Portland observer., February 17, 1977, Page 3, Image 3

Portland Observer
Thursday, February 17, 1977 Page 3
Blacks join Mondale staff
Vice President Walter F. Mondale has
announced the appointment of two Black
attorneys to key positions on his personal
staff. They are James Dyke of Washing
ton, D.C., and Lawrence R. Oliver of East
Palatka, Florida and Minneapolis, Minne
aota.
Dyke, 30, will be Mondale's Special
Assistant for Issues Development and
will work closet; * with Carter staffer
Bunny Mitchell in coordinating the new
Administration’s relations with the Black
community. He will serve as the Vice
President's personal and political liaison
with the Black community and the Diet
net of Columbia government. In addition,
be is responsible for a wide range of
domestic issues, including civil rights.
A graduate of Howard University and
Howard University Law School, Dyke
was an attorney with the Washington
firm of Covington and Burling and served
D y k .« —
as Counsel to the Democratic Platform
Committee before joining Mondale's Vice
Presidential campaign as Political Ad
visor.
Oliver, 30, will serve as Mondale's
Special Assistant for Legislation. He will
work in the Vice President’s Senate office
and will assist Mondale in congressional
relations. He also will serve as legislative
liaison for consumer, health and veterans
issues.
After receiving his B.S. degree in
political science/history from Rollins Col­
lege in Winter Park, Florida, and pur­
suing studies at Harvard University,
Oliver received his law degree from the
University of Iowa Law School.
He
practiced law with the Minneapolis firm of
Dorsey, Marquart, Windhorst, West and
Halladay before joining Mondale’s Senate
staff in 1975 as Legislative Assistant with
the Subcommittee on Children and Youth.
Outstanding for 1976
Cal Toran
Outstanding new
sales associate for the
Hollywood Branch Office
Beb Nelsen
Outstanding sales associate
for the Hollywood Branch
Office
To g e t outsta n d in g service in se llin g your hom e, or in b u yin g a
d iffe r e n t one, ca ll Cal or Bob. They do they job!
Still serving the community
Cocaine to follow marijuana?
BOSTON, (PNS) - A series of legal and
legislative battles brewing here could
spark national moves to limit criminal
penalties for cocaine, fast becoming the
new “candy of the rich."
In one corner are a group of attorneys
and medical researchers who condemn
the jail terms given possessors of a drug
they don’t consider dangerous.
Pitted against them are law enforce­
ment agencies who contend cocaine has
harmful physical and psychological ef­
fects and must therefore be controlled.
Both sides are expected to summon a
number of witnesses doctors, scientists,
historians and law enforcement special­
ists - to testify on their behalf.
Meanwhile, encouraged by the pros­
pects in Massachusetts, lawyers in Cali­
fornia and Alaska are reportedly plan
nmg test cases to challenge their states'
cocaine laws later this year. They would
confirm no details, however.
Cocaine -a white, crystallised powder
derived from South American coca leaves
is a central nervous system stimulant.
When inhaled, it provides about an hour's
euphoric “high".
Federally outlawed
since 1914, cocaine at the turn of the
century was still a common ingredient in
"nerve" tonics and even Coca-Cola.
Federal law calls for a up to a year in
prison for first-time possession of cocaine,
sale can bring up to 15 years. Each state
also has criminal penalities for cocaine
possession and sale, ranging from mis
wMbanorFYO félonie#.
,
.
n* Wut Within the past decade or so.
according to drug enforcement officials,
cocaine has surpassed marijuana as the
favored drug of the white, upper-middle
class--especially young professionals. Co­
caine offenses have doubled in the past 15
years, says the U.S. Drug Enforcment
Administration ID E A ), even while its
price has skyrocketed to $80-5110 a gram
(enough for an evening among friends).
Ironically, the debate here began last
December when a Black district court
judge regarded as a hardliner on drugs-
threw out Massachusetts' current cocaine
law as too harsh. Cocaine, the judge said,
has been misclassified as a narcotic and
was actually less dangerous than alcohol
or nicotine.
In dismissing charges against a 38-year
old Black defendant. Judge Elwood
McKenney also said the state cocaine law
“has led to blatantly racist attacks on
cocaine users." McKenney had allowed
into evidence the testimony of five expert
defense witnesses, one of whom charged
that cocaine enforcement has historically
been aimed at Blacks.
