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July, 2009 -- Vol. 103, No. 11
Memories of THE BEE's first one hundred years!
We offer, just below, a special four-page retrospective of Inner Southeast Portland's century, written by Eileen Fitzsimons, drawn from the pages of THE BEE over the previous 100 years. It appeared in our September, 2006, issue. Click on each of the links just below, to open or download the four pages (as large PDF documents) of this once-in-a-century special section!
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| Keep up with Portland's local news! The all-new daily PORTLAND TRIBUNE website is updated throughout the day, every day, when news breaks out. Click the banner at left to keep up to date on the banner news in the Rose City!
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THE BEE has developed a new website, in partnership with the other newspapers of our group, and we invite you to visit it and try it out. Your feedback is appreciated; we want to make it user-friendly to you! Click the green logo at right and take a tour! The news content is the same as on this website. Let us know what you think!
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SINCE WE WENT TO PRESS:
Council renames 39th Avenue for Cesar E. Chavez
Portland Tribune report
for THE BEE
It’s now to be Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard.
Portland’s City Council voted unanimously Wednesday morning, July 8th, to rename 39th Avenue in honor of the Hispanic labor leader.
The vote ended several months of a sometimes rancorous process to rename the street, with supporters saying the city should honor Chavez like other national leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, and opponents claiming the renaming could cost businesses along the road a lot in a struggling economy.
“For my family, we would be honored to live on Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard,” said city Commissioner Nick Fish, the only council member who lives on 39th Avenue. “We live in a city with a growing Latino community, yet there is not one street that honors their heritage. We can change that today.”
The street renaming process began last fall when the Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard Committee submitted plans to change the name of a major street to honor the California labor leader who died in 1993. Chavez and Dolores Huerta founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers. His birthday has become a holiday in eight U.S. states.
Just prior to the vote, commissioners and Mayor Sam Adams said their decision was a nod to the region’s large Hispanic population. It also noted that other streets honored major national and local leaders, and adding Chavez was a natural fit.
“I believe that in the future, in 50 years, Portlanders will be better served by having a street named for Cesar Chavez than having a street named 39th,” said city Commissioner Amanda Fritz.
“Portland’s Latino community continues to grow, and this community deserves the recognition that Cesar Chavez Boulevard will bring,” said city Commissioner Dan Saltzman.
Opposition to the proposal
The Chavez committee gathered more than 2,500 signatures across the city supporting the name change. The issue was presented to a panel of historians, who recommended that the city name one of three main streets – including 39th Avenue – to honor Chavez.
Opponents of the move, led by Eric Fruits, have threatened a lawsuit against the city if the street’s name is changed. Fruits, an economist, argued that the city has repeatedly violated rules of the street-renaming process authorized by the City Charter.
Fruits said the city did not verify that everyone who signed the street-renaming petition was a legal resident of Portland. In addition, he noted that 39th Avenue continues into Milwaukie in violation of the rules – an issue dismissed by the city attorney’s office because the segments are physically separated by the Tideman Johnson Creek Natural Area.
A postcard survey of businesses and residences along 39th Avenue documented opposition to the renaming idea. Of the 791 postcards returned to the city, nearly 88 percent opposed the change. Only about 12 percent supported it.
Panel helps guide process
An earlier effort to rename North Interstate Avenue collapsed in controversy. It came after the Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard Committee asked the council for the name change. Many residents and businesses along Interstate opposed the proposal, in part because the council did not follow its own City Charter procedures.
After the council declined to rename Interstate, it adopted a resolution clarifying the renaming process. Among other things, it called for the appointment of the Historical Panel, which includes Willamette University law professor Gilbert Carrasco, Oregon National Guard Brig. Gen. Michael Caldwell, and Cully Neighborhood Association President Kathy Fuerstenau. Marshall Mediation of Portland led the process.
The resolution also required the renaming committee to pay $3,000 to cover the cost of the postcard survey. 39th was found by the panel to be historically unimportant, an opinion disputed by many who live and work along it.
