Local News
Asbestos
Easter Family
porters in Washington County have come
together to keep the Westside club open.
They are looking for long-term funding
solutions for the youth center.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Portland Metro-
politan Area stepped in to take over the East
Portland youth center. But Erin Hubert the
CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs said she was
never informed that the floor tiles contain
asbestos.
“This is the first time I’m hearing this,
that there is asbestos in the floor,” Hubert
said. “All my concern has been about the
roof. We knew there is asbestos in the roof
and there are tiles falling down and leaks.
So my first question was is it safe?”
Hubert says she has been in talks with the
City of Gresham, who own the building and
was told that the building was safe enough
to keep open the program. But she says she
also was informed that the building had
passed an OSHA inspection.
In fact, OSHA looked at the building on
Jan 10 and March 6, 2013 and found that
damaged tiles on the staff and girls’ rest-
room floors present a risk of exposure. The
vinyl floor tiles contain 2-3 percent
asbestos. Now she knows, Hubert says she
will be on the case.
“”We’re going to get it fixed as soon as
possible,” she says.
Hubert has been working with the City of
Gresham, which owns the building, to
assess all the possible safety issues in the
building and fix them. She says the building
was closed for two days for cleaning and
repair. And she also initiated two additional
inspections: a fire safety inspection and a
cleanliness inspection so that staff could
feel safe serving food.
Hubert says her first plan was to build a
new center at the site before demolishing
the existing one. But the site isn’t large
enough to do that, she says. So now, Boys
and Girls clubs are looking for a temporary
site to house the youth programs, while the
new center is built.
“My original thought was not to operate
out of the building because of concerns
about the children’s safety, but the question
was where we could take them,” Hubert
said.
“The worst case scenario is that we’d
have to shut down and then they would have
no place to go, which would be a disaster.”
Hubert, says the Boys and Girls Club
plans to build a new center as soon as funds
are available.
The Police Activities League board was
always aware that the floor tiles contained
asbestos, in addition to the ceilings, said
Tyece Okamura, a former board member.
Okamura says she was asked to resign from
the board last fall after raising numerous
concerns about the finances and running of
the organization.
Without funds to replace the entire floor,
the board decided to cover the tiles with car-
pet, Okamura said. But the restroom floors
were not covered.
Okamura said the deteriorating relation-
ship between executive director Patricia
PHOTO BY HELEN SILVIS
continued from page 1
Families across Portland celebrated Easter Sunday with bright clothes and
sunshine. Members of the St. Gabriel Eritrean Orthodox Church on
Northeast 80th Avenue enjoyed the beautiful weather and festive
atmosphere of the holiday.
Day TenEyck and then-center director Jay
Williams had kept her away from the build-
ing last year. Williams was outspoken about
his building safety concerns, and about the
unmet needs of the teens who used the cen-
ter.
Okamura says board members and man-
agement resisted attempts to bring the prob-
lems into the open and deal with them.
Asked for an interview, former board chair
Colene Domenech refused, saying current
board chair Mark McGinnis could respond
to all questions.
“People who tried to step up and say,
‘things are not what they should be,’ either
got totally shut down or, like me, they
decided, ‘Hey, I just don’t need this grief,”
Okamura says.
purses. You don’t need to be African or
Indian to like these purses.”
The family prides itself on providing its
customers with products that they can’t find
easily anywhere else in Oregon. According
to Gallardo, they import 90 percent of their
products. Most of their clothing and hand-
made jewelry is made in Africa in places
like Cameroon, Senegal and Mali, to name
a few countries. Some clothing even comes
from Dubai. Also, they get handbags from
places as far as Italy and China.
The store puts an emphasis on natural cos-
metic products. Gallardo points out that not
just are these products better for people’s
skin because they don’t contain toxins
and/or chemicals, but they are
also more cost friendly than
non-natural products you might
find at other stores. She says
you can look no further than her
children to see the long-term
effects of choosing to use natu-
ral products.
