«
Police bullet kills
Block youth
I ckie Charles Johnson, seventeen
ye
old high school student, was
kill« 1 early last Thursday by a
polic. man's bullet.
The shooting, the fourth fatal
shooting of a Black youth since
October, brought immediate reaction
from the Black community.
According to the official police
sl<ry. as related by Sergeant Tom
Hotter, Public Information Officer,
Johnson war. shot by Officer Kenneth
Sanford, a patrolman.
On the previous night a cab driver
had been robbed while delivering an
PORTLAND
Voi 6, No
OBSERl/ER
«
Portland. Oregon
Thursday, March 20, 197 a
10c per copy
y
North Portland declines poverty funds
«
On March 4th, the North Portland
Citizens' Committee (NPCC) general
membership declared null and void
their contract with Portland Metro
polilan Steering Committee (PMSC).
The reason for the action was tha1
NPCC membership felt that it could
not comply with guidelines set up by
the Community Services Administra
tion.
After reviewing a letter from
NPCC. the Executive Committee of
PMSC voted to cancel the NPCC
contract.
The NPCC Board of Directors had
voted unanimously to comply with
the CSA guidelines within the 45 day
time limit and had come up with a
plan of action.
But when the
membership met the following day.
the group voted to overturn the
Board of Directors' decision.
The North Portland Citizens' Com
mittee. which was established to
provide services, organization and
citizen participation for the poor in
North Portland, will no longer receive
the $30.000 they were receiving from
PMSC. The group was also receiving
more than $8,000 from PMSC for the
Winterization Program.
This pro
gram provided emergency food, fuel
and winterization of housing for low
income residents.
PMSC is not withdrawing the funds
from the North Portland area, but
will continue to provide services to
the poor of the area, according to
Cleveland (lilcrea.se. Executive Di
rector. PMSC is now working with a
group that would represent the
people of the community and Con
corned Citizens of North Portland is
to be reorganized. This group would
receive the money slated for NPCC.
rtic $80,000 th.it funded \pc< waa
used as seed money which attracted
an additional 1140,000 from other
sources.
On Thursday. March 13th the
North Portland Citizen's Committee
met to discuss the status of the
corporation and set a date for election
of new neighborhood representatives.
President Gary Hansen suggested
that the citizen's committee proceed
with elections and that the contract
the group held with PMSC be
nullified. He said that PMSC "will be
responsible for any cost of winding
down their activities in North
Portland, but understand's that they
will try to form a new group of
representatives in the community
that they can work through."
Steve Roso, former officer of the
citizen's committee suggested that
the NPCC try to renegotiate their
“¿J
contract with PMSC. But represena
t i v Bill Taylor of PMSC said that
the steering committee would not
renegotiate with the group as their
by laws now read because they do not
conform with standards.
NPCC is trying to get back
materials belonging to them such as
records, candidate petitions, that are
currently at the PMSC office in North
Portland. Questions are being raised
as to whether or not PMSC would
make these records available to the
citizen's committee. Representative
Taylor said that he had no comment.
NPCC has lormed an election
committee and has scheduled elect
ions for Saturday, April 9th.
If
interested in running as a neighbor
hood representative, please contact
Mrs. Pat Hoffert at 248 4281 by
March 31st.
"Some questions we really need to
consider are whether or not we need
to become a neighborhood association,
or should we continue to contract
with various agencies,"
Hansen
noted.
The citizen's committee also de­
cided to operate under by-laws
approved at the January 17th
meeting. The general membership
voted to stay with these rather than
the old by laws.
order of Chinese food to 3973 N.
Gantenbein, an empty house.
On
Thursday morning, between 1:00 and
2.00 a.m., the same cab driver
received a similar order from the
same address and notified the police.
