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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (June 11, 2014)
News Shootings Festival Sundiata continued from page 1 Meanwhile in Portland, on Tuesday morning, 14-year-old Jared Michael Padgett shot to death a fellow freshman stu- dent, Emilio Hoffman. and wounded a teacher at Reynolds High School before taking his own life. Details are still emerging in that case. The Seattle killings came almost exactly two years after the Café Racer shootings, in which a mentally disturbed gunman murdered four people before turning the gun on himself. And last month, Jesse Willard of North Portland shot his four-year-old daughter to death before committing suicide; the mother and an older daughter had not been home at the time. After the Seattle shootings, Mayor Ed Murray called out for heightened gun control efforts. “For the third time in a week, Seattle has suffered a dev- astating loss of life as a result of guns,” Murray said Saturday morning. In Portland on Tuesday morning, Mayor Charlie Hales expressed the shocked feelings of many. “We want the students, the parents and the educators – in fact, the whole community – to know that they are in our hearts and our prayers today.” On Tuesday afternoon, Washington State senate candidate Louis Watanabe drew a line in the sand on gun control at a press conference at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Seattle. PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED ‘For the third time in a week, Seattle has suffered a devastating loss of life as a result of guns’ Show Nuff Funk performed for an appreciative crowd at last year’s Festival Sundiata at Seattle Center. this year’s 34th annual fest features a Father’s Day weekend blowout starting Friday, June 13 at 6 p.m. at Seattle Center with a Black Art Gallery, directly followed by a Jazz concert and wine tasting. the weekend-long festival showcases music that ranges from Senegal, Ivory Coast to hip hop, Rhythm and Blues and Jazz. For more information go to www.festivalsundiata.org. “Of the spree of violence in the 37th District over the last seven weeks, yesterday’s shooting is the third one that has devastated people working on my state Senate campaign. My field director’s cousin was killed on April 19 at 27th Ave S & South Lane St in the Central District. The close friend of one of my volunteers was killed Sunday morning at 12th Avenue S & S Main St. in Little Saigon. Yesterday’s shooting took place at 51st Avenue S and S Brandon St. in the Seward Park area near the school of the daughter of my first campaign manager.” Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com Gang continued from page 1 remain unsolved. Mashia lost her son Leonard LJ Irving June 26, 2011. A father of three, Irving was not a gang member. But he was caught in gunfire while trying to cool down an alter- cation between gang members and his nephew on 82nd Avenue. Mashia said she knows who killed her son, but the two wit- nesses who could help police put the men in jail, won’t speak out. “One of the men is in jail, but not for mur- der,” she said. “The other one is walking around like a little bully.” The nephew, distraught after losing his uncle, initially made a mistaken identifica- tion. That means his testimony would not be ‘My son Terry Norris was murdered in 1999, but it feels to me like yesterday’ enough to convict, she said. Breaking down as she spoke about the painful impact on her grandchildren and family, Mashia said the community needed to say enough is enough. “I miss him every day,” she said. “A hole is in my heart that nothing can fill. I will never be the same person… ‘I want the murderers to go to jail. Yes I do. I think they need to go to jail.” The mothers got a standing ovation from the task force. Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill said he would per- sonally arrange for one of those cases to be next in line for a cold case review. He said two recent cold cases had been solved after a review. Before hearing from the mothers, the task force heard reports from agencies working to support youth and families and combat violence. Portland Police Bureau announced it will step up patrols this weekend because of an uptick in incidents of violence that left 16 lists.” US Sen. Patty Murray D–WA, said this week the audit shows problems around the country for military veterans seeking med- ical and mental health services. “Today’s report paints a serious and dis- “These are not new problems, But I hope today’s data will spur continued bipartisan momentum as we work to pass the Sanders- McCain compromise. Finalizing this legislation is a critical step toward address- ing some of the immediate accountability people shot and one stabbed. Locations included Woodlawn Park, North Argyll Street, Southeast 138th and Stark, and 159th and Sandy. So far this year Portland police have recorded 52 incidents up from 35 at the same time in 2013. Officers and outreach workers also report seeing increased drug dealing and fights SE Works offered help to find a job at the Rosewood Initiative 16126 SE Stark St. Call for more information or drop by. 503- 208-2562. Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com VA continued from page 1 cooked the books at VA facilities or lied to Congress as it attempted to conduct over- sight should be fired immediately and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” “VA is moving aggressively to contact these veterans through the Accelerating Access to Care Initiative,” the audit says. The VA in May reported over 6 million appointments scheduled across its system. The national “Access Audit” listed four main conclusions: • Because the appointment scheduling process is so complicated clerks and super- visors working in VA medical centers are confused about the process; • While officials set a two week waiting time for new appointments, that policy was “inconsistently deployed” and also “not attainable given growing demand for serv- ices and lack of planning for resource requirements;” • 13 percent of schedulers told VA audi- tors that their supervisors told them to fudge dates in the scheduling system; • 8 percent of schedulers did not even use the electronic system established for adding patient names to a waiting list, instead cre- ating what critics are calling “secret wait ‘I am appalled by today’s report that falsified records forced more than 6,600 Oregon veterans to endure unconscionable waiting times to receive the care they’ve earned’ — Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden turbing picture of the DAs systemwide failure to provide timely access to care for our nation heroes. I am especially con- cerned by the number of facilities that serve Washington State veterans that have been flagged for further review and investigation. This information confirms what I have been hearing from so many veterans were strug- gling with extended wait times the Pacific Northwest. and access concerns plaguing the VA. In addition us further investigations and reviews are completed, we need to keep working to ensure the VA continues to take substantive action to address any manage- ment, resource, and personal shortcomings contributed to today’s findings.” The Sanders McCain compromise refers to a deal brokered by Senators Bernie Sanders and John McCain giving veterans blocked from VA care the right to be seen by civilian doctors, as well as making it easier to fire VA officials. The VA audit lists nine locations in the Pacific Northwest that the Office of Inspec- tor General says it will be investigating. Those facilities are, in Washington: Spokane, Puget Sound, Walla Walla, Wenatchee, Vancouver and Chehalis. In Oregon, the VA says it will investigate facil- ities in Portland and Roseburg. According to the audit, the VA is fast- tracking the 90,000 veterans nationwide they say are currently waiting for healthcare services in an effort it has dubbed the “Accelerating Access to Care Initiative”. In addition, the agency says it has sus- pended all senior executive performance awards for 2014; it will remove the 14 day performance goal from employee perform- ance plans; it will step up training for schedulers; and will start a site inspection process. Also this week, the Associated Press reported that the FBI is launching a criminal investigation into the VA over the audit findings. June 11, 2014 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 3
