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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 1984)
manage her staff and manner of relating in- terpersonalfy with her current employees. It is not our wish to see Old Wives' Tales close down. Heidi L Conn J. Sheppard P. Newland M. Boone J. Akey L Moore K. E. Edmisten Jill Sandleben Tina Conn Rose Stodick R. Lane Pan Sammons Elaine M. Kassouf Rena Sandler Leslie C. Kenny Maggie Cloud N. Wharton Jackie Cox Kit Minten Alyce DeRouchie Kristen Knapp Janna MacAuslen S. Newsom L Clay Naomi Morena Linda J. Gardner Jeanette Spencer and then... The original "anonymous'' letter to Ragtimes stated it was written by "friends and former employees" of Old Wives' Tales. Since it was anonymous and did not claim to be written by current employees, how could I have intentionally terminated one of its co authors for writing it? The person to whom their latest letter ap parently refers is Maggie Cloud. I think it would be interesting for readers to have the opportunity to read the actual letters that I wrote to Maggie Cloud, beginning with Jan uary 3 notifying her of my reasons for termi nating her; January 4 to her and to Naomi Morena; and January 9. If you will compare this series of letters, all written by me within one week (not “a couple of weeks later’) with their latest letter, I think you will see that although I felt it necessary to terminate Maggie’s employment, I was trying not to prolong the conflict or to escalate it Compare this to their letter which relates parts of my letters out of context and makes it sound as if I was trying to make things some how more difficult for these former employ ees. Quite to the contrary, I encouraged them to get professional counsel and ultimately decided not to contest their receiving unem ployment benefits although as an attorney I knew that I had sound grounds for doing so. In my original response in Ragtimes, I sug gested that the problem between myself and certain former employees was a lack of m u tu a l respect They did not feel comfort able working with me and I did not feel com fortable working with them. That they did not feel comfortable working with me is certainly demonstrated by their vigorous, continuing attempts to keep this issue before the wo m en’s and gay community. The last paragraph of my January 9 letter to Maggie talks about “the easiest thing" for me to do. I am not doing the easiest thing. Old Wives’ Tales is still a women’s center. It is not (and never has claimed to be) a resource center or counseling center. I don’t recall that any of the members of this group attacked the old W omen’s Resource Center for failing to respond to women in crisis — but it cer tainly did considering that many days no one answered the phone at all, much less to counsel women in crisis or even refer them to counseling. What is the goddess-proclaimed compulsory definition of women’s center that I am transgressing against? Is the Port land Feminist Women’s Health Clinic wrong fully using the term “women’s" because they do not provide the full range of health and medical services that women need? Is “A W om an’s Place" misnamed because as we all know it is essentially "A Lesbian’s Place." I would hope that Just Out will not accept their assertion that they have heard through present employees that my relations with resent employees are not amicable. Enough anonymity! Let Just Out obtain the names of these supposed present employees and in terview them instead of taking the word of those who have not been inside the restau rant for weeks or months! Let Just Out verify their claim. (If such present employees do exist, their names do not have to be divulged by Just Out's reporter.) Finally, it should be obvious that if their intent was to make me re-examine my rela tionships with staff, they have certainly done all that they could. Further exchanges like this should clearly be useless. Either I am serious about improved relationships and am putting my energy into those improve ments, or I am not Nothing that they or I can say for publication is going to prove anything. I suggest that the community “check back" in six months or a year with current employees — that’s the only way anyone is going to know anything. — Holly Hart our investigation b y Roseanne King “I really enjoy working here.” “She has good intentions, but she came across as very confrontive.” “Holly has the right to do whatever she wants." “She gave preferential treatment on the basis of personality rather than skilE’ “In the time I’ve worked here, I haven’t seen Holly lash out at anyone." Comments surrounding the controversy at EM SPACE TYPESETTING V Just Out February 17 March 2 We specialize in new sletters, posters and small ads. We also do very nice advertising art work. 5 1 9 S.W. Third The Dekum Bldg. Room 3 1 0 Portland, OR 97204 2 2 6 -6 3 0 0 Old Wives’ Tales restaurant are as varied as the opinions that establishment evokes. Ac cusations of tokenism, verbal and emotional abuse, unwarranted wage cuts, misrepresen tation, lack of promotion and raise proce dures and excessive turnover have been met with angry denials and vocal support from the restaurant staff and supporters. The restaurant Old Wives’ Tales Restaur ant and W om en’s