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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1977)
O tn e rv rr Thursday. O ctob-r C 1977 We see the world through Block eyes Monitor program A test of faith? The Portland School District hos been assured by the U.S. Deportment of Heolth, Education and Welfare that if will receive its Tide VII Emergency School Aid Act fund* for this school year The district hod been found in non-compliance with federal regulations by using practices in discipline that discriminate ogainst minority group children. Title VII funds, which are referred to os “c gation funds," follow minority students to the "receiving schools" and in those schools con be used to aid any child who needs remedial help. Other uses of Title V3I funds are to prepare students, families and staff in the receiving schools for the transfer of minority students into their neighbor hood schools. The School District hos assured HEW that suspen sion will lost no more than five school days. Students will be notified in writing of their right to attend school after the five days unless further ocfion is token; letters will inform parents of the length of suspension and automatic reinstatement , At the end of the five day suspension, the student will be reinstated. If the student does not return, the school will attempt to reach the student and parents to resolve the problem. Administrators will work with counselors and teochers to ensure that students are not suspended as a means of dealing with primarily ocodemic problems Six Desegregation Specialists will be available to assist communication between the school and home on the matter of suspensions. The commitment to these stipulations will in part depend on Block students and parents being aware of their rights and nsistmg on the pohcy being enforced. This will be no easy task without communication and support within the community. We recommend that o suitable community group — the NAACP, the Albina Ministerial Alliance, the Oregon Block Educators, etc. — become a tocal point where complaints con be received, communication with the school district supported, and the results monitored. Only then will the public know how the new program is functioning. Judge Walt Edmonds of Bend sentenced Billy Whitmire to fifteen years in the penitentiary for attempted murder (See page 3, "Behird the W all.") If and when Whitmire receives parole, he will have another five years probation locked on. It is possible that this was a fair sentence to Whitmire — a sentence that fits the crime he committed. What is disturbing is that Judge Edmonds, a professing Christian, did not send Whitmire to prison to be punished far his crime or even far rehabilita tion. He sentenced Whitmire, who claims to have been converted to Christianity while awaiting trial, to prison to test his Christian faith. All of us who have adopted the Christian faith con certainly be glod that Jesus himself d»d not extroct this measure of test from us. Although there ore many who have suffered and died far their faith, few are asked to serve up to fifteen years in prison. The Judge explamd thai he hod three options for Whitmire: probation so he could take odvontoge of a Bible School scholarship; a year in the county (Oil and then probation and Bible School; or the penitentiary. He felt that placing Whitmire on probation before he hod time to "grow m faith" would not equip him to meet the stresses of school. He did not think spending a year in the county jail would adequately test Whitmire’s faith. Only the horrors of O.S.P. would be a true test. So Whitmire will spend at least seven years in O.S.P., where he is to strengthen his own faith and minister to others. We have heard much recently about using religious conversion to stay out of prison; we have never before seen it used as justification for sending a man to prison. Reading the transcripts, complete with Bible references, it is difficult to determine whether the judge was sincere or whether he was being sarcastic; but we have been assured that Judge Edmonds is a sincerely religious mon. We cannot judge another man's belief but we con't help but wonder how he'd do of O.S.P. We also wonder what happened to the separation of Church and State. Kakko Case S iiS S 1 V- /. second __________ lnw»«r bidder, was allowed to rew ork his design and bid to meet H A P expectations but his company was not. Jan Yoeom. Chairman of H A K s Development Committee, ex plained the ehoiee. 