Portland observer., March 11, 1976, Image 1

I
Mr* France* Scnoen-rtewapaper «00»
U nlv o ratty e f Oregon L ibrary
tUC-'n . Ortcon 97403
PORTLAND
OBSERVER
Indian
defendant
found dead
Anna Mae Aquaah. an Indian woman
who was arrested near Vale, Oregon on
November 14, 1975, and charged with
illegal firearms, was found dead last week
on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
The Loudhawk - Redner - KaMook
Vet. S N e. 17
P ortland. O regon
T h u rsd ay, March 11, 197«
10c per copy
Offens«/Defense Committee has charged
the U.S. Government for Ms. Aquash's
death, calling her a victim of the govern­
ment's war against Indian people who are
standing up for their human dignity and
constitutionally guaranteed political so­
vereignty.
They charge that since the seige at
Wounded Knee "the Federal Government
has stepped up its campaign to destroy
the American Indian Movement (AIM).
Since Wounded Knee there have been
over 250 unsolved killings on the Pine
Ridge R eservation , th ree fourths of
which are related to the FBI repression of
the Indian Movement.”
Ms. Aquash's decomposing body was
found in the snow near Wambles. Ac­
cording to the Defense Committee, the
FBI had removed her hands and sent
them to Washington, D.C. for fingerprint
identification.
Ms. Aquash had been arrested on
November 14th, in a raid by state police
officers. Three of her co-defendents,
Russ Redner, Ken Loudhawk and Ka­
Mook Banks, are in Portland awaiting
trail set for May 22nd.
Two other codefendenta in the Port­
land trial are fighting extradition to
South Dakota in other charges. Leonard
Pettier, in jail without bond in , Van­
couver, B.C., is wanted on a murder
change. Dennis Banks, free on bond in
Hugh Daniel Burna wearing the mail
Portland Postmaster and District Manager. B. W. Luscher, Jr. hands up bag of mail San Francisco, faces a fifteen year sen­
pouch he used to carry mail overland
for delivery to Oregon towns, (photo courtesy of Oregon City Enterprise-Courier I tence in the South Dakota Penitentiary.
from Oregon in 1846.
The Defense Committee charges that
Dennis Banks will be murdered if he is
returned to South Dakota.
Postal service honors mail anniversary
The Oregon City Post Office, headed
by Postmaster Jarrett Dorsey, celebrat­
ed the 130th anniversary of the first mail
carried across the Rockies and the Great
Plains with special ceremonies Friday.
Pouches of mail were given to riders
who carried them by horseback to Do­
nald. Aurora and Salem. Participating in
the event were Benjamin Luscher, Jr.,
District Manager and Postmaster of
Portland; Glenn Parrott, Mayor of Ore
gon City; and Harvey McKay, Post­
master of St. Paul, Oregon and great
nephew of the man who first carried the
overland mail. Hugh Daniel Burns.
Burns was an emmigrant from Ireland
who joined the Elijah White caravan to
Oregon in 1842. After arriving in Oregon,
he established a ferry across the Wil­
lamette River. He laid out Multnomah
City, now called West Linn, and estab­
lished his home adjacent to the river.
Burns had a blacksmith shop and was
considered by some to be the best
blacksmith west of the Rockies. He was
an influential man, served as a magistrate
and was one of the signers for provisional
government in Oregon in 1843.
Burns' mail carrying career began
fourteen years before the celebrated
pony express riders made their famous
runs from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacra­
mento. The pony express rides used a
hundred men. numerous horses, and took
ten days for a one way trip. Burns
travelled the entire route alone, taking
from four to six months for the round
trip.
Moore chosen
Lee Moore was appointed administra­
tor of the purchasing division of the State
Department of General Services in Sa­
lem.
Moore leaves his position as director of
the Civil Rights Division of the Bureau of
Labor.
Observer updates Calendar
Because of conflicting dates existing
between activities in the Portland
community (Albina in particular) and
surrounding areas, it has become crystal
clear that a Calendar of Events be
formulated and published weekly so that
no two events of public concern are
scheduled on the same date.
