Gresham In The News

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  • Gresham-Barlow teachers losing days, not determination

    Gresham-Barlow teachers will lose eight school days next year. They see hurdles ahead, but remain focused on educating students.

    shawn.JPGShawn Daley, social studies department chairman at Gresham High School, faces the challenge of teaching his students the same material with seven fewer instructional days next year -- a result of budget cuts. Here, he teaches a summer course at Concorida College for students pursuing their master's degree in teaching.
    Shawn Daley, social studies department chairman at Gresham High School, is losing eight school days next year.

    Gresham-Barlow district administrators this summer trimmed the eight days -- and decided to lay off staffers, reduce wages and tap reserve funds -- to close a $5 million budget gap after Gov. Ted Kulongoski cut educational funding statewide in May.

    Daley says he knows the cuts were necessary -- they saved teaching positions and programming. But he can't think of any advantages to a shorter school year.

    "I want to do a good job with kids, and I feel like this process impedes me from doing so," Daley said. "I'd like to find a solution whereby we're fiscally responsible but still give our kids the best chance to be competitive globally."

    The 31-year-old is among staff members districtwide who are frustrated, fearful for the district's 11,600 students and reaching out for answers. Some are drawing on years of experience to rework their classes. Others are reaching out to colleagues. Still others are meeting with district leaders, parents and involved community members to ask for their input.

    For Daley, the search for solutions began in an online schools blog, where he and other educators share ideas and problems.

    His colleague, Cyrus Harshfield, a Gresham science teacher, is counting on his expectation that students learn more independently next year.

    "I'm not 100 percent confident about that strategy, but I'm hopeful and optimistic it'll work," Harshfield said.

    Others, such as Gresham educator Samantha Salvitelli, say teachers will have to make hard scheduling choices, design interdisciplinary classes and share expertise more than ever before.

    "You can't just close your door and teach," Salvitelli said.

    Reshaping curriculum


    Perhaps the biggest change Daley's students will see is fewer lessons and activities, since seven of the eight school days cut at high schools were instructional. The last was a spring parent-teacher conference.

    Daley might drop a service project he coordinated at the Courtyard Fountains Retirement Community. His juniors, who "loved it," Daley said, interviewed residents about their experiences from the World War II era and performed a remake of "The Ed Sullivan Show."

    The project took the equivalent of seven school days to complete. Daley thinks he can fit that content into regular classes.

    "But the kids lose out on a great experience; the seniors (Fountains residents) lose out on a great experience," Daley said, "and I think the juniors will ask me, 'Well last year they did this service project; why aren't we doing that?'"

    The cutbacks won't stop there. Daley said he'll likely have to skip over the different agencies involved in the New Deal or condense the buildup to World War II.

    The decisions are never easy, and Daley said he hardly ever wastes a day of class.

    "What is extraneous?" Daley asked. "Do you want me to make World War II two days because it's on The History Channel?"

    Students might be able to learn even more on their own, but that leaves a lot to chance.

    Harshfield, in his effort to get teens to study more on their own, doesn't know what he'll ask his freshmen to cover at home in chemistry next year. But losing more than a week of instructional days, he said, will be challenging.

    Freshman year builds a critical foundation, especially with state tests coming in the sophomore year. So Harshfield always tries to move slowly enough for students to understand the material. But maintaining his teaching style will likely force him to cover the same lessons in less depth.

    Students build a different type of foundation in elementary school, said Salvitelli, -- a consultant for Gresham elementary school teachers and longtime Gresham teacher herself. They have to learn basic reading and math skills, the fundamentals of problem solving, time management and more.

    "We already don't want to let the kids go in the summer," Salvitelli said.

    Now with six fewer instructional days, elementary teachers and administrators will have to take another look at scheduling. Nonacademic cutback options on the table, Salvitelli said, include shorter recesses, along with fewer assemblies, field trips or fun days.

    Academically, teachers at the elementary level and above will need to be creative and flexible to make lessons stick, she said. Traditionally isolated elementary teachers, Salvitelli said, might consider more interdisciplinary courses and collaborating to draw on each other's strengths.

