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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 1974)
P ig r 6 Portland Observer Thursday. October 17, 1974 f. * ■ , \ t : N A C I) refunds expenses The Journal reported that after becoming N A C D Presi dent in April of 1974. I was allowed $0.lMX) to travel, yet used PMSC funds on three occasions in the amount of $2.000 The true farts are that since becoming N A C D President, I have traveled to Washington. D.C. twice and to Miami. Florida once on N A C D business. Since there are no N A C D funds, at present, at my disposal in Portland and based on nor mal PMSC travel procedures, travel funds were advanced by PMSC with the notation that reimbursement would be made by the sponsoring agency The total cost of these th re e trip s was $1,868.52 and the sponsoring agency, N A C D , has. in fact, reimbursed PM SC in the same amount of $1.SOS.52. j •1-1» | h > ; 1. 7V“ Cleveland Gik-rea« addresses the press and the public as he presents his answer to press charges against him. M s * egas agenev visited Gilcrease answers charges (Continued from pg. 1. col. 91 and Feeney in their articles, but during the process, these tw o re p o rte rs took the liberty of misquoting the PMSC Board Chairman. John D. Rice, on several occasions. Following the meeting held in my office on October 4th. wherein Long and Feeney questioned me in the pres ence of M r Rice and the PMSC attorney. M r. Neil Jorgenson, and with both parties taping the discus sion. these two had the audacity to burst into M r. Jorgenson's private office unannounced later in the day. accusing he and I of placing persons outside my office door during our meet ing to eavesdrop through the intercom system. This is not only impossible based on the capability of the intercom system, but highly insulting to M r Jorgenson, who to gether with myself emphati rally deny that any un LIQUIDATORS | BARGAINS) BARGAINS! * • a«» d«s«ng »vi itach »4 fO«» (•cevpemg« >«g»** rs«w ROOFING S2SO Ife N re a K a g I M 9S J T a b ? "d r o o lm q iq $ 1 9 .9 5 I I to o l c o a tin g | 55 g o ) d fu m i j PANELING Wolnvt tfrip panel 3 p«««t 99 c I 4 b 8 | O f t ' " - ' A grade 4«8 5 2 . I l l I Ponplmg 20 $1.19 $4 9 0 1 k.ndt 4.8 P o n a lm g m o ld in g P fo F .n .th e d » o o d I 96c , DOORS •2.50 to »4.5« I llO S J D l H ow w door fro m door» PfOhung door* $19 $ 261 $29 1 From door* prehung ftifo ld m m o l d o o r* 5 O' 6 W ood $ 5 .9 $ I b *o<dt $ 1 3 -$ 1 ll M o d e rn Fold •• $4 1 d o o r* lro<e PLYWOOD & PART. BOARD *4 .9 $ -* $ .4 $ | T 11 S -d .- q 4 . 8 Iportxi« ■ P o rttc la b o a r d la .8 . * » .$ •; W " $3.95 $4.95 |U n « a n d * d ’/» " p ly w o o d [S o n d a d li.M ’/a" p ly w o o d KITCHENS | 6 Kitchen c o if « » ! *♦»* w ith fo rm .c o »op* $19$ | Form ica r own ter »op» *h o rt* 6 8 10 lo n g t l so *2.50 I r e a ft MISCELLANEOUS BARGAINS S hutter*, c loseout ’/> p ric e 2 00 p r H a rd b o a rd 4.8 $2 2 $ l $ 2 .9 l| P a g b o a rd P lo tte r b a o r d dom aged e ac h M o r l.te »He b o a r d 4*8 51541 $4 9 5 , C a llin g tile 9 ’/j< Acow ttrcol tile ft 11’ l o t h V o m ty 2 2 " $ Both V a n ity a n d to p $ P o in t 1 0 0 0 g a l d o te o u » tx ts I •11 k in d . •te fc M g 8 ’ * 2 00 4' 74c I thelwRg. 12- » .d . ti 25« | 1 10 0 0 0 w orth cobmet h o r d w a r« c la ta o w t W - W o lt 1 * 4 .4 4 Potta corpoH rrwMa*. 12 »» Stwdt 14« P otto fib a r g lo * » F lo o rin g 0 »< 0 Zc te a g u e 4 g r e e v e . 3«4'| Pondo*» longit»» C a d o » »op » tdm g Bbor» $ 1 3 $ M )o n g *14 4 M O PIN SUN0ATS B U IL D IN G SUPPLY D IS C O U N T CENTER C all 215-054 6 A« have the honesty or the in tegrity to report their true findings and stand up to those forcing them to pursue their investigation. I would also like to clarify the portion of the Journal articles wherein 1 was quoted from the taped interview with Long and Feeney. On September 17. 