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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 29, 1976)
F PORTLAND OBSER/ER Val. 6, N * . 37 Thursday, July » , 1*7« l#e F * "V Oregon youth wins international compotition U N IT E D N A T IO N S : Paced by Camille Hamilton and Jim Pearson, Oregon high school students dominated the Interna tional Speech Competition sponsored by Odd Fellows United Nations Youth Pil grimage here last week. Oregon dele gates took 1st and 2nd places in both divisions before boarding their chartered bus for a long ride home across the U n it ed States by way of Canada. Camille Hamilton, a 15 year old W est Linn High School junior of Afro-Asian extraction, took 1st place in the girls division. H er runner up was Michele DesBrisay. a senior from Canby High School. In the boys division Jim Pearson, a senior at Lake Oswego High School took 1st place. His runner up was Lars Larsen, a senior at Tillamook High School. Competitors in the "Speak O f f at the United Nations included entrants from several Canadian provinces and states in this country. Oregon entrsnts were expected to make a good showing because of the stringent procedure by which they were selected, but their clean sweep exceeded expectations. Delegates from Oregon are usually selected only after competing in an essay contest on the United Nations, considering their grsde point average and evaluating their performance in a speech contest on the United Nations. For Camille success in w riting and speech is not new. W hile in grade school her articles ss a rock music critic were published in a local daily newspaper. As a first year high school student, she enter ed a number of local and district speech events winning tw o 1st places, four 2nd places, three 3rd places and was a finalist three times. From the W est Linn Foren sic Club, she won the "Best Freshman” award and was runner up for the Gold finger award (Best A ll Around). In f e t e competition she took 2nd place In poetry as an open event. As a sophomore, her record was even better. She entered seven local and dis trle t events in poetry and took 1st place in six She won 2nd place in state compe tition. In oratory she entered five events and took 1st place in tw o of them, 2nd place in one and made finals in one. In extemporaneous category she entered two events and won 1st place in both. In state competition she took 2nd place in an open event in poetry. From her high school forensic club. Camille received the "Best Sophomore" award and the Gold- finger award. Along with the distinction of taking 1st He missed! Rose Festival: Does it threaten Title IX compliance The issue of the Portland Public Schools' involvement in the Rose Festival was avoided as School Board Chairman Frank MacNamara gavelled Monday's board meeting to a close after board member W ally Priestley raised the ques tion. Priestley has brought up the subject at an earlier meeting, requestion that Superintendent Robert .Blanchard seek the advice of the Civil Rights office in Seattle on w hether school district parti cipation complies w ith T itle IX guaran tees against discrimination. His request CAMILLE HAMILTON place at the United Nations. Camille will receive tangible evidence of her perfor mance. This includes a set of Encyclope dia Britanica, one-year subscription to the United Nation Q uarterly and the poe sibility of participating in competition for scholarship a t the Odd Fellows General A big welcome home celebration sup per at Oregon City's Odd Fellows Lodge awaits Camille and her traveling com panions Saturday. July 31st, 1976 after three weeks away from her family for the first time. CamUle's fam ily members say they are planning th eir own special wel Convention in September. Camille comes from a family of individ uals w ith a flare for poetry, journalism and speech. H er m aternal grandmother is especially gifted at Hyku and her mother, Midori M inato Hamilton, was w riting news articles at nine years of age. H er brother. Konrad Hamilton, is an accom plished speaker and debator. H er father, H. J. Belton Hamilton, is well known to our readers for his speaking ability. come for her. The 16 youthful travelers and their counselors started their pilgrimage from Portland's Mallory Hotel July 9th, 1976 and picked up delegations from Nevada. Utah and Wyoming before proceeding to New York by way of Gettysburg and Washington. D.C. A fte r six days in New York the students seemed ready to start their return trip home. McCoy receives honorary degree State Senator W illiam L. McCoy, J r., a former Chairman of the Democratic Cen tral Committee and S U U RepresenUtive will receive an honorary degree a t the U niversity of Portland. Senator McCoy w ill give the com mencement address at the University Summer Commencement on Friday. August 6th at 7:30 p.m. in the Mago Hunt Center on the university campus. Here is where Senator McCoy w ill receive his honorary degree. The university will grant a to U l of 103 degrees. 