V o lu m « 3 , N o . 7 P o r tla n d ,O r a g o r
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X N ° V e m b e r 2 3 ,1 9 7 2 10< p e r co p y
K Q .it
Consumer League fires top man
J . Alton Page, D irecto r of
Consumer Protection Agency,
has been fired, it was learned
Monday night.
Page told Observer re
porters that he did not have
a thing to say to the press.
‘ ‘I ’m sorry, I don’t have any
comments,” Page said. ” |
respect members of the press
and have always cooperated;
however, any information you
want w ill have to come from
the board of d irecto rs.’’ Page
stated. Page refused to say
whether he was terminated or
whether he was going to re
sign.
Several board mem
bers including Charles R.
Wiilamson, Rosadelle Sum
mers were contacted and all
stated that they did not have
any comment. Jack Taylor
and Molly Weinstein could not
be reached.
State Senator Don W ill me r.
founder and Past-President of
the Oregon Consumer League,
and Past-President of the
National Consumer League,
said he was not aware of the
action that had been taken.
He said the Oregon Consumer
League is a private organiza
tion, but that since it is re
ceiving Model Cities money
it should not withhold infor
mation from the public. On
the national level, the National
Consumer League has about
30,000 members and is a vol
untary association that feels
it should make its own deci
sions
regarding personnel
practices.
In the case of
dismissing personnel, it is
not publically discussed, but
he reported again that since
public money is involved, the
OCL should not withhold this
information from the press.
Parent-Child Services
charged with racism
Senior citizens enjoy Thanksgiving dinner
Th* nk”
ThB Pr° g r* n’ > Wh,ch prt,vk1<-’
........ ......................
-
b° ' h «’ the center .nd in the
M I-
, f>e office of Economic Op
portunity is i n v e s t i g a t i n g
charges of racial discrim ina
tion in tfie Parent-Child Ser
vices Program. Parent-Child
Services is a counsel ling pro
gram for families with child
ren under three years of age.
Parent-Child has been rid
den with problems since its
inception. The program was
closed last summer, then re
opened with an entirely new
staff.
T ie program located in the
Central l-.astside,
s e rv e s
families from the OEO South
east Target area and from
Albina. Of the 21 staff mem
bers, 6 are black.
The c h a r g e of d iscrim i
nation was made by M argaret
Iron, an employee who was
terminated by the director.
Gretchen Astorino. She was
later reinstated later by th e
board of directors.
Members of the staff feel a
racial division is occurring
because of a series of Inci
dents have occured. In order
to clarify the relationship be
tween Parent-Child Services
and the Portland Metropolitan
Steering
Committee
and
PMSC's concerns for the pro
gram, Erma Hepburn of PMSC
spoke with the staff, D u n i^
this meeting and in following
discussions, racial Inferences
were made and racial 'ques
tions discussed.
Also dis
cusseci was the future of PMSC
and of Parent-Child Services
shcxild the Green Amendment
be invoked by the C ity of Port
land , taking the OEO pro
grams from PMSC.
M s. Astorino then wrote to
Congresswoman Edith Green,
saying, that PMSC was fost
ering racial dissention and
division among the Parent-
C h i l d Service staff. M rs .
Green is an opponent of OEO
and has long advocated the take
over of OEO programs by city
and local government. Black
staff members felt this letter
was directed against them and
that it promoted the distrust
along racial lines that had be
gun to develop.
An Equal Opportunities Of
fic e r from PMSC is inves
tigating the racial climate at
Parent-Child
Services this
week.
Salvation Army center
McCall to request child care funds
Governor Tom MaCall sate
today he w ill ask the 1973
I eg Islam re to commit up to
$2 million in state funds for
the support of the Coordinated
Community Child Care (4-C )
program in the 1973-75 bi
ennium.
McCall
said the money
would he ueed to supplement
contributions by fe.ieral and
local governments and private
donations to provide more
than >12 million for 4-C day
care programs In the bi
ennium.