Opponents of the name change promise a challenge to the City Council decision.
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| Officers from Central Precinct join those from Southeast and East Precincts as they seal off a 10-block perimeter around the shooting site on S.E. Knapp. (Photo by David F. Ashton) |
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| Officials say this young man, 17-year-old Fernando Chavez, was deceased when officers arrived – but, so far, they decline further comment on the case. (Portland Public Schools photo) |
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CHS student with “star potential” slain chasing intruder
By DAVID F. ASHTON
for THE BEE
In the wee hours of Saturday, June 6, at about 3:30 am, a shot rang out in the 5500 block of S.E. Knapp Street, in the Brentwood Darlington neighborhood. 17-year-old Fernando Chavez, a junior at Cleveland High School, fell to the pavement.
Minutes later, when officers arrived, they found his lifeless body. It was not a gang-related incident, and the victim was a hero who had been attempting to protect his home from an apparent intruder.
“It’s usually pretty quiet here,” Henrietta Johnston, who said she was a long-time resident, told THE BEE that afternoon. “The bang was so loud, it woke me up. I thought it was a firecracker. Then I heard people screaming, and the police started arriving.”
Portland Police Bureau Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) officers swarmed the scene, looking for the assailant. The street was closed off throughout the day, as detectives searched for the gunman. That evening, Sgt. Michael Marshman, Executive Officer for Services Branch, Chief's Office, Portland Police Bureau announced that detectives had arrested 30-year-old Thomas H. Konschuh, Jr., a resident of the area, for the crime.
Marshman added, “Detectives are still investigating this crime – and the events that led up to the shooting, as well as other information, cannot be revealed at this time.”
Days later, Portland Police spokesperson Detective Mary Wheat told us she could nether confirm or deny widely-reported media accounts coming from family members, friends, and neighbors. “Detectives typically wait until the Grand Jury hearing, before releasing information,” she explained.
An article posted on the Portland Public Schools official website referenced the unofficial accounts of the incident as reported by various media.
In this account, Fernando Chavez’s school counselor at Cleveland High School, Anthony Scribner, said that, although he’d only known him for a short time, Chavez had made a positive impression on him.
In a subsequent interview with THE BEE, Scribner said, “The only way I can describe this is as a sad, sad loss.”
About the events that took place that night, Scribner said it was his understanding that a person was seen outside the home where Chavez resided on S.E. Knapp Street in Portland, looking inside.
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| Detectives charged this man – 30-year-old Thomas H. Konschuh, Jr. – with Murder and Attempted Aggravated Murder, in the deadly shooting. (Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office photo) |
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“I’ve been asked if I was surprised that Fernando chased the intruder,” Scriber stated. “Actually, I would be surprised if he hadn’t done so. He was the kind of person that, who, if his guardian mother was threatened, there would be no stopping him.”
These days, Scribner went on, many people would say it’s a bad idea to leave one’s home when a potential criminal is nearby. “But, the only thing I could see him doing, is heading out the door. He’d be running out, not being angry or mean-spirited, but to protect those he cares about. He was a stand-up kind of guy.”
Scribner said Chavez had attended Franklin High School for about two and a half years, before coming to Cleveland, mid-term. “Usually when a student transfers in mid-year, I don’t really get a chance to know them. But, he wanted to succeed; he sought out my advice about how to work out his classes. And, he loved football. We were working it out for him to play football next year.”
One of Chavez’s favorite school periods was weight training, Scribner added.
“His instructor, Kendra Gardner, told me he influenced his classmates to commit to ‘stepping up a notch’ and training harder,” related Scribner. “This goes back to his wanting to be a success on the football field. Gardner told me he was proud of the heavy weight he lifted on Friday [June 5th] – that he didn’t put it away, wanting all to see it, and to inspire others. It was still out, on Monday when classes resumed – a silent testimony to his will to succeed.”