    "I'm excited to start to open up a community districtwide and between districts."

    Teacher layoffs


    Though major districtwide cuts of 50 or more teachers happened last year, staff reductions will still be an issue this year and will further complicate the jobs of the remaining teachers. Daley will lose two teachers from the social studies department. He expects 36 or 37 students in each of his classes next semester.

    The difference, Daley said, will be dramatic. The classrooms themselves weren't designed to hold that many kids.

    "It's like our plates are getting smaller, and we're trying to pile more and more on them," Harshfield said.

    Lecture-style classes will be the norm because his classrooms will be too full of desks to move into more interactive, engaging layouts. He'll probably need to assign one or two fewer essays every semester, leaving his students short on writing experience.

    Harshfield said he was afraid of running out of desks in many of the high school classrooms. And he relishes one-on-one time with students, which will be severely lacking as classes swell to more than 30 students.

    "It's not fair to students," Salvitelli said.

    Her elementary students thrive on basic interactive classroom activities that teach skills, problem solving and time management. As the students mature through middle school and high school, the work gets more complicated. But those elementary lessons should still apply.

    Cramped classrooms and fewer teachers would make those elementary-level activities more and more difficult.

    The larger classes wear on teachers, too.

    "There's a sense of guilt a teacher has, for not feeling like he or she is getting to each student every day," Salvitelli said.

    She held pep talks with teachers last year after the first big wave of cuts. She expects the talks, and creative problem solving among teachers, to continue.

    Through all the cutbacks and compromises, Daley worries about an increasingly competitive national and international educational environment. Many students, not only in the United States, but in countries like South Korea and regions like Western Europe, Daley said, have more than 200 days of instruction a year. Gresham-Barlow is going the other way, with no signs of a turnaround.

    Students in those other areas will have more classroom time and more training time on new technology that could improve assignments and prove valuable in the work force.

    But even as Daley deals with a shrinking school year, work force and pay cuts, he says he -- like teachers districtwide -- still will focus on students' educational experience.

    "I really feel called to this, and I want to help kids," Daley said. "I need parental help, I need community help, I need state help to be able to do that properly. At the present moment, I see all these parties bickering, and it's not helping anything."

    -- Andrew Maddocks

     
  • Nelson Stewart, owner of Hoosier Barber, just can't put the clippers down

    Stewart, a barber for 50 years, opened Hoosier Barber in May. He also paints and sings.

    stewart.JPGView full sizeNelson Stewart, 67, opened Hoosier Barber in May after a two-year retirement. A barber still passionate about his career after 50 years, Stewart is also a watercolor painter and a cappella and doo-wop singer.
    Perhaps the most difficult barbershop customers are youngsters sitting for their first haircuts.

    They scream. They cry. They squirm in the chairs -- a dangerous move when clippers approach.

    But Nelson Stewart, owner of Hoosier Barber on Powell Boulevard, is a rare breed -- some would say among the last of a dying breed. He has been a barber for 50 years, and not just any barber. A barber who still takes pride in connecting to his customers, toddlers and retirees alike. A barber who cares about building relationships with his customers. A barber passionate enough about the job to open this latest shop after a two-year retirement.

    And a barber who, in his free time, paints and sings.

    "Being here reminded me that this is something that's fun and that I love to do," Stewart said.

    Stewart works alone, though a longtime assistant came along to Hoosier Barber to help sooth his youngest clients -- a toy parrot.

    Stewart looked over at the parrot with a gleam in his eye, picked it up and pushed a button.

    "Wanna get a flat top or a buzz?" Stewart asked the parrot, drawing out the "z" with a light drawl.

    "Get a flat top or a buzz," the parrot replied mechanically, "get a flat top or a buzz."

    "It captivates the kids," Stewart said.

    The bird is just one of the props on display that Stewart accumulated over the decades. On one wall is a picture of Stewart, age 18, standing next to his chair in a Louisville, Ky., barber school. On other walls are original watercolors, photographs and Stewart's barber school diploma from 1961.

