Eric Norberg, Editor & General Manager Brian Monihan, Publisher Sandy Hubbard, Independent BEE      Advertising Representative Molly Filler, Page Design Jaime McClaren, Accounting Eric Norberg:     Sandy Hubbard: Call: 503 / 232-2326    Text: 971 / 407-7942 fax: 503/232-9787 text: 503/757-0014 "Community Classifieds" want ads: 503/620-7355 Circulation/subscriptions: 503/620-9797 Accounting/Billing: 971/204-7712 CMG Media Editorial and Sales Address: 1837 S.E. Harold Street Portland, OR 97202-4932 Remit bill payments to: Accounts Receivable Department P.O. Box 45, West Linn, OR 97068 e-mail: ReadTheBee@Outlook.com November, 2024 - Vol. 119, No. 3 Scroll down to read this issue! Memories of THE BEE's first 100 years! In 2006, THE BEE celebrated its centennial of serving Southeast Portland!  A special four-page retrospective of Inner Southeast Portland's century, written by Eileen Fitzsimons, and drawn from the pages of THE BEE over the previous 100 years, appeared in our September, 2006, issue. Click here to read the special centenary retrospective! _________________________________________ BEE SUBMISSION AND AD DEADLINES Next BEE is our Thanksgiving issue, with a deadline of November 14.   (November's BEE is the first of three Christmas Season issues.) (The Pre-Christmas (Jan.) issue has an ad and copy deadline of December 5.) INTERESTED IN ADVERTISING? CLICK HERE FOR RATES AND INFORMATION!      ____________________________________ Want to subscribe to receive the PRINT version of THE BEE in the mail? Email circulation@pamplinmedia.com -- or telephone 503/620-9797, during weekday business hours. The 12-issue annual print subscription is $25 per year for addresses anywhere in the United States.. International rates are available; inquire via the e-mail address or the telephone number two lines up!  _________________________________________________________________________ Daily news!  The Portland Tribune is updated a number of times every day, to bring you the latest news of the Portland area and Oregon.  Click on the banner at left to read the Tribune online! THE BEE has a second website -- searchable for past stories.  The content for the current month includes what is on this one, presented in a different format.  To visit our newer website, click the banner at right! GDPR NOTICE: The owner of this website, www.ReadTheBee.com, collects no information on this site from any reader, and never has. One bite at a time, this trashed and burned “squatter house” on Martins Street in Eastmoreland was dismantled. It was built thirty years ago as an Eastmoreland adult care home – but in recent years it had become a squatter hangout, the site of a major fire, and a major public nuisance. (Photo by David F. Ashton) From mansion to burned ‘squatter house’: Eastmoreland demolition By DAVID F. ASHTON For THE BEE Several Eastmoreland neighbors stood by and cheered on Wednesday, September 25th, looking on as a troubled “squatter house” in their midst was undergoing demolition – being deconstructed down to its basement, where even the concrete was to be removed. Unless someone had a specific reason to visit 3735 S.E. Martins Street in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, the 6,345 sq. ft. castle-like residence would have gone unnoticed. Being situated at the eastern dead end of the street – where the road turns into an overgrown dirt path – the location was ideal its original purpose: It was an adult foster-care home that had been incorporated as “Dove Care Center, Inc.” in 1994. The house was built in 1991, and this adult care-home business – and several other businesses, including an adoption agency – were owned by OrvaLee Ann Farris. All ended at her death on April 11, 2020. At that time, the “market value” of the property was estimated at $1,229,560. Fire ravages building “After the owner passed away in 2020, the neighboring property owners were traumatized by years of drug activity, trespassers, illegal burning, and [an automobile] chop-shop at this house,” Eastmoreland Neighborhood Association President Jane Monson commented to THE BEE. When a massive fire erupted from the back of the residence on October 19, 2021, the structure was not believed to be occupied – but neighbors said, at the time, they saw squatters “flee like rats from a sinking ship”. A firefighter was injured while attacking the blaze. The fire left gaping holes in the roof, and rain further damaged the house for the next three years – a fact that was noticed by City of Portland Housing Inspectors, who issued a series of code violation notices to the legal trustees responsible for the house. Eventually, the City of Portland Hearings Office issued an order that the building be demolished, observing that the property had accumulated 16 violations and notations, including: No water service No electrical service Deemed dangerous structure due to a hazard, hazard to safety and public welfare, public nuisance, and chronic dereliction Roof damaged and deteriorated Wiring pulled out from wall sockets Areas of interior ceiling, floor and walls are buckled, collapsed, deteriorated, and not structurally sound. Trash and debris accumulated in the interior, creating rodent harborage and unsanitary conditions Structure repeatedly broken into, and intermittently (one night at a time) occupied by unlawful entrants The report included numerous photographs that documented the dilapidated condition of the property after the fire. The owner – in this case, the mortgage holder – was required to either repair and rehabilitate the structure, or to demolish it, and to obtain the required permits for that by May 12. Apparently, the bank chose to have the house demolished. “We’re glad this nightmare is finally coming to an end,” exclaimed a neighbor, who asked not to be identified, as chunk-by-chunk the derelict house was demolished. It’s not a total