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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1973)
1 Government charges builder with racial discrimination with the United Minority Workers, ami a 10 day notice to comply by GSA, Todd Building Company signed an agreement with U M W in late September. The agreement committed Todd to use mi nority employees for at least 20 per cent of the man hours on the construction job. The The U.S. General. Service» Administration ha* ordered Todd Building Company to show cause why It has not complied with federal regu lations on hiring minorities. Todd is building a $5.2 mil lion federal offiee building and court house in Eugene. A fter lengthy negotiations agreement was approved by GSA and became a part of Todd's a ffirm a tiv e action agreement with the govern ment. Todd Building was to have contacted UM W and the Chi cano Indian Study Center, if necessary, to find minority employees. According to PO RTLAND Volume I, Mo. 2 AM (O U A l Portland, Oregon TH( O N I Y M l WSf A F I k I M f H I W H O tl Nathan Proby. Chairman of U M W , Todd has made no contact with him or with CISCO. In frequent trips to the building site in Eugene, Proby has found only one Black laborer in a crew of 22 men. A t the tim e the agreement was signed. I'roby had expressed a hope that O F F O iT U N IT Y (M P lO Y d t W IP I W Q k tD J H M for minorities on jobs that have a long enough time span to make training prac tical. Proby is negotiating for minority employment with three additional construction firms. Steve Stevans of P e te r K iw ic k s has com mitted that company, the this negotiated agreement would be honored and that legal action would not be come necessary fe d e r a l regu lation s r e quire that an equitable num her of minorities be used on all federally financed jobs and that t r . rung positions for minorities be provided OBSERVER jH A ltY Thursday, November I, 1973 C A » (4 A»OUT A summary of the pro ,HMeil plan follows: The Task fo rce on District Planning Organization 11972) recommended that the DPOs should be based on existing neighborhood groups, that they should be involved with both physical and social plan ning, and that they should have more than token au thorily. The draft ordinance atte m p ts to meet these guidelines. It provides for 11) recognizing neighborhood groups. (2) recognizing DPOs; and 13) establishing the Bur eau of Neighborhood Or ganizations. The membership of neigh borhiMMl groups is open to residents, p ro p e rty owners, business licensees, and rep resentatives of non profit in stitutions. No dues are charged. The ordinance sets out minimum requirements for recognition. Recognized neighborhood groups discuss a wide range of issues af feelin g neighborhood liva bility. They will lie author ized to make reeommenda Hons to the City Council and public agencies on mat ters that affect their neigh borhood area. Other groups interested in a specific as pect of neighborhood or dis trict livability are called s e rial purpose groups. These groups are the groups speci ficaly interested in social programming, economic de velopment. educational im proveinent, etc. The district planning or ganization is an association of recognized n e ig h b o rh o o d groups, with the option to in c lu d e s p e c ia l p u rp o se groups. If the DPO is in corporated as a non profit corporation, it will have legal status and may contract for services. The board of the D I'O is composed of an equal The board may also include representatives elected from special purpose groups, but their number is limited to one half the total number of re p re s e n ta tiv e s from the neighborhood groups. The City Charter invests all legislative authority in the City Council, so the DPOs will not have final authority, but they can be invested with administrative authority. A procedure will be worked out to provide input into the City's budget process. The Bureau of Neighbor hood Organizations will pro vide limited staff assistance to the DPOs and the neigh borhood groups. An effort will be made to mobilize the community's own resources to supplement the assistance which the Bureau ran pro vide. In approximately a month the proposal will be heard by the City Council. If the Council adopts the ordmancr the Bureau of Neighborhood Organizations will be estab lished. s Berna Plummer discusses corrections with photographer for Muhammed Speaks. (Photo The Portland Development Commission has pledged $480,000 for a redevelopment program for the Eliot Neigh borhood. The funds will be used to purchase 10 busi nesses and 13 homes in an area that will be developed for housing. The city block bounded by North Williams, N.E. Rodney Avenue. N.E. Russell and Sacram ento S tre e ts , com prise the area on which ap proximately 100 housing units will be developed. The hous ing development, which will consist of low rise, multi family dwellings, will include units for moderate and low income residents. The Eliot Neighborhood Association has specified that the housing be integrated racially, economi cally. and in age groups. Involved in the redevelop ment of the areas adjacent to the housing units are Eman uel Hospital, which will