    He owned two shops in Kentucky and a third in Portland. And in his free time, between clients or after work, he developed a love for watercolor painting and doo-wop singing.

    "He's just one of a kind," said Jim Durbin, Stewart's friend since high school.

    Stewart, who grew up in the small Indiana town of Elizabeth, followed Durbin to the Kentucky School of Barbering.

    "He had a lot of ingenuity," Durbin said. "He was good from the get-go."
    Hoosier Barber
    Hours:
    Tuesday through Thursday: 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
    Friday: 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
    Saturday: 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m.
    Closed Sunday and Monday
    Prices:
    Regular men's cut: $13
    Shampoo and cut: $17
    Children 10 and younger: $12

    After graduation, Stewart landed first job at a shop in Louisville, manning the last chair and vying for customers like a salesman at a car dealership.

    With practice he broke out of his initial shyness. He stayed up on the latest styles through the '60s and '70s, from long hair to short and back again.

    "The young guys now, they get the long cut and think it's new," Stewart said, "But it's old."

    He bought and sold two shops in the Louisville area, leaving one to Durbin when he moved to Portland in 1988 with Deborah Jean Stewart, his wife of 26 years and an Oregon native.

    Stewart had some trouble finding a job, Deborah said, and was considering a different career. But he soon opened a barber shop at Barbur Boulevard and Capitol Highway. At the shop's peak, he saw more than 20 customers a day.

    Whenever someone sits for a cut with Stewart, he can become an entertainer or counselor as needed.

    "He can chitchat, or talk to guys and really get down to some heavy subjects," Deborah said.

    Two years ago, Stewart sold his Portland shop. He said he felt burned out and needed a break.

    But he decided to return to barbering this year, missing the work and looking for a little extra cash. Once Stewart found a barber looking to sell the shop on Powell, he was ready to buy.

    Stewart, who still lives in Portland, averages three or four customers a day at Hoosier. He likes the slower pace. It gives him more time to practice for PDX Vox, a Portland a cappella group he sings in, or to rehearse his parts for the doo-wop trios and quartets that are his real passion.

    He also wants to dive back into watercolor painting and expand his collection of paintings featuring mostly rural, picturesque scenes -- from his childhood farm in Elizabeth to adobe houses in New Mexico.

    For as long as he's known him, Durbin said, Stewart's had an artistic streak. From building model planes as a high schooler to singing Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" at Durbin's wedding, Durbin said Stewart's artistic streak keeps his mind young.

    Which might explain why he's good, with the help of his parrot assistant, at getting through to the toddlers.

    "I thought we were going to semi-retire," Deborah said, "But it looks like he enjoys what he's doing, so he'll be cutting hair for a while."
    Andrew Maddocks: 503-294-7689; andrewmaddocks@news.oregonian.com

     
  • Novelist, truckers find common ground in Troutdale on literary truck stop tour

    Author Barbara Richardson read from her debut novel "Guest House" at a truck stop in Troutdale.

    krueger.JPGView full sizeJames Krueger, 67, a long-time trucker from Billings, Mont., stops at the Buckhorn Restaurant and truck stop in Troutdale every two weeks. Thursday evening he and others listened to Barbara Richardson, 54, read from her debut novel "Guest House." Krueger bought a copy.
    TROUTDALE -- It's peak dinner time at the Buckhorn Restaurant, and seriously loud.

    Diners raise their voices over the sizzle, bang and clang of the open kitchen. An intercom occasionally drowns out everything else, and the truckers stop talking, thinking about the next dropoff, or home.

    It's a scene 67-year-old trucker James Krueger  knows well. Sporting a broad-brimmed cowboy hat and handlebar moustache, he hits the Troutdale TravelCenter of America, and the Buckhorn, every two weeks.

    On Thursday night the scene changed, and in 40 years on the road Krueger's never seen anything like it.

    Just after 7 p.m. a woman stood up -- petite, with a fashionable outfit -- holding a book.

