Marie Smith receives Russell Peyton Award
Mrs. Marie Smith, long time civil
right* activist, is the 1977 recipient of the
Kussell Peyton Award present«! annual
ly by the Metropolitan Human Relations
Commission for dedication to human
rights.
Mrs. Smith's activities in the areas ol
civil rights and the elderly are well
known throughout the greater Portland
community. Some of her more notable
achievements and contributions follow:
Mrs. Smith was the first woman to be
President of the Portland Branch,
NAACP.
During her administration,
1949 1960, she organized the Guilds l^ake
Branch and was active in voter registra
lion and civil rights legislation.
She was a member of the organizing
committee of the Northwest Area Con
ference of Branches (Oregon. Washing
ton. Idaho and Alaska! and served as a
member of the board and Chairman of the
Credit Committee of the Portland
NAACP Federal Credit Union. She is a
former board member of the Urban
League of Portland.
In 1950 she was chosen Portland's First
Negro Citizen of the Year.
She was a member of the Albina
Citizen's W ar on Poverty Committee and
actively sought programs for the area
poor. She was a founding member of
C-CAP (Church-Community Action Pro
ject).
Mrs. Smith was a state organizer and
President of the Oregon Association of
Colored Women's Clubs.
She served
three terms on the board of the YMCA,
held numerous offices and represented
the YM CA at regional and national
conventions. She was secretary-treasur
er of the M t. Hood Chapter. Order of
PORTLAND
Volume 8 No. 1 Thursday, December 29, 1977
10c per espy
Property tax
increase seea
i of the Jewish (
Mrs. Smith was a member of the Model
Cities Task Force that organized the
Senior Adult Service Center and served
as the Center’s board chairman. She was
appointed to the City County Council on
Aging by Mayor Terry Schrunk.
Mrs. Smith was an Oregon Journal
Woman of Accomplishment in 1955. June
3.1976 was proclaimed Marie Smith Day
by Mayor Neil Goldschmidt for her
tireless service and contribution to our
community.”
The Russell Peyton Award will be
presented on January 12th at noon at a
luncheon to be held at Westminster
Presbyterian Church. 16th and N.E.
Hancock. Call the Metropolitan Human
Relations Commission for reservations.
M A R IE S M ITH
Hicks earns highest EPA award
OBSERVER
Swastika was .Minted in red on the i
Israel on Northeast 15th Av
Eastern Star.
Mrs. Smith served as Sunday School
Superintendent at Mt. Olivet Baptist and
Hughes Memorial United Methodist
Churches. She is a member of Church
Women United and Church World Ser
'2ces- She has attended every session of
the Ecumenical Ministries School of
Christian Services since its founding
forty years ago.
i Tifereth
Multnomah County homeowners will
receive notices of increases in their
property value as the result of a re-
evaluation. The assessed evaluation is
based on the sales of property in the past
year. The County's average increase was
eighteen percent.
The greatest increase is in the area
between the W illamette River and 82nd
Avenue, between Fremont on the North
Multnomah County homeowners will
Property values in tms area increased by
27 percent.
Property values in the area of the
County east of 82nd raised 25 percent.
Other areas increased from twelve to
nineteen percent.
The increased assessed evaluation will
mean a tax increase for some property
owners. As the assessed value increases,
the tax rate per $1,000 value decreases
providing the amount of taxes to be
collected remains constant. Those with
above the average increase in assessed
value should expect to pay additional
taxes.
Commissioner Mel Gordon estimated
that taxes will increase on property that
increases in evaluation by twenty percent
or more and taxes should decrease on
property which has increased in value by
fifteen percent or less.
Alexander D. Hicks, the director of the
Office of Civil Rights in the Northwest
regional office of the United States
Environmental Protection Agency, has
been awarded an EPA Gold Medal, the
highest recognition the agency can be
stow for outstanding service.
Hicks received the medal for his efforts
to provide members of minority groups
with opportunities for employment on the
labor force building sewage treatment
facilities funded by EPA, and for securing
participation of minority contractors on
those same projects.
A t the Washington, D.C., ceremonies
last week where the award was present
ed, Hicks shared the spotlight with five
other workers from E P A ’s Northwest
regional office in Seattle.
Silver Medals for superior service were
awarded to John Y. Hohn, an EPA
enforcement division attorney, and a
group of agency employees headed by L.
Edwin Coate, EPA's deputy regional
administrator. Members of Coate’s group
from E P A ’s Seattle office are Ralph R.
Bauer, George C. Hofer and William B.
Schmidt.
In Hicks' case, his work established a
number of important precedents:
• He was responsible for bringing the
first successful Federal court action
against a major labor union (Portland
Local 701 of Operating Engineers Union)
for interfering with E PA construction
contractors who were taking affirmative
action to hire minority workmen on an
EPA-funded sewage treatment construc
tion project. The subsequent court ruling
(last January 19th in U.S. District Court
in Portland) set a precedent of national
import.
• He developed the first set of guide
lines for the involvement of minority
consulting engineers in the planning and
design phase of EPA-funded sewage
treatment construction.
These guide
lines. first used only within EPA's North-
west region, have now been substantially
adopted by EP A for use nation-wide.
• He developed a set of guidelines for
involving minority construction contrac
tors and suppliers during the actual
building of sewage treatment facilities,
with the result that minority contractors
within the region have shared in almost
$9 million in construction subcontracts
since January 1976. Those guidelines
developed by Hicks have been adopted
already by a number of municipalities,
and E PA headquarters will soon publish
similar guidelines that will be applied
across the country.