par ticipate in housing for the eld erly and exten ded care facilities; the Pacific Univer sity School of Optometry, which will operate an op tometry clinic to be located at Williams and Knott Street; and Pacific Power and Light company, which w ill co operate with landscaping for HARRY W ARD NAACR awards Ward The Portland Branch of the N A A C P awarded Past President H arry C. Ward with a N A A C P Life Member ship as a token of apprecu tion for his long service to the branch. The Life Mem bership Plaque was presented by Leonard Carter, Director of the N A A C P Western Re gion. Ward served as president of the Portland Branch from 1959 to 1962 and again in 1966. He was vice president from 1969 to 1972. He is currently a member of the Executive Board. W ard was born in Musko gee. Oklahoma, where he at tended elementary and high school. He earned a Bache lors degree at Wiley College in Marshall. Texas. He taught at Fort Smith. Arkan sas and was principal at Jinks, Oklahoma. He served as a Juvenile Probation of ficer in Tulsa, Oklahoma for ten years. After coming to Oregon in 1954, W ard Was employed as a caseworker by the Oregon State Publz Welfare Com . . , ■» mission lor iweive years. He is currently a Field Representative for the Ore gon State Employees As sociation, an o rg an izatio n representing state employees. Ward is active in com munity affairs. He is one of the original members of the Model Cities Citizens Plan ning Board, first appointed by Mayor Schrunk. He is a past president of the Port land President's Council; a member of the Board of Directors of the Boy's Club of Portland and the Board of Directors of the Progressive Businessmen's Club; Serre tary of the Royal Esquires Club of Portland; and a mem her of M t. Olivet Baptist Church. He and his wife. Gerì, reside at 6225 N .E. 42nd Avenue. V Berna I). Plummer, Eval uation Specialist for the Board of County Commia sioners, attend ed Chicago S ta te U n iv e rs ity 's Second Annual National Conference on Corrections, held October 24. 25 an 26. The conference explored the problems of " M in o ritie s in C orrections and latw Enforcement". Par ticipants examined and dis cussed the problems of mi nority offenders. Savings rates are UP Passbook savings are compounded constantly from day of deposit to day of withdrawal lien Franklin Robert H Hazen. Pres • 22 Offices • Phone 248-1234 Home Ottico Franklin Bldg . Portland. Oregon 97204 The three day conference included addresses by dis tinguished criminologists and corrections officers as well as workshop sessions relating to recruitment of minority per sonnel, in service education program s, cu rricu lu m de velopment, and the role of inmates in the correctional system. Attendance by Multnomah County was appreciated and praised by other participants. Miss Plummer’s presence and discussion with Blacks. Chi canoa, Indians and women in criminal justice gave her in formation valuable to Mult nomah County. begins campaign State Senator Betty Rob erts (D-Portland) announced her candidacy for the office of Governor in a series of meetings beginning on the steps of the State Capital Building in Salem, and in cluding Eugene. Medford and Portland. Senator Roberts is the first candidate to officially announce her intention to run for the office. She told a Portland audience at Town Hall on Monday night that she announced earlier than she had planned because she believes the voters want an open campaign. Senator Roberts said she does not believe the issue of being a woman will be an important one in the cam paign. She believes the record of her ten years in th e O re g o n L e g is la t u r e proves her qualifications for the position. She pledged a “no nonsense" campaign and a "no nonsense administra tion". She believes there are three typos of issues to be dealt with in the campaign. The first are the perennial issues that are never solved - taxes, school finance, the en vironment. The second group are the issues that concern her health care, dis crimination against Senior Citizens, the need to change •he educational system to make quality education pos sible. The third category of is sues are those that arise during the campaign and to which the candidate must respond. Senator Roberts, 50. is married to State Represents live Keith Skelton (D-Port- land). They each have four children by previous marri ages. Senator Roberts is a practicing attorney. Her campaign co-chairmen are Attorney Don M arm a duke of Portland and Iaine County Commissioner Nancy Hayward. Miss Plummer felt the Board of County Commis sioners' approval of her trip was evidence of their con cern and interest in all people of Multnomah County Justice System. She noted that Oregon and Multnomah County are innovators in many programs attempting to meet the real needs of of fenders, Multnomah County has or is adopting programs which were recommended in the latest correction report by the National Advisory Com mission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals. She suggests local participation and support for the county justice system plan. Observer wins ONPA Ad contest The Portland Observer was the recipient of the Oregon Newspaper Publisher's As sociation's