The house was surrounded by the
police and Officer Sanford, dressed in
the cab driver’s uniform, went to the
door. He had his gun in his hand,
covered with a box. According to his
report, the door was open and
Johnson's companion invited him into
the house. When he walked into the
living room he saw Johnson pointing
a gun at him. Johnson, he reported,
a gun (unloaded) at him. Johnson, he
reported, said, "Give me your money
or I'll blow your head off." The officer
identified himself as the police, and
said, "Drop it."
Johnson made a move, which
Sanford interpreted as an indication
that he was going to shoot. Sanford
fired two rapid shots, the first
missing and the second striking
Johnson in the bark of the head.
According to police policy, a
weapon is only to be drawn if
necessary to protect the officer or
another person.
According to
Sergeant Potter, it was Sanford's
opinion that his life was in danger.
The decision to enter the house
with a drawn gun, instead of asking
the youths to come out, was made by
detectives and a uniformed sergeant
at the scene.
The usual procedure that takes
place following a police shooting has
been initiated.
Thia has three
phases: a police investigation by the
Inspection Division to determine
whether policy and procedure was
followed: an investigation by the
District Attorney’s office, which is
being conducted by Deputy District
Attorney Grayson; and the Coroner's
inquest.
Johson's father, 0 . C. Johnson,
reported that the police did not notify
him of his son's death, but that he
was told by the father of the youth
who was with his son and who was
apprehended by the police as he ran
out of the house.
Sergeant Potter said notification is
not the responsibility of the police
force, but they had tried to notify the
parents but had difficulty identifying
Johnson.
Several conflicting stories have
been given by the police department.
Chief Baker talked to the family
the day of the shooting, but seemed
confused about the facts and gave
several unsupported suppositions on
how the shooting took place.
It
finally was ascertained that the bullet
struck the back of Johnson's head and
that his body was in the kitchen as if
he were attempting to run out the
back door.
News reports published as late as
March 19th, state that one shot was
fired.
Rickie Johnson, the son of Mr. and
Mrs. 0 . C. Johnson, was junior at
Washington High School. He had no
RICKIE JOHNSON
prior delinquency record.
Several community organizations
are planning action.
Ellis Casson,
President of the NAACP, Portland
Branch, has requested a "full investi­
gation."
Officer Sanford remains on duty at
the North Portland Precinct.
Sheriff’s office gains m inority interns
Sheriff Lee P. Brown, Director,
Multnomah County Department of
Public Safety announced the place
ment of four graduate students from
Portland State University in a
minority intern program.
The
students are Rochelle Henniger, O.B.
Hill. Lee Arthur Madison and Vertise
Williams. They will work within the
Sheriffs Office for one year conduct
ing research and problem solving
projects. They will devote approxi­
mately twenty hours per week to the
Sheriffs Office while enrolled full­
time at Portland State University and
will work full-time during the
summer.
Sheriff Brown described
the interns as "A group of highly
motivated and skilled students who
will undoubtedly make a valuable
contribution to the department."
The program is funded by the
Police Foundation and administered
through the institute for Urban
Affairs and Research at Howard
University in Washington, D. C. Prior
to becoming Sheriff of Multnomah
County, Brown was Director of the
Department of Criminal Justice of
Howard University , where he was
instrumental in establishing the
minority intern program.
Several
other police departments are also
involved in this program.
Public Welfare appoints North Branch manager
The Multnomah Regional Manager
for Public Welfare, John Burch,
announced the appointm ent of
Dwight Long as Branch Manager for
North Portland Public Welfare Office.
Office
Mr. Long comes to Public
Welfare with a variety of admini
strative and educational expertise. He
holds a Masters Degree in Public
Administration and has most recently
served as Director for Veterans
Affairs. City of Seattle
Seattle,
Washington, where he was re­
sponsible for total administration,
policy, procedures, and services for
veterans. Although his background is
primarily in administration, he has
had experience in direct social
services, including public welfare as a
caseworker in Toppenish, Washing­
ton.