loss for the bank – which will be able to sell this prime lot to a builder, to construct a new home there. By this time next year, the “new and improved” Portland Mercado on Foster Road is scheduled to be open once again to the public. (Photo by David F. Ashton) ProsperPortland grant will rebuild the burned Portland Mercado By DAVID F. ASHTON For THE BEE A few of the food carts parked at the Portland Mercado – on S.E. Foster Road at 72nd Avenue, in the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood – have reopened. However, its commercial kitchen and indoor spaces remain shuttered, after a two-alarm electrical fire ripped through the building back on January 3rd. On October 9th, Prosper Portland – renamed from being the “Portland Development Commission” – authorized a “Non-Programmatic Grant” to Hacienda Community Development Corporation, for the restoration and improvement of the “Portland Mercado”. The $750,000 grant is actually issued from the “Lents Town Center Tax Increment Finance District” – and it will help rebuild the charred building that’s on property owned by Prosper Portland, and leased to “Portland Mercado LLC”. So why does this development in the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood, qualify for a grant from this Lents entity? It’s because it’s in the district! While most of the western boundary of the “Lents Town Center Tax Increment Finance District” cuts off along 79th and 80th Avenues, the maps do show a one-block-wide sliver that juts northwesterly down along S. E. Foster Road – actually, all the way to Powell Boulevard. So it’s qualified for the grant that it is receiving. “Because of the damage [in the fire], there’s an opportunity to do some structural reinforcing to add an accessible balcony for customers of the Mercado to enjoy outdoor dining, as well as the additional awnings … to provide some shade in the summertime and some rain coverage in the winter,” wrote Prosper Portland Development Manager Bryan Moore in the grant document. Now this substantial grant has been approved, and if the permitting goes as expected, construction will begin before the end of the year; and the Portland Mercado should reopen in October of next year. These are the four featured forecasters this year at the annual “What Will Winter Be Like” conference at OMSI. From left: Tanis Leach, Noah Alviz, April Elliott, and Kyle Dittmer. (Photo by Eric Norberg) WinterForecasts: Snow, wind, rain, maybe a little ice By ERIC NORBERG Editor, THE BEE The 32nd annual Winter Weather Forecast Conference in the OMSI auditorium was similar to all the others – although the specific forecasts vary. This year it took place on Saturday, October 19, presented as usual by the Oregon Chapter of the American Meteorological Society. The similarities were in having four featured forecasters, and on how much mathematics go into arriving at these winter predictions! Forecasting more than a week or so in advance is largely a matter of finding which years have had similar weather conditions to this year up to now – establishing “proxy” or “analog” years, and then averaging how the weather turned out in the winter at the end of those years to predict what will happen this winter. Added in are specific indicators, such as the current status of the El Nino/La Nina conditions of the surface water temperature in the eastern Pacific, the sunspot activity of the sun, the ENSO trend, and other specific indicators that each forecaster follows. All made corrections for the warming climate trend before producing a forecast. All the forecasters this year agreed that we seem to be in a “weak La Nina” situation, at least through January. The first presenting forecaster, Noah Alvix from Portland’s National Weather Service office, said the national forecasters for NWS have concluded the precipitation this winter would be “slightly above normal” all winter, with normal temperatures for the season through January, and slightly below normal temperatures in February through April. The forecaster who presents every year, Kyle Dittmer of the Columbia River International Fish Commission, a former NWS forecaster, and a teacher of meteorology at two local colleges, went into great detail on the indicators he follows and what they have led him to forecast for this year – which amounted to better snow in the mountains, a bit more water in the rivers, and four snow events – two of them moderate (up to three inches) and two minor (an inch or less) in Portland. Tanis Leach, a recent graduate of Oregon State in Meteorology, presented the densest mathematical analysis and also the most aggressive winter forecast of the day, with many slides elucidating the many factors he considers. His analog years go back to 1886 and 1915, his top recent analog years are 1992 and 2016. His forecast is for rain above average this winter, “with a hyperactive year possible” – we could get 51 inches before the season is over, he said. He expects average temperatures to be 1.5” to 2” below normal, with the lowest temperature potentially reaching 13 degrees at some point, and he thinks there could be a decent windstorm peaking slightly over 50 m.p.h. in some parts of the Northwest. He thinks the most active weather will center between January 1 and February 15. And the fourth forecaster was April Elliott, meteorologist with Avangrid Renewables, who went through her indicators and proxy years, but concentrated on the snow forecast: “Chances are high we’ll experience a snowstorm this winter” in Portland, she said. She agreed that “January to February hold the highest likelihood, but a snowstorm in December is also quite probable this year”. She thinks the annual winter snow accumulation for Portland might quite possibly be about a foot overall. KPTV Meteorologist Mark Nelson, who starts out each year’s meeting by recapping what actually happened in the