advertising con ference Award of M erit, First Place for the advertisement bringing the best results. The award was won in open competition with the O N P A ’s 116 member newspapers daily and weekly. The ad ve rtise m e n t th at won the award was placed by J. Alton Page showing a photograph of Nathan G rif fin and the new Mark IV Griffin had purchased from Page at W alt Johnson Lin coin Mercury. Second and third place winners in the Best Results category were the Hillsboro Argus and the Hood R i\e r News. Additional winners were: Most Effective Use of Small Space: First. Gresham Out look; Second and T h ird , Klamath Falls Herald and News. Most Effective Use of Color: Albany Democrat H e ra ld . Eugene R e g iste r Guard, Klamath Falls Herald and News. Most Effective Use of Advertising Copy: Ashland Daily Tidings, Med ford Mail Tribune. Cottage Grove Sentinel. Best Adver its substation on K n o tt Street. This is the first redevelop ment project in the Eliot Neighborhood. Jack Deyam pert, chairman of the Eliot Neighborhood Association, said, “It's kind of like the first step of a thousand miles for us." The building of approxi mately 100 housing units in place of dilapidated houses and businesses would demon strate the possibility of eco nomic growth in the neigh borhood. Deyampert said. The development will raise the worth of the surrounding property, said Deyampert, and that could give those p ro p e rty owners g re a te r borrowing power and make possible fu rth e r develop ments in the neighborhood. But that is still in the dis tant future and is something the neighborhood must work towards, he said. No acquisitions will be made until early 1974, ac cording to Charles Olson, PDC Planning Coordinator. Relocation funds will be provided by the Department of Housing and Urban De velopment through the Neigh borhood Development Pro gram. Roberts by Emerson Muhammad) Plummer attends corrections meet 19c per copy PDC pledges Eliot development program number of elected repre sentatives from each recog nized neighborhood group. tising Series: Eugene Reg ister G uard, O regon D a ily Emerald. Corvallis Gazette- Times, The Canby Herald. Best Newspaper Promotional Advertising: Grants Pass Daily Courier. Corvallis Gaz ette-Times, O regon D a ily Emerald. Best Special Sec tion Institutional: Cottage Grove Sentinei for 'Bohemia Nugget", Ashland Daily Tid ings for "Shakespeare In Ashland '73". Roseburg News Review for "News Review Vintage Edition". Best Spe cial Section Retail: Eu gene Register Guard. Oregon Daily Emerald. Klamath Falls Herald & News, The La Grande Observer. The judges were: Bob Evans. Bi M art Stores (chair man); Bill W inter, University of Oregon Journalism Pro fessor; and Jerry Schmidt. Advertising Services Presi dent. The rotating trophy for the ad of the year, chosen by the delegates to the ONPA Advertising Conference, was awarded to the Daily As torian. The winning ad in eluded pictures of an elemen tary school class on a visit to the newspaper plant and the children's letters about their visit. ( . ■ L _________»I.. _____I--I which was recently awarded a contract on the freeway, has accepted a committment of 15 minority training posi tions. Proby said he hoped the recent GSA action would demonstrate to other con tractors that affirmative ac tion requirements will be en forced and can no longer b« ignored. l„k» Root, t' John Equal Employ ment Officer for Todd, told the Observer Thursdav that the complaint he received from GSA did not have any thing to do with his minority hiring policy. He said he hail just received the complaint on Wednesday and did not want to comment to the press until he had time to (Please turn to pg. 4, col. 21 Black prisoner fights Alabama extradition F tO F K Forum discusses DPO The Task force on Dis trict Planning Organizations, which has ln>en meeting for the past year to establish goals and guidelines for in creased citizen involvement in city government, has re leased its recommendations A Community Forum will be held on Thursday, Nov ember Hth from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the f ir s t United M i’tho iiist Church Hall. IH.'TK S W Jefferson The p u liln is invited to participate in the discussion of the DPO program. th ird largest construction company in the nation, to minority hiring. J.D. Hutch inson reports that Hoffman Construction, Oregon's larg est builder, now has 25 per cent minority employment in the federal building in Port land and 17 per cent on the City of Portland's sewage plant. Wayne Thomas of Donald M. Drake Company, On Friday, October 26. Ronnie Williams was arrested in Northwest Portland on a fugitive warrant from Ala bama. He was on his way to work. The Portland officers who apprehended Williams had been to ta lly m isinform ed about the nature of the case; they thought they were going after a murder suspect in regard to a police officer's death in Birmingham. No such charge had been made against Williams. In 1970 Ronnie Williams was organizing poor Black people in Birmingham where he grew up. That Septem ber Mrs. Bernice Turner, a widowed Black dom estic worker, asked the Alabama Black Liberation Front for help in stopping her eviction. The