His appointment is effective March
24, 1975. He will be coordinating
activities closely with Mrs. Hazel
Hays. Albina Center Manager, and
Gary Gomez. Albina Branch Manager
for Public Welfare.
Qualified Blacks from the Portland
area applied for the position but were
not chosen. The North Branch Office
will be located at Interstate and
Buffalo and will serve North Port­
land.
PMSC emergency food program finds disappointment, enthusiasm
The controversial PMSC emer
gency program has been launched
amid both complaint and praise.
The $219,000 program is designed
to provide emergency food and
nutritional rare to needy people
across the state.
A statewide
NEEDS Council determined where
the money would go, anil local
councils will bo developed to plan and
coordinate local programs.
Grants totaling $120,000 went to
Community Action Programs, $50,000
to programs in counties not having
CAP programs, $7,000 to special
projects, and $42,000 for administra
tion.
PMSC allocated its share to two
private agencies operating in the
Portland area, the Salvation Army
and LIFE Center. A third program,
FISH, had been included, but refused
the money.
Jane Higginbotham,
director of FISH, explained that her
agency would not bo involved because
of too much required paper work and
questions that would be degrading to
the recepient.
Amelia Stepetin, director of the
NEEDS program, explained that
little paper work is required. The
recepient is asked for his name,
address, number in tamily, emer
gency need, reason for need, source
of income, and annual gross incom
To lie eligible the family must t i
within federal income guidelines.
The individuals income can be
verified by an income tax return, an
employer, a wage receipt or by
verbal statement.
The only other paper work re­
quired is a listing of the vouches
issued.
"1 would have to question the
responsibility of any employee of an
agency that is supposed to serve the
poor, who would refuse to accept
money to assist them because of such
a small amount of work required."
Mrs. Stepetin said.
"It was the most terrible ex
perience I have ever had”, Mrs.
Gertrude Crowe, director of LIFE
Center, said of her experience with
the program.
"As soon as it
appeared in the paper that I would
have money, they came in crowds,
demanding their “share".
When I
finally did get the money $2.500. it
was gone in hours "
Mrs Crowe discribed her amaze
ment as crowds of people pushed
their way into the center demanding
their $50.00. The allotment was to be
$10.00 per family memeber and a
$50.00 maximum. They all knew the
maximum and all said they had five
family members.
I don't know
whether they did or not and since I
was told not to require proof of need,
I don't know if they really were in
need. It seemed to be a family affair
a lot of relatives and friends.
Some came in new cars and wore
expensive leathers. When the money
was gone they just stood around and
looked
Mrs. Crowe said there were some
persons served who she knew were
needy.
Most of those asked for
money to purchase food stamps.
"I don't know how it could have
been organized better, maybe less
publicity would have helped, maybe it
should have been used only for food
stamps. The agencies involved were
never given an opportunity to
provide input and we were not given
much direction."
The Salvation Army has not
received its funds, but already is
being inundated with people waiting.
Mrs. Marian Basso director of the
Salvation Army Family Welfare
Services, states that "we have no
money at this point, and we are still
discussing terms.”
"We are trying to work out pro­
cedures that will avoid possible
fraud." said Mrs. Basso.
A happier experience is taking
place in Clatsop County, when $6,000
given to Tillamook and Clatsop
Counties, is being used to sit up a
food bank and community gardens.
The food bank, with food stockpiles
located in several areas, will dis­
tribute food only to persons in
emergency situations and will operate
x%ith volunteers.
The community garden projected
was dubbed SPUDS by it originator.
Colonel Richard McCarter. It will be
located at Camp Rilea, on about five
(Please turn to pg. 8 col. 3)
Amelia Stepetin, director of the NEEDS program, and Colom. RicM-d
McCarter of Camp Rilea survey land and greenhouses that w ' be use for the
Clatsop County community garden, a pilot project funded by NEEDS.
---------Legislators call for commission recall if Edgefield closes--------
The following are exerpts from a
statement by Senator Vern Cook and
Representative Glenn Otto made at a
meeting of th» "Committee to Save
Edgefield Manor."
