News
PSU
Jimi Shelter
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tral precinct.
Currently, campus security officers already have the
authority to perform “stop and frisk” and can arrest people
if they have probable cause; however they aren’t allowed to
carry guns, and aren’t considered full peace officers under
Oregon law.
Two PSU security officers who spoke at the forum said
that in particularly volatile situations they feel underpre-
pared. They also pointed to their inability to provide
welfare checks on students.
The officers testified that if a gunman were on campus –
unarmed officers would be powerless to stop him.
Under the proposal, some of the security team would
undergo an 18-month training headed by Portland Police to
become sworn officers.
At the Nov. 24 protest, protestors called for alternative
safety measures.
“PSU don’t militarize, that’s not safety in our eyes!” and
“invest in things that make us safe!” filled the air from the
crowd of nearly 80. Speakers called for additional funding
into more lighting on campus, phones, campus escorts, and
mandatory conflict resolution classes for students, among
other suggestions.
Tom Hastings, a PSU professor of conflict resolution,
spoke at the rally; he says he is never in support of guns.
“The last thing we need is these guys and gals with guns,”
he says.
Because PSU’s incoming freshman class is set to be the
most diverse the school’s ever had, Hastings believes con-
tinual policing on campus could also lead to profiling of
students.
“We’re getting more people of color and we’re getting
more international. People know when they’re marginal-
ized, profiled, and targeted, they are more likely to be a
victim of the police than to be helped by the police. That is
increasingly going to be the case at the PSU campus.”
The university said response time for the city’s police
bureau in a non-emergency situation can be up to 20 min-
utes. If there were an active shooter, the armed police
officers assigned to the university could respond within 60
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
‘The last thing we need is these
guys and gals with guns’
Clay Elias hendrix and his mother Janie hendrix sit in the new Jimi hendrix themed bus shelter on
23rd Avenue and Massachusetts Street. The Jimi hendrix Park Foundation, The Friends of Jimi
hendrix Park, and King County Metro Transit unveiled the new shelter on Nov. 19.
seconds, the university claims. It should be noted that the
PSU campus is less than a mile from the police’s downtown
precinct in downtown.
Members of the Board pointed to data suggesting that the
police presence would be light, compared to other universi-
ties its size.
‘People know when they’re marginalized, profiled, and targeted,
they are more likely to be a victim of the police than to be
helped by the police’
Referencing the recent high school shootings at
Marysville-Pilhuck near Seattle; Reynolds just outside of
Portland; and November’s Florida State University gun-
man, PSU spokesperson Scott Gallagher says there is a
benefit to having armed officers on campus.
The final decision on whether to add police will be hand-
ed down earliest by the PSU Board of Trustees Dec. 11.
Gallagher says, when if passed it would be at least 6 months
after the date before armed officers would be on campus.
Cancer
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According to Salem Health, 75 percent of
lung cancer cases are diagnosed at stage
three or four, when the chance of survival is
less than 15 percent. Screening for high-risk
patients like Reed has doubled the number
of patients whose cancer was caught at
stage one.
Early screening is even more important
for African Americans, says Boutin.
“There is a gene that makes you more sus-
ceptible to developing lung cancer,” Boutin
said. “So for the same number of pack
years, an African American is more likely to
develop lung cancer than a Caucasian and
much more likely than Hispanics.”
The gene, NQO1, which is currently
being studied, appears to make the carcino-
gens in cigarettes more active. Despite
lower rates of smoking, African American
cancer rates are higher. The disease is more
likely to strike at an earlier age for African
Americans, but African Americans are less
likely to be diagnosed and treated early.
Even worse, Boutin says tobacco compa-
nies are specifically concentrating on young
African Americans with smoking advertise-
ments and hip-hop competitions.
“They are actually targeting a population
patients are between 55 and 74 years who
have had a minimum of 30 pack-years of
smoking who are current smokers or who
have quit in the last 15 years.
When the Institute began the screening
program in January of 2013, there was no
‘For the same number of pack years, an African
American is more likely to develop lung cancer
than a Caucasian and much more likely than
Hispanics’
that is at a higher risk to get them addicted
to this substance.”
The Salem Cancer Institute program
offers a LDCT scan, education and follow-
up for $99. Scholarships are available for
those who can’t afford $99, paid for by the
Salem Hospital Foundation. Eligible
code to bill for the procedure and no health
insurance coverage. Boutin said the radiolo-
gists in Salem have been donating their time
and expertise.
Since then, Medicare has created a code to
pay for this procedure and other insurance
companies have either created a code or
modified an existing code. Boutin says
Medicare should start paying for screenings
some time after February 1, 2015.
These billing changes may lead to more
widespread availability of LDCT screen-
ings.
For Boutin, the most important preventa-
tive measure to take right now is to stop
smoking.
“If you are already smoking, do whatever
you need to do to quit,” Boutin said.
“Tobacco is not anybody’s friend, in the
African American community it’s even
more deadly.”
For Reed, her LDCT screening has given
her a new lease on life that she wants to
share with others.
“Be confident that it has a real probability
of saving your life,” Reed said. “I paid 99
dollars; it was the best money I have ever
spent.”
Chavis
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bers.
Chavis, a pastor in the United Church of
Christ, has served as vice president of the
National Council of Churches in 1988; he
was also was elected the youngest executive
director of the national NAACP in 1993.
Canned goods and boxed meals will be
collected for the Martha Terrell Food
Pantry, which is located on Northeast 8th
At the age of 24, Chavis became one of the
Wilmington 10, a group of teenagers and civil
rights activists wrongly convicted of firebombing
a grocery store in the city in 1971.
Avenue and is available to any resident of
collecting donations of newly purchased
clothing, especially coats.
The Skanner News Martin Luther King Jr.
Breakfast is Monday, Jan. 19, 2015, from
8:30-10:30 at the Oregon Convention Cen-
ter.
Get your tickets on our website,
www.theskanner.com.
that area. For the first time, we will also be
December 3, 2014 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 3