1974, the PMSC attorney received a letter from Bona Id J. Sterl mg. Jr., Editor of th<- Oregon Journal, in which he stated “. . . we would naturally ex peel to have a discussion with him (Gilcrease) of the material in our findings before we made a decision whether to publicize any arti cles resulting from Jim Long's in v e s tig a tio n . . ." This discussion was held and taped on October 4th. but at no time prior to this dis cussion was I apprised of the findings of the Journal and the matters on which they wished to question me. Therefore, I was totally un prepared for their inter rogation. Because I had not been allowed the opportunity to review their material and my own records. I was un able to respond factually and accurately to many of the questions posed to me I take strong exception to the in v e s tig a to rs choosing to quote some of these re sponses. which served their own purposes by further enhancing their efforts to discredit me by inferring that I hedged on their ques tions in trying to conceal wrong doing on my part. When, in fact. I could not spontaneously respond, based on my inability to remember specific facts, dates, amounts, etc. of events that occurred up to two years prior. a u t h o r i z e d lis te n in g took place whatsoever. This inei dent was documented by M r Jorgenson hy letter, dated October 4th, to Jim Ixmg 1 can '-ertainly understand the frust it ion on the part 4 Ixmg and Feeney, but what 1 cannot understand. nor ex ruse, is the fact thx - e they completed their inv. gation and reviewed the in formation and documents in their possession, they did not public records. PMSC was ordered to disclose for in spection and copying all documents requested by the petitioner, James 0 . Long, as indicated by the exhibit attached to the Order, which was. in fart, the identical material that had been pre viously requested and turned over to Ixmg on August 13th at the direction of the PMSC Board Chairman. Long's letter to the District At torney was dated September 11. 1974, but the petition was not granted until October 9. 1974 and published in the Journal on October 9th. which just happened to coin ride with Long and Feeney's expose' published at the same time. I then and only then further recognized the magnitude of political ramifi cation behind this entire matter Commissioner ( lark responds I was equally disppointed with County Commissioner Donald Clark’s response to the Journal articles, as re ported in the Journal on October 9th that he would ask the County auditor to find out whether Multnomah County's $29.000 contribution to the seven million dollar poverty program had been properly spent. He ex plained that the auditor would report to the Board of County Commissioners and the procedure would he to bring any problem to the a tte n tio n of the proper authorities, probably the Dis trict Attorney. Fully aware of C om m issioner C la r k ’s political ambitions. I am not surprised at this manuever either. I wish to briefly review with you at this time some of the inaccuracies which exist in the Long Feeney report. Each inaccuracy is clarified indepth by the report and exhibits presented to you here today. I would also like to state that any citizen wanting a copy of my report may receive one by con tarting the PMSC office. The Journal reported that 1 collected $725 in cash from PMSC for a seminar in Phoenix, but left the seminar early to fly to Las Vegas to examine a card dealer school. I did. in fact, attend a seminar in Phoenix and re reived a check in the amount of $725. which included $550 registration fee and $175 in per diem. Based on an earlier telephone conversa tion with the C A P Director in M s Vegas, 1 departed Phoenix on the evening of February 27th to tour and review the total facilities and program of the I as Vegas CAP. which inctw c. thei- Dealers' Training Class con cept, which is unique in the country for training the un skilled to enter employment with the hotel industry. I did not rlaim per diem, nor hotel expenses while in M s Vegas, as the $550 registra tion fee paid for the seminar in Phoenix included hotel accommodations and some meals and 1 did not want PMSC charged for the added expense, although I was there on agency business. It should be noted also that the difference in air fare for the return flight routed through M s Vegas was only $9.01 more than my original sche duled return flight. »15.000 overtime pay rejected The Journal reported that on May 13th, Gilcrease was paid $5.245 for accrued vara tion on grounds that he had been unable to take leave for the last several years and further reported that yet I was gone at least 120 days on trips at a cost of $7,1X10 in air fare and $6.000 in ex penses. In response to this allega tion. I would like to briefly clarify certain facts, which are explained indepth in my report. First dealing with the accrued annual leave payment Due to the con tinuous crisis s itu a tio n s during my six years of em ployment with the Portland Metropolitan Steering Com PMSC provide, information Perhaps I am not know ledgeable. to the extent of some, of the developments