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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 1983)
Senate rejects nuclear freeze The Senate, on October 31, rejected 58-40 a resolution calling for the United States and the Soviet Union to reach an agreement on a mutually verifiable freeze on the testing, production and deployment of nuclear weapons. The proposal, introduced by Mark Hatfield, R. Ore., and Edward Kennedy, D. Mass., came to Congress after hundreds of local organizations gathered petitions and raised money to get the idea taken seriously in Washington. A similar resolution, opposed by President Reagan, was passed by the Democratic controlled House of Repre sentatives earlier this year. The non binding proposal declares that the U.S. and the Soviet Union should “ pursue an im mediate and complete halt to the nuclear arms race." The following is the text of the nuclear freeze proposal: “The Congress finds that: "The greatest challenge facing the Earth is to prevent the occurrence of nuclear war by accident or design; "The nuclear arms race is dangerously in creasing the risk of a holocaust that would be humanity's final war; and “A mutual and verifiable freeze followed by reductions in nuclear warheads, missiles, and other delivery systems is needed to halt the nuclear arms race and to reduce the risk of nuclear war. “ As an immediate arms control objective, the United States and Soviet Union should: "Pursue an immediate and complete halt to the nuclear arms race; "Decide when and how to achieve a mutual, verifiable freeze on the testing, pro duction and further deployment of nuclear warheads, missiles, and other delivery pro grams; and “ Give special attention to destabilizing weapons whose deployment would make such a freeze more difficult to achieve. “ Proceeding from the freeze, the United States and the Soviet Union should pursue major, mutual and verifiable reductions in nuclear warheads, missiles and other delivery systems, through annual percentage or equally effective means, in a manner that enhances stability." Packwood nuclear freeze vote "alarm ing" Oregon House Speaker Grattan Kerans said last week that Oregonians should be alarmed at U.S. Senator Bob Packwood's vote against the nuclear freeze resolution. Kerans said Packwood’s vote showed a "callous disregard" for the work of people seeking to end the arms race. Packwood also voted against the wishes of Oregonians who heavily endorsed a nuclear freeze advisory resolution on the statewide ballot last November, Kerans said. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday a reality While Coretta Scott King, widow of the slain civil rights leader, and hundreds of others looked on, President Reagan signed into law a bill designating the third Monday in January a national holiday commemorating the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. The bill, signed on November 2, which will take effect in 1986, had been passed two weeks earlier after more than a decade of struggle against right-wing opposition. Most recently, Sen. Jesse Helms. R-N.C., attemp ted a filibuster in the Senate to thwart passage of the bill. Ironically, Helms' birthday is also the same day as King's, as well as the birth day of Confederate Civil War General, Robert E. Lee. After signing the law, Reagan suggested Fungus may trigger AIDS A fungus with some properties like cyclo sporin — a soil fungus that acts as a potent immunosuppressant — was found in three patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The results of research, as reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, has led that each year, when Americans mark Martin Luther King Day, “ Let us not only recall Dr. King, but rededicate ourselves to the com mandments he believed in and sought to live every day: Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ Coretta Scott King called the holiday the highest recognition the nation could bestow on King, who, she said, "symbolized what was right about America, what was noblest and best." “America is a more democratic nation, a more just nation, a more peaceful nation be cause Martin Luther King Jr. became her pre-eminent non-violent commander," she said. government scientists to hypothesize that a fungal infection may trigger the killer disease. Cyclosporin is now administered to trans plant patients to suppress their immunity system and help them avoid organ rejection. Doctors from the National Institutes of Health said the failure of the immunity system in AIDS patients resembles in some aspects the im m unity suppression brought about by cyclosporin. The doctors reported that the discovery of fungus in the blood of the AIDS patients m ight indicate that AIDS may not be caused by a virus as has been the current theory. Instead, according to the research, AIDS may be caused by or at least intensified by a fungus with properties similar to cyclosporin that suppresses a victim ’s immunity system. Key West elects gay mayor Despite opposition fears that "if a gay got elected mayor, then it would get in every paper in the nation and it would bring even more of them down here," Richard Heyman, a gallery owner and city commissioner who also happens to be gay, was elected mayor of Key West, Florida, by 54% of the votes cast. Heyman's opponent, Richard Kerr, a self- confessed “ family man," denied that making an overt appeal to anti-gay sentiment would be an important issue in a town where hundreds of gays have invested in homes and businesses. Kerr's campaign featured a Archbishop Hunthausen Vatican investigating iS picture of himself and his family with "Richard Kerr — Family Man" headlining the ad. “Your vote will help set the MORAL TONE for our COMMUNITY:' the ad said. Heyman also faced strong resistance be cause he is a "new" resident — he moved to Key West ten years ago from Toledo. Ohio. Heyman was elected to the five-member city commission four years ago and was a stead fast opponent of the old boy political system that relies on favoritism and patronage As a commissioner Heyman was frequently on the short end of many 4-1 votes. He re- Reactionary Catholic groups opposed to Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen's views on nuclear war and homosexuality have prompted a Vatican-ordered investigation of the Seattle prelate. A spokesman for the Seattle-based Catholics United Against Marxist Theology, said his group and others like it knew of as many as 30,000 petition signatures and let ters that had been forwarded to the Vatican in criticism of Hunthausen. Hunthausen, Western Washington arch bishop since 1975, presides over an estimated 360,000 Catholics. He opposes peatedly called for a performance audit of City Electric System, which is plagued by chronic blackouts and has the fourth-highest rates in the nation. He urged more hiring of women and other minorities at City Hall and established a task force to investigate the city sewer system, which continues to dump m il lions of gallons of raw sewage into the ocean each day. Everybody knows Heyman is gay, said a local politician, “ but nobody calls him a bad politician.” the MX missile system, and has participated in peaceful demonstrations aganst nuclear weapons. Hunthausen also withholds half the taxes on his $9,000-$10,000 annual income in protest of the nuclear arms race. According to a Vatican official the investi gation need not result in punishment of Hunthausen. “ Hopefully, the visitation vindi cates a bishop rather than points a finger at or deposes him," the official said. No one would specify what disciplinary actions might be taken against Hunthausen if the Pope decides the criticism was warranted. Just Out Nov 11 -Nov 25 \