    "I'm Barbara, I'm a novelist, and I'll be reading and chatting with you tonight," she said.

    Barbara Richardson, 54, chose the Buckhorn in Troutdale as the third and final stop on her 830-mile literary truck stop tour promoting her first novel, "Guest House." In the past week she also read at truck stops in Utah and Idaho.

    The moment Richardson stood to read Thursday, two traditionally separate worlds collided. But connections between novelist and trucker were everywhere -- from the struggles of romantic relationship to the challenge of starting small on the path to big dreams.

    The intersections start with a cast of characters that reflect truck stop audiences.

    "Friends of mine said this book should be in the hands of people who populate it -- truck drivers, bikers, people who live in mobile homes, " said Richardson, who spent nine years of her life in Portland. "So it's really been joyful. Maybe the intellectuals will catch up later."



    Everyone in those audiences, she said, connects to something different.

    "It's really nice to be reminded of the characters by how the audience receives them," Richardson said.

    Above Chapter One of "Guest House" is a quote: "The secret to any relationship is finding the proper distance."

    The novel's relationship turmoil revolves around Gene, a long-haul trucker and alcoholic who struggles to love his wife and son. He feels closest to them away on the open road.

    Krueger mastered marriage from afar. He kept his together for 40 years, until his wife passed away. He re-married last year.

    "It takes two to understand each other and keep it together," he said. "You obey them vows you take."

    He owns his rig and gets home to a ranch outside Billings, Mont., every weekend.

    He bought a copy of the book. He wants to read the parts he couldn't hear above the din.

    For the book, Richardson drew on her own relationship experience. In 1996, she and a boyfriend moved into her dream home -- an old farmhouse east of Portland. But the remodeling process broke them apart.

    She wrote the first draft of "Guest House" there. Later, she rewrote, found a publisher and eventually took off on the tour.

    Smiling broadly even during pauses for the intercom, she read for about 15 minutes.

    Dave Reda, 49, watched with his chin propped on his hand.

    He's only been a trucker for two years, making 30 cents a mile. He's single, and it's hard to find someone when he's home for two days every two weeks.

    As he and Richardson left the Troutdale stop, both aimed for bigger things.

    Reda dreams of a job driving a wide-load trailer at $3 a mile. Richardson wants to sell out her first run of 1,000 books, and hopes, just maybe, "Guest House" will become a movie.

    She sold five books Thursday. But during those 15 minutes, it was about sharing a work of art she cares about. And reaching through the bustle of a truck stop to an audience usually neglected by the literary world.

    "It was refreshing to have something to listen to," Reda said, "other than a diesel engine."

    -- Andrew Maddocks

     

  • Welches schools finally get a new principal

    After a resignation, an interim and a selection who quit before he arrived, Welches elementary and middle schools may finally have their principal. Alex Leaver, vice principal of Patton Middle School in McMinnville, has been selected as the principal for the two Welches schools, the Oregon Trail School District has announced.


    After a resignation, an interim and a selection who quit before he arrived, Welches elementary and middle schools may finally have their principal.

    Alex Leaver, vice principal of Patton Middle School in McMinnville, has been selected as the principal for the two Welches schools, the Oregon Trail School District has announced. There are 475 students in the two schools, which serve the Mount Hood communities of Welches, Brightwood, Rhododendron, Zigzag and Government Camp.

    The principal saga started when Michael McKinney announced in February he would step down at the end of June to pursue his doctorate. But citing diminished effectiveness, the district a month later reassigned McKinney as a tutor and brought in former Welches Principal Mike Sutton, who had retired at the end of the 2009 school year, on an interim basis.

    On March 18, the Oregon Trail district announced it had selected Tim Fields, vice principal of Rosemont Ridge Middle School in West Linn, as the new principal. Fields was picked from six finalists and 60 candidates overall and at the end of March participated in a meet-the-community event. But in June the West Linn-Wilsonville School District placed Fields on administrative leave, prompting Fields to tell the Oregon Trail district he would not make the move to Welches. The West Linn-Wilsonville district will not say why it put Fields on leave.