in this whole matter which further perpetuated in the minds of the public that I. C levelan d G ilcrease. had failed to cooperate with the Journal investigators. Speci fically, upon my return from The fourteenth anniver a one week vacation with my sary of the Republic of family on August 13th, I was Nigeria will be relebrated in informed that Jim Long and Portland with the visit of the Dick Feeney had requested Nigerian Ambassador as a material from PMSC through representative of Nigeria. our Board Chairman. M r. John Rice. Because M r. Rice Nigeria is the largest Black and I have long shared the country in the world, with a philosophy that whenever population of 17 million, and any citizen wants to review is fifth in production of oil. PMSC records, they are placed at their disposal as rapidly as possible; M r. Rice, in my absence, directed the Deputy Director. Fran Good rich, and our fiscal staff to turn over all requested Tree Litter m a te ria l which included records of my 1973 74 travel expenses, my 197374 local travel expenses. 1973 74 ex F ro m tim e to lim e, when Ihe m ay have a valid com plaint when pense files on PMSC auto west wind blew, twigs and leaves the in ju ry he suffers is m ore sub mobiles, 1973 74 records and from Fred M ille r's poplar tree stantial. Thus, when branches invoices relating to PMSC would d u lle r down into a neigh actually spread across Ih e prop credit cards, 1973 74 PMSC bor's back yard Resentful, the e rly line, mosl courts give Ihe telephone b illin gs. P M S C neighbor finally took the m ailer neighbor ihe right lo chop them 1973 74 cancelled checks, and into ihe courtroom . off at the boundary. It is up io M ille r lo keep his F u rth erm o re, a neighbor usually records and bank statements In ter out o f my yard.' he told Ihe has grounds for suit if a tree from the Northwest Assoria |udge " I f Ihere is no other way. threatens his safety. A noth er case tion for Community Develop Ihen let him cut ihe tree d o w n '' involved a badly decayed e lm . ment. standing near a back yard fence Hui the court refused lo m is in. With the exception of The next door neighbor, fe arfu l N oting that the tree was located N W A C D records for which I o f an im pending accident, warned entirely on M ille r's land. Ihe alone have no authority to Ihe tree’s ow ner o f the danger — courl said he could not be blamed to no avail. release, all requested ma fo r the natural process o f shed One m orning, during a storm, terials were turned over to ding. a heavy bough split off and fell Long on August 13 or G e n e ra lly speaking, the law w ill across the fence, smiting Ihe not interfere w ith natural grow th shortly thereafter, in addi neighbor on the shoulder U n d e r on private property tion to subsequent docu these circumstances, the ow ner o f Thus, another m an was held ments requested by him. Ihe tree was held responsible for entitled to m aintain four large the neighbor's mishap Because of this, I was maple trees on his land even though they kept a n e i g h b o r ri. ' 1 h ' C? " r” * i<i he ha,‘ no m ore astonished to receive on h n u s x ,n r k . I k . ................... • " • hl * ° keeo • dangerous tree on October 10. 1974 an Order, house in the shade The court said h it property than to keep a dan- dated October 9, 1974, from his freedom to use his own prop gerous building. District Attorney H arl Haas, erty outweigheu the indirect a n r 1974 A m erican Ba- Association noyance to Ihe neighbor granting petition to disrlose mitte. I. along with many other staff members, worked many long hours, often times seven days a week, to continue to maintain and expand the anti poverty pro gram in Portland. Very few of us were able to take ad vantage of the vacation time we had accrued Since PMSC. as well as all com mumty action agencies, have been operating on a con tinuing resolution since 1973, I brought to the attention of the Board Chairman and several Board members that I. along with other staff members, had accrued a large number of annual leave hours and the liability the agency was carrying if. in fact, our funds were dis continued and were forced to shut our doors I inquired of the Regional Office of Eco nomic Opportunity whether there were any regulations whereby annual leave hours could be "brought bark" by an employee, providing funds were available in that pro gram year's budget. I was informed that no regulation existed. A fter advising the Board Chairman of this in formation and with his ap p ro v a