2
School
measure
fails
Portland / Observer Thursday May 6. 1971
The Northwest'« Best Weekly
___________ A Blqck Owned Publication
“ Published every Thursday byE xw Publishing Company
K illingsw orth Portland, Oregon 97217.
2201 N
« vwmP“ y. ^ 0 1 N.
<SUiYt nPtl° n ruteS 4? .cente Per month by earner,$ 4 .0 0 per year
5 Tri-County
5 .0 0 per year
by mail
in Tri-Countv
' **•
area.
Phone
2 8 3 - 2 ^ 6 an*»
™ ■<«
* 5 ’25per vear u
b* mal1 <«“
ALFRED LEE HENDERSON, Publisher and Editor
People count not machines
There is more behind the move of The Portland Observer to
considerably la rge r quarters at2201N.Killingsworth than the
moving of equipmentand gaining additional machines. Even though
the move w illa llo w T h e P o rtla n d O b se rve rto ca rry on the com
plete function of publishing this weekly newspaper without any
work done elsewhere, what is fa r more important is that we are
preparing fo r people.
With the kinds of help we a re receiving from many in and out of
Portland the re a lity of a strong and healthy newspaper fo r
the
Model C ities area is in the process of becoming a re a lity .
We
have plans of making The Portland Observer a training ground fo r
people in the printing industry. Here they w ill learn the trade of
publishing apaper, and if things go as planned w ill be trained in
the functions of a com m ercial printing plant.
There are not many, if any, m in o rity people in this industry.
The good Lord w illin g we’ ll prepare able people to make a living
in typesetting, press operation, make up, photography, to mention
a few. A t the same time we intend to concentrate on making
The
Portland Observer a newspaper which tru ly serves the people. A
personal voice fo r the individual who often feels that no one
re
presents him.
The goals are high and we expect the tra il not to be easy;
but
we seek to do what a newspaper is suppose to do: P rim a rily to be
a public watch dog. We are of course proud of the move to la rg e r
quarters but we know that we owe the growth to our readers
and
advertisors without which we could do nothing.
The last one?
In an interview with the press,
President Nixon has said that
the war inVietN am is ending,
and added, “ In fact, 1 seriously
doubt if we w ill ever have
another war. This is probably
the very last one.’ ’ If this
statement is to have a chance of
proving true, the United States
must end the war in Viet Nam
while retaining a position
of
honor and strength. If this is
to happen, it is imperative that
the m oral force of world opinion
be brought to bear to compel
humane treatment of
U«S.
prisoners of war, held under
diabolically cruel conditions in
the stockades and penitentiaries
of North Viet Nam.
The Reader’ sDigest, in its
A p ril
issue, has sought to
m obilize public opinion and gen
erate an upsurging public pro
test in the form of m illions of
signed statements to be d e live r-
Youth Caro
Funds
Each department and division
of State government is covered
by an appropriations b ill. House
B ill (HB) 2045 would appropri
ate approxim ately$3l m illio n
from the General Fund to the
C orrections D ivision. Of this
money. Youth Care F a cilitie s
would receive $763,214.
Youth Care F a cilitie s are an
alternative to sending
de
linquent youth to MacLaren
School fo r Boys o r H illc re s t
School of Oregon fo r g irls .
Youth Care F a c ilitie s also take
youths who might otherwise be
returned
from
Juvenile
Detention to an unchanged
fam ily situation.
HB 2045 is in the J oint W ays
and Means Committee. Senators
on the Committee are George
E ivers, Edward Fadeley, E .D .
Potts, Jason Boe, LynnNewbry,
Betty Roberts, and Berkeley
Lent.
Representatives
are
P h ilip
Lang, W illiam Gwinn,
B ill Stevenson, Hugh M cG ilvra,
Allen Pynn,
Rod McKenzie,
and Stafford Hansell.
ed through the Am erican
Red
Cross to the government
of
North V iet Nam. The Digest
a rtic le , entitled “ Inside the
Prisons of Hanoi”
should be
read bye ve ryA m e rica n .lt is a
report of actual POW conditions
as described by some of the men
who have been released and by
informed sources in Washington
Saigon and P a ris. It describes
such conditions as prisoners
being
caged or tethered like
animals so that villagers could
file past to strike them or
urinate on their bodies.
It
speaks of constant
hunger,
steady weight loss, nausea and
and hopelessness of the “ Hanoi
H ilton, ” an
old
French
enitentiary, in which prisoners
are kept in tiny cem ent-walled,
heavily - barredcells and sleep
on cement slabs or rough boards
stretched across
sawhorses
Progressive starvation, isola
tion from other human contact,
the numbing cold, lack of
medical care fo r wounds, as
well as illnesses o r injuries
contracted during captivity, are
part of the picture.