M cCall wrote to officials
of all cities and counties
where 4-C programs exist
to ask that they join the state
In helping to pay for day
care services for children of
welfare and potential welfare
clients. He asked that local
governments commit >4 m il
lion for tlie program.
The 4-C program for tie
current biennium Is financed
by the federal gswernment,
along with local matching
money p rim arily in tie form
of in-kind services. Recently
receives approval
Congress
voted
to lim it
spending on social services
programs, cutting Oregon’ s
receipts by >5 m illion.
McCall said that since the
state has many mandatory
responsibilities in providing
services
to children and
nubile
welfare
recipients,
federal support for 4-C day
care programs w ill be limited
to >3 million In the next bi
ennium.
He said the overall reduc
tion in financial support to the
state for social services is
’ ’undesirable and has re
quired the state to provide
significant amounts of General
Fund support to existing pro
grams that otherwise would
cease to exist.”
He said committing General
Fund money to other pro-
IP lease turn to p. 8 col. 5)
Woodlawn residents voted at
the N'ovemher 14th meeting of
the Woodlawn Improvement
Association overwhelmingly
in favor of a proposed Sal
vation
Army
Community
Center being built in their
neighborhood.
Land acquistion, site clear
ance, and relocation for the
proposed center would be ac
complished with Federal as
s i s t a n c e under the Neigh
b o rh o o d
D e v e lo p m e n t
Program
a d m in is te r e d
locally
by
the
Portland
Development Commission.
Five sites are under con
sideration for the aeaaer.
They are triangular altes
bounded 1) by Dekum, Bel
levue, and Leonore Streets;
2) Dekum, Winona, and Dur
ham S t r e e t s ;
3) Dekum,
Oneonta, and Bellevue, and
Oneonta Streets.
State ordered to collect taxes
The U.S. D is tric t Court In
Portland ruled that the State
of (i regun may no longer grant
tax exemption status to the
Elks Lodge hecause It d is c ri
minates on the basis of race.
The court ruled in a case
filed a year ago by Clifford
M cGlotttn, a B la c k , and
Michael Falkenataln, who is
W hite. The complaint charged
that taxexemptlons for organ
izations that practice racial
discrimination violate
the
14th Amendment of the United
States
Constitution.
The
action was filed by The A m eri
can C ivil Libertties Union.
Last January the D istrict
Court In Washington, D j C.
Instant Earnings from Day o f Daposit
P9r annum compounded daily and paid Quarterly
B e n j.(@ F ra n k lin
Robert H H a ie n Pres • 20 O bice» • Phone 24 8 1234
H om e O ffice Franklin Bldg Portland, Oregon B72O4
A
r
withdrew federal Income tax
exemptions from these lo<tges.
saying that by giving tax ex
emptions the government was
"supporting and encouraging
discrim inatory hehavlor."
The Oregon Department of
Revenue said the court de
cision could bring the State
of Oregon between >600,000
and >800,000 annually In pro
perty tax from the Elks Lodge
alone.
The suit was not brought a-
gainst the Elks for d iscrim i
nation, but against the State of
Oregon for in effect subsi
dizing racism with taxexemp
tlons. The défendent in the
case was theStateliepartment
of Revenue and Its director,
Charles Mack. A t t o r n e y
General Lee Johnson argued
the case for the state, saying
the state's policy did not have
any relation to the club’s
membership policy.
Judge Gus Solomon ruled thaï
“ Tax exemptions fo rfra tem a l
organizations benefit both the
state and fraternal organiza
tion. Oregon relieves fra ter
nal organizations from the
burden of property and corpo
rate excise taxes and In re
turn, the public benefits from
the charitable and benevolent
activités of these organiza
tions.
Solomon said, "These mu
tual benefits constitute »de
gree of atate Involvement in
discrim inatory activity that
the 14th Amendment prohi
bits.”
O t h e r ju d g e s on th e
Judge panel wereSenlorCourt
Judges Fred Homley of San
Francisco and Fred Taylor of
(Please turn to p. 8 col. 3)
The Salvation Arm y had
wanted assurance of neighbor
hood support for the > 1 million
d o llar centerwhich would con
tain
a gymnasium, large
swimming pool, kitchen, and
meeting rooms and would offer
such services as recreation,
crafts, music, day care, and
senior citizen activities.
