The Advocate, Issue 9, Nov. 18, 2011

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Bob Coen brings passion to MHCC District board

November 18, 2011

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MHCC dean makes documentary film about underage drinking

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Volleyball wins first match in quest for NWAACC title Volume 47, Issue 9

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Occupy Portland

Evictions and arrests— occupiers ponder what’s next See stories on Pages 8-9

Parking permits

Revenue estimates fall short See story on Page 4

Thanksgiving dinner

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Restaurants open for the holiday

See stories on Pages 6-7

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Mt. Hood Community College

Gresham, Oregon

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November 18, 2011

OcCupy

Rundown of Occupy Portland events in the past week At the Spokes Council (which is an organized forum where Occupy Portland activists discuss) Tuesday, the idea of establishing a home base in a secure building in addition to having a mobile camp was popular, according to Reid-Peery. The idea of having a code of conduct to sleep at the camp was also brought up.

Thursday morning the Steel Bridge was closed in anticipation to N17, which is a national movement where protesters plan to “occupy the banks” and financial institutions. In Portland protesters held a rally and a march, and planned to mobilize in banks and businesses.

Wednesday around noon, students and faculty of Portland State University walked out and held a rally at the South Park Blocks.

Speakers at Occupy PSU talked about cuts in higher education and tuition increases, and how having a college degree meant being in thousands of dollars of debt without forgiveness through bankruptcy. A student burned his diploma in front of the crowd.

Late last Saturday morning, Lownsdale and Chapman parks were evicted by the police after about 5000 people showed up around the parks for the midnight deadline. About 50 people were arrested and six members of the Occupy Portland’s police liaison team criticized Portland Mayor Sam Adams was for using excessive police force when one man is apparently beaten.

Students divided on Occupy; Stories by Yuca Kosugi The Advocate

It has been six weeks since the start of the autonomous movement Occupy Portland, which spawned from Occupy Wall Street, and people are left wondering: what now?

The first rally was held Oct. 6 but since then, the occupation camps have been evicted and removed. Although the Occupy movement has gone worldwide, many students on campus cannot be bothered enough to care.

“I don’t know enough about it to have an opinion,” said ASG senator of Nursing and Allied Health Brea Walters.

That seemed to be the general consensus of all but a handful of students that were approached by the Advocate on campus Wednesday.

There are also students like Cyan Wunderlich, who participated in the beginning but had to deal with midterms and did not want to be arrested.

“I camped the first night,” said Wunderlich. The rest of the time he volunteered around the camp, helping the engineering committee plan structures in the park, among other things.

He was active at the camp for about four weeks before he Cyan Wunderlich dropped off due to midterms and disagreement with the direction the camp was going.

When asked about why he supports the movement, he said “I don’t believe it’s right for the citizens of the country to pay for the private sector’s mistakes,” he said.

“At first, I wanted as many people to come down (to

The idea that they were alLowed to stay as long as they did was coOl. I think a lot of people do care (about the movement), but it was ruined by outsiders. They neEd to organize themselves betTer.

the camp) as possible,” he said about his initial enthusiasm of the occupation. But before long they were feeding everyone for free, he said, which attracted many “homeless people and street kids.”

“I think it would’ve been better if we only fed the volunteers,” he said. We needed to expand but that did not happen. The crime went up and there were too many people just making waste and not helping out, the organization was lacking, he said.

Another student, Dillon Reid-Peery, is working on just that. He has got all the signatures he needs to create a student club at MHCC, now all he needs to do is write up a constitution and submit it.

“I’m not sure how long it takes to process the paperwork, but I want to have it all turned in by the end of this week,” he said Monday.

The club is for “anyone who wants to be involved and have their voices heard,” he said. The student group is to assist Occupy Portland and educate the community about it.

Right now Reid-Peery helps out as a facilitator at Spokes Councils, an organized forum where Occupy Portland activists discuss pertinent issues, and is an inner occupational and community outreach contact. His main priorities are to communicate with other cities’ Occupations and share ideas and problems, as well as inform and educate the community about the movement.

At the camp, Reid-Peery helped out as a tour guide, since many schools and members of the community came to visit and learn about the cause. He also ran the info desk, where he would answer questions and help people understand what they were there for. Before the eviction, he would spend five days out of the week at the camp, the other two days he takes classes at MHCC. “It might not seem like we’re focused right now,” said Reid-Peery, but he assures that there is a plan.

