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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (June 19, 2013)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM J UNE 19, 2013 P ORTLAND , O REGON V OLUME XXXV, N O . 37 25 CENTS For The Skanner news alerts Text "NEWS" to 503-715-0890 or scan this QR code C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW Locals Lobby in Salem WORLD FLOAT A handful of key racial measures move towards law By Helen Silvis Of The Skanner News PHOTO BY LISA LOVING O regon’s Communities of Color coali- tion has been lobbying the Salem Legislature in support of a slate of bills designed to promote racial equity and address disparities across the state. This week on Tuesday June 15, activists met in Salem to support SB560, the End Racial Profiling bill. The bill would ban racial profiling tied to personal descriptions or circumstances, except in cases where law enforcement has received information tied to a specific case. Sponsored by Sens. Chip Shields and Jackie Dingfelder and Rep. Michael Dembrow, the bill would require all law enforcement agencies to take steps to eliminate profiling and to investigate com- plaints about profiling. The Attorney Gener- al would have to create an independent complaints procedure. “Profiling happens every day in our com- munities,” said Andrew Riley public policy director for the Center for Intercultural Organizing. “When people are considered suspects because of who they are, it erodes our communities’ ability to trust law enforcement, makes our families less safe, and violates basic principles of fairness.” Currently the bill is under discussion in the Judiciary Committee. For more informa- tion, contact Andrew Riley at andrew@interculturalorganizing.org by by calling 503-936-9430. Riley says this week’s public hearing is vital to building support for a ban on racial profiling in Oregon. Major policy changes often take more than one year to pass. “We view this as the first step of a long- term strategy to pass this bill,” Riley said. So far this session, however, communities of color have chalked up several victories. Among important bills that the Legislature has passed are: Senate Bill 463B A racial impact bill that requires the Criminal Justice Commission to issue racial impact statements for any laws Following on the heels of last year’s second-annual Big Float across the Willamette River, above, organizers are bringing two events this summer encouraging folks to jump in – with life vests and inner-tubes. A world-record attempt will be made on the Willamette River on Friday, July 5, to join hands and set a Guinness Book World Record for “Most People in a Floating Line.” Then, on July 28, the Big Float 3 invites everyday people with an inner-tube and life vest to simply enjoy the float from under the Marquam Bridge west bank to the Tom McCall Bowl – on the west bank of the river just south of the Hawthorne Bridge. Cost for the World Float is $20, which includes a life vest and inner-tube; bring them along to the Big Float 3 a couple weeks later. For more information go to www.humanaccessproject.com. FBI Launches Tipline for Fraud Reporting New effort against ‘public corruption’ includes telephone, email By Lisa Loving Of The Skanner News L ocal FBI officials Tues- day unveiled two new ways for members of the public to pass on suspicions of government fraud. “FBI agents in Oregon are tar- geting corrupt public officials— and they need your help to do it,” the agency’s website says. Call in tips to 503-460-8585 or e-mail PortlandTips@ic.fbi.gov. The new tipline comes seven months after Ellis McCoy, the former City of Portland parking manager, pled guilty to bribery, conspiracy to take bribes, and falsifying income tax returns. By many accounts, McCoy’s criminal activities earned many complaints to city officials over the years, but he wasn’t stopped until the FBI and the IRS started investigating a corruption case involving a Florida business- man named George Levey and his company, Cale Parking Sys- tems USA, which marketed Smart Meter machines made in Sweden. One local Portland business- man in particular, Bruce Feath- ers, tried in vain for years to persuade the city to investigate McCoy; Feathers even filed a tort claim against the city after McCoy’s arrest. Feathers also repeatedly took his concerns about bribery and kickbacks to city officials but no one acted; even the civil rights organization the Albina Ministe- rial Alliance weighed in on the case. The City of Portland set up its own ‘Anonymous Tipline’ in 2010, after the initial fallout from the McCoy scandal. To submit a tip, either: Go to www.portlandfraudalert.com and fill out a form; go to www.ethicspoint.com, follow the “File New Report” link and enter “City of Portland” and fill out a form; or call EthicsPoint at 1-866-342-4148, where a toll- free line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “Reports will be taken by a live intake specialist,” the city’s website says. “Calls are not See FBI on page 3 See EQUITY on page 3 INDEX News ...................2,3,6 Opinion .....................4 Obituaries..................5 Bids/Classifieds .......6,7 Londer Learning Center Milestone Inmates raised funds for first-ever caps and gowns at graduation By Helen Silvis Of The Skanner News J oy, tears and excitement were on dis- play at Multnomah County last Thurs- day, when the Londer Learning Center held a graduation ceremony for its GED class of 2013. This year the center celebrates its 20th year of helping corrections clients pass the GED exam and go on to build careers and attend college. And, for the first time ever, the graduates wore caps and gowns, thanks to a fundraising effort by Ezekiel Stroschein, a former inmate who worked as a GED tutor for other inmates while serving time in an Oregon prison. In 2011, Stroschein saw an article on the Londer Learning Center graduation. “It caught my eye, but it really caught my eye because they didn’t have caps and gowns,” Stroschein says. “And our depart- ment didn’t have the funds available for caps and gowns either. It brings such mean- ing to the graduation to have them, so I wondered if there was a way we could get caps and gowns.” Stroschein was studying for his associ- ate’s degree from Chemeketa College See GOWNS on page 3