His counselor characterized Chavez with a string of positive adjectives: “Friendly, respectful, polite, smart, focused, and connected with people well. You liked him immediately. He had good grades; and when something ‘wasn’t working’, he’d come back, check in, and get advice. In five months, he had a positive impact on Cleveland – by the time he would have graduated [next year], he would have made a big positive impact.”
In addition to his studies and sports, Scribner noted that Chavez also held down a job at a nearby restaurant. “I think it was at La Bamba, at S.E. 49th Avenue and S.E. Powell Boulevard.”
In summary, Scribner told us that Chavez was a young man destined for success. “He would have gone places. The expectation for him is that he would have been a great success later in his life.”
According to an article in the Tri-City Herald newspaper in Pasco, Washington, his parents said that Chavez – who was a Pasco native – wanted to be an architect.
On June 16th, Tremont Evangelical Church on S.E. Woodstock Boulevard filled with those who wanted to remember Chavez at a memorial service. Students and staffmembers from both Franklin and Cleveland High Schools were present to recall his positive attitude, work ethic, and the influence he had on those around him.
At press time, Portland Police Bureau spokesperson Detective Mary Wheat said that because they were wary of compromising their case in the coming trial, Homicide Detectives still were unwilling to reveal the chain of events that led up to the shooting that night, other than to disclose that Chavez died of a single gunshot wound.
At the Grand Jury hearing, the suspect, 30-year-old Thomas H. Konschuh, Jr. – described as being 6 feet 2 inches tall, and 210 pounds – was indicted for both Murder and Attempted Murder, Wheat said.
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| Southeast's Dougy Center, ablaze (Photo by David F. Ashton) |
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Arson suspected in Dougy Center fire
By DAVID F. ASHTON
for THE BEE
Neighbors in the Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood, along S.E. 52nd Avenue just south of SE Foster Road, are worried. They say they’re concerned about several small unexplained fires in their area, occurring since the March 26th fire that badly damaged a professional building at S.E. Francis Street.
And it was near S.E. Francis Street that the nationally-renowned “Dougy Center” stood.
In the 10 pm hour on Sunday evening, June 21st, it burned too.
As she watched the firefighters attack that blaze, neighbor Montana Eastman told THE BEE that she was worried that an arsonist could be running loose in the area. “It’s been small fires – but you just don’t know if your house will be next.”
At its Woodstock firehouse just north of Holgate, Portland Fire & Rescue’s (PF&R) Engine 25 got the call at 10:07 pm. They were first on-scene, one minute later. When they pulled up to the large remodeled home, they reported a fire burning on the back and south side of the structure, according to PF&R’s spokesman, Lt. Allen Oswalt said, as he consulted the Bureau’s Incident Report submitted by Lt. Christopher Starling.
“The fire appeared to be exterior, but extending above the roof and to the interior,” Oswald said. “Other buildings nearby weren’t in any danger of catching fire.”
The crew riding on Engine 25 took command, and Truck 25’s crew started heading for the roof of the building, which was burning hotter by the minute. Meantime, a second engine assigned to Station 25 hooked up hose lines and started attacking the blaze at the back of the building.
They were joined by crews from Engine 19, Brooklyn’s Engine 23, and Engine 9, as they all worked to contain, and then extinguish, the blaze. The crew of Truck 4 started searching the structure, to make sure there was nobody inside the flame-blackened building.
Fighting the fire from every level, up on the pitched dormer roof nearly three stories above the ground, PF&R crews cut holes in the roof, while others hosed water onto the burning building.
Flames could be seen erupting from the roof and around the eves of the building for more than thirty minutes. “Crews were fighting fires on two floors, the roof, and the back of the building. It took them a while to knock it down,” reported Oswalt.
One of the many bystanders was Donna Schuurman, Manager of The Dougy Center. she watched firefighters try to save the building that has housed the privately-funded, non-profit organization since 1982.
Schuurman said the burning structure was located between two other homes that had been converted for their organization’s use.