l. the am ount of $5.245.11 was deposited in a contingency fund with the understanding of all parties concerned that, pending legal ruling and/or possibility of audit disallowance, the Board of Directors and/or the Executive Director would remove these monies from the contingency fund and redeposit them in the ap propnate program account. I would also like to point out that, at my recommendation, the Board amended the Personnel Policies and Pro redures to reflect that no person may carry a balance of more than HO hours of compensatory time nor re reive payment for unused compensatory time Based on this. I personally returned to the agenry 1.520 hours of compensatory time to reduce my time to HO hours, which could have cost PM SC ap proxim alely $15,000. T ra v e l expenses req u ire d Regarding the time and money spent ui traveling The artual travel break down indicates that I was away from the office on bust nesa trips a total of 92 days during this 19 month period, at a cost which is budgeted for and approved by both the Board of Directors and Re gional Office The total cost of these trips was $7,4H8 in air fare and $5.266 in per diem. P M S t funds increase Since January. 1974. as an indirect result of my travel mg. I, along with my staff, negotiated or assisted in negotiating for additional federal monies to be brought into, not only the City of Portland, but into the State of Oregon. Through our efforts, we are now ad ministering the state wide Emergency Food program in the amount of $250.000, we received the Valley M igrant l-eague's special state wide food program in the amount of $10.000. we were re quested by the County to ad their Close Supervision P ro gram in the amount of $70,500. and we were most instrumental in st*ruring ap proximalely $1.000.000 from the Comprehensive Employ ment Training A rt. which is a manpower grant whose prime sponsor is now the City of Portland; that is, prior to this press statement. Fuads in question to tal $270.95 It is my sincere hope that each person exposed to the Ixmg Feeney articles, as pub lishcd in the Oregon Journal, will Lake it upon themselves to carefully review the re port I have prepared I am well aware that there la little hope of getting the real farts published in the O re g o n Journal to give me equal time, but through my report, citizens will be able to draw their own conclusions as to whether the PMSC anti poverty funds have been handled either improperly or irregularly by its Executive Director. If. after vour review, you feel I have used poor judgment. I would like to put one more thought on your minds In 1974 alone. I. as Executive Director, with support of (h r m ajority of my Board and staff, have brought into the State of Oregon to serve the needs of the poor $ 1.336.500 If one adds up the root of the per sonal triephone rails I am charged with making, the additional cost of my going to M s Vegas and the cost of the installation of the stereo tape deck, these expenses to U l $270 95 I have carefully analyzed and considered th r ronse quenres of my future in thr City of Portland, based on the pattern of destructive tactics used on many in norent persons. I am fully aware that the effort to dis credit and destroy my repu tation will be intensified now more than ever. Rut ir regardless of these indivi duals' efforts, my family and my rlose friends shall eon tinue to fight and struggle to voter our opinion, exposing what we sec as wrong to the hitter rnd because of our firm commitment to disallow this type of dirty journalism to go on without the publir being th o ro u g h ly know ledgeable of the individuals behind it, as well as their motives. In closing, 1 would like to leave you with a thought which has been paraphrased from a statement made by Upton Sinclair: When you pick up your newspaper and think you are reading the news, what you are really reading is a propaganda which has been selected, revised and doctored by some power which has a financial interest in you. Legislators report O n e S e rv ic e O n l y l Reformation Sunday The th ird p re session O cto b e r 27, 1974 •• 3 :0 0 p .m . M g is la tiv e Report Breakfast sponsored by the G reater Gresham Chamber of Com merce, in cooperation with Senator Vern Cook. Repre ten tative Glenn O tto and Representative Harvey Ake son. w ill be held at H :00 a m , October 19th at the M & M Restaurant & Cafe at 137 N Main, in Gresham It will lie a no host breakfast meeting In addition to up date re ports by Senator Cook. Representatives