November 30, 2016 The Skanner Page 3
News
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“
publican Committee; and
Gloria Lee Snover, an
Easton real estate broker
and Republican delegate.
In Michigan, the slate
of 16 electors include
Trump backer John Hag-
gard; retired Hope Col-
lege professor Dr. Jack
Holmes; state GOP out-
reach chair Kelly Mitch-
ell; and former Wayne,
Michigan
Republican
Reportedly, dozens of Repub-
lican electors have signaled
discomfort with Trump, but
most have committed to sup-
porting him
The Electoral College
casts the official votes for
president on Dec. 19.
So, who are these indi-
viduals who have the last
— and ultimate — say in
the presidential election
and would they consider
changing their vote?
In total, there are 538
members who comprise
the Electoral College and
they each gather in their
respective state capitals
to cast the formal vote
for president.
They are selected at
state and local party con-
ventions and are almost
always supportive of
their party’s candidate.
To be chosen as an elec-
tor, an individual must
not be a senator, con-
gressman or hold any
office of trust or profit in
the country.
The slate of 20 Repub-
lican electors in Penn-
sylvania include Robert
Asher of Montgomery
County and owner of
Asher’s Chocolates; Mary
Barket of Northampton
County and president of
the Pennsylvania Fed-
eration of Republican
Women; Margaret Ferra-
ro, a teacher at the Naza-
reth Area Middle School
and chairman of the
Northampton County Re-
Party leader Ken Crider.
In Wisconsin, the 10
electors there include
conservative Kim Tra-
vis; Third District elec-
tor Brian Westrate; and
District GOP chair Jim
Miller.
Westrate has previous-
ly gone on record against
Trump.
“I didn’t vote for Trump
[in the primary election].
I am not a Trump sup-
porter,” Westrate said.
While Clinton’s nation-
al popular vote lead cur-
rently sits at more than 2
million, Trump won 306
of the crucial electoral
votes while Clinton is at
232.
If all the electors vote
for Trump, he’ll continue
to easily exceed the 270-
vote majority he needs
to become president and
he’ll be sworn in to office
on Jan. 20.
That’s why the an-
ti-Trump force needs 37
Republican defections.
Reportedly, dozens of
Republican electors have
signaled discomfort with
Trump, but most have
committed to supporting
him despite their misgiv-
ings.
Convictions
Read more at
TheSkanner.com
To help consumers find family farms selling Christmas trees, and other favorites of winter harvest, Oregon Farm Bureau offers
the searchable Oregon’s Bounty website. With a smartphone, search for “Oregon’s Bounty” or go directly to http://oregonfb.org/
oregonsbounty/ to quickly and easily find family farms selling Christmas trees — as well as other seasonal agricultural products,
such as holly, wreaths, hazelnuts, chestnuts, cranberries, pears, apples, winter squash, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, and garlic.
Oregon’s Bounty allows visitors to search for farms by region and/or a specific ag product. Each of the more than 300 listings of farms
and ranches includes hours of operation, contact information, and driving directions.
Alberta
cont’d from pg 1
anymore or that they don’t feel
welcome on the street,” Witten-
berg said.
Organizers say the project’s
mission is two-fold: one objective
is to collect and host these stories
online. The other goal is to select
three stories and commemorate
them with a sign, plaque or other
permanent outdoor fixture. The
initiative focuses on the area of
Alberta between 10th and 31st Av-
enues.
Former or current King, Ver-
non, Sabin or Concordia neigh-
borhood residents, who have
been affected by the social and
economic changes to the area, are
especially encouraged to share
their experiences.
The idea for the historic mark-
ers came from an Alberta Main
Street forum in February 2015
called “Honoring Our Past, Plan-
ning Our Future.” At the meeting,
community members expressed
a desire to recapture the African
American history that had been
erased from the area due to gen-
trification.
“I think it is important to the
folks who may be new to Alberta
Street to really begin to under-
stand that they are entering a
community that existed before
they moved here,” Wittenberg
said.
The community members also
wanted the project to have eco-
“
Jonathan Ling, an organizer
with Alberta Main Street, said it
is important to ensure the bene-
fits go to the Black community.