As she watched in dismay, Schuurman told THE BEE, “First, there was the professional building catching fire in March. Then, under the stairs at the back of this building, somebody filled a pop can with gasoline or something flammable, and lit it. Fortunately the wooden stairs were too wet to catch fire.” Next, Schuurman said, someone lit a fire that destroyed a play structure in the building’s back yard. “It’s pretty pitiful that somebody would be setting fires – and now, trying to burn down a nonprofit agency that works with children who are grieving because they’ve had a death in their family.”
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| The Dougy Center, the day after the fire. (Photo by L. E. Baskow, Portland Tribune) |
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The fire was suspected to have started outside the building, pending the final report of the investigator, according to the Incident Report. It spread into the first floor, the second floor, and then extended into the attic and roof.
After the visible flames were extinguished, firefighters continued their “overhaul”, during which crewmembers pull apart charred ceilings, walls, and floors to look for hot spots. This continued into the wee hours of the morning. The first crew returned to Station 25 at 3:48 am, while other firefighters stood watch, continuing to put out hot spots.
The center manager said they’d installed motion-detector spotlights behind the structure. “And, we’ve printed flyers and alerted all of the neighbors. I don’t know what else to do.”
Lt. Oswalt agreed, “There have been several suspicious fires in Southeast Portland in that general area over the last few months. And, when there’s an area where people can be hidden from view, and there are flammable items, it provides a setting for a ‘crime of opportunity’.”
Portland Fire & Rescue Chief Fire Investigator Greg Wong told THE BEE on June 25th, “We are treating this as an arson. We’ve assigned extra staff to this case, and are actively working and pursuing leads.”
Lt. Oswalt commented, “Fire investigators work on patterns, no matter how unclear they may be. Sometimes a string of fires will point to the arsonist. Please report any fires – burned and gone out by itself, or you noticed it was burnt – call it in.”
Officials place the building loss at $600,000, and the content loss at $150,000. Schuurman said that their business and financial records were lost in the fire, as were their program materials. She is now looking for another site to continue their work of counseling children, until the center can be rebuilt. If you want to help, contact the center through its Internet website: www.dougy.org.
“We rely on neighbors to help us solve arson crimes,” Oswalt concluded. “503/823-3791 is the number for our investigator’s office, or call the Arson Hotline 1-800/452-7888. You may remain anonymous.”
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Honors presented to childrens’ river rescuers
By DAVID F. ASHTON
for THE BEE
Although they had little to say, after being awarded medals by the Portland Police Bureau on June 10th, Cheryl Robb and David Hagg are widely considered to be heroes.
The river-side dwellers set out into the pitch-black Willamette River just after midnight on May 23rd, in their own boat, and found and recovered two children drifting in the water after they dropped from the Sellwood Bridge.
At the Police Bureau ceremony, Portland Police Bureau (PPB) spokesperson Detective Mary Wheat recalled to the audience packing the David Douglas High School theater how Amanda Jo Stott Smith allegedly forced her 4-year-old boy and 7-year-old girl off the bridge.
“The boy died when he hit the water, but the girl survived,” Wheat said. “The girl floated downstream yelling for help. Police were called, and searched the water using flashlights and spotlights. Because of the police activity, two citizens living nearby, Cheryl Robb and David Hagg, launched their personal boat and located the two children. Ms. Robb was unable to get the boat close enough to the children to rescue them, so Mr. Hagg jumped into the river and pulled both children from the water.
“They transported the children to the west dock where Sgt. Peter Simpson was waiting. Sgt. Simpson attempted CPR to the little boy, only to realize he was dead. He turned his attention to the girl who had been in the frigid water for 45 minutes. He rubbed her down with a blanket, then picked the girl up and quickly brought her to the responding ambulance.”
PPB Chief Rosie Sizer appeared to be deeply moved, as she presented commendations in the incident.
“For your heroic actions in giving aid to these children,” Wheat concluded, “Sgt. Peter Simpson and Cheryl Robb, you are hereby awarded the Life Saving Medal, and David Hagg, for your heroism, you are hereby awarded the Police Medal of Honor.”