Hicks directs a staff of civil rights
officers who have helped minority work
ers find jobs on the EPA-funded sewage
treatment construction projects. During
the last nine months, the number of
minority manhours in various construc
tion trades has averaged 13 percent.
Since the minority population amounts to
only 6.5 percent of all the people in
Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, this is
regarded as a singular achievement.
Hohn was cited for his work involving a
number of national “firsts" in resolving
troublesome disputes over industrial
wastewater discharge permits, which - if
they had been left unresolved - could
have resulted in considerable delays in
bringing about needed environmental
improvements. Hohn also was the first
EPA attorney anywhere in the country to
successfully bring about the assessment
of civil penalties under Federal pesticides
law.
Coate, Bauer, Hofer and Schmidt
spearheaded the development of a re
gional environmental quality profile, an
important informational aid that enabled
pollution control agencies and the general
public to assess the state of the environ
ment in the Pacific Northwest and
Alaska. The environmental quality pro
files pioneered the use of uniform indica-
A L HICKS
tors that could be - and have been -
adopted nation-wide, allowing pollution
control officials to base their commitment
of resources to meet actual needs for
environmental clean-up.
Hicks, Hohn and the Coate group all
received the congratulations of Donald P.
Dubois, EPA's regional administrator.
“These medals are well-deserved,” said
Dubois. .“Your hard work and your
dedication will produce benefits that will
be felt for a long time to come by your
fellow Americans.”
Federal minority , female employment increase slow
I shOk U.S.
I 1 » Civil
I .IVtl Nxi
l*V
rw 1 • •
The
Service
Commission
has
reported preliminary findings of surveys
conducted on federal civilian employment
of minorities and women through 1976.
Previously the surveys have been con
ducted and reported separately.
Civil Service Commission Chairman
Alan K. Campbell noted that while there
has been tome increase in the proportion
of minorities and women in middle and
upper level jobs, the rate of progress
has been slow He identified two (actors
which contribute to the rate of growth.
First, most jobs at the middle and upper
level within the Federal Government,
where the sources are largely non mi-
nority and male. Second, the size of the
Federal work force has remained fairly
stable since 1972, and it is difficult to
_____
achieve affirmative action objectives
when there is no expansion in the work
force, no matter how much emphasis is
applied.
A comparison of the participation of
minorities in the Federal and private
sectors shows that the Federal Govern
ment is well ahead in overall employment
of minorities in profession, administra
live, technical, and clerical jobs. The
private sector, however, has higher per
centages of women and/or specific mi
nority groups in some of these employ
ment catégorie«.
Findings of the study showed that:
• Minorities accounted for 21.3 percent
of all full-time Federal civilian employees
in November 1976, as compared with 21.0
percent in 1975 and 14.1 percent in 1969.
• Women accounted for 30.1 percent of
I
S
IV . •
*-<■
■
■
all full-time Federal employees in 1976,
compared with 29.8 percent in 1975.
• In the seven-year period 1969
through 1976, General Schedule (white-
collar) employment of minorities rose 37
percent, compared with a five percent
increase for non-minorities. In the same
period, minority employment in wage
systems (blue-collar) jobs decreased to 88
percent of 1969 totals and Postal Service
minority employment fell to 82 percent of
1969 totals but these decreases were
smaller for minority than for non-mi
nority employment in the same period.
Comparing Federal white-collar em
ployment in 1976 with private sector
employment compiled by the Equal Em
ployment Opportunity Commission in
1975 the following results were noted:
1. In professional occupations, the Fed
-
-
-
eral group has a lower proportion
women (20 percent) than the privati
sector group (30 percent), professions
employment while there are higher per
centages of Blacks and American Indian:
in Federal professional employment thar
in private employment.
The othei
minorities have higher percentages oi
professionals in the private sector.
2. In administrative occupations, the
Federal service has a higher proportion
of women (20 percent) than the private
sector (14 percent). The Federal service
also has higher minority percentages in
these occupations.
3. In technical occupations, the percen
tage of women in Federal employment is
higher (37 percent) than in the private
sector (33 percent). The Federal service
has a higher percentage for all minoritj
groups except Oriental.
4. In clerical occupations, women ac
count for half of Federal employees and
four-fifths of the private sector group.
This is largely because Postal workers,
who are a predominate proportion of Fed
eral clerical workers. Among minority
groups, the percentage of Blacks in
clerical percentages of Spanish-surnamed
and Oriental employees are slightly high
er in the private sector.
Minority employees in 1976 constituted
18 percent of General Schedule and
equivalent (white-collar) employment, ac
counting for 28 percent of all employees
in grades one through four, 23 percent of
all employees in grades five through
eight, 23 percent of all employees in
grades 9 through 11, eight percent of all
employees in grades 12 and 13, six
percent of all employees in grades 14 and
15, and five percent of all employees in
“super” grades 16 through 18.
Women constituted 43 percent of Gen
eral Schedule employment, accounting
for 72.8 percent of all employees in
grades one through six, 28.1 percent of all
employees in grades 7 through 12, and 5.4
percent of all employees in grades 13 and
above. Comparable percentages in 1975
were 42.1 71.6 and 5.1 respectively, and
in 1968, 42.3, 21.5, and 3.8 respectively.
The average grade for women in 1976
was 5.84. In 1974 it was 5.73, and in 1968,
5.20.
Women constituted 40 percent of all
minority employees in 1976. The average
grade for all women was 5.84 for minority
women, 5.53.
ASP: Legend of Albina
M ike Hornbucklo
Roni Polk
Oordy Loving
______ ___________________
Erne,t B«rbor
Please see page 6