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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 12, 1976)
à Portland Observer Thursday. August 12th, 1978 Pag« 8 Ojibway Indians victims of pollution (P N 8 ) - Ons hundred and fifty miles north of the United States border in Ontario Province, the people of tw o O jib way Indian reservation* are (ailing victim to a crippling disease with a strange The disease is railed Minamata, after the Japanese fishing community where It first occurred. Minamata Is caused by organic mer cury deposited in local w ater* by petro chemical plant* flushing out th eir waste product*. On the Grassy N a rro w * and W hite Dog reservations of the Ojibway. as in Minamata, the mercury has contam inated the fish that is a staple of the local The disease progressively dissolve* the nervous system, leaving its victims deformed and crippled for life. The first symptoms are * tingling numbness in the lips and limbs. Then movement* become hard to control, w ord* slur together in speech and the victim's visual range nar row*. Hearing and sight deteriorate. In the advanced stages, victim * fall into uncontrollable motion* and sometime* begin shouting involuntarily. Death may soon follow. Autopsies have shown the brain trans formed into a kind of sponge a* it* cells are eaten away. And mercury poisoned infanta have been born to apparently healthy mother*. Despite a major court decision recog nixing many victims' claim* for compen sation 10 year* after the firat eases were identified, the disease still afflict* Min amata: Medical authorities estimate that over 10,000 of it* residents may now be suffering from ft. Seven hundred people there have been verified as seriously dis eased; 109 have died. For the Ojibway Indians of Canada - and perhaps for other p a rt* of the world polluted by mercury - the problem is just beginning. M E R C U R Y W A S TE S Like M inamata, the Grassy N arrow * and W hite Dog reservations are located on water. In Minamata, a large petro chemical company called Chisso Corp, polluted the local bay with mercury, which it used in the manufacture of ace- full-fledged disease. Settling in the mud of riverbeds, mer cury waste to absorbed by fish, and aome Wabigoon-English fish have shown m er cury levels correlating exactly to those of fish in Minamata. Ojibw ay who eat this fish have had their hair examined lor mercury, revealing level* the same a* those found in recognized Japanese vie Slav« requests back pay to my advantage to move back else can." and expressed surprise that the “. . .We have concluded to test your Colonel had not been hung for harboring rebs, or for killing a Union soldier. “A l- I sincerity by asking you to send u* our wage* for the time we served you. the though you ahot at me twice before I left double edged letter continue*. “I served you I did not w ant to hear of your being you faithfully for 82 ye a r* and Mandy 20 hurt . . .," he said. year*. A t 28 dollar* a month for me, and 2 " I am doing tolerably well here. I get 26 dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings dollars a month, w ith victual* and cloth would amount to 11.680 dollars. Add to ing, have a comfortable home for Mandy (the folks here call her M r*. Anderson), the children . . . go to school. W e are kindly treated. Now, if you w ill w rite and aay w hat wage* you w ill give me, I w ill be better able to decide w hether it would be and perfumes. Grassy Narrows and W h ite Dog are situated in a lake region where land and w ater area* form a complicated network of byways called the Wabigoon-English system. The D ryden Paper Co.. L td ., a subsidi ary of the British Reed Paper In t., own* a pulp mill that discharge* mercury-laden waste* into the WabigoonEnglish. The mill site upstream from the reservations. Although only light M inamata symp toms have been found so far among the Ojibway, indications are numerous that the Indians are about to develop the diet. A masterpiece of acrimonious w riting, a le tte r from a freed slave to h i* form er master, to recounted in the August issue . of "American Heritage." The magazine states that the le tte r from George A n derson to Colonel P. H. Anderson was apparently dictated to the V . W inter mentioned therein, who sent ft to the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in London. In his letter of August 1886, the form er stove w rote that he was glad to find the Colonel r/anted him to come back “pro mising to do better for me than anybody taldehyde, a component of plastics, drugs tims of the disease. And cat* gone mad w ith Minamata disease have appeared in the are* - as they did in the Japanese community be fore human symptoms were identified. OFFICIAL INACTION Unlike M inamata, where in 1973 the Japanese courts awarded 138 victims $3.6 million in damage* from the Chisso Corp, after a prolonged legal battle, the Ojib- this the interest for the tim e our wages ha* been kept back, and deduct w hat you paid for our clothing . . . Please send the money by Adams' Express, In care of V . people want. Short range and long range a id long range propoeals will be discussed. Short------ ‘ f h * Communion suggests a Tri-County Council that would w rv e a* the major policy-making body tor the m atters that are now the responsibility of the Colum bia Region Association of Governm ent* (C R A G ) and the M etropolitan Service D istrict (M 8 D ). I U members would be directly elected by and acountable to the voter* of the Tri-County area. Members of C RAG and M S D are appointed. T he short range alternative would be a major step toward achieving a more feasi b l* and accountable governing machan ism for providing those services required on a T ri County basis and for providing the coordination needed to make the var ious p art* of the governmental ayatem w ork more harmoniously. There would be three general program * under the d ir ection of the Tri-County Council: plan ning, physical and human service*, and support service*. T he planning function would absorb the service* now provided by CRAG . Physical and human services would in clude those functions currently authoriz ed for M S D and any new functions or aspect* of function* that the Commission may recommend to be authorized such a* w ater supply and m ajor cultural or rec reational facilities. Support service* wuld provide those services desired by lower tier governments (counties, cities, special districts) on a contractual basis. T he relationship of the Port of Portland and T ri-M e t to the Tri-County Council ha* not yet