McKenney's final ruling concluded that
the current cocaine law resulted from
“generations of ignorance and myth, all
now destroyed by reliable scientific evid­
ence."
He now routinely dismisses
cocaine cases brought before his court.
Proponents of cocaine decriminali­
zation view McKenney's ruling as < major
first step in paving the way for milder
cocaine penalties across the country-
much as similar decisions did for mari­
juana in the early 1970's,
And it's no coincidence, legal observers
note, that the national push for decrimin­
alization of cocaine is following-like mari­
juana its leap from the ghettos into the
upper classes.
“W hite middle-class professionals in
three-piece suits have been coming up to
me and saying they hope the laws are
changed," says Jim Lawson, a Boston
attorney who helped prepare the case
that led to McKenney's ruling.
FLU R R Y O F MOVES
McKenney's decision has set off a
series of moves and counter moves in
Massachusetts' official corridors.
While the state Supreme Court de­
clined to hear an appeal on the McKenney
decision because of a legal technicality, it
has announced it will hear arguments for
and against the current state cocaine
laws as soon as the next test case is tried
and appealed.
Defense lawyers say they plan to bring
another test case soon. And next time,
losing prosecutor Jim Hayes says, he will
offer his own expert witnesses in rebut­
tal.
M ean w h ile, state R e p re s en tativ e
Michael Flaherty has introduced a bill
that would reclassify cocaine with mari­
juana. While both marijuana and cocaine
possessions are misdemeanors in Massa­
chusetts, first-time convictions for mari­
juana can bring at most six months
probation-while cocaine can bring up to a
year in jail and a $1000 fine.
The victorious defense attorneys have
announced they will reassemble their
panel of experts for the Massachusetts
House Judiciary Committee hearings on
the Flaherty bill, scheduled for March.
And Rep. Flaherty, a South Boston
Democrat who helped liberalize the
state's marijuana laws, will invite the
DEA's New England Regional Director
Edward Cass and other law enforcement
officials to testify in opposition.
> ' >
The defense experts will contend, as
they did in Judge McKenney's courtroom
thst cocaine arrests, trials and jail sen
tences waste the state’s time and money.
According to defense witness Richard
Ashley, a New York writer-historian and
author of books on heroin and cocaine,
some police agencies spend up to 50
percent of their drug enforcement time
on cocaine-related cases.
“Cocaine isn't a criminal problem,” says
defense witness Ron Siegel, professor of
research pharmacology at UCLA. “I t ’s a
public health problem."
Siegel and other defense medical ex­
perts contend cocaine is not an addictive
narcotic like heroin and causes no similar
physical dependence or painful withdraw­
al symptoms for the average user.
And, Siegel says, “cocaine may have
medical uses in the alleviation of depres­
sion and gastrointestinal problems and
the facilitation of weight loss."
Prosecutor Jim Hayes, on the other
hand, points out that according to the
defense experts' own testimony, cocaine-
taken regularly in extremely large doses-
can cause anxiety, depression, paranoia
and insomnia and can damage the nasal
septum.
And the DEA's Edward Cass says his
experts will testify that cocaine can be
psychologically addictive even if it isn't a
narcotic. Cass also links cocaine to the
heroin trade. “On the intrastate level our
agents buy cocaine and heroin from the
same people," he says.
Even if Massachusetts does relax its
cocaine penalties, Cass says, “I ’ll just
keep enforcing the federal laws there."
But he acknowledges that the federal
government is not likely to pursue small­
time possession cases. “We can't afford
to deal at the street-corner level,” he
says.
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Take Elevator to 2nd Floor 3rd . Entrance
Youths produce sequel to Kong
(Continued from page 1 col. 3)
inch, still another for the next slight
movement until the desired motion is
completed. When the film is run at
regular speed, what in actuality is the
systematic "inching" upward of, say. an
arm appears on the screen as a fluid
motion.
With cartoons, a series of
drawings is used to accomplish this.
Blending their artistic talents, the
young producers fashioned several ver­
sions of miniature Kongs to use in the C
and C production.
For filming body
movement of the big ape. seven-inch tall
miniature frames were carved out of
wood and jointed in the neck, shoulders.