After the ceremony, Chief Sizer told THE BEE, “I have attended many awards ceremonies during my career. Honestly, I cannot think of a ceremony that is been more poignant than this one. I’m very pleased we can recognize two heroic citizens; I’m really proud of them, and really thankful that they were there. I’m also thankful for Sergeant Simpson, who did his best to help the young woman survive.”
Portland Police Sgt. Matthew Stimmel, and Officers Shaun Sahli and Richard Storm, also received letters of commendation for their work in connection with this widely publicized tragic incident.
Also commemorated during the East Portland ceremony was Police K-9 Xwodin, a German Shepherd who, with his handler, Officer Alex Fyfe, was deployed more than 2,000 times, and found $15 million in hidden narcotics during his noted career. Xwodin died of natural causes at age 11 on June 4th. Xwodin was deployed all over the region, and frequently appeared in Southeast Portland.
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| Portland Police Bureau Chief Rosie Sizer recognizes individuals who were key to the rescue of the 7-year-old girl allegedly thrown, with her 4-year-old brother, from the Sellwood Bridge just after midnight on May 23rd. Here joining the Chief with their awards are citizens Cheryl Robb and David Hagg, and Sgt. Peter Simpson. (Photo by David F. Ashton) |
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| Xwodin, a Police K-9 who, with his handler, Officer Alex Fyfe, shown here, was credited with finding $15 million in hidden narcotics during his 11-year career with the Portland Police Bureau. Xwodin was honored posthumously during the ceremony; he died of natural causes at age 11 on June 4th. (Portland Police Bureau photo) |
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| Tom Koon, President of Rose City Street Rods, drives this striking 1933 Ford sedan. (Photo by Rita A. Leonard) |
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Street Rods cruise in to Oaks Park for Rose Festival
By RITA A. LEONARD
for THE BEE
June 7 marked this year’s date for the Rose City Street Rods Invitational “Cruise-In” -- when about 100 street rods in all colors of the rainbow met in the back lot at Oaks Amusement Park.
Club President Tom Koon noted that the club members staged the event in conjunction with the Rose Festival. “It’s a lot of fun. We just cruise in, admire each others’ vehicles, have lunch, and enjoy the general camaraderie,” he smiled.
Visitors and car owners alike gathered to view the fancy paint jobs and other additions visible on the rows of old car models. "This meet is limited to vehicles built in 1948 and earlier,” explained Koon. “Most of them have modern drive trains, and a lower front end. Most also have automatic transmissions and other modern amenities, but an older body style. They’re updated to be reliable to drive long distances, but still look old.”
The club’s members mostly reside in the Portland-Vancouver area, although some come from farther away to display their vehicles and share the picnic. Ken Anderson drove in from Wilsonville in his yellow ’41 Chevy convertible. “My dad owned this car 40 years before I got it,” he said. “I’m going to keep it in the family.” John Scheewe drove across the Columbia River from Vancouver, Washington, with his red ’40 Ford Coupe, leaving the event at the end of the day along with a parade of other vintage cars.
Koon said the club was formed in the early ’70’s for street rod owners to get together and share common interests. “We meet about once or twice a month, driving to other towns and similar events in a parade of 15 or more vehicles. Passers-by love to see our cars; we always have people waving and taking photos. We’re kind of a unique show on the road. This is a hobby that’s just for fun,” he explained.
“At today's event we offered door prizes consisting of T-shirts, hats and lawn chairs, but mostly it was just a chance to get together. We presented just one trophy here; the ‘Park’s Pick,’ which is selected by the Manager of Oaks Park. The winner this year was a 1929 Model A Roadster pickup, owned by Richard and Pam Griffin of Portland.”
For information on the Rose City Street Rods Association, phone Koon at 1-360/521-0426. His own pride and joy is a shiny red 1933 Ford sedan with flames painted on the front, and he’d love to tell you about it.
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