To help in setting up this calendar, all
organizations with programs geared to
participants of the general public, are
invited to submit a monthly listing of
events, which will be published weekly in
the Portland Observer.
This is a needful solution so that a
better coordinated community can thrive
on togetherness and concern for one
another, supporting in a personal and
financial way.
This necessary community service is
just another way the Portland Oboerver
moves forward to inform the public. The
schedule will be printed every week.
Please print or type names of the
activity, place, date and time with
sponsoring organizations and send to the
Portland Observer, P .0. Box 3137,
Portland, Oregon 97208.
Portland Observer launches
subscription campaign
The Portland Observer will sponsor its first nationwide subscription campaign.
From our knowledge, such a subscription drive has never been undertaken in this
part of the country.
We try to keep our readers throughout the country informed about local and
national news as to how it relates to the Black community. Ninety-five percent of
the total Black population in the state of Oregon is located in Multnomah County.
Also, the Portland Observer would be a wonderful gift anytime of the year,
anniversaries, birthdays, graduation presents for students leaving the area, a
moving present...
‘ ♦
We arc happy to offer to thé community an opportunity to earn money for their
organizations.
Hopefully the days of trying to raise money through popcorn selling, candy selling
and raffles will become a thirg of the past.
The Yearly subscription rate is »7.50 per year. For each subscription sold, the
seller receives $2.50. This is a wonderful opportunity for churches, schools, clubs,
fraternities, sororities and other community organizations to raise extra money
Also this is an opportunity for individuals to earn money on the side.
An example of the money which can be raised is if a club with 25 members held
each member responsible for three subscriptions, the club would earn »187.50. If a
church with 200 members held each member responsible for three subscriptions
the church would earn »1,500. This holds true for schools, and other organizations.
A housewife selling 80 subscriptions per month could cam $200 per month.
A student selling 50 subscriptions a month of the Portland Observer would earn
»126 per month.
I-et's start the ball rolling. Now is the time to begin to put extra money in your
pocket and strengthen the leading Black newspaper in the Northwest.
His first trip was from Oregon City to
Weston. Missouri on March 5, 1846, three
years before Oregon became a territory.
He advertised in the Oregon Spectator in
Oregon City that his charge would be 50c
a single sheet, half of the money going to
him and half to the Oregon City Post
Office. He returned in July of 1846, with
return mail from the East.
As part of Friday's observance, a letter
was mailed from Oregon City to Weston
with a return envelope bearing a picture
of Burns.
Jarrett Dorsey, who officiated at the
anniversary, became Oregon's first Black
Post Master in September of 1975.
following a brilliant career at the Port­
land Post Office. He served most recently
as Mailing Requirements Officer, enforc­
ing postal regulations in a four state area.
Advisers such as Carl Talton, left, employment assistant in PPAL's industriai
relations department, give teenagers in the Junior Achievement program the benefit
of their experience in management, marketing, production and accounting.
U.S. fights serious flu epidemic
The United States of America is
battling its worst onslaught of influenza
since the Hong Kong epidemic eight
years ago, the national Center for Di­
sease Control said Monday. There have
been 1,207 deaths from the epidemic and
the toll is still rising.
Center information officers, said, how­
ever, that while “There has been a lot of
flu activity this year, it still does not
compare with the Hong Kong outbreak in
1968-69, neither in the number of cases
nor the number of deaths."
A survey showed 24 states, the District
of Columbia and Puerto Rico with epide­
mic levels of the disease this year, fifteen
states with regional outbreaks and ten
recording isolated cases, the et nter said.
Graphs used by the Center to depict
th e number of pneum onia-influenza
deaths in 121 major U.S. cities registered
a sharp upsurge during February, and
officials said the current epidemic ap­
peared to be gaining momentum.
