News
Choke
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our attention.
Images of the choke hold obtained by The Skanner News
show the school official, identified as Vice Principal Alfre-
do Quintero, with both arms locked around the neck of the
15-year-old student as a second student holds the victim’s
hands in a more relaxed gesture.
Debra McFarland says the other student in the photo was
a stranger unknown to the family who was begging the
school official to let go of her daughter’s neck.
With the vice principal bending
her backward as he held her
by the neck with both arms
and the other girl pulling her
hair, McFarland’s daughter
says she felt like she was being
‘jumped’
McFarland says her daughter had been feuding with
another girl on Facebook and that their conflict spilled over
to the school; they had been fighting that day in the cafete-
ria, but they had been stopped by a security guard.
“If you want to fight her, fight her after school because I
don’t want to do the paperwork,” McFarland says the guard
told the girls.
According to witnesses, the two girls later faced off in
front of a crowd that included at least one teacher and one
security guard who both declined to stop the conflict.
After McFarland’s daughter popped the other girl in the
face the fight stopped, the mother says – until the vice prin-
cipal came running from his office and bumped into the
daughter, sending her into the other girl and starting the
fight up again.
With the vice principal bending her backward as he held
her by the neck with both arms and the other girl pulling her
hair, McFarland’s daughter says she felt like she was being
“jumped.”
But even when the other girl stopped the vice principal
did not; that’s when the second girl came closer and tried to
calm the situation. McFarland says, “The young girl in the
picture was asking, ‘why are you choking her?’”
McFarland says Quinteros held her daughter for about 30
seconds and aside from a trip to the emergency room for an
asthma attack, she was not physically harmed – but now has
chronic anxiety.
“The other girl had said, ‘f*** your grandmother’ – and
her grandmother had just died a few days earlier,” McFar-
land says.
“This replays in my head when I try to sleep at night,”
McFarland says. “What if one day my child doesn’t come
home from school?”
McFarland says the incident – and a series of what she
says are unethical moves by officials at Madison High
School — has derailed her daughter’s excellent grades and
given the teen chronic anxiety.
“Our first thought is to stop the physical abuse going on,”
said Portland Public Schools spokeswoman Christine
Miles.
“We are continuing to look at how we can improve our
practices in these types of situations,” she said. “Neither
one of the girls fighting that day was suspended, they were
put into mediation.”
She said the district is still investigating what happened,
and is examining the restorative justice programs that have
just been put into place to help avoid violent conflict over
the long term.
Because it involves both sides coming into an agreement
When the other girl stopped the vice principal did
not; that’s when the second girl came closer and
tried to calm the situation. McFarland says, “The
young girl in the video was asking, ‘why are you
choking her?’”
over a given conflict, Miles said, “It is not a simple process,
and it is not an easy fix.”
The 1985 Portland Police choke hold death of off duty
security guard Lloyd D. Stevenson – who had been helping
a store owner subdue a suspected thief – made headlines
even in The New York Times.
Read the rest online at www.theskanner.com
Kidney
continued from page 1
population, 35 percent of individuals with
kidney failure on dialysis are African Amer-
ican. Chronic kidney disease often worsens
over time. If it progresses to irreversible
kidney failure, the person will die unless
they receive regular dialysis treatments or a
kidney transplant. However, kidney damage
can be slowed down or stopped if people get
diagnosed early and, like Brown, change
their lifestyles to include healthier habits.
By 2010 – after Brown had moved to
Washington state – she learned her kidneys
were failing. She would need dialysis to
replace the function her kidneys no longer
provided. Brown opted to do dialysis at
home under the guidance of Northwest Kid-
ney Centers rather than receiving treatments
at a clinic, as most people do.
Brown said if she can lose weight and work on
her health problems, others with diabetes and
kidney disease can too
With her background as a nursing assis-
tant and medical assistant – and the help of
her husband, Eli, 20-year-old daughter,
Lenore, and 15-year-old son, Sonne –
Brown became comfortable using the home
dialysis machine five days a week.