H
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frames were then covered with layers of
latex, plasticene (a rubbery, day like
substance which was used for muscle
tissue on the models), sponge rubber, and
finally rabbit fur.
A Kong head matted on a piece of
cardboard is used for cloaeups and facial
expressions.
In the opening sequence of the C and C
production, a two-foot-tall Kong doll
plunges to the streets of Downtown New
York (Portland) but continues “breath
ing” thanks to an internal air bag.
attached hose and Hunt's breath.
The various dinosaurs and a “huge
spider used in the filming were bought
from a commercial outlet specializing in
models.
Scene construction and filming took
place at young Cash's home and, origin­
ally, in the studios and hallways of the
Portland A rt Museum.
As with all great undertakings, mis
takes are made.
“When we started
filming, we were very nervous and taking
every precaution possible," explains
Cash.
“The animation was easy, but
somehow, the focus would occasionally
screw up. Ironically, the young pro­
ducers' first camera suffered the same
fate as Kong: someone tripped over a
lighting cable and sent it out of a fourth
story window. Eventually, Cash explain
ed, with a bit more experience, things
went smoothly.
Smoothly, indeed. In November of
1978, the Portland chapter of Links.
Ircorporsted, a national organization of
mostly professional women committed to
cultural, civic and educational activities
and endeavors, presented young Cash
with an award at the "Showcase of Arts"
held at Jefferson High School. In their
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Phone: 22*8-7545
efforts to recognize and encourage young
people in the Arts, Links. Inc. found out
about C and C's project from instructors
at the A rt Museum, many of whom may
have been dancing around, jumping over
and ducking under the young producers'
sets. Mrs. Katherine Bogel and Mrs.
Carmen Walker, co-chairpersons of the
“Showcase", as well as other members of
Links. Inc. considered the project, even
though unfinished, worthy of commenda­
tion. Says Mrs. Walker, “We had made
contact with the A rt Museum and A rt
teachers and based on what we had seen
of what young people were doing, this
was different and was beyond the regular
high school program.” Even though the
award was presented to Cash because
only he attends the Museum A rt School,
he notes. “It is for al three of us. We're
all equal in this.”
Citizen of the Week
c-S.
C and C Productions estimates that the
film will be completed around the end of
this year. Most of the filming is done on
the fight scenes; what is primarily need­
ed are a rear projection screen and actors
to put in front of it to bring beauty and
beast together again. The search for the
“new Fay W ray II" has proven fruitless.
“People either don't believe we are
really making a movie," says Colt, “or
they are looking for a lot of money."
Even though C and C is willing to pay
actors a small fee, he explained, it doesn't
have the millions behind it like De
Laurentiis has. According to the three
young producers, the $2 million-plus,
40-foot tall Kong model in the film has
only a “bit" part spanning "in the area of
30 seconds or so." Between them, the
trio has seen the De Laurentiis Kong 20
times.
All three, however, claim that they are
not copying De Laurentiis. According to
Colt, they found out through “inside
sources" about the coming of the new
Kong after they had begun researching
for the C and C sequel to the original.
When the C and C production is
completed, arrangements are being made
to debut the entire film (the first clip
pings were shown at “Showcase") at the
Portland A rt Museum. Plans for a new
film, featuring dinosaurs, are already set.
Obviously Cash. Colt and Hunt are
addicted to filmmaking; there are a lot
more movies, mistakes and, hopefully,
money to be made. In the meantime, Ray
H arrvh au sen . look out.
,4-'
Marshal Haskins is an eighth grader at Boise Elementary School. One of
those “all around students”, he is editor of the school paper Beiae S pea k s
He is an honor student and enjoys school. He has been a member of the
student council for three years and is chief school photographer.
An athlete, Marshall is a 34 point man on the eighth grade basketball
team at Boise and is called “Dillion” by his te.un mates. He played second
base on the McDonalds Senior League baseball team and in 1974 made the
Little League All Star Team.
Marshall, who will be fourteen on May 29th, is not sure about his future
plans but he is still contemplating sports or newspapering. He la
considering either Benson or Jefferson for his high school education.
A resident of Portland since the age of three, he has attended all eight
years at Boise. He lives with his foster parents, Margaret and Willie Friaoo.
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