“We would pause if we had
trouble finding artists and fab-
ricators that weren’t Black or
African American,” Ling said. “It
just doesn’t feel authentic if you
Community members expressed a de-
sire to recapture the African American
history that had been erased from the
area due to gentrification
nomic opportunities for the
Black community. The storytell-
ers whose stories have been se-
lected to become the marker will
also receive a $500 stipend and a
consultation with the artist who
will design the piece.
Ideally, Alberta Main Street
would like the economic bene-
fits to extend to every part of the
placemaking process — paying
African American storytellers,
artists and fabricators to create
the markers.
are going about it the other way
around.”
They have received a few sto-
ries, but they hope to have more
submissions before the Dec. 31
deadline. Kenya Budd, the equi-
ty and engagement coordinator
with Alberta Main Street, said
there is a lot of enthusiasm, but
some people are reluctant to
share their stories.
Read more at TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
to convict Williams under Oregon law.
“I don’t think people in Oregon know
this rule. If we were the defendant,
we would have an expectation that
we would need a unanimous jury [to
convict], and we don’t — but in federal
court and in 48 other states we do,” Ka-
plan told The Skanner.
“
Oregon’s Bounty
was “Effectively, in Mr. Williams’ case,
the law is doing exactly what people
hoped it would do in 1934, which is that
a minority voice could not prevent a
conviction,” Scott told The Skanner.
Oregon’s law, which was implement-
ed in 1934 as the result of a ballot mea-
sure amending the Constitution, is one
If we were the defendant, we would have an
expectation that we would need a unanimous
jury [to convict], and we don’t -- but in federal
court and in 48 other states we do
According to Kaplan, Oregon’s law
has been appealed several times but
has never been heard by the state Su-
preme Court — and Oregon has no data
tracking how many defendants have
been convicted by non-unanimous ju-
ries.
Attorneys involved with Williams’
case say the case is unique, but echoes
the intent of the original law — which
of two like it in the country. Louisiana
passed a law preventing non-unani-
mous jury verdicts in 1880, shortly af-
ter the end of slavery, Kaplan said, and
this law was explicitly intended to ex-
pand the availability of free labor by in-
creasing the state’s prison population.
Kaplan
writes
that
Oregon’s
non-unanimous jury rule was the re-
sult of a ballot measure in 1934 and was
precipitated by xenophobic and an-
ti-Semitic media coverage of the trial of
Jacob Silverman, a Jewish man tried for
first-degree murder of a White, Prot-
estant victim. Eleven jurors wanted to
convict, but a holdout juror refused to
convict, and the jury returned a verdict
of manslaughter instead.
“Americans have learned, with some
pain, that many peoples in the world
are unfit for democratic institutions,
lacking the traditions of the English
speaking peoples,” wrote an editorial
writer for The Morning Oregonian at
the time. Shortly after the Silverman
verdict, the Oregon legislature pro-
posed a constitutional amendment al-
lowing non-unanimous convictions in
felony trials, which Oregonians passed
(by a vote of 46,745 to 27,988) in a spe-
cial election that year.
“This is a really unique situation,
where you have a non-unanimous
verdict where you have the defendant
and the not-guilty-voting jurors being
PHOTO BY ALAN CORDOVA (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) VIA FLICKR
That scenario is a long
shot, but a growing pe-
tition with millions of
signatures and a “Never
Trump” movement has
picked up steam since
the Nov. 8 election with
the hopes of convincing
a large enough swath of
the Electoral College to
change its vote and go
against a Trump presi-
dency.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE OREGON FARM BUREAU
Recount
A Multnomah County Circuit Court judge has said
he’ll decide by Dec. 15 on a case that convicted a
Portland man of felony sodomy charges on a 10-2
vote. Oregon is one of two states in the country
that allows non-unanimous convictions of felony
defendants.
of the same race and having the juror
come forward with that information,”
said Emily E. Elison, the attorney who
wrote the Oregon Justice Resource Cen-
ter’s amicus brief on the Williams case.