“It’s not a leaderless movement. You can choose to be a

It’s already sucCesSful in that they they’re talking about distribution of wealth in America. It’s hard to quantify the sucCesS of the movement without concrete goals.

-Tim Wright

-Janet Campbell

Elementary education major

Political science instructor

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November 18, 2011

Portland

It seEms to be very spontaneous.

You don’t often get to seE that direct kind of public opinion.

It demonstrates that there are some seriously and deEply held beliefs.

-Pat Casey History teacher

After the eviction deadline, the Portland police donned their riot gear and prepared to evict occupiers from Lownsdale and Chapman squares Nov. 13. Later that morning around 9 a.m. about 50 occupiers were arrested during the eviction. The Portland Parks Foundation officially launched a fund this week where people can donate money that would fund the restoration of the squares.

students discuss next steps leader,” he said.

On the global status, there is a lot of structure, he explained, all the occupy sites are talking to each other. “We had about a hundred people from Seattle come down,” he said of the eviction last weekend.

Occupy Portland was the second largest site in the world, second only to New York’s occupation, according to Reid-Peery. Portland had between 500 to 700 campers each night, while New York had about a thousand, he said.

One of the many criticisms of the movement is that it does not have a concrete goal.

The hard part, explains Reid-Peery, is that the organizers of the occupations do not want to create demands with just the input of the campers. There are supporters of the movement who cannot camp out or be present at occupations, he said.

According to Reid-Peery, there is a general agreement between the occupations nationwide that on July 4, 2012, each occupation is to send two candidates to a meeting, and come up with a list of official demands.

“You have to have a lot of community involvement and communication,” he said.

The organizers want to address the root causes of the problems, not just the problems.

Another one of the criticisms about the occupations is that occupiers are breaking the law. But Reid-Peery begs to differ. “If you’re breaking an unjustified law, it’s okay.”

He said, for example, Rosa Parks broke the law, she was not supposed to sit in the front of the bus but she broke it because it was an unjustified law.

The only thing we were arrested for was failure to listen to the police, he said. We were protesting peacefully, it was just. They were telling us not to do something that was just, but arrested us for not listening, he said.

The eviction was triggered by a series of overdoses and rising crime around the camp, said Sam Adams at a press

Photo by Riley Hinds/The Advocate

conference Nov. 10.

“The four people (who overdosed at the camp before the eviction) didn’t die because they were at the camp,” he said. The park gave attention to these people who usually would suffer alone on the streets away from public view.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams only pushed the problem out of the public view, said Reid-Peery, “he devalued human life that much.”

“I am supportive of the police,” he said, “but they are the ones making the choice (to arrest the campers).”

Currently he is pursuing a general studies degree, but as of now, he does not plan to enroll winter term. Instead, he wants to travel the country to film a documentary of all the different Occupy cities. He also wants to compile a list of contacts for each city’s Occupy. As he visits each city, he would add to the list of contacts he has and add Dillon Reid-Peery to and share the list of contacts.

He and many other Occupy protesters are planning to run for mayor of Portland, said Reid-Peery. Since they only need a hundred signatures each, they plan to sign each other’s forms and flood the ballot sheet.

Students who want to be involved but are too busy should not be afraid to be a weekend warrior, said Wunderlich. Many people may not feel welcome because they are not as “hard core” as the campers, but in reality everyone is welcome.

There are no volunteer sign-ups, said Wunderlich. You just show up and start helping.

If you want to be more involved or aware: Visit OccupyPortland.org Once the MHCC student club starts, meetings will be from noon to 1 p.m. and the location is TBA. Contact Dillon ReidPeery via call or text at (503) 701-4415.

Spokes Councils: meet 7 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. Check website for location. This is where people meet to express and discuss ideas in an orderly fashion. People are grouped off into 30 or so councils based on specific areas and each council has a “Spoke” who is eventually the spokesman. People interested in being involved should attend a Spokes Council and get contact and meeting information for the specific council they would like to be involved in.

General Assembly: meet 7 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Check website for location. This is where the councils present proposals, discuss them, change them if necessary, and vote to make them concrete. They work on a 90 percent consensus.

The principle is great, but it’s gotTen out of hand with other people’s agendas. It neEds to be more controlLed and regulated. It seEms they’re peaceful. If it’s time to move on, it’s time to move on.

They’re complaining about government spending while making cops work overtime.

They could have had a stronger apProach.

-Joyce Wilson

-Thomas Allen

Hospitality and tourism major

Criminal justice major