'W h ile it is tru e that Christensen McDonald waa low bidder on * total coot basts, H A P must also give weight to other ronstderauons. principal ly. the well-being of the residents. For example, the Walsh proposal provides 12 per cent more space in each unit. F urther the building w ill be an attractive one as opposed to the institutional ap pearance of the C -M design.' C u rrier explained th a t although the Walsh design might have been more attractive, it was also more expensive and his company was attempting, to C-M.^W C-M. W aish. alsh, who who w as Controversy has risen over the coo stru c txe contract with W alsh Construe tion Co. Christensen McDonald was the low bidder on the project and has filed complaints with H U D and H A P because they were no* awarded the contract According to Beryl C u rrier of follow th e H A P n follow the H A P guideline of minimum cost. He claims that it ts customary for the builder to negotiate with the lowest bidder aad that if his company had been given the opportunity th at W abh receiv ed they. too. could have altered th eir plans to fit H A K s expectations M ino rity contractors are concerned that Walsh Construction was set aside approximately $135/100 or 13.5 per cent oi the project for m inority enterprise aryl that th e ir efforts to w ork with this company ia the past have been fruitless. Located in the heart of Albina and planned and built w ith federal funds, they believe m inority business should earn one third or more of the money and that m inority workers should make up a high percentage of the w ork force 1st! Portland O bserver Published every Thursday by E xie Publishing Company. 2201 N orth Kiliingsworth, Portland, Oregon »7217. M ailing address P.O. Box 3137. Portland, Oregon 97208. Telephone: 283-2488. Subscriptions :$7 JO per year ia the Tri-County area. $8.00 per year outside Portland. ‘»»roof Claes Postage Paid at Portland. Oregon Ì To the Editor: The Multnomah Ih s tn c t A ttorney said that 56 million dollars was spent on program for prisoners in Oregon ia 197*. W hether that included millions in Federal grunts or whether that was ail tax money from Oregonians. 1 don't know . ! wander if the root for the salaries of hundreds of guards, the cost for tons of lood. the cost for clothes. nechcsl stteotion end iiuunte nance ia 1976 w ere only 56 million dollars. And I wonder how much of it trickled through the several layers of bureau crats. I t was shower day ia O.S.P. when I read that statement by the D .A ., aad I went down to the basement shower area. No one forgets a shower day at O.S.P. The shower schedule is run w ith the same order as a feed lot for steers, first first The way to visuahse it is to imagine 100 stalls avail ahte far feeding aad 200 steers trying to gel to the stalls. The staff runs about twice the number of m rn into the area as there are showers. So you undress and stand ia front of someone aad wait. There’s a lot of tension, fights break out, aad several disciplinary reports origi nated in the shower room. Disciplinary reports that crestc work for several staff members who depend on them for a hveii hood. There are always a half dozen or more guards standing around watching men shower and making comments. And there are always long lines of men at the clothing window, hoping to get clothes that have been lost so they can get in the shower lines. Every week then- are many shower nozzles that don't work I've seen the C harges d is c rim in a tio n To the Editor: A N a tiv e American has been held since June 3.1 977 . without bail, on seven hank robbery charges which occured in Port land. Oregon between December 7. 1976 and A p ril 21. 1977, ia which every witness, save one. identified the robber as a w hite man. The one exception identified the man who robbed her as 'approxim ately six feet tall. 250 pounds, husky, muscular build, brown eyes, ap praxim ately 25 years of age and appear ing to he of Samoan n ation ality.' The person arrested was me. In an F I L L report by the agent in charge. Michael R. Sanders, the following description of me is given: “Name: Peter Brent Zauner; Race: Indian. Sex: Male; D ate of birth: July 2,1949; Place of birth: San Francisco. California: Height: 5 T ; W eight: 238; Build: very heavy set; Eyes: brown; Hair; black, shoulder length. Characteristies: very heavy set with broad shoulders w ith large p ro tru d ing stomach, w ith heavy thick thighs and legs, wears hair parted ia the middle aad had long braids on each side." Though this description, tru e aad ac curate ia every detail, matches ae eyew it ness reports on the robber, form er U-S. A tto rn ey Tom my H aw k (yes I'm serious), now in private practice, was able to have me arrested, indicted, sad my parents on a 1966 Oregon conviction (the only other arrest in my life) revoked. This action was only his final attem pt to have me jailed a fte r I helped focus public attention an his attem pted fram e of A X M . mem hers. Russ Redner and Ken Loud H aw k on charges later dismissed. Court House. 