Influenza epidemics usually occur in
cycles of eight to ten years. The current
epidemic of A-Victoria, strain of flu first
isolated in Australia, started later than
usual, during the first week of February
and has been building steadily since then.
Reported deaths attributed to the
epidemic jumped from 97 in the first
week of February to 178 the second
week, 339 the third week and 656 the last
week, the center said.
At the peak of the 1968-69 outbreak.
1,100 persons died from the epidemic in a
single week. The final death toll was put
at 12,700.
Data from 532 reporting institutions in
the United States indicated increased
absenteeism in thirty percent of the
schools and 29 percent of the industries,
and increased emergency room visits in
43 percent of the hospitals, the national
center said.
Outbreak of influenza, most of it
similar to the A-Victoria strain, also
occurred in Canada. Denmark, France,
French Guiana, Hungary, Jamaica, Ko­
rea, the Netherlands. Spain, Sweden and
Switzerland, according to a report to the
center from the World Health Organiza­
tion.
Groener charges medical profession cheats
State Representative Ralph Groener.
speaking to a meeting of the Oregon
Coalition for National Health Security,
Incorporated, explained the difference
between the various health care bills now
in Congress and the Kennedy-Corman
Bill
The Kennedy Corman Bill is the only
plan that would include all Americans.
The bill has no deductibles or co-
insurance or co-payments.
The most controversial part of the bill
is that it eliminates the third party, the
private insurance company. Medicare
uses a private insurance company, in
Oregon it is ETNA, to process the claims.
The Kennedy-Corman Bill has cost
controls. The other bills and the current
Medicare system allows doctors to set
their fees. The Kennedy Corman Bill
would establish a National Health Se­
curity Council of five persons, the
majority of whom would be consumers.
National Health Insurance bodies around
the country would emphasize consumer
participation.
The Kennedy-Corman Bill emphasizes
prevention, with treatment clinics, out­
patient clinics, screening, homemaker
services, etc., which would catch disease
at the early stages and provide out-of­
hospital care when possible. General
practitioners and para professionals are
emphasized.
One of the most frequent statements of
the opposition to the Kennedy-Corman
Bill is that it would cost too much.
Groener reminded that the cost of
Medicare and private and group medical
plans would be saved. The program
would be funded fifty percent from taxes
and fifty percent from employer-em
ployee contributions.
Kennedy-Corman provides free medi­
cal care as a right.
Groener accused the medical profes­
sion of setting high costs to profit them­
selves. "In the pharmaceuticals industry,
the four largest companies control the
drug market exclusively...doctors are one
of the largest monopolies. The doctors do
control how many people can enter the
universities here in the Oregon Medical
Service Center.
“The Health Insurance Industry, the
largest of which are controlled by Chase
Manhattan, say, ‘Well our profits only
went up six percent this year.' Of course
they don’t bother to tell you where their
investments went. Their investments
were into other corporate structures that
weren't shown in the profit and loss
statement at the end of the year."
Groener said the current situation.
"Why Can't We Have A Healthy Care
System” is the topic of a 7:30 p.m., March
12th, “Friday Nite Special” at St. Andrew
Community Center, 4940 N.E. 8th.
Laine Friedman, executive secretary of
the Oregon Coalition For National Health
Security, Gail Washington, administrator
of the Health Help Center in Northeast
Portland, and A1 Green, chairman of the
Northeast Health Security Action Coun­
cil. will be the featured speakers who will
discuss health care costs, delivery of
services, and needs.
with the burden of Medicare and
Medicade put on the Social Security
program sets the working class against
the elderly. With increases in Social
Security taxes, the burden is placed on
the working class people. Social Security
taxes are progressive until wages hit
»14,567 a year, then level off, so the tax is
not based on ability to pay.
In the last year, with the Consumer
Price Index rising thirteen percent,
hospital cost went up 200 percent and
medical care went up fifty percent. In the
last decade there has been a 140
percent increase in both.
Although
wages have gone up. there has been a loss
in income because Social Security taxes
have increased.