    The Oregon Trail district re-opened the job, and a committee of staff and parents spent the past several weeks reviewing applications and interviewing candidates.

    Leaver has been vice principal of Patton Middle for two years. He has two other years in school administration and 14 years in the classroom. In a news release announcing his appointment, Leaver said he grew up in a large family, has five children and tries to use that experience to build relationships and make decisions in the best interest of students.

    "I have an appreciation for the wonderful energy, spontaneity and wisdom of kids," he said.

    -- Quinton Smith, Special to The Oregonian

     
  • Gresham city council to hear task-force park recommendations

    The City Council will receive a report from a citizens task force Aug. 17 with suggestions on how to develop and maintain the 1,200 acres of parkland and natural areas.


    Gresham officials will soon consider recommendations designed to aid the city’s ailing parks system, which has about $32 million in deferred maintenance costs and no recreation programs.

    The City Council will receive a report from a citizens task force Aug. 17 with suggestions on how to develop and maintain the 1,200 acres of parkland and natural areas.

    The task force was created early this year to help city leaders determine the best way to fund the parks system. One possibility the group has studied is a separate parks district, from which taxes would be used to pay for maintenance and development.

    As part of the effort to focus attention on its parks, the city will sponsor a Picture Your Parks photo contest Sunday. Participants are asked to take pictures of Gresham parks that day. Professional photographers and parks officials will judge the submissions.

    The winners will be displayed during a public picnic at the Center for the Arts Plaza between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Aug. 21.

    --Stephen Beaven 

  • A novel idea: Gresham police officer writes thrillers based on his work

    His job experiences have led Ozeroff, an 18-year veteran of the Gresham Police Department, to become a novelist who crafts thrillers with the unmistakable air of reality.


    Ozer,jpg.JPGView full sizeBarry Ozeroff is a Gresham police officer and the author of two thrillers.
    The idea for Gresham police Officer Barry W. Ozeroff’s first novel came when he was on a SWAT call, waiting for a suspect with an assault rifle.

    The idea for his second book — “The Dying of Mortimer Post,” which was published in May — stemmed from his interest in Vietnam and his career as a police officer.

    Those experiences have led Ozeroff, an 18-year veteran of the Gresham Police Department, to become a novelist who crafts thrillers with the unmistakable air of reality. The two books share a common theme: the psychological and physical dangers of police work.

    And many of the details, Ozeroff admits, have come straight from his day job on the streets of Gresham — and in the squad room.

    “I draw a lot of my plots from my life’s experience and a crazy imagination,” Ozeroff said. “Much of my life’s experience comes from my work.”

    And so do many of his fictional characters.

    In “The Dying of Mortimer Post,” he created a character based on Matthew Haggard, whom he met when he was a high school resource officer.

    He’s also modeled characters on testosterone-driven SWAT officers, compassionate cops and dedicated social workers.

    “My characters are generally conglomerations of people I work with and people I’ve arrested,” he said.

    Ozeroff, 51, has had a long and varied career: He’s been everything from a sniper to a public information officer. Now he’s a motorcycle cop and a member of the department’s crash reconstruction team.
    Barry Ozeroff
    What: novelist, police officer
    Where: Gresham Police Department
    Age: 51
    Next: Ozeroff will sign books at 4 p.m. Aug. 8 at Murder by the Book, 3210 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd.

    In 2005, he was honored with the Gresham Police Department’s medal of valor after he wrested a large carving knife from a bloody murder suspect.

    The rest of his life is considerably less dangerous.

    But he’s busy, every hour of every day. Ozeroff is a married father of six who writes in the morning before work.

    “It doesn’t surprise me that he’s a good writer,” said his colleague, Lt. Tony Silva. “But it’s amazing that he finds time to do it. How do you do all the stuff you do and still find time to write novels?”

    Most mornings, Ozeroff gets up about 5, fixes himself a latte, turns on the classic rock and starts writing. He doesn’t stop for two or three hours, and he doesn’t labor over every word.