Wages
F o rt Dodge, Iowa,Messenger
“ It should not be forgotten that
so fa r as
some
potential
workers are concerned— the
handicapped, the aged, those
with less than average com
petence and the young— a m ini
mum wage is fa r from an unm ix-
ed blessing. It condemns many
thousands to idleness, as em
ployers cannot afford to pay the
wages required fo r what these
people can accomplish. The re
cord has established that every
time the minimum wage goes up
more fringe workers lose th e ir
job opportunities. There would
seem to be no good reason fo r
doubting that it w ill happen again
pa rticu la rly if, as seems likely,
It comes at a time when un
employment already is dis
turbingly high.”
The final ta lly of the vote on
Portland School D is tric t’ s re
quest fo r a$36 m illio n building
bond issue and a $7 m illio n
operating budget, registered a 2
to one turn down.
While state wide
school
wonders
why Portland s
measure was defeated. We
believe that the m ajor element
in Portland sSchool D is tric ts
money measure being turned
down was the lack of under
standing concerning middle
schools.
A t numerous public meetings
real questions about m id d le
schools were never answered
definitely o r we re side-stepped.
Portland School D is tric t has
not been able to satisfy many
peopled feelings that schools
being re-shuffled and re-labled
“ middle schools’ ’ was not just
putting old goods in a new bag.
That the remodeling
of
schools is a need which is
obvious to anyone making a v is it
to most any three or
four
schools; but now the concern is
fo r
q u a lity
educational
program s.
Portlanders
haven’ t been
convinced that such q u a 1 i t y
exists nor that the approval of
the d is tric ts asking price of$43
m illio n w ill provide the quality.
Socially, many of the racial
problems of schools such as
Jefferson and Roosevelt have
remained unsettled in the main
and d r u g abuse s till r u n s
rampant.
Academically high school
graduates have poor qualifi
cations fo r jobs and vocational
programs are lagging.
The Portland School Board
and adm inistration could better
plan and show the people some
hope fo r success and not expect
the voters to approve a system
which hasn’ t convinced
the
public they are getting th e ir
money’ s worth.
The C ity of Roses school
system is indeed in need of re
p a ir and needs much more crea
tive direction than shown the
past (at least) ten years.
better phone 283—2486
“ From Our Readers*
T h e P o r t l a n d O b s e r v e r w e lc o m e s l e t t e r s to
th e e d i t o r . W h e th e r th e y a r e c r i t i c a l o f t h i s
n ew sp ap er
or
c o m m e n ta rie s
on th e
p r o b l e m s o f o u r s o c i e t y , a l l w ill b e g iv e n
j u s t c o n s i d e r a t i o n f o r p r i n t i n g in t h i s c o lu m n
We r e s e r v e th e r ig h t t o e d i t a c c o r d i n g t o o u r
sp a c e lim ita tio n s .
DISTRS.
earnest«
TIRU
RECAP SPECIALISTS
' 'HUH SAID"
284-9758
3368 N.E. UNION
\
_____
PORTLAND
CLEANING WORKS
NORTH & N.E. PORTLAND
>ONE DAY SERVICE
knit blocking
WELFARE
statement
OUR SPECIALTY
We Give
m in o r repairs - n o charge
PICK-UP & DELIVERY
282-8361
A Statement by a Welfare Child
T o a l l the people who don’t
care about me and kids like me
STAM PS
3»6 » N. W illiom .
“ You’ve Tried The Rest, Now Try The Best
N. Alexander, Proprietor
My Mom crie s a lot and I
know she loves me but I needed a
p a ir of shoes fo r school and she
couldn’ t get them fo r me, so I
took a p a irfro m a sto re .I didn’ t
want to but I didn’ t have any
money to buy them and I want to
go to school so I won’ t have to go
Personal
Service of
High Quality!
Pricing That
Meets Your
Requirement!
Courtesy That
Is A Tradition
on W elfare like Mom. W e d o ft
have enough toeat ail the time
either and I didn’ t have a coat
fo r a long tim e this w inter.
Nobody likes welfare and they
don’ t like us welfare kids, but
nobody wants to do anything to
help us get off of welfare.
I know enough about politics to
know I don’ t have any rights. I
don’ t have the right to ask fo r
more to eat o r to be warm o r to
even have a house to I ive in .
I
don’ t vote so I don’ t count. Those
people in Salem decide whether I
w ill be hungry and cold or not,
and I ’ ve been cold and hungry
a long tim e.
C. D on V ann
There Is No Doubt When You Call Vann.
Vann’s Mortuary 2 8 1 -2 8 3 6
But I am told I must respect
the people whodo this tom e.
I
try to - I try very hard.
"W elfare C risisC o m m itte e ”
We have moved to 2201 I
Killingworth to serve you
5211 N. Williams Ave.
Portland, Oregon
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