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
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P.O. Box 3137. Portland, Oregon 97208. Telephone: 283-2488.
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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