620 S.W . M ain. Portland. Oregon. I ask all who claim they support freedom and justice to contact radio, television and newspaper reporters de manding they provide information about my statements. I have contacted both The O e g a u ia n and Oregon Journal news papers as well as all three local television stations without response. I can he contacted by w ritin g to: Pete Young Buffalo "Zauner." Rocky Butte Jail. 9755 N E . Hancock D r.. Portland. Oregon 97220. In Struggle. Pete Young Buffalo aka Peter Brent Zauner The Portland Observer's official position is expressed only in its Publishers column (W e See The W orld Through Riach Eyes I. A ny other m aterial throughout the paper is the opinion of the individual w rite r or subm itter and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the P s r tb a SMITH IV 1 MAYTAG Heavy Duty Ì Washers Save Now on Maytag Dependability I ’ve been watching w ith interest the school board's interactions w ith the interested members of community. You can tell th at you’re an to something by the unjustified and some w hat puzzling response by a body of people who are ostensibly committed to facilitate the education of our com munit y 's young people. M aybe some of the (our?) board members are not so comm itted. M aybe in reality they don’t care at all about our young — I do hope there are none of the board or none behind the scenes with puppets on the board who are actively opposed to the quality education land therefor advance ment) of the people concerned. Yes. their motives should be suspect, unless it is to be believed that it's simply a m a tter of egos - some board members being offended by the community's desire to be involved and make suggestions in regard to sur young. No. it must be something deeper than that. I have some words of encouragement for those community members who are insisting on community involvement in relevant board decisions and school board accountability to the community ----- S T A Y O N T H E M ?' Ask about Special installation offer lair resuy w e g iv e y o u m o r e . . . h om e fu r n is h in g s 30th and S.E. Division (Nam e withheld at w riter's request.) 5th P lace B e et E ditorial N N P A 1973 $7.50 in Tri-County A rea $«.00 H errick E d itorial A w ard N N A 1973 O Ö S f c 'W * * 3rd I York City Zip MEMBER N e N p A p ER 234-9351 Shop 9 to » Tuesday thru Friday Saturday 9 to 6 (Not Open Sunday or Monday) A L FR E D L H EN D ER SO N Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Sincerely, Donald Danford New and Save! i\\ same showers remain out of order for six months or more. I l might lake 56 rents for a washer, and it might take five minutes to fix a shower, hut apparently the staff h a s io wait for orders from above. I imagine a work order has to he submitted, sent out to the front offices to he typed in triplicate, signed by someone who has the authorisation, sent back in to the plumbing superintendent and sche duled. W hatever the procedure is. it must be easier to ignore, because th a t’s what happens. W hile I was sitting in line. I wandered about th at 56 million dollars and where it w ent. It seems a shame that 56 rents couldn't be found to put toward a problem that affects 1,400 men every week, twice a week. M aybe when the people who give out the money next tim e will make some provision to use some of it where it is needed most: down where the prisoners are. "Corrections" is a m ulti million dollar industry, one of Oregon’s largest indu stries. There is a status quo that a lot of people don't want upset. Anytim e someone tn es to look in depth, tnes to get some answers about where the money goes, or tries to get answers about the treatm ent in here, they are met with hostility, and are offered meaningless excuses - th eir investigation is cut short. The people who tried to cover up W atergate should have studied Oregon's étions" division. ’they might have “Corrections' gotten away with it. To the Editor: 4 e Eliot II housing breaks ground w ere installed In August of 1977 the property was transferred to the Housing A uthority of Portland, which w ill b o ld the public housing project. The $1-8 Bullion con strucuoo project ia funded through a 6‘> j per cent ke n from th e First National Bank of O regon. The bank loan will be repaid and the project operated through rents ,subaidired by H U D . W h e re does th e m oney? School Board questioned > tC o ctin u ed fro tr o u t 1 eaL 61 (Continued from page 1 c a t 6) J jtttM to the EAfoe Portland Observer 2201 N. Killingsworth