been clearly determined. Op tions include leaving them as they are now or incorporating them wihin the T ri- County Council much the same as M SD and C RAG . Another alternative m ight be similar to that of the Sew er Board and Transit Board to the T w in Cities M etropolitan Council. T h a t is, the Tri-County Council m ight appoint the mem ber* of th eir gov erning board* and would have general policy and certain limited budgetary con tro l over them. They would basically per form th eir functions a* they do now. Currently Port and T ri M et member* ae appointed by the Governor. Cities, Counties and service district* would not be affected by this proposal, although larger cities and counties would be encouraged to develop smaller a re * council* to advise them. The long range alternative proposes a simplified tw o-tier government for the metropolitan are*. M atte rs of significance to the m etro politan area would be assigned ‘ o the upper tier, while those service* and re- risk even greater than their economic hardship: M inamata disease. M IN A M A T A 'S L E G A C Y In M inamata, the Chisso Corp, accept ed the court's decision to award damages to victims and agreed to compensate oth er victims who had not gone to court. But three years a fte r the court ruling, it is increasingly difficult for victims there to get help. A claimant must first spokesman charges, "aimed at checking the number of recognized victims and fostering a nationwide attitude th a t the disease to over.” The Chisso plant is still operating - with the help of a government loan - and the sea is still being polluted w ith m er cury. A large net fastened to the bottom of the sea marks a safe fishing area, but a channel has been left open into the inner bay for boats. Fish pass through to the poisoned w ater* of the inner bay, take in mercury, swim back out and are caught for human consumption. "Sediment in the area still contain* mercury compounds," say* the Seirinsha spokesman, "and offi cial opinion to the contrary, the danger of contracting M inamata dilease still exists." In the past year, Minamata rod Ojib way delegation* have exchanged visit* in an effort to increase their understanding of the disease. Says Jun U i, one of Japan's leading experts on pollution and spokesman for the Japanese delegation, "the problems of pollution in Japan por tend the destiny of the whole world.” U i believes the Ojibw ay can prevent their reservations from becoming anoth er M inamata only by a determined effort to force the Canadian government to halt the Dryden mill's pollution. I f they cannot, the Ojibw ay people can only w ait to see if cats gone mad are augurs of a perilous future. Plan ahead savings for back-to-school. 207. off W inters, Esq.. Dayton, Ohio." Stvdy commission ponders government changes The Tri-County Local Government Commission, a blue ribbon committee which to studying the effectiveness of local government, approved a motion at its July 16th meeting to adopt conceptual short and long range reorganization al ternative*. The commission took the first step toward developing a reorganisation proposal to obtain public input. The Commission to in the process of setting up meetings in the community to find out w hat type of government the way have received no official help. The Canadian government announced in 1970 that the Ojibway did not have Manamata disease. Y e t the government simultaneously banned the catching and eating of fish in the region of the reserva tion* because of mercury poisoning. Before the ban, the region had been popular among tourist* and sportsmen. Many of the Ojibway had been employed as guide* and elsewhere in the tourist industry. But a fte r the ban tourism drop ped off - and w ith it the Ojibw ay lost a major source of income. Many have had to turn to welfare. Those Ojibway who have ignored the ban on catching and eating local fish run a be officially recognized as a victim by a deliberation board that - according to a spokesman for Seirinsha, a M inamata support group - includes doctors who previously had refused to recognize an outbreak of the disease elsewhere. “In corporating these doctor* onto the com mittee was a political decision," the sponaibilitiea considered to be local would be assigned to the lower tie r cities of community districts. A t both levels, policy control* would rest w ith governing bodies composed of directly elected official*. General purpose government would have the preference over single purpose government. Our boys western jeans Key ( b i Ml sns 1. In order to achieve a more simple government, should our regional func tion* be integrated and coordinated by combining two or more of the regional governments into a Tri-County Council? 2. Should mem ber* of a Tri-County Coun cil be elected? I f elected, should member* be elected at-large or from single member Sale 3.99 districts? 3. How many m em ber* should there be and w hat should their term s of office and compensation be? 4. Should the presiding officer of the Council be elected to th a t position by the voters or the members of the Council? 5. W hat functions and responsibilities should a Council exercise? 6. Should a Tri-County Council have planning, budgetary and appointive con trol over those regional governments and functions not integrated directly within Reg. 4.99. Beys’ polyester/cotton western jean*. F la re d bottom;' pockets; contrast stitching. G reat colors for regu- lar/slim sizes 8-12. Beys sizes 3 te 7 regular/slim ; reg. 3.99 £3.19 Beys size* 14 ta 20 regular/Slim ; reg. 6.49 Sale -.'4 99 see 8 te 29 husky; reg. 6.49 Sale it? 7. How should a Tri-County Council and regional functions for which it is respons ible be financed? Sale prices effective through Saturday. Organisation* that would like to dis cuss these issues w ith the Commission, should contact Bill Cross, Public Inform ation Coordinator, 1912 S. W . Sixth A v enue. 229-3676. Boys’ underwear always a great buy. Now H’s even better. 20% off Sale 3 for Reg. 3 ter 2.98. Beys’ F e rtre lO peiyee- ter/com bed cotton T -shirt*. Great for back-to-school. Boys sizes 3 to 7. Beys sizes 8 te 20; reg. 3 for 3.39 Sale 3 lo r $2.71. Sale 3 i., 2.33 Rag. 3 lor 3.39 Bays' briefs in F o rte lO polyesterZcombed cotton. Boys’ sizes 8 to 20. Bays' size* 3 ta 7 reg. 3 for 2.98 Sale 3 lor Joe Joseph Sale prices effective through Saturday. New York Lifo Int. Co Correction 281-3680 3933 N. F Union $2.38 The artical on X-pansion* credited to Pat Lesley in the July 29th issue of the Observer was w ritten by Gregory Gudger. JCPenney