Center, is owned by Holly Hart At the center of the controversy are complaints voiced by ex-employees and a civil rights claim filed against Hart alleging discrimination against Hispanics. According to a group of ex-employees, many of whom choose to remain anony mous, the problems at the restaurant have existed for some time. Current employees acknowledge Hart can be a difficult woman to work with, due largely to excessive amounts of stress and other problems inherent in restaurant m anagement “It’s one thing to work in a restaurant, it’s another thing to own one," Cindy Thompson, kitchen manager, said. Thompson has been with Hart since before the restaurant officially opened. The current difficulties arose in mid- November, following what Naomi Morena called her termination. Hart maintains Morena quit by walking out on her shift Morena said she asked Thompson for permission to leave the restaurant during the lunch rush, citing her inability to handle Hart’s verbal abuse any longer. She had worked at O W T for about two years. Accord ing to Morena, that permission was granted. Hart said that contention is "patently absurd." Since she was in the restaurant at the time, "just ten feet away,” Thompson would not have granted anyone leave to walk out during a shift Hart said. Thompson agrees that she did not grant permission to Morena. The night following the termination, Mag gie Cloud, Morena's roommate and also an O W T employee, called Thompson. Morena said Cloud sought only to verify Morena’s status through the call. Thompson and Hart claim Cloud asked Thompson to falsify the facts and say Morena had been fired. Hart termin ated Cloud the next day. In her first unemployment claim, Morena was denied benefits following unemploy m ent’s call to Hart She said Morena had quit by walking out on her shift Morena appealed the ruling. Hart was served with a notice to appear at the appeals hearing, and opted not to attend. “My dec i sion not to appear does not mean I agree vith Naomi,” Hart said. “I just decided to let her have it" Unemployment benefits were approved following the hearing. “I only wanted what I felt was just” Morena said. “I’m still trying to get the paid vacation that was due to me and I want the recom- mendation I think I deserve after two years of hard work." According to Morena, two witnesses at that hearing testified that Thompson had granted her permission to leave OWT. Morena’s civil rights claim against Hart and OWT, alleging discrimination against His panics, was filed in mid-November. It was a result of a discussion with the Civil Rights Board and “a lot of tokenism" at OWT, Morena said. Hart denies the charge and cites examples of employment and promotion of Hispanics. Also at issue in the controversy is Hart's billing of the restaurant as "a woman’s center.” In a letter first published anony mously in Ragtimes, the writers maintain O W T staff is not equipped to handle calls regarding crisis situations or resources in the community. Exterior signs advertising OW T as a wom en’s center were painted over in late November. Emergency numbers for women in crisis are always next to the restaurant phones, for referral to agencies equipped to deal with the situations, Kerri Hart, dining room manager, said. Holly said the restaurant gets “scads of calls" inquiring about the women’s bars in town, which do not bill themselves as such. Naming O W T “a women’s center" does pro vide a link between women unfamiliar with the community and available resources, she said. The O W T staff stressed that the estab lishment regularly tries to provide free space for women's events. According to James Andrews, O W T cus tomer, Hart’s management style and prob lems with her workers do not affect the restaurant’s atmosphere. "It’s a comfortable, warm and friendly place. There are some problems, but nothing a working person would consider serious.” Andrews said his college-age daughters have been O W T patrons for “two to three" years. Management style at O W T has changed dramatically, according to all concerned, since just before the birth of Hart’s daughter in June, 1982. She began a management team, rather than trying to run all aspects of the restaurant herself. According to Hart and the O W T staff, pressure on Hart was relieved and so was much of the tension. Morena maintains "Things got better be cause she wasn’t around. Holly doesn’t know how to deal with stress." Changing Hart's attitude and manage ment style were cited as motivations behind the anonymous letter regarding OWT. Most of Hart’s existing staff do not feel those types of changes to be of major importance. Morena thinks changes have resulted from the confict but she qualifies it this way, "I feel like what’s been accomplished is Holly's been forced to look at her m anagem ent I honestly don’t think it’s going to last" ALICE D. ELLIS ATTORNEY AT LAW PARKINSON, FONTANA, SCHUMANN, JONES, ELLIS and STEENSON 415 N.W. 18th, PORTLAND, • 221-1792 NORTHWEST NEIGHBORHOOD LOCATION GENERAL PRACTICE, INCLUDING: INJURY ACCIDENTS • REAL ESTATE DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE CRIMINAL DEFENSE • POLICE ABUSE WE FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS MEMBERS — NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD