News
Shootings
Festival Sundiata
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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.”
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Gang
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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.
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VA
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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