company holding mort gage on her home claimed she still owed $1.400 despite the fact she had already paid more than double the price asked for the house in 1960. The AB LF tried to raise the $1400 to stop the eviction, with plans to appeal for a return of the money later on. A t noon, September 15, 1970, more than 30 armed sheriffs deputies rushed M r. Turner's house, kicked open the door and started shoot ing at anything that moved. “There were five of us in the house,' Williams later re called, “four men and one young pregnant woman. I was wounded in the neck and taken to the hospital. I t was six hours before they took the bullet out." The sheriff justifed the raid against Mrs. Turner's home with the claim he had been informed that the Black Panther Party was planning an attack against the police. After all the people had been arrested and taken away, deputies later broke in again and wrecked the furniture The entire house was riddled with bullet holes. All five of the Blacks were taken to jail. They were kept in cells without baths, flush toilets or running water for 60 days. For 16 days they could not contact a lawyer, were not permitted visitors and did not receive mail. Williams was given no dress ing for his wound and no medication. D u rin g the p relim in a ry hearing in November. 1970, the charges were dropped against three of the defen dants and the charge against Ronnie W illiam s was re duced from assault with in tent to kill to the charge of assault on a policeman with a deadly weapon. When their rase finally came to trail in September 1971, both defense and pro secution witnesses testified that no shots had been fired from within the house. All shots were fired into it. There had been two guns in the house but Ronnie Wil liams' fingerprints weren't found on either one. The Alabama all white jury still found him guilty and he was sentenced to 5 years in prison. In late 1971, money was raised to get Williams out on appeal bond after he i.ad been in jail for over a year. He worked in Birmingham, building up a defense com mittee and getting his case through the lengthy appeals (Please turn to pg. 8, col. 4) Thomas R. Vickers leads 1967 picket of U.S. Post Office following complaint of racial dis crimination in hiring and promotion of Blacks. Portrait of a President Can the N A A C P still be used to promote equality for Black people? Tom Vickers, who served as President of the Portland Branch from Jan uarv. 1967 to January. 1971, believes it can. "The NA ACP has a long record of success, especially in the courts. Its record gives it a reputation that no other civil rights organization has. and the power structure still stops to listen when the N A A C P speaks. I t can be very diffi cult, because of the conserva tive national leadership, but if you are willing to spend long hours of hard work sometimes almost alone then you can achieve some success, even in a city like Portland.” During the four years that Vickers served as President of the Portland Branch the Branch received the Thai heimers Award, which is the highest aw ard given to branches by the National Board; the M erit Award for 1969 for the West Coast Region: and Vickers was presented the Com m unity Service Award for 1969 by the Albina Citizen's Council. A m o n g th e P o rtla n d Branch's most satisfying ac complishments durin g the Vickers administration was the opening up of the Port land Post Office to Blacks. In 1967. Blacks had worked in the Post Office for as long as twenty years at entry level, with no promotions. There were no Black super visors or Blacks in favored jobs such as window clerks or special delivery. Following a series of unsuc cessful meetings with Post master Hodler, the NAACP picketed the Post Office for approximately 6 weeks. A t the invitation of Senator Morse. Vickers and Labor and Industry Committee Chair man Hazel G. Hays met with Frank Nagel, National Dir ector of the Equal Employ ment Opportunities Commis sion for the U.S. Post Office in Washington, D.C. After an investigation it was de termined by EEOC that the Portland Post Office did use illegal practices in employ ment and that Blacks were excluded from the more de “able positions. S everal Black w orkers were promoted to super visory positions; a Black per sonnel director was hired; the EEOC committee was strengthened, and Blacks added to it; the Postmaster was told to permit Blacks to obtain "discretionary promo tions" (those based on super visory evaluation) and to ob tain experience necessary for promotion. "Most people don't know that the Albina Contractors Association was founded by the NAACP." Vickers said. "I am really glad to see that ACA is fighting for economic gains for Black w orkers. The idea for an ACA began when we picketed the As sociated General Contra tors in October of 1969 to protest the lack of minorities in con struction. We then invited Tyree Scott. Chairman of the Central Area Contractors As sociation of Seattle, and Lem Howell, Attorney for CACA, to speak to our membership. We brought them back for a series of meetings with Black contractors and construction workers, which resulted in the organization of the Al- Please turn to pg. 4, col. 1) J A