But that isn’t all. Hearing that she could
possibly receive a kidney/pancreas trans-
plant, Brown took another step for personal
responsibility and better health. At 235
pounds, she had to lose weight to remain a
transplant candidate. Brown tried to do it
through diet and exercise, but couldn’t get
drop all the weight she needed to. In August
2012 she opted for gastric bypass surgery.
Finally she qualified. “I was transplanted
with a new kidney and pancreas at the end
of October 2014, and so far, so good. No
more dialysis and, more importantly, no
more insulin!” There are multiple drugs
she’ll take for the rest of her life to keep her
body from rejecting the transplant, but they
found that skyrocketing rent costs are far
outpacing wage growth. Between 2009 and
2014, Portland rents have increased 20.45
percent, the 6th highest increase in the
nation.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist with
NAR said these rent increases make it hard-
The report tracked census data from 2000
to 2010 and determined that 58 percent of
Portland’s lower-priced neighborhoods had
been gentrified. The national gentrification
average is a 20 percent of neighborhoods.
When facing a possible eviction, Buri
suggests two things: calling the Renter’s
are mostly pills and not frequent shots.
Brown said if she can lose weight and
work on her health problems, others with
diabetes and kidney disease can too.
“Making the first appointment is the hard-
est part. After that, it all just falls into
place,” she said. “Once you make that first
appointment, there are a million hands that
are on you trying to help you move it along.
That makes it easier. Diabetes or even kid-
ney failure doesn’t have to be a death
sentence. It’s very manageable. It’s doable.”
Northwest Kidney Centers’ website offers
information about kidney disease, diagno-
sis, treatment, classes and recipes for easy
and
delicious
dishes.
Visit
www.nwkidney.org.
Comic
continued from page 1
possibilities that happen through the
process,” Buri said. “It’s been hard for us to
really convey the entire process when we
are talking to tenants that don’t have an
immediate situation.”
CAT is the only statewide, tenant-led ten-
ant’s rights organization. They educate
about these rights through their Renters
Rights Hotline 503-288-0130, their Land-
lord-Tenant Law Booklet and community
outreach workshops.
Often, the CAT volunteers will help ten-
ants write letters to their landlords and
support them through the eviction legal
process.
Buri acknowledges that evictions are
often a terrifying experience and tries to
alleviate that with education.
“Not a lot of people know about (evic-
tion), it carries a lot of weight in terms of
losing your housing and destabilizing com-
munities,” Buri said. “Sometimes it can feel
like a dark hole for people.”
Evictions are a part of a much larger
affordable housing crisis. Research from the
National Association of Realtors (NAR) has
Research from the National Association of
Realtors (NAR) has found that skyrocketing rent
costs are far outpacing wage growth
er for renters to become homeowners,
effectively losing access to wealth through
fixed-rate mortgages. In addition, the NAR
found too few affordable homes for first-
time homebuyers.
These homes in low-income areas which
used to be purchased by first-time home-
buyers have been increasingly acquired by
developers. A recent report by Governing
magazine found Portland to be the most
gentrified city in the United States.
Rights Hotline to speak with an evictions
specialist, and preparing good documenta-
tion of your rental agreement and landlord
communications.
“If the tenant and the landlord have a
good communication with thorough docu-
mentations, sometimes it is much more
likely to come up with an agreement with
your landlord and negotiate something long
term,” Buri said.
Landlords need to provide only a 30-day
notice to increase rent. Coming to an agree-
ment with a landlord can give more time for
the tenants to find other housing.
Tenants are not often aware of all of their
rights. Buri said most people don’t know
that a landlord needs to give 24-hours notice
before entering your home.
People with disabilities also have housing
protection through the Fair Housing Act.
One of the stories featured in the comic
shows a disabled man in a wheelchair
requesting a reasonable accommodation to
avoid eviction.
“Evictions can be very traumatizing, or
inevitable, often. We hope to at least be able
to help tenants that can avoid an eviction
arm themselves with the right information
and preparation so they can make the right
decisions,” Buri said.
The “Know Your Rights: Don’t Get Evict-
ed” comic is part of a year-long partnership
between the Community Alliance of Ten-
ants and Know Your City. The stories were
developed by the first-hand accounts of
people called the CAT Renter’s Rights Hot-
line.
April 1, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 3