O tto and Akeson on their Interim C o m m itte e a c tiv itie s and legislative proposals for the 1975 Session, the meeting will feature leading pro ponents and op|miw-nts of thr th re e most c o n tro v e rs ia l measures to be on thr November 5th Ballot Mea sures 13, 14 and 15. Special invitations to thr leading proponents and op ponents of these measures H e a th m a n Park H a v ila n d H o tel have been issued and to date G e o rg ia n Room , 2nd floor acceptances have been re S W B ro a d w a y a n d Pork a t S alm on reived from Stevie Kerning Portland, O re g o n tom. E x re u liv r Director of the Oregon Chapter of the A m eric a n C iv il L ib e rtie s Union, who will speak in op "Th® Bank WHb a Purpose’" (Mmilion to Measure 13, the censorship obscenity pro ponal. W alt McGovern, past President of the Oregon Chapter of th r Northwest Steelheaders and currently Columbia River Fisheries Otervetf try the Pvopi* o perated for roe P ro p io Chairman of that organtaa lion, who will speak in «up O te c k tn p Accounts port of Measure 15. ihe • Saving Accounts proposal that would prohibit • Bank by Mod commercial gillnetling for • Reed Estate loons Steelhead Trout, Blanche • Auto loans Schroeder, past President and Ixibbyist lor Oregon Travelers Checks Common Cause, who will * Money O d e r s speak in support of Measure • Escrow Sendee 14. and K arl Frederick of Associated O rrg o n Indus tries, who will speak in op Free Checking Accounts with *300 00 Mimmuei Balance position of Measure 14. thr Free Checking Senrtpe to Senior Citizen* (0 6 or over) Conflict of Interest Pro,Hisal O P tN SATURDAY 1 0 iA M -liH M Those interested in further i i ' i i l 4 >kt information may rail either mu i l t e t r a 665 1131 or 665 H I43 The public is invited to attend I T U M.O. UNION ■ N I RIILJWOSWOOTH W endell W allace m inistering Jesus M iracle R ally <s> FREEDOM OF FINANCE 282-2 2 1 6 the ,r FAMILY^» LAWYER J k. Save SM ITH 'S Whirlpool BETTER BUYS’’ MEAN BETTER QUALITY! CRIAT VALUI IN HOME LAUNDRY! 7 A dance will be held at 8.00 p.m. at the Viking Bar at Portland Slate University, which will include a fashion show and music by the Com munity Jazz Band. The affair is presented by the Nigerian Student Union. Inr. of which O.A. E sn et is President, and the Blark community. Automatic 3-Cyde Washer M O D E L IV A 4 0 0 0 Choow from N o rm o l G e n tle or S u p « Sook cycl«« E n zy n w to o k le t ting 2 A g ita tio n . 2 Spin Speed «election» 3 W a t « tem p iele< fio n t W a t « level c ontrol. Su per Soak cycle provide« on es- tro «is minute« o f tc ru b b iiig to OES honors Vickers Past Grand M atron D or othy E. Vickers of Prinre Hall Grand Chapter, O .E .8., State of Oregon and its Jurisdiction has recently re ceived a Meritorious Cert ificale in recognition of distinguished services and jM-rsonal c o n trib u tio n s of time and effort to the Grand Chapter of Alaska and has been made an Honorary Past Grand Matron of P.H. Grand f'hapter of the State of Alaska and Jurisdiction. In 1972 Grand Master Richard J. W atts of Alaska contacted Grand M aster E li jah Graham of the State of Oregon to aid Alaska in. forming its Grand Chapter. Grand Master Graham in structed Grand Patron Tre vol Mason and Grand Matron Dorothy E. Vickers to per form these duties. Before Grand I ’alron Mason and Grand Matron Vickers term of office expired they had laid the groundwork to form the Grand f'hapter of Alaska 288-6571 Mambo» F «data* ITepoait i r w P K A Corp Students honor N ig erian freedom It achieved independence from Great Britain in I960 A dinner will be held at 12:00 noon on October 18th at Portland State Univer sity's Ballroom in Smith Memorial Hall. The dinner will feature Nigerian and American food. Admission to the talk is free, with lunch at $2.00. BANK dirty g e t e s tr a clean thing» rea lly Automatic Dryer Run« on e it h « 15 5 - volt ho ute- >r 2 2 0 -v o lf in«tnilcifinn Provide« «pecial p e rm a n e n t pre«« fo b ric t A ir te ttin g a n d »etting for e x tr o convenience w ith «pecial fo b 368 DOROTHY VICKERS Since the formation of the Alaska Grand Chapter. Past Grand Matron Vickers’ ad vice and counsel has fre quently been solicited She attended the 1974 Grand Session in Anchorage, Alaska as the guest of Grand Worthy Matron Irene Cole man and M .W Grand Master Ita v m o n d ( nlr-rnan TRADE-INS WELCOME O lf - S ln t l Parking EASY TERMS " '/’/’«•„...„j SMITH'S » hop e to e M O N THWU te i »AT T il * I 30th and S.E. D IV IS IO N • 234-9351