JUNE 21, 2017
25
CENTS
Portland and Seattle Volume XXXIX No. 38
News ...............................3,8-11 A & E .....................................6-7
Opinion ...................................2 London Attacks ...............8
Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classifieds ....................11
CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW
STOCK IMAGE
JUSTICE FOR
CHARLEENA LYLES
Clark County Sheriff’s Department patrol car
Former
Commander
Receives
$1.2 M
Settlement
E
ight years after former Clark Coun-
ty sheriff ’s department command-
er Clifford B. Evelyn filed a racial
discrimination lawsuit against the
County in 2009, a settlement has finally
been reached.
On June 2, Evelyn received $1.2 mil-
lion from Clark County, over a case he
had been trying to bring to trial for al-
most a decade.
“Even though they settled, I’m still
not happy because my name never got
cleared,” Evelyn told The Skanner.
The award-winning 20-year veteran
See SETTLEMENT on page 3
Hundreds of people gathered in support of the family on the evening of June 18 at the apartment complex where Charleena Lyles, a pregnant mother of
four, was shot and killed by Seattle police earlier that morning. Lyles had called the police to report a theft and within minutes of their arrival was shot
at least five times by both officers. The police say she confronted them with a knife but the community questions whether a less lethal means could
have been used to subdue the women who family and neighbors describe as being tiny and weighing about 90 pounds.
Lolenzo Poe Retires From Portland Schools
Former Chief Equity & Diversity Officer reflects on his career
By Melanie Sevcenko
For The Skanner News
AP PHOTO/J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE
W
In this June 9, 2017 House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi, D-Calif., speakson Capitol Hill in Washington.
Democratic Party divisions are on stark display
after a disappointing special election loss in a hard-
fought Georgia congressional race.
World News
Briefs page 10
Uncertainty as Nevada
Recreational Marijuana
Become Legal
page 9
hen Lolenzo Poe
was growing up
in North Port-
land, he came to
understand the proverb,
“It takes a village to raise a
child.” Brought up primar-
ily by his grandmother, Poe
told The Skanner that there
were several adults in his
life who had a hand in rais-
ing him.
“If it weren’t for people
putting their hands on me
and spending time with
me, I don’t know where I’d
be,” said Poe.
His mission to better pub-
lic education for under-
served communities has
sent him on a decades-long
crusade. Since 2009, Poe
has managed programs
that are critical to Portland
Public Schools’ efforts to
raise the bar for minority
student performance.
This month, Poe is saying
goodbye to PPS and retir-
ing from his post as Chief
Equity and Diversity Offi-
cer and Director of Part-
nership Development.
“Everything I’ve done in
my life has been centered
on the notion of education
and how in fact we help
children — particularly
low-income children and
African Americans —
achieve educationally.”
As a graduate of Jeffer-
son High School, Poe ex-
perienced first-hand the
perils of public education
for Black kids in North
Portland.
“I came though this sys-
tem, and I understand
what it feels like when you
tell kids they can’t achieve,”
said Poe. “But fortunately
for me, there were those
few in the school system
who told me – you can be
what you want to be.”
After earning an un-
dergraduate degree from
Oregon State University
and a Master of Public Ad-
ministration, Poe spent 32
years employed through
Multnomah County — first
as the director of the De-
partment of Community &
Family Services, and later
as director of the Depart-
ment of School & Commu-
See POE on page 3
Portland Musician, Educator Thara Memory Dies
Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter, composter,
music teacher died Saturday at the age of 68
The Skanner News Staff
P
ortland jazz musician and ed-
ucator Thara Memory passed
away Saturday night at the age
of 68.
Memory was well-known in the
Portland jazz scene. He taught at
Wilson High School and created the
American Music Program at King
Elementary School, a magnet school
program drawing students from all
over the Portland metropolitan area
to learn to play jazz.
An Oregon Music Hall of Fame in-
ductee and protégé of Miles Davis,
Memory also won a Grammy in 2013
for his arrangement, “City of Roses,”
which was performed by his most fa-
mous protege, Esperanza Spalding.
“Thank you for believing in me; for
pushing me; for giving me opportu-
nity again and again to stand in your
See MEMORY on page 3
PHOTO COURTESY OF KENNETH W. BERRY
By Melanie Sevcenko
Of The Skanner News
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
Clifford B. Evelyn sued
sheriff’s department for
discrimination in 2009
Jazz trumpeter and music educator Thara
Memory died Saturday at the age of 68.