    “I’ll write as fast as I can write,” Ozeroff said. “When I’m doing an action scene, as fast as I can type is how fast I’ll write.”

    “I’ve never seen anyone write so fast in all my born days,” said his brother Mark, who is also a novelist.

    “The Dying of Mortimer Post” is the tale of a suicidal Vietnam vet who’s been ousted by the Los Angeles Police Department.

    “Sniper Shot,” published in 2005, is a good-guy-vs.-bad-guy tale of two police department marksmen.

    Ozeroff has written a sequel to “Sniper Shot,” but it hasn’t been published.

    He’s not afraid to talk about his failures. Ozeroff has a stack of about 70 rejection letters from publishers that passed on his work. That doesn’t count all the e-mails and the publishers who never responded to his queries.

    Altogether, he said, he’s been rejected hundreds of times.

    But Ozeroff isn’t complaining.

    “The thing I’ve learned the most is absolute patience,” he said of the rejections and his subsequent success. “I’m an impatient man, and I’ve never stuck to anything like I’ve stuck to getting published.”

    --Stephen Beaven
  • In Welches, elementary and middle schools finally get a new principal

    Alex Leaver, vice principal of Patton Middle School in McMinnville, has been selected as the principal for the two schools, the Oregon Trail School District has announced.


    After a resignation, an interim and a selection who quit before he arrived, Welches elementary and middle schools may finally have their principal.
     
    Alex Leaver, vice principal of Patton Middle School in McMinnville, has been selected as the principal for the two Welches schools, the Oregon Trail School District has announced. There are 475 students in the two schools, which serve the Mount Hood communities of Welches, Brightwood, Rhododendron, Zigzag and Government Camp.

    The principal saga started when Michael McKinney announced in February he would step down at the end of June to pursue his doctorate. But citing diminished effectiveness, the district a month later reassigned McKinney as a tutor and brought in former Welches Principal Mike Sutton, who had retired at the end of the 2009 school year, on an interim basis.

    On March 18, the Oregon Trail district announced it had selected Tim Fields, vice principal of Rosemont Ridge Middle School in West Linn, as the new principal. Fields was picked from six finalists and 60 candidates overall and at the end of March participated in a meet-the-community event. But in June the West Linn-Wilsonville School District placed Fields on administrative leave, prompting Fields to tell the Oregon Trail district he would not make the move to Welches. The West Linn-Wilsonville district will not say why it put Fields on leave.

    The Oregon Trail district re-opened the job, and a committee of staff and parents spent the past several weeks reviewing applications and interviewing candidates.
     
    Leaver has been vice principal of Patton Middle for two years. He has two other years in school administration and 14 years in the classroom. In a news release announcing his appointment, Leaver said he grew up in a large family, has five children and tries to use that experience to build relationships and make decisions in the best interest of students.
     
    “I have an appreciation for the wonderful energy, spontaneity and wisdom of kids,” he said.

    --Quinton Smith

  • School cuts will leave Centennial with more than two dozen fewer teachers in the fall

    The Centennial School District will lay off about 25 teachers and two administrators as part of $4 million in budget cuts.


    The Centennial School District will lay off about 25 teachers and two administrators as part of $4 million in budget cuts.

    The hours for custodians will also be reduced and four information technology staffers will be required to take 20 furlough days, said Superintendent Steve Rector.

    The cuts are part of statewide budget reductions that have forced many school districts to lay off teachers and staff.

    And with the uncertainty of state funding in the future, the district may have to lay off more teachers after this year.

    “I anticipate we’ll have to make additional staff reductions in the next few years,” Rector said.

    The final details of the cuts at Centennial came after teachers approved a new pay plan that will mean smaller raises this year.

    Initially, the district proposed laying off about 36 teachers. But last week the union agreed to reduce raises this year from 4 percent to 2 percent.

    Teachers also agreed to add a year to the contract with an additional 1 to 2 percent raise for next year.

    Union representatives could not be reached for comment.

