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A UGUST 20, 2014
P ORTLAND
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V OLUME XXXVI, N O . 46
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
Young
Mom
Killed
25
FERGUSON
‘Enough is Enough’
campaign attacks
‘no-snitching’ culture
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
See ENOUGH on page 3
INDEX
News ..............1,3,7-10
Opinion .....................2
Calendars ..............4,5
A & E ....................6,12
Bids/Classifieds ........11
PHOTO BY THE SKANNER STAFF
D
ozens
of
p e o p l e
crammed
into the community
room at the North-
east
precinct
Monday evening to
join the Enough is
Enough campaign
against violence in
Ervaeua Herring
Portland communi-
ties.
The latest victim, young mother Ervaeua
Herring, 21, was shot around 5 a.m. Sunday
Aug. 17 at her apartment in Southeast Port-
land. Herring had a one-year-old son.
“I care about the issues in our nation. I’m
watching Ferguson,” said Antoinette
Edwards, director of the Office of Youth
Violence Prevention. “Where is our out-
rage? That somebody knocked on the door,
knocked on doors until they found someone
—a young woman —and gunned her down.
Where is our outrage there?
“Do we value our lives? That’s what this
is about tonight.”
Edwards asked family members who had
lost loved ones to violence to kick off the
meeting. Perlia Bell spoke about the loss of
her daughter, Asia Bell, in 2002 in a shoot-
ing that left Bell’s husband blinded and four
children without their mother.
“It’s time to stop labeling (this as
about) gangs and African Americans,” Bell
said. “Let’s just say crime; let’s just say vic-
tims; let’s just say pain. Let’s call it what it
is...I’m glad to be at this meeting. I believe
it will move forward and there will be
changes.”
Bell was followed by other family mem-
bers of victims.
Brenda Davis, who lost her son in 2009 to
violence said she believed the community
could make change.
Protesters gathered in North Portland Aug. 14 to protest the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old
black man in Ferguson, Mo. Using the slogan “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” the protesters briefly stopped traffic at the
intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Alberta Street. Some drivers honked in frustration while others
got out of their cars and put their hands up in a show of support.
Critical Need for Organ Donors
One woman tells her story of survival through another’s sacrifice
By Robin Prentice
Special To The Skanner
News
I was born and raised in the
Seattle area and graduated from
the University of Washington
(UW). While attending college,
I never knew that the UW Med-
ical
Center
would
be
responsible for saving my life.
In December 2005 I became
ill with what I thought was the
flu, but when it lasted longer
than expected I went to the doc-
tor. They discovered that I had
a serious case of pneumonia in
both lungs and immediately
admitted me to the hospital.
After a short stay I was released
with a multitude of medications
and an oxygen tank. Soon after
that hospital visit, I was found it
difficult to breathe at all without
assistance of the oxygen. Two
months later, a biopsy of my left
lung revealed severe lung dis-
ease.
Shock set over me. I was
never a smoker, had no family
history of lung disease and was
not around toxic waste to my
knowledge. I later learned that I
had Pulmonary Fibrosis, “the
scarring disease”. It can be
caused by a multitude of factors,
but in most cases doctors can’t
pinpoint the cause of the prob-
lem.
There was no cure. My only
hope was a lung transplant.
On July 18, 2007 I was placed
on the national transplant wait-
ing list. A few months later, in
October I received my life-sav-
ing call. They found a match; I
was going to receive a new set
of lungs. The timing was fortu-
nate. The disease progressed
rapidly in both lungs; any longer
and I would have been too ill for
surgery.
The most challenging part
about being ill was being
dependent on others. I had
always been a hardworking,
independent person who was
there for other people. My main
caregiver was my mother, Dee.
She was amazing. She took me
to all my medical and physical
See TRANSPLANT
on page 3
King County Metro Transit Reduced Fare
Officials roll out program to help low-income commuters after hikes
Lisa Loving
Of The Skanner News
K
ing County Metro Transit com-
muters who earn up to 200 percent
of the poverty level qualify for
reduced fares starting next spring.
The $1.50 fare takes effect on March 1,
2015, the same day that all regular Metro
fares are set to increase by 25 - 50 cents.
Officials say the goal is to offset the fare
hike’s impact on the most vulnerable riders
not already covered by programs for youth,
seniors and the disabled – and Seattle will
be just the second municipality in the coun-
try to create such a fare; San Francisco was
first.
After the ground work is laid by an array
of task forces, nonprofits and government
agencies, Public Health – Seattle & King
County is in charge of actually administer-
ing the new fare.
Constantine said this week that Metro
tapped Public Health to carry the difficult
burden of verifying commuters’ incomes
before issuing reduced fare ORCA cards
because they did such a great job of “engag-
ing lower-income residents and partnering
with local community groups when it
helped enroll more than 165,000 King
See TRANSIT on page 3