(Please turn to p. 8 col. 6)
J . ALTON PAGE
The
Oregon
Consumer
League
is the sponsoring
agency fo r the Model Cities
Consumer Protection Agency.
Page was the firs t director
of the program and was re
sponsible for establishing and
staffing
the office. Many
citizens of the Model Cities
area feel that the board of
directors for the program
took over most of the re
sponsibility from the direc
tor,
leaving
him without
authority.
A
management
committee was formed, which
hired personnel and made all
of the m ajor decisions. Page
often was not able to move
ahead on projects until the
committee could meet and
approve every move he was
(Please turn to p. 8 col. 3)
Government guilty
race discrimination
The Winema National F o r
est, Klamath Falls, Oregon,
was ordered on November 8
to reinstate with back pay Ben
nie L . Moore, a black Engin
eering Equipment Operator
who was fired in November.
1970.
The order was based upon
a finding by the D irecto r of
the Office of Equal Oppor
tunity of the U . S. Depart
ment of Agriculture, Jerome
Sfuman, that " M r . Moore was
discriminated against because
of his race.”
M r . Moore was represented
by the American C iv il L ib e r
ties Union of Oregon ata hear
ing D e c e m b e r7 -8 ,1971, before
Equal Employment Opportuni
ties Appeals Exam iner George
A . Hoyem, on whose recom
mendation Shuman acted.
Moore had filed »complaint
alleging that he was terminat
ed from his employment be
cause of his race, citing Gid
eon Parker, his immediate su
pervisor as the discrim inat
ing official. He had been giv
en a temporary appointment on
M arch 5, 1970. He was ter
minated fo r "unsatisfactory
performance” on November
20. 1970.
Richard Smith, a Klamath
Falls
attorney, handled the
case for the ACLU.
EDMOND W. GREEN
Green coordinates
school transportation
Edmond
W.
Green
is
Transportation
coordinator
for the P o r t l a n d Public
Schools. He coordinates the
busing program which trans
fers children to public schools
throughout the school d istrict.
He supervises approximately
65 employees, including bus
drivers, mechanics, clerical
persons ard transportation
teacher aids. Approximately
7500 pupils are transported
every day.
These Include
those who live over a m ile
from
their
neighborhood
school, and those who are en
rolled in special programs
Mich as administrative trans
fers, and those who are phy
sically handicapped, the deaf,
those
with
language dis-
o r d e r s , the blind and tie
mentally retarded.
Approximately 1400 ch ll-
dren participate in the ” ad
ministratlve
transfer’
or
voluntary fusing program de
signed to relieve racial iso
lation.
Green is a graduate o f
University of Maryland and
has done graduate work at
if» University of Washington.
He is currently enrolled in
a Masters program in Busi
ness Administration at P o rt
land State University.
Green and his wife, Brenda,
enjoy outdoor activities, such
as skiing, camping and deep
sea fishing. He also enjoys
oil painting.
Bureau appoints first blacks
P
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Hst l . « ssued
T T * . . r
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v k S X T o X " Mi“!
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U n l v e t l t y o f O re g o n L ib r a r y
E a g e ^ a , Or 9 7 4 , 3
POR TLA ND
° f F1IW F * h*
h“ h
r ’ ° - n AH
successfully
the f0Ur
flre f,«hteni
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'M ‘ty
three are m a rr ie d
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F ‘re
r’ CnHt ,ratnln« «ation. Engine 23. in the
ins te^lesa im i ^
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an' ‘c,Pated ,h* ‘ “»V
complete them recruit traln-
Hre a J —
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Onn* r t ™ “ “ ’ t"«* these men have completed a trainee program in the
fire department s tretetegstetksi No. 2 at N. Kdltagteeorth »nd Interstate.
I hey w ill serve a prebeUonury period of one year.