70 masters and 33 baccalaureato. Rev. Paul E. Waldschmidt C.S.C.. president of the university has some comments about McCoy. The Reverend stated. “During this, our 75th anniver sary year, Bill McCoy, distinguished alumnus, personifies the type of citizen the university's founders envisioned their philosopny of education should produce. He has used his heart, his wisdom and his energies in service to the community." In May, Senator McCoy was re-elected to his second term as Senator in District #8. McCoy is a member of the Senate Committees on Local Government and State find* evidence of racial Carol Bryant, former employee of the Tri-County Community Council who filed charges of discrimination, has been noti fled by the Oregon Civil Rights Division that investigators have found evidence of discrimination. Mrs. Bryant was employed from Octo ber of 1974 until June 15. 1976 when she resigned due to "continuing pressures." The Labor Bureau found that Mrs. Bryant, who was hired as a planner, was paid a salary significantly lower than three white planners hired at the same time. , Ms. Bryant, who has a master of social work degree from Portland State Uni versity School of Social W ork, was hired at a starting pay of $10,000. She later discovered that tw o other associate plan ners, hired the same day. were hired at a higher pay scale. Both were Caucasion, one a man and one a women. Mrs. Bryant asked for the same rate of pay and was denied. The Civil Rights Bureau found that Ms. Bryant was hired at a lower pay scale because of race, color and sex. Substantial evidence was also found that performance ratings were manipu lated to deny Ms. Bryant a salary in Elections. Transportation, and Ways and Means. McCoy, deeply concerned w ith the problems of the aged and child care facili ties, has been a member of the National Council on Aging and the Oregon Child Care W orkers Association. The Senator takes p art in the com munity activities and his wife Gladys joins him. McCoy has been a member of the North Portland Citizens Committee and the Portland Y M C A Board, while his wife Gladys is a member of the Portland School Board, and is s U te omsbudsman. cil Convention in New Orleans. Loving reported to the Board this week on the activities around the nation in phasing out model cities programs. “I t is Interesting to note that many cities a- crosa the country transition Model Cities components into their cities' community development block grant funds whereby citizen participation components have ample funds for citizens to function at local, regional and national levels. Our city of Portland ostracised the citizens of thia community from the community B block lo c k grant arrant funds in terms of continuing on going Model Cities programs and especially the citizen participation in volvement component. Citizen participa tion was the rudim ent of the Model Cities' philosophy as designated by the federal Congress of 1968 whereby giving citizens an o p p o rtu n ity to paticipate to the full est degree in the decision making process." Keynote speaker was Georgia State RepresenUtive Ben Brown, who spoke on his own involvement in grass-rooto politics. The Northeast Coalition, which repre senU ten neighborhood associations in North and Northeast Portland has at tempted to persuade the City of Portland request for information: “T he thirteen high schools that partici pate are individually different in their depth of commitment and enthusiasm; thus the amount of time spent and the elaborateness of th eir activities differ from school to school.” Emphasizing th a t not all schools’ plans are as elaborate, he stated that each year two business persons volunteer to assist each school prepare for the selection pro cess. Usually there are a couple of luncheon meetings w ith staff, and a m eet ing with interested senior girls. "A fte r the girls apply, th eir eligibility must be checked by the building admin providing significant assistance to any agency, organization, or person which discriminates on the basis of sex in pro viding any add, benefit or service to the students or employees." Priestley believes the participation of the schools in the queen selection may be illegal and that the district should comply with the intent of the law by investigat ing the m atter and if it is determined to be unlawful, to w ithdraw from participa tion. “I have nothing against the Rose Festival." he said. “I t is a community celebration put on by the business com munity. I just question whether the school district should be involved in an event that may discriminate against some students because of sex. social class, or some other circumstances. I f the Rose Festival is discriminatory, the school dis trict should face this and w ithdraw before it is forced by court order. The district should be providing leadership in equal crease and promotion. Ms. Bryant also charged that she was denied promotions in retaliation for filing a complaint. The Civil Rights Bureau did not find evidence of discrimination as a direct result of the complaint, since dis crimination was continuous from the date of hire. The case will now go to concelliation. The Tri-County Community Council provides planning, research and consul tation in the fields of health and welfare to member agencies and a forum to pro mote social concerns and volunteerism. to include social services