“We didn’t have enough money to go to
the store and buy all the expensive products
but just having the natural products like
coconut oil at home or maybe Shea butter,
mango oil, avocado oil, all of that mixing
together and putting it into the skin, they
have very good skin,” says Gallardo.
“It’s also very less expensive. If you buy
eight ounces of coconut oil, you can use that
for about six months, which doesn’t cost
very much. If you buy five dollar Shea but-
ter, that is going to last for a very long time,
6-8 months, and there are no side effects.
Anyone can use that.”
Gallardo is quick to point out that her
store has benefited from people going out of
their way to support the business. This has
come in many forms, including people tak-
ing business cards and distributing them
throughout their communities and others
simply stopping by to lend words of encour-
agement. She says one man’s willingness to
come in regularly and share his wisdom
inspired her to call a customer and thank the
person for supporting her business.
For more information on Fashion & Natu-
ral Beauty, call 503-281-6264 or visit their
website.
for Oregon college students – if Liu’s case
establishes the jurisdictional argument and
proceeds to a judgment of the merits of
Portland State’s disciplinary process.
If Liu wins, then every university student
who has been expelled or suspended with-
out a “contested hearing” for the prior two
years – the statute of limitations — might
get the right to file suit against their college
for denying them due process, and for dam-
ages.
Currently Liu, a former businessman of
Chinese heritage who grew up in the Mid-
west, says his personal and professional life
have been destroyed — banned from Port-
land State before he was able to complete
his studies, the incident cost him his law
school admission and financial aid, and
shamed his family as well.
Liu had worked successfully as a City of
Portland intern who mediated a community
dispute case in North Portland and was
looking forward to attending law school at
Willamette University, where he had
already won financial aid.
Then in April of last year, an unnamed fel-
low student of Liu’s in the Conflict Resolu-
tion department told a professor that Liu
had threatened to harm another professor
with a gun.
Rather than contacting Liu himself, Port-
land State authorities called the Portland
police, who descended on Liu’s apartment
with campus security in tow.
There the police began evacuating Liu’s
building as they confronted him in the hall-
way outside his apartment, asking him if he
was armed; according to the police report,
Liu responded “no.”
However within minutes, according to the
police report on the incident, Liu had invit-
ed the officers into his apartment and
showed them his four firearms, which he
had purchased legally and which were
secured, unloaded, with ammunition stored
separately.
Liu was arrested and involuntarily com-
mitted to the Oregon Health and Science
University psychiatric ward for a mental
evaluation despite his willingness to under-
go the tests on his own volition.
Business
continued from page 1
understood the support you bring to people
and the love that they can see when they
look into your eyes was more important
than anything you could give them. Being
over here and doing what we do here, it’s
serving the community differently and we
can see all the things people are doing back
to us.”
The relationships that Gallardo built
through social work were a determining fac-
tor in why her family chose the location for
their business. She wanted to
make things as accessible for
her customers as possible and
says that it was an optimal
location for connecting with
people from the African dias-
pora.
Ultimately, she says it was
the best decision she could’ve made.
Although the business specializes in
African products, Gallardo says she’s gotten
support from all kinds of people represent-
ing a wide spectrum of races and ethnicities.
Her daughter, Sophie, who serves as the
store’s sales manager, says this is what sep-
arates their business from others.
“I think that most striking and important
thing about this shop is the diversity,” she
says. “Different people can come here and
find something that they want no matter
where they come from.
“A lot of people here are interested in
African clothes. You have people from
India. You have White people. For example,
The store puts an emphasis on natural
cosmetic products
Liu
continued from page 1
that it does have jurisdiction to hear the
case. A request for reconsideration by the
university was denied in January.
“The procedures adopted by the respon-
dent (PSU) do not address judicial review at
all,” said the appeals court in denying
PSU’s motion to dismiss.
Now, Portland State is expected to seek
review of that decision before the Oregon
Supreme Court, arguing that the court has
no jurisdiction over its disciplinary process
and that the university alone has the right to
decide what process is required. Officials
from the university did not respond to
requests for comment about the appeals by
press time.
It may prove to be a watershed moment
April 3, 2013 The Portland Skanner Page 3