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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 2015)
News Teacher Founder’s Day continued from page 1 ‘The main thing I’m upset about is that [I was on] the sidewalk when I was pepper sprayed so there’s really no reason at all they can use to justify what they did’ Hagopian posted his account of the incident along with a photo on his Facebook page: “I was marching for Martin Luther King day today– amazing march! At one point after the big main march, group of bike cops set up a line to keep us from marching. Some people walked through the line, but I didn’t. When my phone rang, I turned away from the cops and began walking away to answer the phone. A cop then ran up in my face and pepper sprayed me right in the face. The milk has helped a lot and I’m beginning to feel better. Wish we had a better world.” That post to date has been shared more than 200 times on the social media site. “The main thing I’m upset about is that [I was on] the sidewalk when I was pepper sprayed so there’s really no reason at all they can use to justify what they did,” Hagopi- an told The Skanner News. Bible’s law office says they will release video of the PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED ers in Ferguson taking the rubber bullets,” Hagopian told the crowd; social media posts show he also gave civic awards to young activists with the Black Lives Matter movement. Following his speech Hagopian says he was heading to a birthday party for his two-year-old son. While on the phone with his mother—and on the sidewalk—he says he was hit with pepper spray by a Seattle Police officer. Members of Kappa Alpha Psi assemble for a group shot before their Founders Day celebration Jan. 24 at the Central Area Senior Center. Keynote speaker was State Rep. Eric Pettigrew, a distinguished member of the fraternity; the theme of the event was, “Kappa Men — Servants of the Community.” Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity is a collegiate Greek -letter fraternity with predominately- African American membership. For more information on joining, call Ron Bennett at 253-561-9704, or go to www.pnwkapsi.com. spraying incident later this week. The Stranger newspaper in Seattle reported another pepper spraying incident that day in which video appears to show more contested action by officers on the scene. “At the start of the video, one demonstrator in a black sweatshirt repeatedly advances on the downed officer, and is repelled by other officers pushing him back,” The Stranger’s reporter Ansel Hertz wrote on Jan. 20. “They don’t arrest or pepper-spray him. As officers on bicycles arrive, the protester disappears off screen. “That’s when one officer with a bike starts pepper-spray- ing, hitting several individuals standing in the street from a few feet away,” The Stranger’s story continues. Herz reports that the Seattle Police operations manual allows pepper spraying “during ‘violent activity.’” An extensive investigation by the US Department of Jus- tice on the Seattle Police Department found that officers used excessive force nearly 20 percent of the time that they used force at all —that’s one out of every five. Simulator continued from page 1 train all levels of emergency responders simultaneously and allow for different emergency teams such as police, fire and rescue and hazardous materials crews to work within the same scenario. Concordia spent $1 million for simulator software and the building modifications. According to Nairn, the FBI and the NYPD also use the same simulator software, called the Advanced Disaster Management Simu- lator (ADMS), but only in discrete stand-alone units. “There is no other set up like this in the country, with EOC (Emergency Operations Center), the emergent theater, the class- rooms and everything together,” Nairn said, adding that the ADMS software manufac- turer, ETC Simulation, calls Concordia’s configuration the most advanced and largest. In addition to the rural scene, there are downtown scenes, shopping malls, seaports, airports, industrial plants and college cam- pus environments. The software is customizable so the instructors can add active elements to the situations such as a debris fire, a multi-vehicle accident; even terrorist attacks. Nairn said the simulator is adept at train- ing for acts of terrorism like the Charlie Hebdo shooting and the siege on the Lindt Café in Sydney, Australia. These malls, people will become more critical without medical attention. The simulator will injure up to 75 people at a time and each of those people will have a unique set of injuries determined by the computer algorithm. In a simulation of the Boston Marathon bombing, some runners Nairn said the students like the simulator, but it also stresses them out cafés, and office buildings are considered undefended “soft targets.” “Soft target attacks are a concern for Homeland Security professionals and the simulator has many, many soft target sce- narios that can be operated in a variety of environments,” Nairn said. A physics engine drives the elements within the scenario; an unattended fire will grow and spread, smoke will change direc- tion according to the wind and injured will have less critical wounds while others need immediate attention. Instructors can manually change the intensity of these vari- ables as well. Nairn said the students like the simulator, but it also stresses them out. “All the things you learn in theory are a lot different in practice.” The scenarios create a safe to fail environ- ment where students can learn from their mistakes without risking actual lives or day and save their money to attend a show or concert they are excited about or root for their favorite team at the stadium can’t attend the event because some large ticket reseller has purchased all the tickets and playing field and ensure that the cost of a ticket remains at the rate set by the vendor.” “Companies shouldn’t be allowed to oper- ate in the shadows, using computer software to artificially inflate the prices of popular costing public money. Construction was recently finished on the Homeland Security Simulator and the simu- lation lab is now reaching out to the community to provide training opportuni- ties. In the aftermath of the Reynolds High School shooting, both Multnomah Educa- tion Service District and Portland Public Schools have visited the lab. The unique nature of the set up has global implications as well. According to Nairn, the lab is working with the software manu- facturer to become a regional center to train people in other countries to run the software for themselves back home. Whether it is for the classroom, the local businesses, or global training, the end goal is to improve safety. “We would hope that businesses and pub- lic agencies would have improved resiliency because they are able to train in a safe-fail environment,” Nairn said. “If you can fail safely, you can learn.” Learn more about the simulator by visit- ing www.homelandsecuritysimulator.com Bots continued from page 1 scalpers who use electronic trickery to game the system.” The Attorney General request legislation Senate Bill 5456 is sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D—Seattle. The com- panion bill, House Bill 1091, is sponsored by Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D—Sequim. Current law does not prohibit the use of ticket bots in Washington. The proposed legislation bans ticket bot use and makes it a violation of the state Consumer Protection Act to sell software to circumvent, interfere with or evade any security measure or access-control system on a ticket seller’s website. “It is unfair that people who work hard all Companies shouldn’t be allowed to operate in the shadows, using computer software to artificially inflate the prices of popular concerts and sporting events then raised the cost to an outrageous price,” said Kohl-Welles. “This bill will level the concerts and sporting events,” said Van De Wege. “This is a question about fairness. When these questionable business practices interfere with a fair market, it’s time for a change.” According to Ticketmaster, the nation’s largest authorized ticket reseller, bots are often used to buy more than 60 percent of the most desirable tickets for shows. Seattle Theatre Group’s Executive Direc- tor Josh LaBelle finds 35–40 percent of tickets for hot shows are often purchased by bots. Thirteen states have banned ticket bots: California, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, New Jer- sey, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. January 28, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 3