"On Monday February 3rd we
became aware of County Commission
Chairman Donald Clark's intention to
dose Edgefield Manor. On that day
we expressed our shock and concern
that such an important decision
should have been made without any
public notice or public meeting at
which the people of Multnomah
County had an opportunity to be
made aware of the facts underlying
the derision or to express their views
as to the wisdom of the proposed plan
of action." From that day on we
were the recipients of a deluge of
calls asking us, the elected Represen
tative and Senator from the district
in which Edgefield Manor is located,
what could be done to prevent its
closure, and many more calls expres­
sing outrage at the manner in which
the county commissioners intended to
carry out that decision.
At the
regular Legislative Report Breakfast
held on February 8th by Senator
Cook, Representative Glenn Otto and
Representative Harvey Akeson, there
was an outpouring of concerned
citi.ens asking us to take the lead
demanding that the Multnomah
County Commissioners either hold
public hearings and present facts and
give the opportunity to the people to
present facts upon which an open,
public and intelligent decision could
be based on whether Edgefield Manor
should be closed or kept open, or
alternatively, that the Commissioners
continue the operation of Edgefield
Manor.
"Although on February 27th, the
Multnomah County Commissioners
adopted a resolution saying they
would hold public hearings on that
question to this date they have not
done so although two weeks ago we
made both public and private de­
mands upon them that they do so.
We have reluctantly come to the
conclusion that neither Multnomah
County Commission Charimari Clark
nor a majority of the Commissioners
intend to hold such hearings. It
appears that they intend to either
close down Edgefield Manor or try to
dispose of it through sale or lease to
some private individual or concern,
all without either a legal or proper
hearing.” We therefore serve the
following notice upon County Com
mission Chairman ('lark and th.
members of the Multnomah County
Commission, as well as to any
prospective leasees or purchasers of
Edgefield Manor:
If you attempt to go through with
such a lease or sale arrangement
without first holding the full public
hearings we have demanded, we will
bring legal action against both the
Commission and the would be lessees
or purchasers to prevent the con
sumation of such lease or purchase.
While we would not be so bold as to
predict the outcome of such legal
action we are confident that substan
tial legal questions will exist which
will justify the lawsuit and the
accompanying extensive deposition
taking we will pursue in the event
such a suit must be brought.
"We furthej serve notice upon
County Commissioner Clark County
Commissioner Gordon, County Com
missioner Buchanan and County
Commissioner Corbett:"
“Unless plans to close Edgefield or
turn it over to a private individual or
concern are abandoned at this time
we will, on April 5th, beginning at
10:00 a.m., here in the M & M
Restaurant in Gresham, organize four
committees, the Committee to recall
Donald Clark, the Committee to recall
Mel Gordon, the Committee to recall
Alice Corbett and the Committee to
recall Dennis Buchanan. Our time
table will be as follows:
"On July 7th, 1975, we will file
with the Registrar of Elections in
Multnomah County the preliminary
petitions for the recall of County
Commission Chair'*'*n Don Clark and
County Commiso. . .. r '
'" ..don.
On August 4th. 1975, in the sai ,e
office, we will file the preliminary
petitions for the recall of Comnis
sioners Alice Corbett and Dennis
Buchanan."
"The day has come when the
people can no longer tolerate Mult
nomah County Commissioners who
have and show their conte ipt for
those who elected them, we the
people of Multnomah County.
"We can no longer tolerate county
commissioners who peraist in inak.ng
all important decisions in private 'nd
continue to flaunt the open meetings
law."
"We can no longer tolerate
county commissioners a ■ the eh.
man of that commission w) « refus- »o
pro' id” an opnortunitv to he pern n-
who elee'ed
‘Xp ess their
v ie w s on ie
oil.
I’
■ lestien:
(Please turn t . pg. 8 col. 4'