups
already suffer from higher rates of heart dis-
ease, asthma and other lung diseases, cancer
and other problems which can be worsened
by air pollution and the stress of train traf-
fic.
Children too are at higher risk because
coal dust, diesel particulates and noise have
been shown to hurt their development. A
child whose lungs are damaged, for exam-
ple, may suffer from decreased lung func-
tion for their whole lives.
Studies have shown that miners and peo-
ple living close to coal mining suffer from
ailments connected to the dust. But far less
is known about the impact of coal from
trains. Weather conditions, track conditions,
the type of coal and how it is loaded all may
play a part.
One study by Burlington Northern Santa
Fe Railroad Co. found that spraying a
chemical on the coal cut 85 percent of the
coal dust. But other railroad companies
called that study “junk science” in an Oct. 1
filing to the Surface Transportation Board.
dents with troubles at home?
Susan Ferris of The Center for Public
Integrity looked at the issue in her report,
“Controversy over cops in schools flares
anew.” Ferris found that increase in the
numbers of police in schools has been
accompanied by controversy over racial
profiling and what critics say are unjustified
arrests for minor discipline problems.
In Los Angeles, for example, more than
40 percent of police tickets went to children
under the age of 14, most of them from low-
income families. And high profile cases in
New York have found students handcuffed
and chained to desks for infractions such as
writing on a desk.
In fact, judges in Los Angeles and else-
where have complained that students are
being sent to court for discipline problems
that schools should handle.
Lawsuits have followed, Ferris says. The
NAACP has filed a civil rights complaint
with the U.S. Department of Education.
And the ACLU has filed several lawsuits
against schools, including in New York, Salt
Lake City, and Denver, Calif.
“In DeSoto County, Miss. officers and a
school district were sued after a bus surveil-
lance video — seen in part by a reporter —
revealed officers unjustifiably arresting
black students, the suit alleged, and threat-
ening others with a “a bullet between the
eyes.”
Still, across the country, politicians and
state legislatures have been moving to add
more police to schools. Ferris reported the
Department of Justice found police pres-
ence in schools increased 40 percent
between 19978 and 2007. Ferris found that
Mississippi, Alabama and Indiana are just
three states proposing to fund more officers
in schools. And Alabama, Arizona,
Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland,
Oklahoma and South Carolina are all con-
sidering bills to arm school staff.
A child whose lungs are damaged
may suffer from decreased lung
function for their whole lives
emergency traffic such as ambulances.
The 19-20 percent increase in train traffic
would increase diesel emissions from the
trains, as well as send an undetermined
amount of coal dust into the air. How much?
Nobody knows.
Search
continued from page 1
Link says if the bill does pass in the Leg-
islature, it will be struck down as unconsti-
tutional.
“I would expect it to be challenged fairly
quickly,” Link said. “I think it’s unconstitu-
tional because it violates both the Fourth
Amendment and Washington State law.
“The Washington state constitution says
you can’t invade privacy without reason to
suspect that a crime has been committed,”
Link says. “Police officers can’t just con-
duct suspicionless searches just because
they want to.”
The issue has been controversial in other
states, especially since the Connecticut
school shooting. Even though the vast
majority of shooting deaths have nothing to
do with schools, NRA spokesman Wayne
LaPierre called for arming teachers. And
several cities have moved to increase police
presence or security in schools.
After Sandy Hook school shooting the
Obama administration allocated $150 mil-
lion to schools, saying it could be used to
hire up to 1,000 more on-campus police or
counselors, or purchase security technolo-
gy.
But civil rights advocates say more police
in schools means more children of color
The issue has been
controversial in other
states, especially
since the Connecticut
school shooting
caught in the school to prison pipeline.
So why we are spending more and more
money on law enforcement in schools,
instead of making schools safer by meeting
the needs of students with inspiring teach-
ers, counselors and staff who can help stu-
March 13, 2013
The Portland Skanner Page 3