A significant cost in Social Security
benefits is medical care for the elderly
and the working class resents carrying
the burden. Groener estimated a savings
of millions in the cost of "red tape” and
paper work if the Kennedy-Corman Bill is
passed. "This nation probably has the
highest inefficiency and waste rate.”
Medicare has been "one giant ripoff
system because there is no cost or quality
control. It is the case of the Foxes
guarding the chicken coop.” The doctors
setting rates.
Recalling the fight to get public
education and social security, Groener
projected that the battle of the decade
will be that for National Health Security.
The Oregon Coalition for National
Health Security was organized in October
to advocate and support national health
insurance. It has offices in the Dekum
Building in Portland.
Representatives oppose South African loans
Forty one Members of Congress sent a
letter to President Ford urging him not
to change the Export Import Bank policy
toward South Africa.
The letter, drafted by Congresswoman
Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.) came in
response to Slate Department indications
that the President is planning to allow
direct loans to South African corpora
tions and governmental projects.
Since 1964, the Export-Import Bank,
an independent federal government
agency, has prohibited direct loans to
South African interests because of that
country’s practice and policies of a
apartheid, or separation of the races. The
no-loan policy can be amended by an
Executive Order, and President Ford has
been under pressure from U.S. multi­
national corporations and the South
African government to lift the ban.
"Although U.S. business interests
indicate that our economy stands to gain
from new investment in South Africa,"
the Members of Congress wrote, "we
believe that the damage to our relation­
ship to other African nations which have
long resisted....apartheid would be sub­
stantial.”
The letter also cited recent involve­
ment of the U.S. in Angola on the side of
South Africa as a reason to reject the
policy change. “In view of our recent
involvement in Angola where our re­
sources were aligned on the side of South
Africa in that nation's (South Africa's)
intervention in a civil war, our govern­
ment can not afford to demonstrate to the
other African nations that our attitudes
toward South Africa's separatist prac­
tices have been relaxed," the letter
stated.
The Members also pointed out that
"reversal of our public posture would be a
symbolic victory for the South African
government, as well as one which would
invite more U.S. corporation entangle­
ments in the economy of that country.”
The South African government has been
urging reversal of the no-loan stand
because of recent economic difficulties
which have beset that country.
In
addition to a severe devaluation of
currency and spiraling inflation. South
Africa is experiencing a particularly
difficult credit problem.
If the policy is changed, 1 »225 million
project, sponsored by the Fluor Corpora­
tion of California for use in a para statal
gasification development in South Africa,
would probably be approved. According
to the Washington Office on Africa, a
Church affiliate African study group, the
South African government and Fluor
have mobilized pressure on the Admint
stration for the change.
The 41 Members signing the letter told
the President...” Lifting the no-direct
loan provisions will only serve to
disregard the fact that South Africa is
still a nation whose policies reflect a kind
of racism which is immoral and abhorrent
to the national principles which this
country espouses."
Members of the U.S. House of
Representatives signing this letter were:
Berkley Bedell, Jonathan B. Bingham,
Don Bonker, John Burton, William L.
Clay, Shirley Chisholm, Cardiss Collins,
John Conyers, James C. Corman, Ronald
V. Dellums, Charles C. Diggs, Jr„
Christopher J. Dodd. Robert F. Drinan,
Robert W. Edgar. Don Edwards, Walter
E. Fauntroy, Harold Ford, Donald M.
Fraser, Augustus F. Hawkins, Elwood
Hillis, Martha Keys, Edward I. Koch,
Andrew Maguire, Ralph H. Metcalfe,
Parrent J. Mitchell, Robert N.C. Nix,
Richard Ottinger, Charles B. Rangel.
Frederick W. Richmond. Peter W.
Ridine, Benjamin S. Rosenthal, Edward
R. Roybal, James H. Seheuer, Stephen J.
Solarz, Louis Stokes, Morris Udall,
Richard F. Vander Veen. Henry A.
Waxman and Andrew Young.