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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 2014)
Local News Enough continued from page 1 • Counseling and Offering Support for Grieving Families • Joining / Creating a Walking Group “Enough is Enough” dovetails with a vari- ety of similar efforts this summer, including the “Silence the Violence” campaign by the Multnomah County Health Department Capacitation Center’s STRYVE program ‘A mother said, I don’t go out anymore, I could be talking to the perpetrator — I don’t feel safe’ Youth Violence Prevention Office Director Antoinette Edwards “shots fired” incidents in the metro area over the past few years. While fatal shoot- ings are not increasing, observers say they will unless community members step up and start organizing. A telephone outreach effort funded through the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office has helped organizers draw up a to-do list, and the public is invited to plug in and spread the message to recruit more volunteers. The list includes: • Creating a Public Service Message • Providing Voices of Impacted Families • Annual Hope and Healing Activities – Participating on a Planning Committee • Enjoining in a Witness and Victim Safety Plan Dialogue (Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Every- where). That effort combines a youth employment program with weekly support meetings for youth. STRYVE takes a different approach to youth violence prevention by treating it as a public health problem rather than a solely law-enforcement issue (see “Portland Youth Lead Effort to Heal Community and Build Peace,” The Skanner News, July 11). Another program that has quickly come together over the past few weeks is the Community Cycling Center’s “Take Back the Streets” campaign which was galva- nized by community activists Jason Washington, of Brothers Gaining Equality Through Excellence, and DeMarcus Pre- ston, a former gang member, who approached the bike nonprofit for support. PHOTO CREDIT COMMUNITY CYCLING CENTER munity hostage,” Edwards continues. “This is a strong village – and we’re asking the villagers to come back and – not even reclaiming because we are here. What do we do to own this?” The “Enough is Enough” effort dovetails with an array of other projects launched this summer in response to a steady rise in The Community Cycling Center’s “Take Back the Streets” campaign was galvanized by community activists Jason Washington, of Brothers Gaining Equality Through Excellence, and DeMarcus Preston, a former gang member, who approached the bike nonprofit for support. The group is holding a bike ride Sunday, Aug. 24, 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. departing from New Columbia’s Bike Repair Hub, located on the corner of N. Trenton Street and N. Woolsey Avenue. A film and $5 healthy bar- becue starts at 2 p.m. at Columbia Park. Proceeds benefit Stop the Violence Founda- tion and P.I.L. Reunions. Find out more about the cycling center project on Facebook at Take Back The Streets Bike Ride and Event. Connect with projects of the Multnomah County Capacitation Center’s STRYVE program at www.multco.us/health. For more information on the “Enough is Enough” Campaign call Antoinette Edwards at 503-823-3584. In Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter created a program that gave employers who agreed to hire people returning to the work- force from the criminal justice system a tax break of $100,000. About 400 people were hired and their recidivism rate was just 7 of the corrections system. “We are going to borrow that idea, I hope, here in Portland. Because it’s a great idea. It obviously works. And even if it was 17 or 27 percent recidivism it would be a signifi- cant improvement over the status quo. But to get recidivism down to a single digit and to get 400 people out of the criminal justice system and into the workforce is an amaz- ing accomplishment.” In New York this fall, more than 54,000 four-year-olds will attend pre-K classes. The city has had a universal pre-k law on the books since 1997, but it went unfunded until Mayor de Blasio made it his priority. Hales says he hopes Portland can emulate de Blasio’s efforts and find a way to fund pre-kindergarten programs for all children. Mayors continued from page 1 internet for all, and expanding early child- hood education and pre-kindergarten programs. “I’m encouraged and inspired, “ Hales said. “Because like with some other issues, particularly climate change and transporta- tion, the federal government has left the building and isn’t being a leader. “The federal government should be rais- ing the federal minimum wage, because that would be the best way to address this partic- ular piece of the massive income inequality problem we have in this country. But there is no sign that Congress is going to have the courage or the consensus to do that. That’s why cities around the country are taking action.” Hales said both Portland and Seattle are ahead of the curve in some ways. Seattle took bold action by raising the minimum wage, he noted. Portland has acted on paid sick leave, broadband access, youth jobs and by “banning the box” that makes it dif- ficult for people coming out of the criminal justice system to get work. Ending disparities for people of color and low-income families demand focused action, Hales said. ‘It’s important that we learn and borrow good ideas from each other and that we help debunk the naysayers’ “It’s important that we learn and borrow good ideas from each other and that we help debunk the naysayers. Because for each of these ideas — whether it’s paid sick leave or ban the box, there are some who predict that it’ll be just terrible for business. We heard this about the sick leave ordinance for Port- land. It didn’t turn out to be true.” percent. Several employers even refused the tax credit, saying they were happy with their hires. Hales said he hopes his fellow commis- sioners will agree to invite employers and others to the table to craft something similar to help “returning citizens,” which he said is a better way to describe people coming out The military career of Lt. Col. Drummond included tours of duty in Japan, Korea, Eng- land, France, Viet Nam and Germany as well as duty assignments in Ohio and Wash- Wing, Air Defense Command in January 1961 as Operations and Plans Officer. He was further assigned in 1962 as Operations Officer to the 318th All Weather Fighter Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com Tuskegee continued from page 1 his family and childhood friends, he attend- ed Salzburger Junior High in Philadelphia, and graduated from West Philadelphia High School in June 1944. His academic studies at Howard University in Washington, D.C. were interrupted by World War II and the call to serve his country. Lt. Col. Drummond was drafted into the United States Army and was ultimately accepted into the Aviation Cadet Training Program at Tuskegee, Ala. He was a mem- ber of the last official class of the Tuskegee Program that trained African American pilots for combat duty in the U. S. Army Air Corps during World War II. Lt. Col. Drummond served in the Military for 25 years, and was honorably discharged in 1970. He worked twelve years for the State of Washington in the Social and Health Services Department and the Department of Licensing. He retired a sec- ond time in 1982. He was a member of the last official class of the Tuskegee Program that trained African American pilots for combat duty in the U. S. Army Air Corps during World War II ington State. During his career as a pilot, he flew the B-25, P-47, F-80, F-84, F-86D, and F-106. Lt. Col. Drummond was one of the first two African American pilots to fly jets into combat during the Korean War where he completed 104 missions. Lt. Col. Drummond was assigned to McChord Air Force Base twice during his career. He first joined the 325th Fighter Squadron, 325th Fighter Wing. After serv- ing a year in Viet Nam from June 1963 to June 1964, he returned to McChord as a Plans Officer in the 25th Air Division in June 1964. His final duty station was as Plans Officer at Headquarters United States-European Command in Stuttgart, Germany from 1967 to 1970. At the time of his military retirement, Lt. Col. Drummond had achieved Command Pilot status with 5700 Flying Hours; and had amassed numerous service awards including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 8 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Purple Heart, Air Force Commendation Medal, Joint Services Commendation Medal, Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal and the Distin- guished Service Award. Lt. Col. Drummond was among the Tuskegee Airmen honored with the Con- gressional Gold Medal in Washington, D. C. on March 29, 2007, and attended the official ceremony in the Capitol with his wife, Alberta. He also received an honorary doc- torate degree from Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com August 13, 2014 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 3