    The district is laying off 25.75 full-time equivalent teaching positions and two assistant principals.

    The seven elementary schools will take the biggest hit, with 12 layoffs. Centennial Middle will lose 3.75 full-time equivalents. Centennial High will lose 8.5 full-time equivalents, and Centennial Learning Center will lose 1.5.

    The district will cut one teacher in-service day. But Rector, who assumed the superintendent job early this month, does not want to cut instructional days.

    “That instructional time for kids is pretty important,” Rector said. “You start making cuts there you really start to compromise the mission of the schools.”

    In a district that is already strapped for space, the cuts will mean even bigger classes. Classrooms built for 30 students may have to accommodate 36 to 38 at the elementaries.

    “It’s a problem that kind of spirals out of control,” Rector said. “The fact that you have to make reductions in staff compounds your facility problems.”

    --Stephen Beaven

  • National Night Out offers fun and food, aims to boost anti-crime efforts

    Dozens of neighborhood groups and organizations in Portland, Gresham and elsewhere will host family-friendly events Tuesday night to strengthen community bonds and prevent crime.

    Local events:
    Gresham: Contact Kelle Landavazo at 503-618-2567 or kelle.landavazo@
    Fairview: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Community Park; details at ci.fairview.or.us
    Portland: Go to portlandonline.com
    /oni and click on the National Night Out logo
    Dozens of neighborhood groups and organizations in Portland, Gresham and elsewhere will host family-friendly events Tuesday night to strengthen community bonds and prevent crime.

    Events with games, food and entertainment will be among thousands across the country to mark National Night Out, a campaign to raise crime-prevention awareness and increase participation in anti-crime efforts.

    "The events spur everyone's awareness of crime prevention and bring people out," said Kelle Landavazo, who coordinates Gresham's Citizen Corps program.

    The gatherings -- mostly block parties, potluck barbecues and ice cream socials -- aim to connect people with their neighbors and local law enforcement officers. This year, community groups also will encourage children and adults to take an anti-violence pledge as part of the Hands & Words Are Not For Hurting Project, developed by a Salem nonprofit. Millions have taken the pledge since 1997, tracing their hands on purple paper and promising not to bully or abuse others.

    In Gresham, the night's events will include more gatherings for apartment-dwellers, Landavazo said. "Sometimes they don't traditionally think of themselves as neighborhoods, but they're realizing the advantages of bringing everyone together," she said.

    Portland events also will include some at apartments. At the Headwaters Apartments in Southwest Portland, residents of the complex's condos and rentals will mingle, enjoy live music and have the chance to talk with a police officer. The Portland Police Bureau is sending officers to more than 160 registered events.

    Kathleen Verigin, who owns a condo in Headwaters, said she got involved in neighborhood groups after her former home in Northeast Portland was burglarized.

    "But it's more about knowing your neighbors," she said. "Community is very important."

    National Night Out started in 1984 as a project of the National Association of Town Watch, a Pennsylvania nonprofit. Since then, it has grown from 400 community events to more than 14,000, with some in every state.

    --Carolina Hidalgo

     
  • Boring Grade School's Class of 1963 gathers for three-day reunion

    They once practiced "duck and cover" together; then they were divided between Gresham and Sandy high schools and didn't gather again until this month.

    boring-grade-school-1963.JPGView full sizeThe Class of 1963 - eighth-graders - at Boring Grade School.
    The 1963 graduating class of Boring Grade School began school in 1955, when most of the students were 5, and stayed together through eighth grade.

    Norval Naas was their principal. The Cold War was on: The students remember practicing "duck and cover," scrambling under their desks when the air raid alarm sounded.

    Upon graduation, they were evenly dispersed between Gresham and Sandy high schools, and most agreed the split was traumatic.

    Thanks to Facebook, the students recently reconnected and held their first official reunion.The three-day event in mid-July began with a get-reacquainted gathering at Moore's Dairy on Kelso Road. Linda Moore Parker, who lives with her husband, Bob, on the original homestead, put together the reunion with Marci Kociemba.