in iU Community Development grant applica tion. Although city officials originally claimed that federal requirements barred inclusion of social programs and reserved the funds for physical develop ment, citizens w ere able to determine that federal regulations do allow for social programs. The Northeast Coalition bad hoped that some of the programs that were funded through Model Cities but have not been able to locate sources of funds to continue operation could be funded through the new program. The city’s 1976 - 77 application has been ap proved by H U D w ithout social programs being included. rights." Donald M cElroy, deputy superinten dent, said in a w ritten reply to Priestley's had been denied. Section 86.31 of T itle I X states: " . . . no person shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of. or be subjected to dis crimination under any academic, ex tra curricular. research, occupational train ing, or other education program or activ ity- operated by a recipient which receives or benefits from Federal financial assis tance." and " . . . a recipient shall not, on the basis of sex: (7) Aid or perpetuate discrimination against any person by Loving hit» citizen participation omission . _____ . Loving, Chairman A he N o rth James of Í t the North east Coalition - form erly the Model Cities Citizens Planning Committee - attended the National Citizens Participation Coun __ « t Irving Park Little Gresham, advancing in the •I istrator responsible. “T here is coaching of the candidates by the drama* or speech teachers when they request i t " The Rose Festival Association judges the candidates (outside of school hours) and then the six or eight finalists are presented to the student body. The school representative is elected by the student body a t an assembly. M cElroy estimated th a t each school spends about 25 or 30 hours a year on the pro ject AU costs of printing, supplies and secretarial help are born by the Rose Festival Association. Junior Princesses are selected by the Rose Festival Association and parade cars are driven by male students from Benson High School. School D istrict policy states, “th a t Portland Public Schools shall cooperate in conducting w ith the Rose Festival selec tion for princess and junior princess in accordance w ith adm inistrative rules and procedures which are established for such programs by the office of the Super intendent.” Regulations published in February of 1975 give the foUowing qualifications for candidates: (1) Be a full-tim e female stu dent and a member of the graduating class; (2) H ave a G P A of 2.5 or better, (3) Have a good citizenship record; (4) Have a good attendence record; (5) Be in excel lent health. The rules stipulate that there wUl be no run-off election. The students selected as princesses receive several outfits of clothing and a $500 scholarship to any Oregon college or university. The Rose Festival Association assigns a volunteer director to assist each school and the director chooses his judges for the screening processes. The Association suggests that selection of judges presents “a wonderful opportunity to get more people involved w ith the spirit of the Rose Festival and to inform them of the FestivaTs activities. Prospective associ ate members of the Associaton, people new to Portland and people who express a negative attitud e towards the Festival because of misinformation or lack of in formation - all of these are people who may profit by being asked to serve as a judge.” In the screening process, girls are judged on: 35 per cent for appearance, 35 per cent for poise and 30 per cent for speaking ability. Judging is done by bal lot, but “the school representative may indicate that some individual girls are not acceptable on personal grounds." During the first judging session, girls are asked to give a “description of th eir family". The Rose Festival Association's man- uel for judges repeatedly points out that princess selection is a function of the school and the Association representa tives are there only to assist. Selection of princesses by the schools has been the practice since 1930. Seven years ago the process was simplified and the school district's role reduced. There has been sporadic opposition to the school's role because of suspected racial and class discrimination as w ell as alledg- ed sexism in the queen-princess role. Port approve* *hip yard expansion effort The P o rt of Portland Commission vot ed Monday night to ask the voters to approve $84 million in general obligation bonds to finance ship yard expansion. The facilities are owned by the Port and leas ed to private industry. According to Commission projections. taxpayers would be asked to meet the bond obligation for only three years. A f ter which profits from the project would go toward its financing. Assessment against property would be 41 cesnts on $1,000 assessed evaluation the first year. 28 cents the second year and 10 cents the third year, or $15.80 total investment on _ $20,000 home. The larger dry docks, designed to hold the Alaska oil tankers, and additional facilities are expected to provide more than 1,000 jobs and $20 million annually to the economy.