past winter, ventured his own generalized thoughts about the upcoming winter as he finished: “We are ‘due’ for a snowless winter (but probably won’t get one in a La Nina year), a major windstorm, and a widespread flood.” Moments after a man brandishing a rifle drew a shot from police, officers rushed up to the balcony walkway of this apartment building to try to assist him. (Photo by David F. Ashton) Gunwaving man dies in Brentwood-Darlington disturbance By DAVID F. ASHTON For THE BEE Around midnight on Friday, October 4th, an otherwise quiet evening near 52nd Avenue was punctuated by the sounds of a man shouting and a causing a commotion on the second floor of the Pacific Crest Apartments, at 5235 S.E. Lambert Street. At 12:35 p.m., Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers were dispatched to a “Disturbance, Priority” call at that location. When they arrived, officers found a highly agitated man, going in and out of an apartment, and pacing on the balcony walkway. First-responding officers, then a PPB sergeant, called for backup, when the man brandished a rifle. Cutting through the crisp night air was the voice of a PPB Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team (ECIT) officer, using a patrol car’s PA system to “loud-hail” the man. Soon, a dozen PPB officers had gathered nearby, as the ECIT officer continued to advise the man to “calm down and surrender” – which one neighbor told THE BEE only seemed to enflame the man’s rage. While this was happening, an ambulance arrived in case of need, and parked on S.E. Flavel Drive near Lambert Street. “After about an hour, I heard one gunshot. Only one,” another neighbor, who asked not to be identified, told THE BEE. According to PPB Public Information Officer Mike Benner, who was at the scene, that shot was fired by a PPB officer at 1:22 a.m. with his Police-Bureau-issued rifle. “A team of officers moved in and found the adult man injured, initiated trauma first aid, and brought in paramedics – but the man was deceased.” Officers located what turned out to be a .22 caliber pellet air rifle and a knife near the fallen man. Soon, 25 officers were at the location for an investigation, including a Portland Police “Mobile Command Unit” motor home. Benner later confirmed that first-arriving officers saw the man holding what appeared to be a rifle, and set up a perimeter to engage him from a safe distance. The officer involved in the shooting is identified as Officer Andrew Young, a seven-year veteran of the Portland Police Bureau assigned to East Precinct. The man with the pellet rifle is identified as Nicholas G. Thorn, 28, of Portland. His family has been notified of his death, which occurred following de-escalation tactics, including “use of force” warnings. Officer Young is on paid administrative leave, per standard protocol, while the investigation proceeds. Anyone with information about this incident, and has not already spoken to police, is asked to contact Detective Jeff Sharp – Jeff.Sharp@police.portlandoregon.gov, or 503/823-9773; or Detective Tony Harris – Tony.Harris@police.portlandoregon.gov, or 503-823-0441. Be sure to refer to Case Number 24-253949 if you do. Here are some of the thoughtful headstones new this year honoring the recently-departed. (Photos by David F. Ashton) Hallowe’en ‘spirit’ celebrates the recently-dead at Davis Graveyard By DAVID F. ASHTON For THE BEE The Ardenwald neighborhood’s storied “Davis Graveyard” display off Johnson Creek Boulevard at the end of October has created thoughtful gravestones for notable personalities who have recently died. Combined with the meticulous detail with which the displays are crafted, these tributes can be quite moving at times. “We think this is our 25th season of decorating for Hallowe’en,” commented Jeff Davis, at whose home the display appears, during our visit at dusk. “We changed a lot this year; our entrance is new, so that visitors can now come inside of our main gate and part way up the driveway to see a little bit more behind-the-scenes,” Davis told THE BEE. “We now have a merchandise booth where we’re selling handmade crafts to help partially cover the cost of this giant thing we do. “Now on display is a new demon angel, and full-size hearse with driver – and also, a half dozen new tombstones, because we try to keep up with the celebrities who’ve passed away – bringing our total to about 80 tombstones and a dozen statues – making for a very full yard!” Visitors, many seeing this Hallowe’en display for the first time, fill in comment cards. “What they seem to appreciate most the detail of the displays – and the dedication that goes into our graveyard setting.” His neighbors are still supportive of their annual efforts, and don’t seem to mind the extra traffic. “They really don’t need to do any decorating for Hallowe’en because we do it all, for everyone on our streets,” Davis commented. If you want to visit, the address is 8703 S.E. 43rd Avenue, ZIP 97222. For more photos and information, including directions, go online – http://www.davisgraveyard.com Now, here are some of our other photos taken at this year's Davis Graveyard: Image:  Comments? News tips? Click here to submit! Trying to remember or locate a BEE advertiser? Click here to e-mail us, and we'll help! Fair warning:  We have so many great photos on page 2 this month, it may take a moment or two to load on slower connections!  Now, prepare to enjoy what we have for you on page 2! READY TO TURN TO PAGE 2 -- FOR "MORE NEWS"? Click here! Note to readers: At some point, this, our original Internet website, may be replaced at this web address by our new website, as part of the Community Newspapers group. At that time, you will still be able to access this, our original -- and smartphone-friendly -- website, if you save this address:  www.sePDXnews.com. 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