    The reunion also included a tour of the school, a baseball game, photographs and carnival games. The final day included parents of the alumni and the "kids" with whom they went to Sandy High School.

    linda-parker-marcie-kaciemba.JPGView full sizeLinda Parker (left) and Marcie Kaciemba organized their class' first-ever official reunion.
    Julee Lundsteen Jackson traveled the farthest, coming from Florida. Twins Melva Richey Prasil and Myrna Richey Burch -- of the family for whom Richey Road is named -- came from California and Idaho.

    Roberta Jackson still lives in Boring. Her favorite memory of grade school was when Jack Bjork stuck a pussy willow up his nose in the fifth grade. Bjork received a bouquet of pussy willows but said he couldn't remember his thought process at the time.

    The reunion, said organizers, is set to become a tradition.

    -- Karla Farr
  • The Gresham Outlook - News

  • Freedom vs. Compassion
    Gresham police trained in response to people undergoing psychotic episodes It’s hard to imagine a less dangerous looking man than Wilford Harris as he is led by sheriff’s deputies into a courtroom on the second floor of the Multnomah County Courthouse. Or a man more out of place. Five ...
  • Ruling gives casino backers a chance
    A Marion County Circuit Court Judge on Friday, July 30, found no compelling reason to delay the secretary of state’s ruling on a petition to support a nontribal casino in Wood Village. He agreed, however, to hear arguments disputing the results on Aug. 20. That gives Matt Rossman and Bruce ...
  • Beat our pro with your park picture
    This week we sent Outlook photographer Jim Clark out to take a picture in a Gresham park. Can you outdo our pro? Sunday, Aug. 1, is Picture your Parks Day and Gresham invites you to take a favorite photo in a Gresham park on that day. It’s a contest. Entries will be judged by professionals ...
  • Portland man accused of 1984 cold-case murder
    Portland Police Cold Case Homicide detectives, with the help of U.S. Marshals, arrested Frederick Alvin Richey, 56, at 10:55 a.m. Thursday, July 29, in Gresham on one count of murder in the 1984 homicide of Francis Marie Waites, according to the Portland police bureau. Waites, who was 28, was ...
  • Gresham Mayor Bemis plans run for re-election
    Gresham Mayor Shane T. Bemis has announced his bid for re-election, saying he wants to continue the city’s efforts at job recruitment, economic investment to the community and enhanced livability by fighting crime. Bemis made the announcement Tuesday, July 27. He is first to officially file ...
  • Cross-country bicyclists pound nails on Portland Habitat for Humanity project
    A group of 31 young adults made a stop in Portland along their 3,835-mile trip from Virginia Beach, Va., to Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast, pausing long enough to help Habitat for Humanity in the construction of a home in the 6300 block of Southeast 97th Avenue. The group was fortunate enough to ...
  • Troutdale hires administrator
    With a job offer accepted and contract signed, a man from SeaTac, Wash., is likely bringing an end to an unstable period in the role of Troutdale city administrator. Craig Ward, former city manager for SeaTac – a municipality of around 26,000 residents surrounding the Seattle-Tacoma ...
  • Husband of woman killed in shooting seeks compensation
    The husband of a woman who was killed during the Feb. 12 shooting at M&M Lounge & Restaurant in Gresham by an off-duty sheriff's sergeant will seek compensation. Jay Hoffmeister, husband of Kathleen Hoffmeister, said the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office “was negligent in ...
  • News briefs: July 31, 2010
    Crime prevention events in Rockwood, Fairview, Corbett Gresham, Fairview and Corbett will host National Night Out events from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3, to promote police and community partnerships while taking a stand against crime and drugs. Residents are encouraged to attend these ...
  • Police arrest two for Gresham armed robbery
    A tip from a victim’s credit card company led Troutdale police to arrest two men Wednesday, July 28, in conjunction with an armed robbery at a Gresham residence on Tuesday. Christopher Jamal Thomas, 20, of Fairview, and James E. Ballard, 27, of Vancouver, Wash., were arrested around 10:55 ...