(Photos via GoFundMe.com)
Two current GoFundMe campaigns organized by Portlanders seek donations to help victims and their families navigate the emotional, physical and financial consequences caused by automobile drivers.
The first is related to the vehicular assault on Monday that left one person dead and nine others injured. Among them were (at least) two men who were riding bicycles. According to a GoFundMe organized by Phoenix Campbell Paintin, Ray Chihak and Nicholas Strickler were both hit by Paul Rivas, the man who now stands charged with murder for using his car as a weapon.
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“Ray was taken to the hospital and sustained injuries due to the incident. Both their bicycles were completely mangled and are beyond repair. We are raising funds to help replace their modes of transportation and any medical costs incurred,” reads the campaign description. You can donate here.
According to the probable cause affidavit for Rivas’ case filed with the Multnomah County Circuit Court yesterday, Chihak told detectives he was on the sidewalk near SE 19th and Stark and heard screaming prior to seeing the Honda SUV, “driving aggressively toward him on the sidewalk” prior to being hit.
The other fundraising campaign is for Jaccob Riscajche, a three-year-old boy who died on Saturday (1/23), over four months after he was struck by a driver on North Fessenden near McCoy Park in north Portland back in September. According to a Portland Police Bureau statement, Jaccob and a friend were, “playing nearby when they ran in between two parked vehicles and into traffic.”
“Jaccob was very loving and energetic. Always with a smile on his face. He was loved by everyone around him,” states his GoFundMe page. Organizers hope to raise $10,000 to pay for funeral-related expenses. You can donate here.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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Man, what’s wrong with us that people have to do this? This place (Portland. Oregon. USA. Earth) get lousier and lousier all the time.
Reagan’s economic policies not being undone after his disastrous tenure in the White House is what’s wrong with us.
America’s downfall actually began with Vietnam. Reagan simply kicked into high gear.
With all due respect, USA has been a flaming s&!th0le since slave owners, trading houses, and other landed gentry started a bloody genocidal war in order to tear up treaties with native peoples, steal their land, and avoid paying taxes on their ill-begotten exports/gains.
Start war, kill populations, enslave people, take land, profit from it. That’s been done by civilizations in all parts of the planet and throughout history. Heck, even indigenous people’s on the North American continent have done it against each other as well.
Don’t get me wrong, US has a lot to answer for, but we shouldn’t forget we aren’t alone in this behavior.
I don’t think indigenous peoples’ pre-Columbian territorial warfare is remotely equivalent to what we did to them. Even if it were, we have an obligation, as a purportedly Democratic nation with written laws and constitutional protection of individual rights, to do much better than we have.
Even a lot of the warfare that Europeans observed between native tribes and nations was triggered by our actions. As an example, here in MN the apologists loooove to point out (ad nauseam) that the Ojibwe were actively displacing the Dakota when this area was settled – conveniently forgetting this was largely because the Ojibwe were being pushed westward by settlement further east.
And yet, you’re still living here.
I mean, I agree about his policies, but his tenure was followed by Bush 1 so how would that work?
Back to Reagan again? And 16 years of Clinton and Obama administrations did exactly what for us?
The chit-chat is about the START of America’s downfall, not how it has progressed over the years.
The Clinton and Obama administrations served the same billionaire donors (remember “single payer is off the table”?), so you’re right that they failed to undo a lot of the damage created under the Reagan and Bush administrators. They did, to their credit, roll back some of the most regressive tax changes enacted under Republicans, which is one of the most important things we can do economically.
This was more of a rhetorical question, but thanks for your opinions here.
An article about an opportunity to voluntarily provide financial support immediately devolved into a the same old political finger-pointing. We all have the ability to affect change, starting with ourselves and our own conduct.
My condolences to Jacob’s family and friends. I am very sorry for your loss.
“automatically triggered “Bikes on Bridge” flashing beacon)”
I’ve ridden this stretch of Barbur many dozens of times and both commuter bikes have failed to trigger this “automatic” flashing beacon on every occasion.